I'm forwarding this heads-up from the Association of Public Data Users (APDU) list. Over the last two weeks, there have been quite a few calls for comment on proposed data collections published in the Federal Register (see below with due date). Maybe it's because I haven't had my coffee yet this morning, but I was a little peeved by my failed information search. I found the Census Bureau's FR posting (Federal Register: January 7, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 4) Page 672) (btw, I tried in FDsys.gpo.gov but they've not loaded Volume 74 yet) but at first was stymied because the summary page has no link to the Census Bureau's Web site, and does not have contact information or any link to more information. The full listing has the information, but comments must be written, no Web submissions :-| Ok fine, I go to www.census.gov and after more than 5 minutes of search/browse, give up on finding exactly *how* to submit comments on the proposed "Quarterly Financial Report" or "Survey of Local Government Finances." What's even worse, census.gov does not have a "contact us" link on it's first page. I finally found it in the footer of a second level page, but could find nothing in the Question and Answer Center about RFCs, proposed data sets etc. *sigh* I guess this is turning into an FDsys comment. I noticed in FDsys that you can sign up to receive the daily Federal Register Table of Contents which is cool. But there needs to be a way to browse only the requests for comments (or rules changes, notices...) of specific agencies in the FR as well as receive email or RSS of requests for comments. There also needs to be a link in the FR to the agency in question and not just their top level site but to the place on the site with information on the RFC and directions for how to submit comments. And lastly (this is not an FDsys comment but a general agency comment) RFCs should be submitted online. So go ahead and submit comments for the proposed data collections below, I dare you.

• Census Bureau
  Quarterly Financial Report (February 9, 2009)
  Survey of Local Government Finances (School Systems) (March 13, 2009)
• Office of Management and Budget
  2007 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)-Updates for 2012 (April 7, 2009)
• Bureau of Labor Statistics
  Labor Market Information (LMI) Cooperative Agreement (March 3, 2009)
• Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor
  O*Net Data Collection Program (January 30, 2009)
• Science Resources Statistics, National Science Foundation
  Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges (March 10, 2009)
• National Institutes of Health
  Information Program on Clinical Trials: Maintaining a Registry and Results Databank (February 5, 2009)
• Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services
  Feasibility Test for Design Phase of National Study of Child Care Supply and Demand (February 5, 2009)
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Department of Health and Human Services
  The AHRQ Data Inventory (January 30, 2009)
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services
  CAHPS Home Health Care Survey (March 10, 2009)
• Surface Transportation Board, Department of Transportation
  Class I Railroad Annual Report (February 9, 2009)
  Quarterly Report of Freight Commodity Statistics (February 9, 2009)

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