Government Information: The OMB Watch Magic Eight-Ball
Information Magic Eight-Ball, OMB Watch, 12/18/2007. "Over the past year, there has been a great deal of activity on issues related to government transparency and secrecy, but it can remain difficult to figure out exactly what all the discussions, reports and hearings actually mean. To try to get to the bottom of this murky issue, we are breaking out our Magic Eight-Ball of Information Policy to ask a few key questions about the past year — the progress and setbacks, laid out in simple terms. We wish there was a better approach, but unfortunately, 2007 was that kind of year for government transparency, with vague and unclear answers for most questions."
Continue reading50-State Agency Database Registry Launches Historical Materials
The 50-State Agency Databases Registry, which I coordinate, has launched a new set of subject-focused database collections under the heading of history:
* Biographical Databases - Databases that provide biographical sketches of authors, state officials, famous state residents, etc.
http://wikis.ala.org/godor
* Historical Media Databases - Databases that provide online access to photographs, video, or audio.
http://wikis.ala.org/godor
* Historical Newspaper and Magazine Indexes - Databases that index articles in older newspapers, journals and magazine that contain historical information. These databases will usually lead one to microfilmed items that may be obtainable through Interlibrary Loan.
http://wikis.ala.org/godor
* Museum Collection Databases - Catalogs of state museum holdings which often have historical notes. Museums listed here are either run by a state or by one of the state's political subdivisions
http://wikis.ala.org/godor
* Official Records Databases - vital records, (birth, death, etc), war pensions, etc.
http://wikis.ala.org/godor
These pages just launched, so they are a little light on content. The Registry volunteers will be adding to these pages in the next few weeks.
If you are registered with the ALA GODORT wiki and would like to help the effort along, please browse the state pages or search for words from the historical categories and copy and paste databases from the state pages to the appropriate subject page.
Why these topics? Because after making solicitations here, on govdoc-l and on Facebook, more people wanted subject pages for historical materials than anything else. It's my personal hope that when these annotated historical materials pages are filled out, they will be of special value to historians and to schoolchildren stuck with "I need to do a report on the State of _____." It will help them go beyond state symbols and the like.
Hope you enjoy them!
Continue readingFed shredding on the increase since 2000
And speaking of usaspending.gov (thanks Jim for the original post!), Radar Magazine has analyzed federal spending on paper shredding contracts since 2000 (see chart at left) and shown that there has been a 600% increase on these contracts since George W. Bush took office. In 2000, the federal government spent $452,807 on shredding services (no doubt some appropriate and some not); by 2006, the "Cheney Effect" had bumped that number up to $2.9 million. And by halfway through 2007, the feds almost matched that number, with $2.7 million and counting. Here's the full breakdown and data from usaspending.gov.
Continue readingNew OMB Federal Spending Database
The Office of Management and Budget is launching USASpending.gov a relaunch of www.FederalSpending.gov to providecitizens with easy access to government contract, grant, and other award data.
News stories:
- OMB Offers an Easy Way to Follow the Money, by Elizabeth Williamson, Washington Post, (December 13, 2007; Page A33)
- OMB beats deadline to unveil federal spending database, by Jason Miller, FCW (December 12, 2007)
"The database’s initial functionality will include the ability to search contracts and grants but not other types of spending data such as loans, said Robert Shea, OMB’s associate director of administration and government performance." (FCW)
The database will have an API (application programmming interface) so that programmers will be able to users to write software to access the data directly, and a wiki where users will be able to suggest changes and add information.
Continue readingALA: public libraries critical to delivery of E-government
Yesterday, ALA submitted a statement to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing, "E-Government 2.0: Improving Innovation, Collaboration, and Access", addressing the critical yet unacknowledged role public libraries play in delivering E-government services to the American people. Witnesses included:
- Karen S. Evans, Administrator, Office of Electronic Government and Information Technology , Office of Management and Budget (PDF)
- John Lewis Needham, Manager, Public Sector Content Partnerships , Google, Inc. (PDF)
- Ari Schwartz, Deputy Director , Center for Democracy and Technology (PDF)
- Jimmy Wales, Founder , Wikipedia (PDF)
"Libraries strongly support the E-government Act, since it has enhanced access to government information. However, since its enactment, public libraries are often the only organizations that can help individuals interact with government agencies and access E-government services... Libraries have a critical role in E-Government not only as portals to access, but also organizing and categorizing information and providing the necessary tools and expertise to provide community service. Librarians provide the front line reference service that informs the public how to access and evaluate government information through both physical and virtual collections and how to train people in the use of electronic resources. Libraries help the public become information literate... Public libraries are open to taking on the challenge of E-government initiatives, yet the library community has seen little collaboration or support from federal agencies for the significant increase in services public libraries provide on their behalf... -- Lynne Bradley, Director of ALA's Office of Government RelationsContinue reading