Covers, we need covers!
We at FGI find ourselves updating our Best Titles Ever! fairly frequently these days and we've just finished another cover art update and once again owe Christine Gray a debt of gratitude for photos and the entire govdoc-l community for ideas. But we are still in need of the covers for the following "Best Titles Ever!"
ALONE: Facts about Mental Health and Mental Illness was revised to: http://worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/oclc/12948351 YOU ARE NOT ALONE: Facts about Mental Health and Mental Illness http://worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/oclc/8746058 -SuDoc Number - [HE 20.8102:Al7/985] ----------- An Annotated list of Literature references on carpets and rugs 1940 to 1963 ----------- Citizenship and the Strawberry Jam: FDA's Life Protection Series ----------- Design of Clean Rooms - A Classified List of Selected References 1955-1964 ----------- Employment of homosexuals and other sex perverts in government (1950) ----------- Fakability of the airforce preference inventory ----------- Familiarity and recognition of nonsense shapes ----------- Health effects of pesticide use on children [Y 4.L 11/4:S.hrg.101-569] ----------- Lawn Mowers: Noise and Cost of Abatement (EPA 1974) ----------- Let potatoes fight. [Y3.F73/2: WGC/ w49] ---------- Meat is ammunition, play fair with it! [PR 32.5002:M 46/2] Monthly catalog, 1945, p. 648. --------- Methods of reduction of psychological stress due to radiation --------- National community fallout shelter design competition (1965) --------- Preservative treatment of poles (USDA 1911) --------- Relation of Barium to the Loco-weed disease --------- Some effects of modification of information about a previous response upon the acquisition of two lever positioning habits. USAF -------- The use of a sentence completion test in measuring attitudes toward superiors and subordinates --------- Virtual Cement and Concrete Testing Laboratory Consortium, Annual Report. [C 13.58/4:]. --------- Wake up America: a national sleep alert. [Y3.2: SL2/SL2] --------- Young scientists look at drugs (1968 for FDA/HEW)If you can help us out, please either contribute your photo to the Best. Titles. Ever. group on Flickr or e-mail me the cover photo at dnlcornwall AT alaska.net. As strange as it seems, this page is starting to raise people's awareness of government documents, even at places like Wonkette. If you happen to catch other sightings of either our page or the Flickr group, please drop a note to admin AT freegovinfo.info and let us know where you saw it. Continue reading
Not just blogs : Preservation issues
Welcome to another exciting episode of FGI's Not Just Blogs! When last we left our daring document do-gooders, they were examining clues pointing to the problem of Authenticity. Collective "Jenkies" let loose when they came to the realization that their online copies of Distinguishing Bolts from Screws were only as authentic as the trust they could invest in the Web sites hosting them, and no amount of pure technology could replace the security that comes from trust. Luckily, libraries - with a primary mission to deliver authentic information and a long history of success doing it - are well-positioned to continue the work we trust them to do in delivering government information.
Today we find our gutsy govdockers cracking into the Vault of Preservation.
To join along in the adventure, click on the "Issues" link at the top of FGI's pages.
Then click on "Preservation" in the Issues box.
Once inside the Vault of Preservation, stand in awe of the treasures therein. Catch a glimpse of the problems preserving digital data in the issue brief -- and shriek in terror!
Digital decay -- Yikes!
Obsolete file formats -- Zoinks!
Intentional, malicious removal of information from centralized repositories -- Oh, no!
Thank goodness libraries are working with projects like LOCKSS to secure permanent public access to electronic government information. Whew!
(Oh, and, by the way, if you happen to have the answer to these troubling preservation questions, could you please drop us a line in the comments? Thanks!)
Join us next week when Shinjoung leads us through government information issues of privacy, and you'll hear Daniel say:
And besides all that, what we need is a decentralized, distributed system of depositing electronic files to local libraries willing to host them.Continue reading
Best Titles Ever Flickr group – Now with friendly URL!
I'm pleased to announce that the Best. Titles. Ever. photo group on Flickr now has a more memorable URL. Instead of: http://www.flickr.com/groups/65313271@N00/ We now have: http://www.flickr.com/groups/besttitlesever/. Please visit, bookmark and publicize the group. We now have Open WorldCat info for every picture where it is available, plus we have now have links to our access, privacy and preservation pages on every photo. It is the hope of all of us at FGI that at least some people will make the transition from laughing at documents to learning more about government information. If you have any ideas on how to publicize this group or FGI in general, please either make a comment or send an email to admin "AT" freegovinfo.info. Continue reading
Open Government Guide – New Edition Posted
A new version of The Open Government Guide is now available online at The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press website. The guide to state open records and meetings laws was formerly titled "Tapping Officials' Secrets." Thanks to Law Librarian Blog for the tip. Continue reading
Telecom industry sponsors astro-turf lobbying
According to Common Cause, the telecom industry is actively engaged in "Astroturf lobbying" -- creating front groups and "think tanks" that try to mimic true grassroots, but that are funded by corporate money, not citizen power. They are sponsoring fake anti-net neutrality groups -- with names like "Hands Off the Internet", "TV4US", "NetCompetition.org", and the "Video Access Alliance" -- in an effort deliberately mislead and sway public perception. We've written before about Net neutrality, why net neutrality is absolutely essential for the internet and why the telcos are being extremely shortsighted and will end up destroying the very infrastructure they helped to set up. Wolves in Sheeps' Clothing (pt 1) [PDF] Wolves in Sheeps' Clothing (pt 2) [PDF] Continue reading