Daniel’s Take: Library Roles in the Non-Exclusive Environment
The comments below reference the Library Roles in the Non-Exclusive Environment of the September 2005 Depository Library Council publication The Federal Government Information Environment of the 21st Century: Towards a Vision Statement and Plan of Action for Federal Depository Libraries. Discussion Paper My general comments on this paper appeared in another blog posting. As I work through each section of the discussion paper, I'll start out with positive aspects and then move onto what I view are problems with the DLC paper. I strongly believe in finding common ground whenever possible. We shouldn't turn this discussion into a "us vs. them" dynamic. The DLC rightly points out that the government information environment is much more diverse than in the past. They also point out correctly in my view that most people's first approach to locating government information is trying the web. The authors also sensibly ask what it means to be a depository library when so much government information is available on the web. Continue reading
Daniel’s take on DLC Vision – General Comments
Today the Depository Library Council (DLC) released this discussion paper: The Federal Government Information Environment of the 21st Century: Towards a Vision Statement and Plan of Action for Federal Depository Libraries. Discussion Paper Prepared by the Depository Library Council September 2005 This paper is an effort to provide a guiding vision for the access, description and preservation of government information and how libraries might fit into this process. I'm sure it was hard work for the DLC, because they had to listen and integrate a chorus of disjointed voices from the depository community. They deserve some praise simply for coming up with anything at all! Whether or not you work in a library, this paper is worth reading. Today I'd like to offer some general comments on this paper. In the coming days, I'll have some comments focused on the main sections of the discussion paper: 1) Library roles in the non-exclusive environment; 2) Adding value; 3)Managing collections and delivering content ; and 4) Deploying expertise. Continue reading
(OH) American minimum wage workers’ salary compared to CEOs
A faculty member wanted to know how many hours American workers worked a week, American worker productivity, hours of vacation, and average worker makes compared to a CEO. The average hours worked was found in the Statistical Abstract of the U.S., worker productivity, vacation days and extra hours was found in the Dobbs Report: The Perils of Productivity and the CEO salary was found on Congressman Bernie Sander's website (retrieved 7/13/2004). According to the Congressman's website, in 1980 the average CEO pay was 97 times larger than the pay of a minimum wage worker. In 1998 the average CEO pay was 989 times larger. Today, the CEO only has to work two hours to earn as much as a minimum wage worker earns in an entire year. The spread is amazing. The faculty member was pleased with the above information. She said, thank you so very much for this information. It is exactly what I needed. You make my work so much easier! Continue reading
FEMA requires Internet Explorer
FEMA requires Internet Explorer
Following up on the Copyright Office's proposal to have copyright registration limited to Internet Explorer (IE) users (see What the Copyright Office / Internet Explorer rule tells us about government information), we have news today that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is doing something similar:
IE version 6 is only available for Microsoft Windows and has problems of standards compatibility. More information here:
- FEMA requires IE 6 and JavaScript. "I tried the latest Safari, IE and Firefox, none work. Heaven help all the Mac users in the South...."
As government information moves increasingly from documents to transactions and government web-sites become "e-government" sites where every individual user gets different information, the importance of standards-based web sites and usability becomes more and more important.
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Daniel’s Take: Adding Value
September 8, 2005 / Leave a comment
The comments below reference the Adding Value section of the September 2005 Depository Library Council publication The Federal Government Information Environment of the 21st Century: Towards a Vision Statement and Plan of Action for Federal Depository Libraries. Discussion Paper Prior Comments on this discussion paper:
- General comments
- Library Roles in the Non-Exclusive Environment
I find "Adding Value" to be the strongest part of this paper. The Depository Library Council (DLC) recognizes that all government information professionals and institutions have an obligation to serve people where they are. They offer suggestions about where our users are including: popular web sites (Google, Yahoo, other search engines); FirstGov, agency web sites, etc. The authors of the paper also point to the promotion of the virtual reference Government Information Online project as an example of the value that we can add. No argument there. Continue reading →Continue Reading →