The EU online bookstore has traditionally been a “for fee” site, but has just now added a very large chunk of free materials to its database, including “all official EU publications since 1952.” Free publications are clearly labelled and are available for immediate PDF download.
Author: Yvonne Chan
The UK National Archives has just put up a database with materials from the Security Services:
“Some of these files were kept about individuals; others were gathered on groups in which the Security Service took an interest. The files contain information about communists, Soviet intelligence agents and officers, right-wing extremists, Italian espionage activities and suspected agents, Czech refugees, suspected spies, pacifists, German agents and intelligence officers.
The majority of these files are from 1939-45, but there are a considerable number from the inter- and post-war periods.”
Note, not every result is freely available – most items are only available for a fee and there is currently no way to limit your results to free materials. That being said, the range of materials in the collection is impressive: spy diaries, Hitler’s passport, and files on prominent UK communists and eminent physicists and more.
The Australian government has just launched a free website offering up a wide array of government datasets. Topics include business, community, education, geography, transportation, society, safety and the environment. You can search the database or browse by category or latest added.
The EIA has just launched a new consumer information site called “Energy Explained, Your Guide to Understanding Energy.” The site provides a wealth of information on energy: consumption and production statistics, energy units and conversion calculators, energy and the environment, and renewable/non-renewable energy sources. Also provides some information/statistics on international oil production, consumption and reserves. While the site is aimed at consumers and is written in simple, non-jargon laden language, it is chock-full of useful facts and statistics and also provides links to EIA key titles, such as:
- Energy Perspectives : “a graphical overview of energy history in the United States…. revealing sweeping trends related to the Nation’s acquisition and use of energy from 1949 through 2008.”
- Annual Energy Outlook 2009 : “presents projections and analysis of US energy supply, demand, and prices through 2030.”
- Monthly Energy Review : the EIA’s “primary report of recent energy statistics. Included are total energy production, consumption, and trade; energy prices; overviews of petroleum, natural gas, coal, electricity, nuclear energy, renewable energy, and international petroleum; carbon dioxide emissions; and data unit conversions.”
Students, faculty and staff at UBC Library now have online access to the session laws of the Acts of the Parliament of Canada – 1926 – 2007 via the subscription database HeinOnline. Print copies are also available – covering the years 1867 – 2007 at call number KG16 .A25
Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, has just released its 2009 issue of Europe in Figures. This is freely available on-site as a Pdf download and “presents a comprehensive selection of statistical data on Europe.” It is also produced and disseminated in print. UBC Library has print copies of this annual publication from 1995 – 2008, with the 2009 on its way, at call number HA1107.5 .E976.
“With just over 500 statistical tables, graphs and maps, the yearbook treats the following areas: the economy, population, education, health, living conditions and welfare, the labour market, industry and services, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, international trade, transport, the environment, energy, science and technology and Europe’s regions. This edition’s spotlight chapter covers creativity and innovation – the theme of the European year 2009.” Most of the data from this publication cover years 1997 – 2007.
The United Nations has just announced that it will be consolidating four disparate organizations devoted to women’s/gender issues into a single entity.
“The resolution means the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women, the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW) will be merged.”
The aim is for the new body to provide a more streamlined, coherent and “robust” promotion of “the well-being of women, ” gender equality and female empowerment around the world.
As yet the new organization lacks a formal “mission, structure, funding (or) oversight” but Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been tasked to provide these so that the body can be formed “as soon as possible.”
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Reminder: Cyber Cemetery
In case, like me, you’ve forgotten all about the Cyber Cemetary here’s a reminder of what it is and what it does:
“The CyberCemetery is an archive of (US) government websites that have ceased operation (usually websites of defunct government agencies and commissions that have issued a final report). This collection features a variety of topics indicative of the broad nature of government information.”
The archive is maintained by the University of North Texas Libraries and the US Government Printing Office.
Other similar projects are also being carried out by the Internet Archive, Library & Archives Canada and the US Presidential Libraries System (starting with George W. Bush). I’m sure there are others – please post details of projects I’ve overlooked 😉
Sunlight Labs – “a non-profit, non partisan Washington, DC based organization focused on digitization of government data” has been running a contest to identify the top three websites offering applications that provide “easy access and understanding for the public” to US government data/information. They all make it just a bit easier to access high quality data online.
The winners are:
First Prize: DataMasher. This website allows you to select from a wide variety of data sets (mostly from Data.gov) and to then combine them into a personalized “mashup.” Mashups take the form of tables and maps. Examples of recent mashups are Health Care Coverage + Premiums; Unemployment + State Land Area; and Median Household Income + Median Monthly Mortgage Costs.
Second Prize: GovPulse. As mentioned in another blog entry below…this site provides a single search interface for all issues of the US Federal Register, from 1994 to present.
Third Prize: ThisWeKnow: This site provides access to “nationwide data sets from six different agencies in the data.gov catalog.” In practice, users browse or search for specific American communities and then view a list of fast facts about those communities. ThisWeKnow then provides links to the underlying data for each fast fact.
The US Securities & Exchange Commission has just released its public version of its full Investigation of Failure of the SEC to Uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme. At present it’s sitting on the Commission’s homepage and the report’s URL indicates that it’s a “news” file. It’s unclear, therefore, if this is a stable URL. Only the executive summary is currently available from GPO Access, though it’s likely to wind up there eventually.