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Looking of US Census Data?

If you’re looking for US Census data the Oklahoma Dept. of  Libraries  has just updated their site with resources such as “How to use Census data: guides and handouts about data from the U.S. Census Bureau”.

It also includes links to three how-to guides about Census data:  **Choosing Census Data**– How do you choose between Decennial Census data, American Community Survey (ACS) data, and Annual Population Estimates Program (APEP) data? This will help you and your customers make “Best Practices” choices.

**Mixing Census Data Types Together** – Mixing Decennial Census data, ACS data, and APEP data together is a no-no at the Census Bureau. But here at the Oklahoma State Data Center we know that our customers mix different types of Census data together regardless of the statistical inaccuracies of doing so, so we offer this guide to help you work with customers who insist on doing this.

* *Using American Community Survey Data** – How do you work with1-year, 3-year, and 5-year ACS data? This is another “Best Practices” guide. It is essentially the same guide published by ALA/GODORT at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/images/4/42/Beleu-occasionalpaper3.pdf

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News Online Resource (Free) Website

Library Journal’s Notable Government Documents for 2009

Library Journal has published their annual selection on the most pertinent government documents of the past year.

Important issues included:

Digitization – “Google launched a collaborative project to scan every U.S. government document held by the libraries of the Big Ten universities and the University of Chicago. At the project’s end, the full text of an estimated one million to 1.5 million U.S. government publications will be available through Google Book Search and the HathiTrust Digital Library“- Library Journal

Hathi Trust Digital Library is  a digital repository for the nation’s great research libraries, bringing together the diverse collections of partner institutions. It was conceived as a collaboration of the thirteen universities of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation and the University of California system to establish a repository for these universities to archive and share their digitized collections.” – Hathitrust website.

Open government – The Obama administration created an Open Government Directive – “requiring executive agencies to make their activities transparent, to enhance the public’s role in policy making, and to collaborate more extensively with one another, with state and local governments, and with private institutions”

Some of the highlighted documents include:

Investigation of Failure of the SEC To Uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme. public version. by H. David Kotz. U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.

Restorative Commons: Creating Health and Well-Being Through Urban Landscapes. ed. by Lindsay Campbell & Anne Wiesen. U.S. Forest Svc., Publications Distribution.

Climate in Peril: A Popular Guide to the Latest IPCC Reports. by Alex Kirby. UN Environment Programme.

Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. UN Human Rights Council

You can view the complete list here.

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News Online Resource (Free) Website

Data.gov celebrates first birthday!

Since it’s launch a year ago,  Data.gov, which has a mandate to globally democratize data,  has  undergone a makeover.  There are new opportunities to interact with the data as well as new feature such as usage statistics and apps featuring  crime statistics by neighborhood to the best towns to find a job to seeing the environmental health of your community.

“Launched in May 2009 with 47 datasets, Data.gov has been continually expanded since the inception of the Open Government Directive (OGD).  Under the OGD, published Dec. 8, 2009, executive branch agencies had 45 days to release at least three “high-value” datasets on their websites and register them with Data.gov. These datasets were to be information “not previously available online or in a downloadable format” and were to be published “online in an open format.”  On the deadline, the website held about 300 datasets in total but now boasts of a library containing more than 270,000 sets.” — OMB Watch

Some of the most viewed datasets include:

  1. Worldwide M1+ Earthquakes, Past 7 Days
  2. U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants (Greenbook)
  3. MyPyramid Food Raw Data
  4. Latest Volumes of Foreign Relations of the US
  5. OSHA Data Initiative – Establishment…

Both OMB Watch and Free Government Information have interesting posts.

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News Website

U.S Government responds to oil spill in Gulf

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources resumed it’s Hearing May 12th, 2010 to review current issues related to offshore oil and gas development – you can view the archived webcast of  the Hearing.

Take a look at the US government response timeline.

Take a look  at the Deepwater Horizon Response site, which gives up to date news and video on how events are progressing.

Read the Globe’s article: Moderator’s skipped question on Gulf oil spill at Harper forum.

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News Website

HotDocs DocLibrary – Dept of Canadian Heritage

“This site is supported by the Department of Canadian Heritage. It provides free access to a large growing collection of documentary films from Canadian film makers. These include materials from National Film Board. Materials can be searched or browsed by topic. There are also playlists for films by young film makers and a section designed for school and college use. A wide range of topics relating to social, political, economic and world events are covered. They include an emphasis on the history, culture and society of Canada, the anthropology of Canadian ethnic groups and Canadian perspectives on world events.  Information on copyright and technical requirements is given on the website.” – Intute

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News Website

Count down to the 2010 US Census

An interesting article from the NY Times documents the difficulties in tracking people in large metropolitan cities  such as New York.

Also the 2010 Census website has detailed information about the upcoming US census.

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Online Resource (Free) Website

Free content at the EU digital bookstore

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.

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Website

UK Security Services records at the National Archive

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.

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News Website

The U.S. Federal Register(2000-09) now available in XML.

From the US GOVDOC Listserv:
The White House, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the National
Archives' Office of the Federal Register (OFR)
achieved a breakthrough in making Government information available
and usable by the public.
GPO converted the text of the Federal Register (2000-2009) into XML
and placed it online in numerous Federal Government portals, which include:
This project began when President Barack Obama challenged Federal agencies
to create a more open and transparent Government.
GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys), a world-class information management
system for Federal publications, is instrumental
in enabling this enhanced capability for the Federal Register.

The change supplements the official publishing formats with XML,
a form of text that can be manipulated in virtually limitless
ways with digital applications.
For example, people who want to know about the workings of the
Executive branch of the Federal Government
no longer need to sift through the Federal Register in its
traditional Department-by-Department and Agency-by-Agency format.
This new format will allow applications to be developed that
will support user needs and can
rearrange the Federal Register's contents in personalized
ways to match their particular interests.
It will be possible, for example, to download the Federal
Register and easily see what proposed actions
might affect one's community or region, or what actions
might have an impact on one's profession or business interests.

Link to the Federal Register Bulk Data
Repository
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Website

Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC)

Well it turns out that we have a national cryptologic agency and it has quite an interesting website.

First, what does the agency do? CSEC  provides “the Government of Canada with two key services: foreign signals intelligence in support of defence and foreign policy,  and the protection of electronic information and communication.”

Website Features: provides links to the full text of various related acts & policies including the Anti-Terrorism Act, the National Security Policy and the Privacy Act.  Provides extensive background information on Canada’s policies on national and governmental security as well as national privacy policy.   Also provides access to Government of Canada IT Security Publications: alerts, bulletins, directives, guidance, threat assessments and reports.

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