Showing posts with label Government Documents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Government Documents. Show all posts

10/03/2013

The Importance of Government Information


It’s often overlooked that Langsdale is a participant in the Federal Depository Library Program. I thought I’d highlight a number of types of information that the country is unable to access while the shutdown continues and their importance. As you’ll see there really is a great deal of information that is unavailable.

1) The census



Census information can be used for a wide variety of purposes. In addition to raw data about the population, the census collects information about income, demographics and a wide variety of other statistics that can help businesses as well as state and local governments.

10/02/2013

How the government shutdown affects libraries

You may say, "What effect does the government shutdown have on libraries?  Langsdale is not a federal agency." True enough, but much of our information comes from government agencies. Federal information centers and archives were displaying messages like this on their websites yesterday:


Library of Congress Closure notice
Libraries rely on government information on a daily basis, whether for labor or criminal justice statistics, historical archival materials or finance and trade information. As these federal services are impacted by the shutdown, so may librarians ability to gather data for students, faculty and staff.

Kathy Karn-Carmichael, from the University of South Carolina Aiken, has a Research Guide which has government information from non-government resources.

Maryland sources such as the State Data Center still have lots of census data for Maryland.

5/09/2012

Open Data Applications

Hi! I'm Pete Ramsey, one of the Reference and Instruction librarians at Langsdale Library, and I also teach the Information Literacy (IDIS 110) course in first-year student learning communities.

In my course, I like to include a segment where students demonstrate an interesting web site or web-based tool that relates to information literacy. I saw some interesting (and occasionally controversial) demos this semester, including these two:

Avoid Ghetto Patent ApplicationMicrosoft's "Pedestrian Route Production" Mobile App 

Sometimes called the "Avoid Ghetto" app, this tool recommends walking directions based on weather, crime statistics, and population demographics. The app has received a lot of attention, due in large part to protests from civil liberties organizations, which claim that it highlights social discrimination and drives away potential business from the neighborhoods that need the most attention.


Baltimore Sun's Homicide MapThe Baltimore Sun's Homicide Mapping Website 

This site, not-so-affectionately called the "Baltimore Death Map," shows a map of Baltimore homicide victims as far back as 2007. Clicking on a pin shows the victim's name, age, gender, race, cause of death, and a link to any Sun articles about the homicide. A bit disturbing, I suppose, but an intriguing way to reveal the darker side of living and dying in Baltimore.

About the Open Data Movement

Both of the above tools demonstrate intelligent use of information made available by "open data" practices. The idea behind open data is to provide certain statistics and data freely for people to use without worrying about violating someone's intellectual property restrictions. A lot of governments and cities are providing this kind of data, and app and web developers are making really interesting reports and tools.

Baltimore's Open Data 

Baltimore city has two top-notch open data projects. There's OpenBaltimore with its goal of providing "access to City data in an effort that supports government transparency, openness and innovative uses that will help improve the lives of Baltimore residents, visitors and businesses" (Hint: recently got a parking citation? Look it up here). There's also the VERY nice CityView map, which offers various base maps of the city and numerous data layers (for example, you can see a sobering map of the many vacant buildings).
OpenBaltimore Logo

4/14/2011

The Looming Budget Battle

The budget for the federal government has been a major news story of late, and two competing plans for out nation's long term finances will be a huge part of our national conversation over the summer.

You might have heard about a plan proposed by Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin recently and also that the President gave a speech outlining his own ideas yesterday.

Since I'm sure, like me, you were probably at work or in class during this speech I've dug up the official transcript so you can read it.

Here's representative Ryan's detailed proposal as well as some analysis of it, courtesy of the CBO.

Note: This post previously stated in error that Representative Ryan was from Minnesota

11/23/2010

The Federal Government Online!

If you wanted to read the recent health care bill for yourself how would you find it? How about if you wanted to read a specific speech by President George H. W. Bush during his time in office? As it turns out you can find both of these things with one website.

The Government Printing Office is in the process of rolling out a new permanent home for many government publications online. It's called FDsys and currently has a wealth of available information. In addition to bills and speeches you can view:
  • The federal budget
  • Congressional hearings
  • Supreme court decisions
  • And a lot more!
Be sure to take a look once in a while as the GPO is actively adding new resources to the site all the time during this transitional period.

9/17/2009

Happy Constitution Day!

September 17 is Constitution Day. Find out more about this day and the document it celebrates by taking a look at our Constitution Day Guide: http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/ConstitutionDay_guide.htm

If you need help finding information on the Constitution, the Founding Fathers or any other topic, you can always contact the Reference Desk.

3/07/2009

New Guide: Federal Stimulus Bill (2009)

On Tuesday, February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This bill appropriates additional federal funds for job creation and preservation, aid for those most affected by the recession, infrastructure projects (transportation, environmental, etc.), and aid to state and local governments to reduce or eliminate service cuts and/or tax increases. This guide provides links to information about the stimulus bill, including ways to track how the money will be spent; you can find the permanent page at: http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/FederalStimulus_guide.htm

For help locating resources, please contact Tamara Smith, Government Documents Coordinator, at 410-837-5072 or tsmith@ubalt.edu.

Websites

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (111st Cong., H.R. 1). http://fdsys.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr1ENR/pdf/BILLS-111hr1ENR.pdf
Read the text of the final (enrolled) version of the bill.

A New Era of Responsibility: Renewing America's Promise. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy10/pdf/fy10-newera.pdf
An overview of the FY 2010 Budget of the U. S. Government due to be released in spring 2009.

Recovery.gov. http://www.recovery.gov
Created by the White House to explain the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and to track stimulus spending.

Stimulus Watch. http://www.stimuluswatch.org
An unaffiliated, volunteer-built site that lists shovel-ready projects in cities nationwide and allows visitors to leave comments or vote on the importance of a project. The site uses data taken from the U.S. Conference of Mayors' MainStreet Economic Recovery Report, and the site's dataset is available as an Excel download.

U.S. Department of the Treasury. FinancialStability.gov. http://www.financialstability.gov/
Still a work-in-progress, this site provides links to information about the stimulus package.

U.S. Department of the Treasury. Internal Revenue Service. IRS Information Related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204335,00.html
A short article highlighting some of the tax-related provisions that are being implemented.

Find Documents

Catalog USMAI [help]
Books, journals, government documents and other materials in the University System of Maryland, including UB. You may search up to six individual locations or the entire system.

Catalog of U.S. Government Publications [help]
Coverage: July 1976 - present. Search more than 500,000 records for electronic and print publications from the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government. Includes links to full text where available.

FDSys [help]
Coverage: 1993 – present. Search for federal documents back to the 103rd Congress. Collections include: Federal Register; Congressional Record; Congressional bills, hearings and documents; Public and Private Laws, and the Compilation of Presidential Documents (now updated daily).

Google U.S. Government Search
Search for U.S. federal, state and local government information. Very helpful for locating specific documents.

USA.gov
The U.S. Government's Official Web Portal. Search for a particular document, or browse the topics.

Subject Databases

ABI Inform [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: 1970 - present. Indexes more than 1,300 journals on business, management, with 75% full-tex

BNA [on-campus]
Coverage varies. Variety of titles covering a broad spectrum of practice areas, including intellectual property, environmental law, federal securities, labor and employment, tax, and public contracts. Among the titles are U.S. Law Week, U.S. Patents Quarterly, and the BNA Tax Management Portfolios. Its daily publications, including Daily Tax Report, Daily Labor Report, and Daily Environment Report, are indispensable to the legal professional. NOTE TO OFF-CAMPUS USERS: In order to search for BNA journals in Research Port, you will need the exact title. You can find a complete list of titles at http://law.ubalt.edu/template.cfm?page=474

Business Source Premier [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: Varies - present. Business Source Premier provides full text for nearly 8,350 scholarly business journals and other sources, including full text for more than 1,100 scholarly business publications. Coverage includes virtually all subject areas related to business. This database provides full text (PDF) for more than 350 of the top scholarly journals dating as far back as 1922. Funded by the Maryland Digital Library (MDL). Includes company profiles, many of which contain SWOT analyses.

HEIN ONLINE: [On-campus]
Coverage: varies. A retrospective collection of over 90 law reviews, with over 200,000 articles. Full-text is available, in graphical image format.

Military & Government Collection [on-campus]
Coverage: various dates. Designed to offer current news pertaining to all branches of the military and government, this database offers a thorough collection of periodicals, academic journals, and other content pertinent to the increasing needs of those sites. The Military & Government Collection provides cover-to-cover full text for nearly 350 journals and periodicals and indexing and abstracts for nearly 450 titles.

News/Current Events Databases

Baltimore Sun [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: Sept 16, 1990 - present. Full text of Baltimore Sun.

National Newspapers (NA5) with Washington Post [on-campus]
Coverage: Varies with each title back to 1984. Full text of 5 newspapers:
Baltimore Sun, Christian Science Monitor, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition and the Washington Post.

General Databases

Academic Search Premier [on-campus] [help] Coverage: 1990 - present. Provides full-text for over 3,400 scholarly journals covering the social sciences, humanities, education, sciences, and more. Funded by the Maryland Digital Library (MDL).

ArticleFirst [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: 1990 - present. Indexes journals in science, technology, medicine, social science, business, the humanities, and popular culture. Citations only. No abstracts or full-text. Now includes ContentsFirst.

Lexis-Nexis Academic [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: 1970 - present. Features full text of many newspapers and periodicals. Also offers business news, legal materials such as federal & state codes, case law and legal journals.

Masterfile Premier [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: 1990 - present. Indexes more than 3,100 magazines covering general subjects. Includes full-text for over 1,000 journals.

5/21/2008

New Gov Docs Titles: April 2008

Here are some of the new titles that you can find in the Langsdale Government Documents Collection:

State of Maryland Documents (shelved in the general collection)

Print/CD/DVD (online version linked when available)

  • The Constitution of the United States of America as Amended: Unratified Amendments, Analytical Index. (Y 1.1/7: 110-50)
  • Empowering Local Communities: Through Leadership Development and Capacity Building. (HH 14.2:EM 7)
    A report on the universities that received grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of University Partnerships, including the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
  • MACV: The Joint Command in the Years of Withdrawal, 1968-1973. (D 114.7/3:J 66)
  • Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Fall 2007. (L2.70/4: 51/3)
    Special Issue: Charting the Projections: 2006-16. This issue contains charts that project changes in occupational employment, industry employment, the labor force, and the overall economy.
  • The Redesigned Naturalization Test. (HS 8.2: T 28)
    This brochure folds out to a two-sided poster that lists the questions and important terms on the revised test.
  • Schneller, Robert John. Anchor of Resolve: A History of U.S. Naval Forces General Command/Fifth Fleet. (D221.2: F62/3)
  • Seniors, Protect Yourself Against Investment Fraud: A Guide for Seniors. (SE 1.36:SE 5)
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Programs in Brief, October 2007. (HE20.402: P94/4)
    Gives a one-page brief of all DHHS programs organized by topic (i.e., “matrix area”).

Hearings from the 110th Congress

For a list of new electronic titles available in April, please go the Catalog of Government Publications.

4/01/2008

New Gov Docs Titles: March 2008

Here are some of the new titles that you can find in the Langsdale Government Documents Collection:

Print/CD/DVD (online version linked when available)

  • Intelligence Community Legal Reference Book, Fall 2007. (PrEx 28.2: L52)
    Collects important legislation and legal guidelines used by the Intelligence Community. From the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
  • IRS Tax Products CD & DVD. (T 22.51/4:2007/REV. 2008/FINAL)
    Current and previous year forms and instructions on CD; historical tax forms and instructions in PDF format on DVD. Includes all iterations of forms and instructions (Example: All versions of Form 1040 from 1913 - present, plus the first tax form used in 1864).

    All pubs are available in PDF form 1994-present; older ones are not available in PDF format, so they are not included here.

    For 2007, multilingual products are included, along with Title 26 (Internal Revenue Code), IRS e-File information, Tax Map, and Tax Topics.
  • Occupational Injuries and Illnesses: Counts, Rates, and Characteristics, 2005 (L2.3/11:2005)
    Includes a spiral-bound book and 2 CDs.
  • Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-2009. (GP 3.22/2: 270/2008-2009)
  • Our Flag. (Y 1.1/3:109-18)
    This booklet includes a history of the U. S. Flag and rules on how to fly it, as well as a section on state flags and a copy of the Pledge of Allegiance.
  • Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008. (C 3.134:2008)

For a list of new electronic titles available in March, please go the Catalog of Government Publications.

New Gov Docs Titles: February 2008

Here are some of the new titles that you can find in the Langsdale Government Documents Collection:

Print/CD/DVD (online version linked when available)

For a list of new electronic titles available in February, please go the Catalog of Government Publications.

1/30/2008

New Gov Docs Titles: January 2008

Here are some of the new titles that you can find in the Langsdale Government Documents Collection:

Print/CD/DVD (online version linked when available)

For a list of new electronic titles available in January, please go the Catalog of Government Publications.

9/27/2007

The Government Has a Blog

Yes, you read that right. The Office of Citizen Services and Communications at the U.S. General Services Administration has created a new blog about government information, with a different blogger for each day of the week (meet them here). They'd really like to hear from you, the public, so check out the blog and leave comments or drop them an e-mail.

Blog Link: Gov Gab: Your U.S. Government Blog

9/26/2007

New Gov Docs Titles: September

Here are some of the new titles that you can find in the Langsdale Government Documents Collection:

Print/CD/DVD (online version linked when available)

For a list of new electronic titles available in September, please go the Catalog of Government Publications.

9/17/2007

Langsdale Celebrates Constitution Day

In honor of Constitution Day (Sept. 17), Langsdale Library has created a display on the first floor of the library; we encourage you to stop by and see it before the end of September. As part of the exhibit, the library is giving away FREE pocket-sized copies of the U.S. Constitution (including the amendments). To get your copy, please stop by the Reference Desk on the first floor.

There is also a new Constitution Day Guide: http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/ConstitutionDay_guide.htm

For questions about other resources available at Langsdale, please contact the Reference Desk at langref@ubalt.edu or 410-837-4274.

9/11/2007

Statements of Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker Available Online

Gen. David H. Petraeus and Iraq Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker are testifying about Iraq before a Joint Hearing of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on Armed Services. The text of their statements (plus graphics) is now available online:
For more about the hearings, check out these sites:

9/02/2007

While You Were Gone: New Summer Gov Docs Titles

In case you missed these, here are some of the new titles that you can find in the Langsdale Government Documents Collection:

Print (online version linked when available)

For a list of new electronic titles available in June, July and August, please go the Catalog of Government Publications.

5/31/2007

New Gov Docs Titles: May

Here are some of the new print titles that you can find in the Langsdale Government Documents Collection:

For a list of new electronic titles in May, please go the Catalog of Government Publications.

4/25/2007

New Gov Docs Titles: March/April

Here are some of the new titles that you can find in the Langsdale Government Documents Collection:

3/09/2007

Tax Forms Available at UB

Tax forms for the 2006 filing year are now available at the following locations:
  • Langsdale Library, Second Floor
    Forms available include: 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, Earned Income Tax Credit, Telephone Excise Tax Refund, Maryland Forms & Instructions; reproducible forms will be available at the Reference Desk in a few weeks. For questions about availability, please contact Tamara Smith (tsmith@ubalt.edu; 410-837-5072).
  • International Services Office, AC 111 (F & J visa holders only)
    Forms available include Forms 8843, 1040NR, 1040 NR-EZ, instruction booklets, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens and U.S. Tax Treaties publications. For questions about availability, please contact Wendy Burgess (wburgess@ubalt.edu; 410-837-4756).

For a complete list of forms available in both locations (and for additional information about the one-time-only Telephone Excise Tax Refund), please see the Tax Forms @ UB page: http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/govinfo/taxes2006.htm

For more resources, including where to get filing help, please see our Tax Forms Guide: http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/TaxForms_guide.htm