Howdy, Partner!

Having trouble finding good, reliable, government information on a specific topic, like the Electoral College or Recycling? Or perhaps you'd like to browse a collection of useful government links on a broad topic like Education or the Military, and find a jewel of a useful website?

You should try our Government Information on the Web Subject Index!

The Index provides a single portal to link collections on particular subjects, taking advantage of the varied organizational schemes and terminologies developed by librarians around the country.

And the Index has just had its value acknowledged at the highest level—it's been designated an official Service Partner of the Government Printing Office, one of a handful of operations nationwide that "assist GPO to provide enhanced services to Federal depository libraries."

We are deeply honored to have our work so recognized by GPO, and are very excited at the national exposure that St. Mary's and the Blume Library will enjoy, especially in the library community, as a result of the Partnership.

Depository libraries receive tangible government publications, access to electronic publications (some of which are not freely available to the public), training, and support from the Government Printing Office. Established in 1813, the Federal Depository Library Program's purpose is to "to ensure that the American public has access to its Government's information." At St. Mary's, both the Blume Library and the Sarita Kenedy East Law Library are depositories. Across the nation, there are over 1200.

Government information can be useful in all sorts of research projects. Check out the Index, by all means, but if you need further assistance in finding government data or reports, ask a Reference Librarian.

Fun with local health statistics

How healthy are the residents in the county where you live? Do the local residents eat lots of fruits and vegetables? Is there a low incidence of obesity? What percentage of the local population smokes? You can easily find this information through several health statistics web sites. The Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI) site allows users to view data for any county in the United States. The site is a partnership between federal agencies and several private non-profit organizations. The data is obtained from a number of federal agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection Agency, Census Bureau, and Department of Labor. You can even easily generate a 12-page booklet with the data and graphics for your county. After selecting the state and then the county you which to examine, select the Print Full Report option on the right side of the screen and your booklet will automatically be formatted!

Another site that makes a game out of comparing one city (really the county) against another on several health and quality of life measures is Community Clash, provided by MeYou Health, a private well-being company that encourages people to pursue, achieve and maintain a healthy life through education and fun. Play Community Clash and see how your city compares to the rival city of your choice!

There's an App for the OECD Factbook 2010

Several weeks ago we noted that the World Bank Group opened their data to all. Now the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is making their OECD Factbook 2010 freely accessible through a downloadable app available for your mobile device. The OECD Factbook is arranged by 12 themes such as population and migration, macroeconomic trends, and globalization. Each indicator includes a table showing the latest available data for the 30 OECD countries, and data for Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russian Federation and South Africa where available. The data in the OECD Factbook are available in several formats. The mobile app for the OECD Factbook 2010 can be freely downloaded at the App Shopper site.

[image and information from OECD and App Shopper sites]

Deepwater Horizon...

...what a poetic-sounding name for a horrific event. And its full impacts won't be known for weeks, months, or perhaps even years.

If you want to keep up-to-date on what's happening with the Gulf oil spill—efforts to cap the leaks, predictions as to movement of the slick, and efforts made to minimize the damages as it makes landfall—we can help.

A diligent government information librarian in Alabama is compiling this bibliography of links to government and news sources. Their emphasis is, naturally, on the Alabama coastline, but they also include big-picture coverage.

Some of the government agencies most concerned with the spill are:

• NOAA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, who offers this informational page on the spill (the image on the left above is from their website)
  
• NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which provides rather chilling satellite imagery of the area, including the example on the right, which came from this NASA web page
• EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, who offers this page on efforts to monitor the environmental impacts
  

World Bank Group opens data to all

The World Bank Group now provides free access to more than 2,000 financial, business, health, economic and human development statistics that had mostly been available only to paying subscribers in the past.

This means that researchers, journalists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), entrepreneurs and school children alike will be able to tap into the World Bank's databases via a new website at data.worldbank.org

The World Bank's open data initiative has the potential to stimulate more evidence-based policymaking in developing countries by bringing more researchers and innovative analysis into the development process. The move might also stimulate demand for data and increase countries' capacity to produce it.

For the first time, data will also be available in languages other than English, with an initial 330 indicators translated into French, Spanish and Arabic. Read more at http://go.worldbank.org/MZ29WQLWK0

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Congratulations to 4th Annual Library Undergraduate Research Award recipient

On Friday, March 26, 2010, the recipient of the Fourth Annual Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award was recognized at the Eleventh Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. The award recognizes a student researcher who demonstrates skill and originality in the application of library and other information sources in a research project.

The First Place Award of $200 was granted to Rebecca Denise Lopez for her project, "Enhancing Learning: Modifying the Learning Practice Inventory for Use in Health Care." The faculty mentor for the project was Dr. Andrea Berndt.

Congratulations, Rebecca!

Stand up and be counted

Well, you don't actually have to stand up. You can be counted sitting down. And it's so easy to do you can even be counted lying down if you prefer. There's very little energy required.

Every 10 years, as specified in the U.S. Constitution, the Census Bureau conducts a count of every single person in the land. At least, that's the theory. It only works if each of those people cooperates and participates.

This April 1 is Census day for this decade. The last time it happened was April 1, 2000, and it won't happen again until April 1 (presumably) 2020. Every household is to respond to the questionnaire as of that day. Not the day before or the day after. [I was so disappointed that my son barely missed getting counted in the 1980 census—he was born a week later!]

The form is very short and only takes a few minutes to complete. You can take a look at it here. The more detailed questions that used to be a part of the Census are taken care of in the American Community Survey, which is an ongoing survey and only questions a sample of the population.

Simple as it is, there are a couple of areas you might have questions about:

• If you live on campus, your parents shouldn't count you on their form at home. You'll be counted in the dormitory. Here's more information on this count.
  
• The Census folks intend for Hispanic origin (which has only be noted since the 1970 Census, by the way) to be considered a separate characteristic from race. That's why there are two separate questions on the form. But race is self-reported. So if you're not comfortable marking white or African-American for race, there's a place for you to fill in what you consider yourself. The whole race question is very complicated and fraught with linguistic, emotional, and political baggage. The Library's Census guide has a section on comparability of Census data in this area. But suffice it to say that a perfect solution has yet to be devised.
• If you have any questions about getting a form or filling it out, here are some information phone numbers.
  

The main thing is to be counted! Census data is used for apportioning seats in the U.S. and Texas legislatures, for awarding grants, and in the research papers of generations of college students. So don't be left out!