Radreffies' blogs

We at FGI have been long-time supporters and agitators for the US Census and its companions, most notably the American Community Survey (ACS) -- see for example "Fear, uncertainty, or doubt? Why the Census and ACS are critical to a well-functioning democracy." So it was a complete shock to the system to learn about the Orwellian bill H.R. 1638: Census Reform Act of 2013 making its way through Congress. And we were so happy to learn that Kathy Karn Carmichael, Documents Librarian/ Instructor of Library Science at the University of South Carolina Aiken was going to be in Washington DC and planned to drop off letters of concern to Congressman Duncan's office.

My colleague Kris Kasianovitz and I hastily wrote a letter (attached PDF and below), sent it to our University Librarian for approval, and were extremely grateful that he approved it and agreed to add his name to it. We sent a PDF copy to Kathy who added it to her own letter (attached PDF and below), and then sent paper copies to Congressman Duncan, the 14 co-sponsors of the bill, the Chairs and ranking members of the 3 committees taking up the bill, as well as to Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, [D-CA18], Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, [D-CA19] and our 2 Senators Feinstein and Boxer.

But a bill like this demands more than a letter of concern. So we're posting our letter here on FGI for others to copy/crib and otherwise use as a template for letters of your own and to pass around to friends, family and colleagues, especially to those in districts represented by Congressman Duncan and the other 14 co-sponsors. Kathy has also generously allowed us to post her letter as well. We'd be happy to post copies of others' letters as well. Help us assure that HR1638 "Census Reform Act of 2013" does not move beyond committee and does not rear its ugly head again.

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June 13, 2013
The Honorable Jeff Duncan
116 Cannon House Office Building
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Representative Duncan:

I am writing regarding H.R. 1638, the Census Reform Act. As a librarian in the Federal Depository program, I am opposed to eliminating the various censuses targeted in this legislation. This data provides valuable, free information, not only to the citizens of South Carolina and the entire country, but to local, state, and federal governments so that they may assess the needs of their constituents. Furthermore, it provides information which is not available elsewhere to business leaders, entrepreneurs and researchers.

In addition to my responsibilities as the FDLP coordinator, I am also a reference and instruction librarian at University of South Carolina Aiken. As a frequent user of this data I am able to assist students, faculty, and citizens in this community with their government information research needs. Additionally, I work with clients of the South Carolina Small Business Development Center to help them access government information to prepare business plans or market analyses. Only last week, I was assisting one of their clients with her market analysis. The American Community Survey provided access to data which helped demonstrate the need for a type of healthcare service which is unavailable in our small community and would prevent patients from seeking treatment across the state line in Georgia. You, as a former small business owner, are aware of the challenges in beginning a new business. The ability to access demographic and economic data at no cost which might help these entrepreneurs better understand their target market is vital to ensure their future success.

According to your website, this legislation is in response to complaints by South Carolinians who feel these censuses, in particular the American Community Survey, are too intrusive. Living in the age of social media and electronic information and given the recent revelations regarding the government’s access to private information of its citizens without our knowledge, asking questions about the size of your property or the distance of your commute seems trivial. Eliminating these data collection programs impact all Americans. If implemented it would severely limit the ability of all librarians to assist the constituents of the other 434 members of Congress with accessing timely demographic information. I hope you will reconsider moving forward with this legislation and look for alternative methods to resolve the concerns of your constituents.

Sincerely,

Kathy Karn-Carmichael, MLS
University of South Carolina Aiken
Gregg-Graniteville Library
Aiken, SC 29801
803-641-3320

June 17, 2013

The Honorable Jeff Duncan
116 Cannon House Office Building
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Congressman Duncan,

We are writing to express our grave concern regarding 113 HR 1638, the “Census Reform Act of 2013,” the bill you introduced on April 18, 2013. This bill, rather than “reforming” the Census, will eliminate the collection of the nation’s most critical statistical instruments and cause the nation irreparable harm in negatively affecting public policy planning, scientific and academic research, and the economy. As we understand it, HR 1638 calls for:

1) The repeal and cancellation of certain census activities including the census of agriculture, census of governments, economic census, etc.;
2) curtailing the Census Bureau from conducting any census, survey, sampling or questionnaire including the American Community Survey (ACS) and rescinding any unobligated moneys to carry out the ACS;
3) prohibiting surveys or questionnaires and limiting statistics collected in a decennial census;
4) Repeal of the Census of Agriculture act of 1997.

The US Census is enshrined in the US Constitution (Article I, Section 2) and was a significant act by our founders of empowering the people over unruly governments. The legality of the Census has been repeatedly affirmed by the courts. The gathering of information is done in accordance with the US Constitution under the authority of Congress and is regulated by other laws and regulations. The various Census instruments – including the American Community Survey (ACS) – are implemented in a careful, public way under the Constitution, the U.S. Code, and the Code of Federal Regulations – all with the approval of the courts.

Today the data gathered by the Census Bureau is used by US citizens, businesses, and researchers and students across the hard- and social sciences and humanities – many of whom access current and historic data in Federal Depository libraries across the country – to measure our economy, know how to adjust spending for and develop social, financial and economic programs, and ensure that we are producing crops and livestock to support consumption and trade.

Here are just some of the uses for Census data :

• Attracting new businesses to state and local areas.
• Forecasting future transportation needs for all segments of the population.
• Planning for hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and the location of other health services.
• Designing public safety strategies.
• Making business decisions.
• Economic development of rural areas.
• Planning urban land use.
• Creating maps to speed emergency services to households in need of assistance.
• Planning investments and evaluating financial risk.
• Facilitating scientific research.
• Providing evidence in litigation involving land use, voting rights, and equal opportunity.
• Drawing school district boundaries.
• Assessing the potential for spread of communicable diseases.
• Drawing federal, state, and local legislative districts and re-apportioning seats in the House of Representatives.

These data that HR 1638 seeks to destroy underpin and are critical to sound policy-making. Without it, the US Congress, State and local governments, businesses, academia, the American people and the libraries which serve them will be flying blind in terms of public policy, planning and ensuring that the US is on sound economic footing. We strongly urge you to reconsider and withdraw HR 1638.

Sincerely,

Michael A. Keller, University Librarian*, Stanford University
James R. Jacobs, FDLP Coordinator, Government Information Librarian*, Stanford University
Kris Kasianovitz, Government Information Librarian*, Stanford University

123D Cecil H. Green Library
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305

*title and address used for identification purposes only.

cc Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, [D-CA18] Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, [D-CA19]

Bill co-sponsors: Jason Chaffetz [R-UT3]; Andy Harris [R-MD1]; Walter Jones [R-NC3]; Steve Pearce [R-NM2]; Reid Ribble [R-WI8]; Steve Southerland [R-FL2]; Raúl Labrador [R-ID1]; Thomas Massie [R-KY4]; Bill Posey [R-FL8]; Steve Stockman [R-TX36]; Howard Coble [R-NC6]; Todd Rokita [R-IN4]; Jim Bridenstine [R-OK1]; Austin Scott [R-GA8]

Chairman Steve King and Marcia Fudge, ranking member, House Committee on Agriculture: Department Operations, Oversight, and Nutrition

Chairman Rep. Harold “Hal” Rogers [R-KY5] and Ranking Member Rep. Nita Lowey [D-NY17], House Committee on Appropriations

Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa [R-CA49] and Ranking Member Rep. Elijah Cummings [D-MD7]

Senator Diane Feinstein
Senator Barbara Boxer

author:  Shepard, Sara

Yes, I'm three books in to Pretty Little Liars. I don't even like it anymore, but I'm not sure I can stop.

reviewdate:  Jun 16 2013 isn:  978-0-06-1975585

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author:  Sowa, Marzena Savoia, Sylvain (art)

I was really looking forward to reading this graphic memoir of growing up in 1980s Poland. Sowa and Savoia depict lots of surprising realities--the privations of life behind the Iron Curtain, like chewing window putty for want of gum--and life-shaking historical moments, like Solidarnosc, but maybe because Sowa was so young during the time period she's telling us about, there isn't enough nuance or engagement to make her story as compelling as I wanted it to be.

reviewdate:  Jun 14 2013 isn:  978-1-4012-2959-7

author:  Harris, Charlaine

You know I love the Sookie Stackhouse series, right?, but like with so many endings to television series, the finale was a bit of a disappointment. I'm okay with who Sookie ended up with, but the whole book was a set-up for it, and there were lots of loose ends unnecessarily tied up.

reviewdate:  Jun 11 2013 isn:  978-1-937007-88-1

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Security expert Bruce Schneier makes a strong case, with lots of links to background material:

• Government Secrets and the Need for Whistleblowers by Bruce Schneier Crypto-Gram Newsletter (June 15, 2013).

  The U.S. government is on a secrecy binge. It overclassifies more information than ever. And we learn, again and again, that our government regularly classifies things not because they need to be secret, but because their release would be embarrassing.

  Knowing how the government spies on us is important. Not only because so much of it is illegal -- or, to be as charitable as possible, based on novel interpretations of the law -- but because we have a right to know. Democracy requires an informed citizenry in order to function properly, and transparency and accountability are essential parts of that. That means knowing what our government is doing to us, in our name. That means knowing that the government is operating within the constraints of the law. Otherwise, we're living in a police state.

[This essay originally appeared in The Atlantic.]

CRYPTO-GRAM is written by Bruce Schneier. Schneier is the author of the best sellers "Liars and Outliers," "Beyond Fear," "Secrets and Lies," and "Applied Cryptography," and an inventor of the Blowfish, Twofish, Threefish, Helix, Phelix, and Skein algorithms. He is the Chief Security Technology Officer of BT, and is on the Advisory Boards of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). He is a frequent writer and lecturer on security topics. See http://www.schneier.com.

Davita Vance-Cooks (short biography (PDF)) sat today for her confirmation hearing to be the 27th Public Printer of the United States. Here's the video of the full hearing.

Committee Chairman Senator Charles Schumer, who could not attend the hearing, in a statement, praised Vance-Cooks for her leadership and urged colleagues to confirm her as the 27th Public Printer.

If confirmed, Vance-Cooks would be the first woman and first African-American Public Printer of the United States.

More from the GPO press release (PDF):

The U.S. Senate’s Committee on Rules and Administration held the confirmation hearing of Davita Vance-Cooks to be Public Printer. The hearing was chaired by Senator Angus King and attended by ranking member Senator Pat Roberts and Senator Amy Klobuchar. Senator King read into the record an introduction of Vance-Cooks submitted by Senator Mark Warner. Vance-Cooks answered questions on her leadership, accomplishments and experience in the private sector and while holding executive positions at the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). Vance-Cooks explained how GPO is no longer just a printing operation, but has transformed into the digital information platform for the Federal Government. “I have an unwavering belief in the vital mission of GPO—Keeping America Informed,” said Vance-Cooks. “I will ensure that GPO stays dedicated to that mission.”

We have seen this happen before in the U.S. (See, for example: The NARA/TGN contract as a bad precedent and GAO *did* sell exclusive access to legislative history to Thomson West) and Canada (Help save the Library & Archives Canada), but this seems like a particularly bad, unjustifiable example of privatization of public information.

• Library and Archives Canada private deal would take millions of documents out of public domain, By Chris Cobb, OTTAWA CITIZEN (June 12, 2013).

  Library and Archives Canada has entered a hush-hush deal with a private high-tech consortium that would hand over exclusive rights to publicly owned books and artifacts for 10 years.

  ...LAC is partnering with Canadiana.org in what is being billed as The Heritage Project -- digitizing 40 million images from more than 800 collections of publicly-held LAC material, much bought by Library and Archives over the years with taxpayers' money.

  ...Under the agreement, digital images will begin rolling back into the free public domain -- known as "open access" -- as the 10-year exclusive rights expire.

Hat tip to InfoDocket!

When corporations put on ultramarathons, well, you lose some of the specialness. You don’t get homemade cookies at aid stations, or medals that differ year to year (Hey, they got a good deal on medals years ago…and use the same exact medal for all of their races, regardless of distance.) and lots of newbies without a respect for the trails (I saw one dimwit actually toss his trash INTO the woods, you know, so it didn’t spoil the trail itself.). But still, it can be a fun race.
The temperatures were predicted to be in the 90s all week, so we were getting emails from The North Face reminding us too hydrate. Too bad they didn’t take the severity of the heat into consideration and stock their aid stations with lots of ice. I was a 50miler, and ran a fairly decent time, and still, I found the aid stations to be lacking ice. Cold (esp ice cold) water is absorbed faster than lukewarm water, and we really needed to be on top of hydration on a hot day like race day.
I started out in good spirits, running at a good clip, feeling fairly well. I was jockeying between 3rd and 4th woman for the first ten or so miles…and then my stomach began torturing me. I ran into the bushes, a portapotty, the bushes, the bushes. Oh, what fun. I subsisted on gels and Clif Shot Blocks (tropical bunch flavor, baby). A lot of the food tasted funny or was soggy w the humidity. Yuck. I don’t know why I’m picky when running ultras but I am.
The course consists of running about 2 miles, then doing a lollypop loop, then running out about 6.7 miles without aid stations (which was pretty hard in the afternoon to handle this section with just one bottle of water). Then you do this 7-ish mile loop three times. And then you run back that entire first section.

There’s dirt. Some rocks (inc where I smashed my foot really, really hard the first time – and I ended up taking it super duper easy the rest of the times bc my foot was absolutely throbbing). Some hills. Some heat. Some high grass. Some pretty views of the river.
Well-organized, yes. The special loving touches of an ultra, no. They ran out of ice, ran low on some goods. It seemed like those volunteering at aid stations and buying supplies had never run an ultra. I would get to an aid station and they would want me to fill my own bottle – which normally is fine but not usual but my hand is actually severely and painfully injured with awful tendintis – ouch – so I couldn’t open a bottle. I’d have to ask every time.
I had tummy problems, that smashing the foot problem. The heat wasn’t killing me – but around 42 or 43, I started feeling woozy…I knew it was the heat. I had seen people passing out and not responsive – so I consciously began to walk, dump water on my head, hoping to cool myself down.
I finished – 9:51, a better time than last year, not what I had wanted to do, but quite respectable given the circumstances.
Sweaty stinky mess, yes. And loads of fun. A lot of newbies who didn’t know to pick up their gu wrappers. But what a fun day regardless. Pretty and running is almost always fun.

Barbara Fister writes about privacy and government secrecy in the wake of the exposure of the government's "Prism" program and other surveillance activities.

• Ordinary Americans, by Barbara Fister, Inside Higher Ed (June 10, 2013).

The effects of government secrecy on the privacy of Americans and its overlap with libraries and the Right to Read has a long history. In recent decades we have had the FBI's "Library Awareness Program" (See Surveillance in the Stacks The FBI's Library Awareness Program By Herbert N. Foerstel, Greenwood Press. Westport, Conn. 1991), the "PATRIOT" Act with its library-records clause, the "Total Information Awareness" program, the "Terrorist Surveillance Act," and more.

Fister quotes from the Church committee hearings of the 1970s. Her article is worth a read.

See more about privacy here on FGI:

• PRIVACY: Key Challenges Facing Federal Agencies (2006)
• Privacy and the "Terrorist Surveillance Act" (2006)

  The "Terrorist Surveillance Act" is misnamed. It doesn't authorize the government to spy on terrorists, it authorizes the government to spy on everyone hoping that it can find terrorists.

• Turkle on Privacy (2007)
• Privacy: "I have nothing to hide" (2007)
• Siva on Privacy and 'the Nonopticon' (2008)
• Privacy: "I have nothing to hide" (2011)
• Privacy in the value chain: an important role for libraries past and future (2011)
• Privacy then and now: Some history of the "Patriot" Act (2011)
• more...

I wanted to go to Veracruz in Mexico, spend a week exploring beachside towns and doing a little hiking, and heading over to Mexico City to see (and run with!) some friends. Or just go to Austin for the weekend for the Flipside Festival.
 Wayne didn’t want that. He wasn’t sure what he wanted.
And somehow, we ended up in Puerto Rico.
It was a trip where we spent and wasted a lot of money. True, we relaxed, and some of the beaches were nice, but neither of us fell in love with PR. I don’t think we’ll be back.Funny, I had always wanted to explore PR – I have a friend with lots of family there and always thought if I would go, I’d go with her. That would’ve been a very different experience.




Day One:The night before was filled with doubt (“Should we just cancel our tickets?” “I don’t really want to go.”) We got our bags packed and left our house at 4am to catch the morning flight down. We felt sullen, disinterested. As soon as we arrived, we immediately got ripped off by our taxi driver, which put us in a foul mood.We dropped our stuff off at the friendly Andalucia Guesthouse, used their sunblock (Glad they provided it free since I had forgotten to pack it!), and headed to the beach. The beach was nice and Wayne decided he wanted to get his kite stuff. And then he was kiting a long time and I had no sunblock and I became torched. I was in tears when he came in, I was so crispy red. We went back, showered, and Wayne slathered me with aloe. We explored the neighborhood and ate Peruvian food our first day in PR, which felt a little weird.Day Two:We realized we didn’t have anything booked for Vieques. The original plan now was to go to Austin (but we later discovered that was too $$$$ so we couldn’t) at the end of our trip. I was annoyed bc I don’t like wasting time planning this kind of stuff on trips and Wayne was so indecisive so we had figured zero out. I booked a place, then we went to Old San Juan. (Taxi drivers ripped us off in both directions.) Cute, but nothing life-altering. We got frozen yogurt and then headed back to the guesthouse to grab our stuff and go to the beach. Wayne went kiting, I went running and read Trail Runner magazine. (Doesn’t that sound like wonderful beach reading to you?) I wore a shirt because my entire back and butt were crispy burned. Wayne and I got burritos for dinner (mmmmmmm ginger-tamarind margaritas and cinnamon-cranberry margaritas!!!) and bought bathing suits at the surf shop and got some rum and passionfruit juice to drink back at our guesthouse. We chilled in the Jacuzzi and had drinks on the balcony.Day Three:Ran on the beach, during which some idiot stole my flipflops. I was so pissed. I have been to places much more dangerous and impoverished, yet here in San Juan I get my flipflops stolen? My favourite and oh-so- comfy. We got breakfast, then I bought new flipflops at the surf shop, Wayne rented a too-expensive car (WTF $40 a day for insurance?!?!) and we headed to el Yunque. It was a pretty rainforest but it was raining and it was paved (WTF?) and it was crowded. Wayne’s back hurt and it was slippery. We were a  cheery bunch indeed. Then we hopped back in the car, had some pretty roads to drive back on, and arrived in Fajardo. We got a hideous lunch at a horrific bakery and then hopped on the super-crowded, late-leaving ferry, where they made all the tourists wave in a separate line so the locals could board first. You couldn’t wait on the outside part of the ferry because the waves were so rough. There were a million cops, apparently because there had been 15 murders in the past 3 months (drug-related). Finally, our ride ended and we lugged our suitcase and kite bag off the ferry and up to Casa de Amistad.Our hosts were super friendly. We were immediately at ease. After we settled in, we headed to Al’s Mar Azul for Mexican dinner – which was fantastic, as were the pina coladas. We sat right on the water, trying out the different hot sauces, relaxing a little bit, finally.We wandered around the town, pretty quiet, empty. We were staying in Isabel Segunda.Day Four:An early morning run. I ran out on 200, felt like crap, rain pouring down, dogs chasing me, horses wild on the roads, a little bizarre. I headed back, showered, and we discussed what we should do. No idea.We ate breakfast at Buen Provecho where a surly expat insulted me about my wrist brace. WTF. Then we booked ourselves on a bio-bay tour for the night, and rented bikes for the day. We packed water, granola bars, towels, sunblock, and headed out.Our ride was hilly and tough, and cars came whipping around the corners. And then it began pouring and we were going to the beach…misery.So what do you do when it rains on the beach? You go and get cocktails. We ended up at Bananas, drinking Chocolate Banana Mudslides and Pina Coladas…and eating….and drinking, and chatting w the expats.Day Five:Go running. I get chased by dogs the entire time, growling, ready to attach dogs. Hop in the back of a pick-up truck to get past the worst of the dogs. Freaking frightening. At one point, a dog jumps over a fence and began chasing me. The other dogs that didn’t jump barked like crazy. I went insane, screaming and threatening to throw a rock and charging at the dog. I don’t know how I got out of there. So scary. I was shaking when I finished my run.Rent a yellow Jeep which turns out to be held together with duct tape. Take off the roof and drive around like maniacs…drive down bouncy roads, to desolate secluded beaches. Branches falling in our car. Snorkel. Drive down to the abandoned and freaking scary deserted military bunkers. Stopped by random spots. Scary bumpy crazy roads, is this even safe?Day Six:Flat fire. Return the car, get a new one. More beaches. Beach, beach, beach. Go to the Sol Food truck for delicious lunch And then Wayne of course wants to go kite surfing and we can’t find where to go or is the wind just bad?And then…two flat tires. Someone driving by calls the rental car place bc we don’t even know the name of the road we’re on. Then the cops come and wait w us, telling us the road is really dangerous bc it is “solitary” and there are lots of “stoned” people. Then the cops wait, they have to go. “Stay in your car w the doors locked.” Um great. Finally the car people came, put on two new tires and we drove back to town. “I want to return this car now,” Wayne said, but we just chilled out in town.
Day Seven:
Up early. Run and a pina colada with breakfast. Return the car. Hop on the miserably crowded ferry, ridiculously delayed and stuffy and stinky. Wayne and I hop into our waiting rental car and drive it to San Juan.
Beach. Kite surfing for Wayne. Relaxing….
Day Eight:
Beach. Run. Beach. Kite surfing for Wayne.
I call JetBlue to see if we can change to the earlier flight. We throw all our stuff in our bags, head to the airport and get on the earlier flight, thank goddess.
Vacation is over.

We were so happy to be home….

Library Journal has just published "Notable Government Documents of 2012: Looking Back, Moving Ahead." Every year a panel of judges from the ALA's Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) receive submissions and compile a list of notable state and local-, Federal-, and international documents -- including links to and distributors for all of the documents. Check out the amazingly diverse topics covered by govt documents including bees, FOIA, the space shuttle, zombies (yes zombies!!), CA high speed rail, birds and dragonflies and damselflies (oh my!), Documents.OK.gov, cannabis, water and many more. Great job by the community and the committee. Every library should have all of these items in their collections at the very least.

FYI, The 2013 process will soon begin. You too can submit your favorite new documents to committee.

With the June quarterly link check looming next week, activity continues at the State Agency Databases Project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases. For a full listing of activity in the past week, visit http://tinyurl.com/statedbs. Here are the customary highlights:

DATABASES ADDED

CALIFORNIA (Joel Rane)

Nautical Fiction List - An annotated bibliography of novels, along with some short stories, poetry and drama, on the subject of the oceans or seafaring. Searchable by author.

Georgia (Chris Sharpe)

OASIS (Online Analytical Statistical Information System) - Set of interactive tools used to create maps, tables, or charts from Georgia's health data repository. It is currently populated with Vital Statistics (births, deaths, fetal deaths, induced terminations, pregnancies), Hospital Discharge, Emergency Room Visit, Arboviral Surveillance, Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS), STD, Motor Vehicle Crash, and Population data.

TEXAS (Ann Ellis)

Texas Medical Board "Look Up a Doctor" - Within this database, patients, consumers, doctors and other health care professionals can locate health care providers and institutions, medical suspensions, various rules and regulations, statistical reports, and practitioner demographics arranged by date.

NEW MISSOURI RESOURCES ADDED TO BIOGRAPHICAL DATABASES

Despite the page name of Biographical Databases, this page also contact static biography resources because project volunteers thought this would be valuable. Missouri volunteer recently added these resources to the page:

Governors - Chronological list of the governors of Missouri with party, term, home county, and dates of birth and death.
Lieutenant Governors - Chronological list of the lieutenant governors of Missouri with party, term, home county, and dates of birth and death.
Secretaries of State - Chronological list of the secretaries of state of Missouri with party, term, home county, and dates of birth and death.
State Auditors - Chronological list of the state auditors of Missouri with party, term, home county, and dates of birth and death.
State Treasurers - Chronological list of the state treasurers of Missouri with party, term, home county, and dates of birth and death.
Attorneys General - Chronological list of the attorneys general of Missouri with party, term, home county, and dates of birth and death.
State Legislators - Alphabetical list of state legislators including party, office, county/district elected, and years served. Covers 1820 - 2000.
Officers of the Missouri Senate and House - Chronological list of officers, including President Pro Tem-Senate, Secretary of the Senate, Speaker of the House, and Chief Clerk of the House, for each session. Covers 1820 - 2011.
Judges of the Missouri Supreme Court - Chronological list of judges with home counties and terms served. Covers 1820 - 2011.
U.S. Representatives - Alphabetical list of Representatives of the U.S. Congress with district, party, and year elected.
U.S. Senators - Alphabetical list of Senators of the U.S. Congress with party and year elected.

In addition to the changes mentioned above, Joel Rane, volunteer for California also added a large number of links to California university library catalogs.

author:  Shepard, Sara

One thing I appreciate is that the series doesn't attempt to drag one secret out for the entire gazillion books. In the beginning of book two, you find out the big deal from book one.

reviewdate:  Jun 7 2013 isn:  978-0-061975578

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author:  Shepard, Sara

It's the fault of my Facebook 50 Books in 2013 group and specifically my smart, feminist, zine friend Caitlin that I powered through the first and then second books in the Pretty Little Liars series in a large, rotund hurry. I mean who could resist this tantalizing write up: "Pretty Little Liars by I forget. It's been a long time since I had so thoroughly enjoyed such an objectively terrible book."?

reviewdate:  Jun 4 2013 isn:  978-0-061975561

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The Library of Congress recently released its Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress FY 2012 (PDF) (get LC's annual reports 2000 - present here and 1866 - 2007 at HathiTrust). Quite an impressive list of statistics!

FY 2012 LC Fast Facts:

• Responded to more than 700,000 congressional reference requests and delivered to Congress more than 1 million research products and approximately 30,000 volumes from the Library’s collections
• Registered more than 511,539 claims to copyright
• Provided reference services to 540,489 individuals in person, by telephone and through written and electronic correspondence
• Circulated more than 25 million copies of Braille and recorded books and magazines to more than 800,000 blind and physically handicapped reader accounts
• Circulated nearly 1 million items for use within the Library
• Preserved nearly 6 million items from the Library’s collections
• Recorded a total of 155,357,302 items in the collections:
  • 23,276,091 cataloged books in the Library of Congress classification system
  • 12,638,773 books in large type and raised characters, incunabula (books printed before 1501), mono- graphs and serials, music, bound newspapers, pamphlets, technical reports and other print material
  • 119,442,438 items in the nonclassified (special) collections, including:
    • 3,420,599 audio materials (discs, tapes, talking books and other re- corded formats)
    • 68,118,899 manuscripts
    • 5,478,123 maps
    • 16,746,497 microforms
    • 6,589,199 pieces of sheet music
  • 15,704,268 visual materials, as
    • 1,354,126 moving images

    • 13,640,325 photographs
    • 104,270 posters
    • 605,547 prints and drawings
• Welcomed nearly 1.7 million onsite visitors and recorded more than 87 million visits and 545 million page views on the Library’s website (at year’s end, the Library’s online primary- source files totaled 37.6 million)
• Employed 3,312 permanent staff members
• Operated with a total fiscal 2012 ap propriation of $629.2 million, including the authority to spend $41.9 million in receipts

Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress FY2012

[HT Gary Price at InfoDocket!]

Vint Cerf, Google's "Internet Evangelist," speaking at the Computer World Honors awards program on Monday, warned about the dangers and difficulties of long-term digital preservation. He said what's needed is a "digital vellum" to do long-term digital preservation in the same way as physical media has been preserved. Perhaps he needs to talk to libraries ;-)

Cerf warned that digital things created today -- spreadsheets, documents, presentations as well as mountains of scientific data -- won't be readable in the years and centuries ahead.

Cerf illustrated the problem in a simple way. He runs Microsoft Office 2011 on Macintosh, but it cannot read a 1997 PowerPoint file. "It doesn't know what it is," he said.

"I'm not blaming Microsoft," said Cerf, who is Google's vice president and chief Internet evangelist. "What I'm saying is that backward compatibility is very hard to preserve over very long periods of time."

The data objects are only meaningful if the application software is available to interpret them, Cerf said. "We won't lose the disk, but we may lose the ability to understand the disk."

It's not just PowerPoint slides either, he said. The scientific community collects large amounts of data from simulations and instrument readings. But unless the metadata survives, which will tell under what conditions the data was collected, how the instruments were calibrated, and the correct interpretation of units, the information may be lost.

In the past few weeks, I’ve done some short races. I stopped doing short races as much, mainly because it was depressing to go from my faster days (PRs include 19minute 5k, 38minute 10k, 1:35 half) to  be a slow ultrarunner. But I guess I’m not as slow as I thought…with the Ray K inspired goal of “having the most fun” I ran some pretty decent races in the recent weeks.
Brooklyn Half Marathon1:37Not bad. Wearing a multi-coloured tutu, I set out to have heaps of fun. Knowing I had run a 50k the week before (and a 50miler the week before that!), I figured I’d be slow and set a goal of sub 1:50- and I ended up running 1:37. With high fives, smiles, I could not believe how good I felt…almost like I could run that exact distance at the same pace. Not bad…and with a fun beach party to follow!

Ice Cream Social 10k43:58Not bad either. Wayne noticed the name of the race in the NYC Runs Twitter feed and I immediately remembered the fabulously-named race – and decided to run it, despite the fact that I was still in an airport and wouldn’t get home until midnight. Oh well. I slept in until 8am, run about 4 miles to the start, ran the 10k with a giant smile, ate an ice pop, and ran back home. LOTS of fun but taking my inhaler wasn’t so much fun. Oh, and got 1stin my age group, snagging a sweet trophy.
Wall Street Heart 3 Miler21:05Two days before a 50miler, no packing done, too many things on my mind, and way too hot, on a really windy and crowded course, I came out…and ran quite a respectable pace.


What’s different? I’m doing a lot more speed workouts with Ray K training me, and with less pressure of “I MUST PR OR MY LIFE SUCKS,” I have been running at fun paces. Also, running in cute outfits always pushes me. Ha!

The Sunlight Foundation is compiling a list of "transparency advocates" (CSOs, groups, networks, government projects) from all around the world. They are making their findings public as a spreadsheet available as a google doc ( https://docs.google.com/a/sunlightfoundation.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ao... ). In addition to name and URL, the list includes focus areas and social media links and much more.

So far they have a list of over 500 opengov groups across the globe. If you don't see your transparency organization in the list, submit information about it to Sunlight Foundation here: http://snlg.ht/19tUoCS

• International Transparency Organizations, Sunlight Foundation.

Law Libraries and the FDLP: An Interview with Sally Holterhoff, American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Washington Blawg (June 3rd, 2013).

AALL past president Sarah (Sally) G. Holterhoff is the Associate Professor of Law Librarianship and Government Information/Reference Librarian at Valparaiso University Law School Library. Sally has chaired AALL's Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) Task Force since its creation in 2012. The Government Relations Office recently sent Sally a number of questions about the mission of the task force, it's past and present work, and the role of law librarians in the FDLP.

Here's a twofer: highlights from the April 2013 SACO editorial meeting and new LCSH from April 2013.

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