SLA Government Information Division

Program: Coaching and Mentoring Federal Librarians

Coming to the SLA 2010 annual conference in New Orleans in June? Check out the DGI schedule and remember to update your conference planner so you don't miss any of our exciting sessions!

Here is just one of the Government Information Division programs that will give you a good return on time invested:

Coaching and Mentoring Federal Librarians
10:00 A.M. - 11:30 A.M.
Convention Center, Room 222

With the increase in technology within libraries, such as numerous online indexes, databases, and the Internet, librarians are expected to have knowledge of them, and become specialists in all types of resources available from their library.  Coaching and mentoring programs have resulted in increased work performance and enhancement of job skills in the corporate and non-profit world.  Speakers from the Government Printing Office and Justice Department will look at how these programs have been successfully implemented in some federal libraries, helping staff become better at their jobs, and therefore, provide higher quality service.

Speakers: Nancy Faget (Moderator), U.S. Government Printing Office; Carole Ramkey, Library of the Marine Corps; Jane Sanchez, U.S. Department of Justice; Susan Westenbarger, ASRC Management - EPA Headquarters Library

Lead Division: DGI; Co-hosting Division: DMIL
DGI Gold Sponsor: LexisNexis

Green Energy Portal for Renewable Energy Research

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released a new research site, DOE Green Energy. The site is a searchable database of DOE bibliographic citations and associated detailed full-text research reports and patents focusing on renewable energy and energy efficiency. Subjects covered include hydrogen, solar energy, tidal and wave power, energy storage, and direct energy conversion. DOE Green Energy has a simple search box and searches the full text of the documents. Results can be sorted by relevance or date.

NJ Governor Proposes Rutgers Absorb State Library

New Jersey State Governor Chris Christie's latest state budget proposes that Rutgers University take over operations of the New Jersey State Library, the State Museum,and Thomas Edison State College. An early response from Rutgers stated "the task of vetting this proposal and performing due diligence will require consultation within and beyond the university community and would ultimately require approval by our boards of governors and trustees."

The New Jersey Newsroom website published an article on the current status of the proposal in their 20 April 2010 article Christie wants Rutgers to take over operation of State Museum...

[Hat tip to ALA Direct]

US GPO Update: FDsys.gov

The Federal Digital System, or FDsys.gov is the online system replacing the 15-year-old GPO Access as the Government Printing Office's central source for its official government publications. The migration of document collections from GPO Access to FDsys should be completed this year. The list of collections to be added by June 30 includes the Constitution of the United States: Analysis and Interpretation and the Congressional Pictorial Directory.

Several documents discussing the state of FDsys development in detail have been released:

• The GPO Office of the Inspector General has released a critical report titled Federal Digital System (FDsys) Independent Verification And Validation – Tenth Quarter Report On Risk Management, Issues, And Traceability (March 2010).
• GPO has released minutes from an April 7th meeting with FDsys stakeholders, FDsys Program Review.

In other news, President Obama announced his intent to nominate William J. Boarman as the 26th Public Printer, the head of GPO. The nomination was received in the Senate on April 19th.

World Bank Frees Up Development Data

The World Bank has launched a new website, data.worldbank.org. Key points from today's informative press release:

The World Bank Group said today it will offer free access to more than 2,000 financial, business, health, economic and human development statistics that had mostly been available only to paying subscribers.

For the first time, data will be available in languages other than English, with an initial 330 indicators translated into French, Spanish and Arabic.

The new website at data.worldbank.org offers full access to data from 209 countries, with some of the data going back 50 years. Users will be able to download entire datasets for a particular country or indicator, quickly access raw data, click a button to comment on the data, email and share data with social media sites, says Neil Fantom, a senior statistician at the World Bank.

UK Offers Guidance on Gov Website Metrics

The UK Central Office of Information has developed two new sets of guidelines to help assess the value of government websites.

Measuring Website Usage [PDF|HTML] describes "a common approach to measuring website traffic. This enables departments to answer Parliamentary Questions and Freedom of Information Requests about website usage consistently and reliably. It also facilitates the development of performance measures for use in the planning, design and evaluation of websites."

Measuring Website Costs [PDF|HTML] "equips central government departments with a common method for measuring the cost of websites, providing the first step in determining value for money."

Together with an earlier release on Measuring Website Quality [HTML|PDF], these guidelines are intended to encourage good website development and to standardize the way in which website performance is reported.

COI also offers a guide to using social media in government, Engaging through Social Media [PDF]

U.S. States' Transparency Websites: Report

The U.S. PIRG Education Fund has published a report that "evaluates states’ progress toward 'Transparency 2.0'—a new standard of comprehensive, one-stop, one-click budget accountability and accessibility." Follow the Money: How the Fifty States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data finds that "In 32 states, citizens have access to checkbook-level data on government expenditures, with citizens in most of those states able to access that information through a searchable database." A chart evaluating each state's spending transparency website is in Appendix II on pages 30-31. The chart provides the URL for each site along with its transparency score.

Libraries as Linchpins for Open Government: Your Ideas Wanted

The relatively few librarians who have been venturing into the world of the Gov 2.0 techies, opengov transparency advocates, and e-gov administrators have been making the point that public libraries and information literacy have a key role to play. Thomas Jefferson is with us on this:

"Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to, convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. (http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1350.htm)

An interesting discussion on the topic is going on at GovLoop.com, the social networking site for the government community internationally and at all levels of government. See: Libraries as Linchpins of #Gov20 and #OpenGov. Contribute your knowledge to the forum! If you are not a member of GovLoop, consider registering. Many of your colleagues participate and are members of the Libaries - Local, State, and Federal group.

SLA 2010: Government Info Programming Posted

We have just posted the schedule of sessions DGI is sponsoring or co-sponsoring at the SLA 2010 annual conference in New Orleans, 13-16 June 2010. Check out the DGI schedule and don't forget to update your conference planner so you don't miss any of these exciting sessions! We'll be highlighting programs and thanking our sponsors in this blog, beginning with our always popular annual division meeting:

Government Information Division Annual Business Meeting and Presentation:
Strategic Positioning for Next Generation Library Services
Monday, 14 June, 4:00 P.M. - 5:30 P.M.
Convention Center, Room 215

The library's role is changing, users' information habits are changing, technology is changing, and value perceptions are changing.  Do your information services group's charter and strategy adequately reflect this new reality; Roger Strouse from Outsell, Inc., will discuss how information professionals must react to the new information environment to remain relevant and innovative.  Mr. Strouse will address service offerings, library positioning, and user and stakeholder relationships, and how best-in-class information management groups are successfully adapting to the modern challenges that we're all facing. Additionally, the Government Information Division's annual business meeting will recap the past year's achievements and preview what's ahead.

Speaker: Roger Strouse, Outsell, Inc.

Lead Division: DGI
DGI Gold Sponsor: LexisNexis

Social Media Lessons for Cities

A new report from the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania provides social media guidance based on interviews with city governments that have been early social media adopters. According to Fels,  Making the Most of Social Media: 7 Lessons from Successful Cities [PDF] "is written for local governments—cities, counties, townships and their affiliates—that are beginning to experiment with social media and would like to get more out of them."