joy at moll projects dot com
So, what is on the back of the Declaration of Independence? The National Archives and Records Administration has the answer.
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The Historical Statistics of the U.S.: Colonial Times to 1970 has recently been released as an electronic document. It's in PDF and not particularly convenient to use, but not impossible either. The Adobe find tool (binoculars) doesn't work and the page numbers of the book don't match the page numbers of the Adobe document. Still, I had some luck finding interesting facts using the subject index and patience.
| 1970 | 1900 | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 204,879,000 | 76,094,000 | Series A 23-28 Annual estimates of Population, p. 9 |
| Male | 100,266,000 | 38,867,000 | ditto |
| Female | 104,613,000 | 37,227,000 | ditto |
| Median age | 28.1 | 22.9 | Series A 143-157 Median Age of Population, p. 19 |
| Librarians | 124,000 | 3,000 | Series D 233-682 Detailed Occupation, p. 140 |
| Shoemakers | 32,000 | 102,000 | Series D 233-682 Detailed Occupation, p. 142 |
| Female workers | 30,601,000 | 5,319,000 | Series D 172-232 Major Occupation Group, p. 140 |
The Food Safety and Inspection Service has a new Fact Sheet about safely roasting turkeys. A recent news release highlights that and other information and services provided by the government to help you cook your turkey.
Or, would you like to see a turkey pardoned? The video and some Q&A about the annual White House ceremony are available from the Turkey Guy.
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Lest we forget in all the search engine frenzy of the week, there are alternatives. The following tools help find web sites that have been vetted by librarians and other professionals, improving the chances that the user will find quality information.
I have been posting about search engines on the discussion board for my Gov Docs class, but I'll lose that information at the end of the semester if I don't do something to retain it. So here goes:
These pictures showing the results of a flash flood in Hawaii have been making the rounds of the librarian email list servers. I think they have turned us all into disaster planning advocates. The initial devastation followed by the rapid growth of mold made an impression.
This might be a good place to record one of the best pieces of advice I've received while in library school. It was from Roxanna Herrick, the preservation librarian at Washington University--my practicum supervisor arranged for me to spend an afternoon with her. She said "Keep an eye on your stacks." Most problems that occur in a library are not as dramatic as a flash flood. They are things like a leaking water pipe above range 4 on level B. Roxanna suggested that when I have a new job, I walk around the stacks with the maintenance person who would take my call to learn know how to describe the problem in his or her way of thinking (not "the pipe over range 4 of the government documents stacks," but "the pipe that goes to the women's bathroom on level B").
Which all leads me to another suggestion made by David Straight (also of Washington University) when he was teaching The Academic Library class: buy donuts for the maintenance people--show appreciation when it's not an emergency so that they will be there for you when there is an emergency. That makes it sound like quid pro quo, but I don't think he meant it that way. It's more a matter of developing relationships, not just with fellow professional librarians but with everyone who makes the library run. Value the work of the shelvers, circulation clerks, and maintenance people because the library needs them and they tend to be under-appreciated.
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Let's start with a rousing chorus of "I'm Just a Bill."
"I became a bill"
When a bill is introduced in Congress, it appears in the Congressional Record, which is a record (but not a verbatim transcript) of what happened in each house of Congress that day.
Once a bill has been introduced, it can be tracked on the Thomas website using the Bill Summary and Status feature. Thomas (named after Jefferson) is a user-friendly tool provided by the Library of Congress.
"I'm stuck in committee"
The committee may hold hearings about a bill (often, but not always, released as hearing transcripts), request research about a bill (sometimes published as a committee print), accept research from other organizations including the executive branch (published as Congressional Documents), and issue a report (which can be accessed through Thomas) if the bill is sent back to the House or Senate for a vote. Amendments, debates, and votes on the floor of Congress are all covered in the Congressional Record.
"I'm off to the White House"
When a President signs a bill into law, he usually has things to say about it. These remarks are available in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.
"Now you're a law!"
The law is published a few days after it is enacted in a pamphlet called a Slip law. The Slip laws are accumulated for each congressional session and published in chronological order in a book called Statutes at Large. The distinction between these two documents is lost on-line where one can simply search for a Public Law on Thomas which will link to the full text of the law on the GPO Acess site.
Currently active laws are published in the U.S. Code. This compilation of laws is arranged by 50 subject categories called Titles.
(And soon you'll be a regulation)
After a bill is signed into law, it continues to generate documents in the form of regulations written by the executive agency charged with implementing the law. Proposed regulations are published in the Federal Register every weekday. A period of time is specified for public comment regarding the new regulations. The final regulations are also initially published in the Federal Register.
Final regulations are ultimately compiled by subject into the Code of Federal Regulations. The on-line version of the CFR is most easily accessed through Cornell's Code of Federal Regulations page.
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This week's lecture for the Government Publications class is on how to find information about foreign countries. I'm going to practice on Iceland because (a) it's in the news today and (b) I received baby pictures this week from Dawn, my first-cousin once-removed (which makes the baby my first-cousin twice-removed, but who's counting?), who lives in Iceland.
So, would you like to know more about this country with the dramatic volcanic eruptions? Turn to the CIA. They publish the World Factbook. Use the drop-down box to select Iceland to get a picture of the flag, a well-drawn simple map, and many quick facts offered in a few lines or one short paragraph. Iceland is slightly smaller than Kentucky and has a population of less than 300,000.
Want more details, a bit of the story of Iceland? Turn to the State Department. Background Notes list short facts at the top of the page and more narrative material in sections for geography, people, and more. Phone directories in Iceland are based on first names!
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