Cutting Through the Red Tape of Government Information

Government has long been associated with red tape. Anyone who has ever completed any government form understands this. Getting access to government information can be just as difficult, especially if you don’t know where to look for information. Sometimes even if you know where to find the information it may not be accessible electronically.                                                 

I had a personal experience recently with such a situation. One of my daughters, is a policy analyst at a non-profit organization in Washington D.C. Occasionally, she will call her mother, the librarian, when she can’t find information she needs on her own. A couple of weeks ago, she needed a Congressional Roll Call vote from 1970. We both knew the logical places to find this information: the Congressional Record and Thomas (at the Library of Congress).  I have access to Lexis Nexis Congressional and none of these sources had the information electronically. She eventually ended up finding the information through another source. The point is that even experienced searchers may encounter difficulties finding government information.

Many of the resources available by the government, particularly the federal government, are not easily found. It was for this reason, I felt it was important for me to take Government Information as an MLS student; not only was this class a valuable part of my education, I found that for an information geek, government websites are filled with fascinating facts and information.

As someone who is interested in government libraries and information, I keep my eye out for information on government websites and new government resources. Recently, this has paid off. I have come across a couple of new sources which will be of great use at a future point in time.

The first is Metalib which is a federated search engine of  just over 50 different federal government agencies.  A user can type in a search term and search all agencies at the same time and then receive results by the agency which has information related to the search. Metalib offers users both a basic, advanced and expert  search options.  The basic search will search a term or set of terms. The advance search allows the user to define the fields for searching and predefined subject areas. The expert gives the user much greater control in defining the search by having the ability to select both an agency and then subgroups within that agency. Another feature of this search engine is the ability to save their searches and the results. Even though users are able to save results to “My EShelf” the results are only saved for the current session and cannot be saved for future retrieval. Despite this drawback, this is an excellent resource for accessing government information.

One of my favorite blogs is the  Resource Shelf Blog. I have found some excellent resources through this blog including Metalib. Sometimes the stated purpose of a website or resource may  cause it to be overlooked, when the user is not interested in the specified subject matter. The Policy Agendas Project is such an example. I found this website through the  Resource Shelf Blog.  This site was created at the University of Texas at Austin through a grant from the National Science Foundation to track public policy changes during the 20th century. Of the many resources provided through this web site is an Excel spreadsheet of Roll Call Votes since 1933, a resource I could have used a few weeks ago.

As I previously mentioned, trying to find government information can be difficult, but there is good news in federal government information.  The government has embraced the use of social media tools. Many government agencies have a presence on Facebook, You Tube, Twitter and Flickr.  The use of these tools provide the federal government with the means to deliver information to the public instantaneously and conversely, get immediate feedback on that information.

The power of the federal government’s use of social networking was dramatically illustrated when the Library of Congress launched their Flickr site in 2008. The following passage is from a research paper I wrote for Government Information Resources class in August, “Flickr Commons was launched on January 16, 2008, with little fanfare. There was no press release, the pilot was mentioned on the Library of Congress blog: http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2008/01/my-friend-flickr-a-match-made-in-photo-heaven/ and Flickr’s blog: http://blog.flickr.net/en/2008/01/16/many-hands-make-light-work/. Any concern either had about the success of the Commons was immediately put to rest. It only took 24 hours for the realization that this partnership was an astounding success. On the first day Flickr reported the Library of Congress account had 1.1 million views,  then 3.6 million views within the first week and 1.9 million total visits. (Library of Congress, 2008, pg.14) The decision not promote this new project obviously did not impact the future success of the program. A review of the traffic on the LC photostream has shown 82% of the traffic came from within Flickr, only 3% came from search engines (Library of Congress, 2008, pg.14) The blogosphere played a tremendous role in the initial success of the Commons, the program was mentioned in more than 1600 blogs during the first week, which, in turn grabbed the attention of the mainstream media .

 The government goes to great lengths to provide information to the public; however,  finding the information is not always easy and sometimes requires the assistance of a skilled librarian or researcher, to at the very least, point an information seeker in the right direction. While the federal government is making some progress making access to information more intuitive, it is up to librarians to help cut throught the red tape.

I cannot live without books

I Cannot Live Without Books.  Probably every librarian knows this quote by Thomas Jefferson. The other fact most librarians know about Thomas Jefferson, is that he donated his library collection to Congress, to replace the books which were lost when the British burned the Capitol.  Not only, did Jefferson provide the foundation of what is now the Library of Congress’ collection, his cataloging system provided the basis of the Library of Congress classification system.

When Jefferson sold his collection to the library, he included a copy of his personal library’s catalog. The original catalog was lost, Jefferson later asked his secretary to recreate the catalog, this manuscript was also lost until 1917, when it was found in a library in Georgia.  The Library of Congress has published this edition  and it is now available online.   http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/becites/main/ jefferson/88607928.html

This publication is of value because it provides the catalog of Jefferson’s collection, but also the background information about how Jefferson collected the material and devised his classification system. 

* The information in this post originally appeared in the blog Government Book Talk http://govbooktalk.gpo.gov/2010/10/25/a-bibliophile%e2%80%99s-delight/ 

Library Ghost

Near downtown Evansville, Indiana  stands a century old library, the oldest library building in the state. It sits in the center of a block surrounded by trees, only a few hundred feet from a main highway. During the day it looks like a beautiful Victorian building, but at night, it is exactly the kind of place one might expect to be a haunted mansion.

During the next two weeks this library, Willard Library, will have many people taking special tours in the evening hours. The visitors aren’t there to check out books, they are there in the hopes of catching a glimpse of a very special lady. She is known to the locals as the Grey Lady Ghost who supposedly resides at the library. While no one knows for certain who she is, many believe she is Louise Carpenter, the daughter of  library founder Willard Carpenter. When Willard Carpenter died, he left the bulk of his estate to the library, which reportedly angered Louise and many believe this is why her spirit stays on in the library.

 There have been reported sightings of this library ghost for more than 60 years, by both library employees and  visitors. The interest in the Grey Lady ghost has drawn many paranormal investigators over the years.  Among the many trying to prove the existence of the library ghost include the Sci Fi channel show, Ghost Hunters, which visited in 2006.  The Willard Library  segment filmed for this television show is available on the following links. The segment starts at the 5:32 mark in the first link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU1Y61jKx08&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbnTsqcnNIs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Djd2J18jOM&feature=related

In addition to the paranormal investigators, there are also “Ghost Cams” which are available on the library website. Visitors are encouraged to freeze frame any suspicious image they find. Over the years there have been numerous unexplained sightings and encounters in the library.  Most of the pictures are grainy and whether there are any ghostly images is debatable. There are a few which do have something out of the ordinary in the shot.

The Evansville Courier Press has compiled many of stories on their web site and has an archive of video accounts of these encounters. http://www.courierpress.com/videos/detail/willard-library-encounters/

I am not sure whether I believe in the ghost or not. However, whenever I drive by the library at night, I cannot help but glance at the library in hopes of catching a glimpse of something.  I also must admit I do get nervous whenever I am in the library and tend not to stay for long. For more information on the Grey Lady Ghost  and Willard Library visit their website at: http://www.willard.lib.in.us/about_willard_library/ghost.php

Being a librarian does not come with a disclaimer

I recently graduated from the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University. While I continue to search for my first job as a librarian, I work part time at Carmel Clay Public Library as a Tech Room Assistant. I was recently complaining to a friend about the lack of challenge in this job, it seemed my primary purpose was to assign computers to patrons and enforce policies in the Tech Room.

Even though, I spend most of my time sitting behind a desk assigning computers and doling out headphones, my job requires a significant amount of knowledge of computer operations.One of my other responsibilities is to assist the computer users with problems they encounter using the computers.  I am extremely skilled at using computers, so under normal circumstances, assisting patrons with email problems or questions about Word or Excel does not present very many challenges. However, like most libraries our computers have blocks and filters to prevent users from downloading or saving files to our computers. One of the problems encountered by computer users, is that many of the right click functions on the mouse have been disabled. So, if someone is writing a resume they want to attach to an email, they cannot save it to the computer unless they have a flash drive or floppy disk. We are so accustomed to using the right click, we don’t consider how we would perform the same functions without that particular option.  In the nine months I have worked in the tech room, I have had to become very adept at circumventing this feature. In fact, when I help a patron resolve one of these types of issues, some of these patrons treat me as if I am a genius-I’m not. I usually tell them,  it comes from years of experience and I am glad I could help.

There have been a couple of incidents in the tech room which, made realize that my job is not as unchallenging as I had lamented. A few weeks ago, a man, who had just moved here from another country was trying to print out a portion of his home country’s driver’s manual in English. He needed to prove he had the credentials to obtain a commercial drivers license in Indiana.  The man spoke very little English and knew very little about computers. He was able to view the information, but for some reason our computers kept blocking Google Translator. I explained the problem to him as the best I could, he called his sister who lived in Washington DC, who asked to speak to me. She and I tried several times to find a way to work around the problem. I finally had her send me the links via email, hoping I could open them and print them out on  the staff computer which has more functionality than the public computers. When that too, did not work, I finally decided that I would try to open both links at home.  From home I was able to open both links and print them out easily.  The next day the patron returned to pick up the print outs and was very grateful I was able to help him. I must admit that I do not always go to such lengths to resolve a patron’s problem, but I felt sympathy for this man because he had made several trips to the Indiana BMV.  Each time he was given different information how to meet the qualifications for obtaining his CDL. The BMV was making him provide an English translation of his native country’s drivers manual, instead of finding someone at the BMV who could translate the printout from Spanish to English.

Another problem, which has recently plagued many of our users, is due to the changes which Yahoo has made to its email platform. During the last few weeks, several users have complained that they cannot find things like the delete button or the send button. For some reason the buttons are being scrunched together in what Yahoo now calls classic email. At first, the only solution I could come up with was to migrate to the new email version. The older patrons weren’t happy about this, they were happy with Yahoo email as it was. Finally, I discovered  by going to the new version and then going back to the old version the problems magically vanish.

These examples and many others like them reminded me, why I became a librarian. It was because I want to help people with their research and information needs. Assisting library patrons doesn’t come with a disclaimer, help is available only if it is deemed it worthy enough. It means that as librarians or tech room assistants, we may have to unjam the printer or show patrons how to add money to an account for printing several times a day. We may have to perform a multitude of other tasks, which on the surface, we may consider meanial, but nonetheless, valuable to those we help.

One of the nicest things a tech room patron said to me was, you always look happy to be here. It was then, I realized, I am. I may not have my dream librarian job yet, but I now know, my job is as challenging and satisfying as I choose to let it be. It is a lesson I believe worth remembering- being a librarian does not come with a disclaimer.

Library of Congress Hits the Road

I have had the good fortune to visit the Library of Congress several times. During the ALA conference this summer, I had an opportunity to attend a presentation by Elizabeth Ridgway of the Library Outreach Department. As I was sitting there, listening to Ms. Ridgway talk about many of the programs available to teachers and the public I wondered how many people are aware of the information and resources which is available through our nation’s library. Also during my visit I saw many other exhibits, which are normally only available at the Library of Congress including the text of the Declaration of Independence which appeared in a Philadelphia newspaper in 1776. 

Normally, the only way to see these types of treasures is to visit Washington DC. Not anymore, or at least for 60 lucky communities in the midwest and south over the next year. Thanks to a $1 million gift by Abby and Emily Rapoport, a specially outfitted semi truck containing many facsimiles of library artifacts and information about the library’s resources will be travelling to selected communities . Information about the tour can be found at http://www.loc.gov/gateway/