Whats new from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services USCIS Issues Questions and Answers for New Pilot Naturalization Exam (30KB PDF)November 30, 2006 - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Emilio Gonzalez said, "When you raise your hand and swear allegiance to the United States, you really ought to know what you are swearing allegiance to. You ought to internalize by that time, the very values that make this country what it is, the very reason why you are raising your right hand. ... Citizenship is not test taking." Facts About USCIS Naturalization Test Redesign (51KB PDF)USCIS is revising the naturalization test to create a test and testing process that is standardized, fair and meaningful. A revised test, with an emphasis on the fundamental concepts of American democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, will help to encourage citizenship applicants to learn and identify with the basic values we all share as Americans. Questions and Answers for New Pilot Naturalization ExamRead the 144 questions and answers.

Wishing for Peace and Good Will for All

Wishing for Peace and Good Will for All

2010 Census Website The Census Bureau has launched a 2010 Census website where you can access information about the upcoming 2010 Census. The URL address is: http://www.census.gov/2010census/

The Iraq Study Group Report

FCC LAUNCHES “RURAL HEALTH CARE PILOT PROGRAM” WEBSITE Washington, DC -- The FCC has launched a website (http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/rural/rhcp.html) that provides a consolidated source of information about the FCC’s recently announced Rural Health Care Pilot Program. The website includes the Order adopting the pilot program and the accompanying news release, a PDF slide presentation giving an overview of the program, and frequently asked questions (FAQs), The website will be updated periodically, as appropriate. The FCC’s pilot program is an innovative, enhanced funding initiative intended to help public and non-profit health care providers construct state- and region-wide broadband networks to provide telehealth and telemedicine services throughout the nation. The program will fund up to 85% of the costs of constructing those networks, as well as the costs of advanced telecommunications and information services that will ride over these networks. If selected, up to 85% of the cost of connecting to Internet2, a dedicated nationwide backbone, may also be funded by the pilot program. Connection to Internet 2 is not required, but may be requested by the applicants. Applications for the program must be filed no later than 30 days after the Commission receives approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of the information collection requirements contained in the FCC’s Order announcing the pilot program. (The Paperwork Reduction Act collection requirements were published in the Federal Register on October 18, 2006.) The FCC will issue a Public Notice announcing OMB approval once that has occurred. - FCC - Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau Contact: Robert Somers at (202) 418-1483. Wireline Competition Bureau Contact: Erika Olsen at (202) 418-2868.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!

Nevada Population Estimates and Projections From The State Data Center : Estimates to July 1, 2005 Projections through 2030 Mona Reno, Nevada State Data Librarian, has developed a great site and I will post more links in the near future.

From Free Government Information (FGI) blogs : American Indian Heritage Month November is American Indian Heritage Month. Following are some federal sites that offer excellent information about American Indians: Federal Resources for Educational Excellence, American Indian Heritage Month Resources The National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian Education, American Indian Heritage Teaching Resources FirstGov, Native American and Tribal Cultural Resources And, if you’d like to include some Native American foods in your Thanksgiving celebration, the Native American Nutrition Education Database from the National Agricultural Library includes some sources with recipes. Mitsitam! (Which, to the Delaware and Piscataway people, means "Let’s eat!") Thanks to Lori Smith, FGI's guest blooger for this entry !!!

NEW ELECTION INFORMATION TO BE AVAILABLE ON WASHOE COUNTY WEBSITE AT CLOSE OF ELECTION DAY Reno, Nevada. November 6, 2006. Voters will be able to track more election result information than ever before on Washoe County’s website, http://www.washoecounty.us/voters/ By simply going to this link, or just logging onto the county’s main page at http://www.washoecounty.us/ and clicking on the link there, citizens can access up-to-date election result information as it is posted by election officials. Examples of data available on this site include: · number of the 1358 cartridges that have been recorded to date (new) · latest election numbers (results) by race (this was available in 2004) · Real-time election results mapping (new) · Link to statewide election information (new) · Link to Clark County election information (new) The real-time election results mapping is a new feature offered on the County’s website this election. Thanks to work done by the County’s Geographic Information System staff, this website will show voting results for 21 selected races and four state ballot questions (questions 2, 5, 6, and 7) as well as the County advisory question. The website displays results by precinct in a map format as voting counts are uploaded throughout the night. The site will be available at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday. Voters are once again reminded to bring their sample ballots to their polling places to expedite voting tomorrow, although registered voters will be allowed to vote without their sample ballot in hand. Voters can go to the county’s website at http://www.washoecounty.us/voters/go to the YOUR Voter Registration Info link, enter their name and birthday (ex. 10-16-1961) to find out if they are properly registered and where they go to vote. Or, they can call the Registrar’s office at 328-3670.

GAO PROBES EPA LIBRARY SHUTDOWN From : Patrice McDermott, Director, Open the Government.org The Government Accountability Office is now investigating why EPA is closing its libraries, after Congress members, EPA employees, open government groups, and the Society of Environmental Journalists raised concerns. EPA Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock is now publicly promising that EPA library material will be available digitally in the very near future - even as branch after branch of the EPA library system is being closed. "I have asked anyone to inform me, anonymously or otherwise, of any instance where they are unable to obtain a document they need that was previously available. And I am not aware of a single instance where that is happened, but I am all ears." Peacock can be reached at 202-564-4711 or by email. Still, Greenwire's Darren Samuelsohn reports that "The Bush administration has already shuttered EPA's Washington headquarters' library and regional posts in Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City. And there are reduced hours and public access in EPA's regional libraries in Boston, New York, San Francisco and Seattle." How the public or EPA employees are to access the documents Peacock promises them remains an unresolved question. Those who want documents from EPA's library will want to know that the digital system is already online and working - to the degree that some documents have already been digitized. A user can point his/her Web browser here to search for relevant documents, some of which will be available online. The Catch-22 is that paper copies of undigitized documents must in many cases be obtained through the EPA library holding them - which will in many cases now be closed. How long will digitization take? Peacock claims that all paper documents from now-closed branches will be digitized by January 2007 or sooner. Complete digitization of all documents in the system could take 2-3 years, Peacock says. He says he expects no restriction of public access during the interim.

ENHANCEMENTS TO WASHOE COUNTY WEBSITE MAKE VOTING EASIER SUNDAY VOTING ALSO ENCOURAGES TURNOUT Taking advantage of technology, Washoe County is making voting even easier by posting information on the county’s website that voters can access 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For the first time, voters are able to go to WASHOE COUNTY REGISTRAR OF VOTERS OFFICE and view a copy of their sample ballot, track their absentee ballot request, and view candidate profiles as well as other information that was previously available. Simply click on the "YOUR Voter Registration status, sample ballot, polling place and absentee information" from the left side of the Voters’ page and enter your last name and birthday (ex. 05-16-1961). Your unique voter information including party affiliation, polling place location and even directions (when available) will appear. You can view a copy of the sample ballot and by clicking on the links PDF 1 and PDF 2, sample ballot pages unique to your precinct will appear. "By providing this information conveniently from the comfort of citizens’ home or office computers, we hope to encourage voter turnout as well as helping the voters become more informed before they go to the polls," said Registrar of Voters Dan Burk. According to Burk, 8,600 people have cast their ballots since early voting began on Saturday, October 21st. He estimates that 25,000 to 30,000 voters will choose to vote early before early voting ends on November 2nd. This compares with 34,000 early voters in the 2004 Presidential Election year which traditionally draws more voters. Burk attributes the impressive turnout so far to early voting availability on Sundays at six selected Scolaris grocery stores…a first for Washoe County. He anticipates voters will take advantage of the three-day holiday, including Sunday, to cast their early ballots. Early voting locations and times are also available at WASHOE COUNTY REGISTRAR OF VOTERS OFFICE. "In addition to viewing their voter information online, the most important thing voters can do is bring their sample ballots with them," Burk adds. "Scanning the bar code on the back of the ballot speeds up the processing time." Burk reports that to date, not a single early voting location has reported a delay of longer than 5 minutes for those who have opted to vote early.

Real Property Assessment Data

The Washoe County Assessors Office has a user friendly site to search property records at
http://www.washoecounty.us/assessor/cama/search.php

Give it a try.

EPA Libraries Update From Bernadine Abbott Hoduski



Not only does EPA shut down its libraries but it now is eliminating
electronic access to much information needed by its scientists to do their
job. Bernadine Abbott Hoduski, ALA Councilor at Large, 312 N. Howie,
Helena, Montana
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 3:36 PM
From: "Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)"
info@peer.org>
Subject: PRESS RELEASE: EPA Scientists Losing Access to Journals Monday,
October 9, 2006
Contact: Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337
EPA SCIENTISTS LOSING ACCESS TO JOURNALS
Cuts in Subscription Budgets Take Scientific Journals and Eco-News Offline
Washington, DC ? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is sharply
reducing the number of technical journals and environmental publications to
which its employees will have online access, according to agency e-mails
released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

This loss of online access compounds the effect of agency library closures,
meaning that affected employees may not have access to either a hard copy or
an electronic version of publications. Citing budgetary shortfalls,
cancellations of online subscriptions will be felt more sharply in some EPA
offices and regions than others. For example,
one e-mail notes: ?Region 3 [Mid-Atlantic Region] needs to cut its journal
renewals about in half and the journals in question are very expensive.?
Other offices will face cuts of as yet unspecified but likely comparable
dimensions.

In addition to technical journals, EPA is also canceling its subscriptions
to widely-read environmental news reports, such as Greenwire, The Clean Air
Report and The Superfund Report, which summarize and synthesize breaking
events and trends inside industry, government and academia. Greenwire, for
example, recorded more than 125,000 hits from EPA staff last year.
As a result of these cuts, agency scientists and other technical specialists
will no longer have ready access to materials that keep them abreast of
developments within their fields. Moreover, enforcement staff,
investigators and other professionals will have a harder time tracking new
developments affecting their cases and projects.

EPA?s professionals need current information in order to do their jobs, but
with each passing month, even these basic tools are being put off limits,
stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, whose organization has been
drawing attention to EPA?s shuttering of its technical libraries. EPA is
entering its own Dark Age, where both the inward and outward flows of
information are being strained through an ever-narrowing sieve.

Ironically, EPA managers had sought to ease employee concerns about library
closures by claiming that the agency is implementing a new library plan to
make environmental information more accessible to employees, according to a
mid-September e-mail sent to all Headquarters employees concerning the
closure of the Headquarters library. Contrary to these assurances, however,
the way in which the agency is implementing budget reductions portends that
employee access to materials will markedly decline. In addition,
cancellation of hard copy subscriptions occasioned by library closures has
actually driven up online subscription costs, as online discounts for hard
copy subscribers have been forfeit.

Overall, EPA?s research budget is also being reduced, even though President
Bush is seeking selected increases in EPA research for topics such as
nanotechnology and drinking water system security as part of an American
Competitive Initiative.
Without libraries and scientific journals, EPA may have to drop out of the
President's Competitive Initiative, Ruch added.



.

American Library Asscociation (ALA) Promotes Online Voter Registration



In a joint effort to make registering to vote easier and more convenient for eligible Americans, the American Library Association (ALA) is participating in GoVote, a project of Working Assets and Mobile Voter. Throughout the 2006 national election season, ALA will host on its Web site a link to the GoVote.org initiative, where individuals can click to register to vote or update their voter registration information.
Using the bilingual, nonpartisan site, people can register any time, from virtually anywhere—via conventional web browser, mobile phone browser and text messaging. People also can send email reminders to family and friends and sign up for information about volunteer opportunities in their local communities. Deadlines for voter registration vary by state, and a full list of registration deadlines can be found at: www.eac.gov/register_vote_deadlines.asp.“Libraries are a vital part of the American democratic landscape,” said ALA President Leslie Burger. “They serve the public by connecting citizens to valuable information regardless of economic status.” Beyond providing library users with the resources they need to make smart and informed voting decision, ALA encourages its members to become registered voters and to promote the GoVote.org voter registration site in their local libraries. Working Assets is a long distance, wireless, and credit card company. In 2003 and 2004, Working Assets launched and ran a campaign that registered over 1 million new voters. Founded in 2004, Mobile Voter is a non-profit, non-partisan organization seeking to facilitate the process of civic participation via mobile technology. For more information about ALA’s participation in GoVote.org, please contact Joan Claffey at 1-800-545-2433, extension 3215. If you have technical questions about using the GoVote.org site, contact GoVote by email at govote@workingassets.com or by phone at 1-877-205-8683.

American Library Association position on EPA library closures



ALA supports congressional effort to investigate closure of EPA libraries
(WASHINGTON) The Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it has begun closing its libraries in response to the Bush Administration's planned $2 million cuts to the agency's 2007 federal budget. As of October 1, 2006, the EPA Headquarters library will be closed to the public. The American Library Association (ALA) disagrees with the EPA's claims that closing the libraries-which field more than 134,000 requests a year from the agency's own staff in addition to requests from the public-will not impede the agency's mission to provide environmental information to its staff and the public.


ALA supports Ranking Democratic members of the House Science Committee in their effort to have the General Accounting Office (GAO) investigate the EPA's plans to shutter the libraries. Representatives Bart Gordon (D-TN), John Dingell (D-MI) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) made the request for an investigation in a letter to GAO on Monday, September 18th.


"Closure of the EPA libraries will make it extremely difficult-and in some cases impossible-for constituents and even EPA staff to find reliable information on a wide range of sensitive environmental issues," said Leslie Burger, President of the American Library Association. "The EPA libraries are essential government services, and they house an estimated 50,000 documents on environmental issues that are available nowhere else," she continued. The American Library Association has taken a position against closure of the EPA libraries urging its members to write to members of Congress and the Bush Administration.

Just in from the USGS

Water-Table Levels and Gradients, Nevada, 1947-2004

Quality of Nevada's Aquifers and Their Susceptibility to Contamination, 1990-2004

USGS calculates annual nitrogen loads to assess impacts from septic tank systems in Spanish Springs Valley, NV.

This very important 12-page report titled " Qualification of the Contribution of Nitrogen from Septic Tanks to Ground Water in Spanish Springs Valley, Nevada" has been released as and can be assessed on line in PDF as USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2006-5206.

An interesting report from The Committee on Homeland Security, U.S. House of Representatives.


House Committee Print 109-CAn Examination of Federal 9/11 Assistance to New York: Lessons Learned in Preventing Waste, Fraud, Abuse, and Lax Management, A Staff Report of the Subcommittee on Management, Integration, and Oversight of the Committee on Homeland Security, U.S. House of Representatives.

My next post will focus on a few local Nevada govdocs.

Poverty in the United States

Lots of good information at the U.S. Census Bureau Poverty Page.

Genealogical Resources in U.S. Federal Depository Libraries Guide



Division of the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, has revised its Genealogical Resources in U.S. Federal Depository Libraries guide.
Enlarged and expanded to 47 pages, it includes active links for most
titles cited, which range from websites such as the Railroad Retirement
Board and Social Security Death Index to printed publications such as
Black Americans in Defense of Our Nation, Decorations-- United States
Army 1862-1926, and Register of the U.S. Department of Justice and the
Federal Courts to government periodicals such as Bureau of Ships Journal
and U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps Bulletin. It includes many resources
that you might not have thought of otherwise, and is probably the most
comprehensive guide currently available to these resources.
It is divided into these chapters: Federal Web Sites; Military Casualty
Lists and Decorations, Awards, Honors; Military Registers, Annual
Reports, and Historical Lists; Registers, Directories, and Annual
Reviews and Reports; Primarily Historical Works; Military Academies and
Academic Units; Periodicals; and Miscellaneous.
It is currently available from the Oklahoma Department of Libraries
homepage

A few docs from the City of Sparks, NV

2005-2006 City Budget-In Brief

2005-2006 Strategic Plan Update

Capital Improvement Program (CIP) 2006-2011

Sparks Marina Canal Updates

Senate Intelligence Committee Reports - Iraq and WMD



The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has released a couple of new
unclassified reports on Iraq and their pre and post war assessments of
Iraq's WMD capabilities.
They can be found at http://intelligence.senate.gov/

Public use of computers for government info


GPO understands the desire to serve a library's primary users. However,
depository libraries must also serve the government information needs of the
general public. While time limits can be included in a depository's written
Internet access policy, they cannot be targeted at public users of
electronic government information. Depository libraries must provide access
to electronic Federal government information to all users equally,
regardless of whether they are the library's primary users.
This requirement is explained in the Depository Library Public Service
Guidelines for Government Information in Electronic Formats, available at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/mgt/pseguide.html
The policy states that "depository libraries should have a written policy regarding
public services for Government information in electronic formats. This
policy should contain provisions for no-fee access to computer workstations
with CD-ROMs, diskettes, and the Internet. These should be equal to or
exceed the services provided for other collections of the library."
However, there are options available to depository libraries that wish to
impose time limits on non-primary user groups. For example, one or more
computer workstations, that are not subject to the time limit, could be set
aside for users of depository materials. The time limit could also be waived
for users for government information.

Evergreen FDLP Hot Topics

Carlos Diaz, Govdocs Librarian at the Evergreen State College Library in Washington, builds and maintains a wonderful government information source called Hot Topics.

Check it out !!!

The first digital works resulting from the
University of Michigan/Google Digitization Partnership are now being
used to enhance the University Library's online catalog...
Included in the material will be the University's extensive federal
government document collection. A small sampling of documents
available today includes the diplomatic correspondence of Benjamin
Franklin and John Adams, and approximately 2,200 Congressional
hearings from the 1970s and 1980s."
Information on the U of M Library

Information on the U of M online catalog

Information on M Books

Up to date voting information from Washoe County

The voting is complete and the votes are being tabulated in the 2006 Primary Election for Washoe County.
They are posting the latest information for you on the Registrar of Voter's website, at http://www.washoecounty.us/voters.
And, for the first time, Washoe County is testing a new vote mapping feature to give you a visual view of selected races as they happen. To see the test maps, click here to go to the GIS vote mapping feature...

Citizenship

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (formally INS) Has guides for those
desiring to become citizens at their Office of Citizenship webpage.

From the webpage:

The Office of Citizenship is mandated by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to promote instruction and training on citizenship rights and responsibilities and to provide immigrants with information and tools necessary to successfully integrate into American civic culture.Our primary focus will be on providing information and resources to immigrants at two key points in their journey towards civic integration: when they first become permanent residents and when they are ready and eligible to begin the formal naturalization process.

Nevada Agricultural Publications

Amy Shannon, Head Librarian at the Life and Health Science Library at the University of Nevada, Reno has a great site called Nevada Agricultural Publications.

You can search this website for federal, state , and local government publications relating to Nevada agriculture from 1888 to present--Cowabunga !!!

EPA Libraries

The Environmental Protection Agency has been ordered by the White House to "shut down [its] libraries, end public access to research materials and box up unique collections on the assumption that Congress will not reverse President Bush’s proposed budget reductions." Fifteen states will lose library service immediately.

Iran Report


Yesterday, August 23, 2006, the House Intelligence Committee released a
report done by the staff of the Intelligence Policy Committee titled
Recognizing Iran as a strategic threat: an intelligence challenge for
the United States. It is getting a variety of interesting comment and
reaction from various aspects.
You can access the report at:
http://intelligence.house.gov/Media/PDFS/IranReport082206v2.pdf

A special thank you to Tim Skeers of the New Mexico State Library for this information.

Nevada Legal Forms

The Nevada Supreme Court Law Library has put together great links to many downloadable (PDF)
forms.

Forms by Subject

Nevada Supreme Court Forms

Washoe County Forms and Packets

Clark County Forms


Standardized Nevada Divorce Forms

US Missile Information

According to a Yahoo News article, US makes missile data secret again .

TMRPA Publications
Publications are available from the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency. They are available to download from their website at no cost, or may be purchased in hard-copy .

Domesday Book Online

I usually focus on US documents, but I thought this was pretty cool. The Domesday Book, the UK's oldest surviving public record, has been made available by the UK National Archives. The public can now search the 920-year old Book by name of town, city or village. In 2005 it was voted the nation's finest treasure, yet a recent survey conducted in conjunction with today´s launch revealed that less than 1 per cent of the population have actually been to see the original in The National Archives' museum.
At Christmas 1085 William the Conqueror commissioned a great survey to discover the resources and taxable values of all the boroughs and manors in England. He wanted to discover who owned what, how much it was worth, and how much was owed to him as King. It was a massive enterprise, and the record of that survey, Domesday Book, was a remarkable achievement.

Thank you to Free Government Information for this entry.

Voter Information

Two great sites for candidate information online.

Reno Gazette-Journal's 2006 Voter Guide

Project VoteSmart

Article in Smithsonian (online also) Magazine



Take a look at August 2006 Smithsonian which
includes a very interesting article about the loss of the official records
of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911. This article talks about
a researcher looking for those records and the frustration in finding they
were lost but fortunately, he found personal records from the attorney who
defended the owners of factory and then the digitization of those records.
The title of the article is "Trial by Fire" by David Von Drehle pp. 93-98.

Smithsonian Magazine is a government document.

The Government Printing Office
Where it all begins in Washinton DC.
Headquarters for the Federal Depository Library System.

2006 Nevada School Designations Released

Annual yearly progress designations under the federal No Child Left Behind Act have been released for all public and charter schools statewide for the 2005-06 school year.

Click on the link above to view the list.

I am going to do my very best to post a link to a local document of current interest at least once a week.

2004-2025 Washoe County Comprehensive Regional Water Management Plan is the long range
view of the area's water supply for the near future from the Regional Water Planning Commission (RWPC) .

The Washoe County Library System is a depository in the Federal Depository Library Program.

What is the FDLP?

"The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) was established by Congress to ensure that the American public has access to its Government's information. Since 1813, depository libraries have safeguarded the public's right to know by collecting, organizing, maintaining, preserving, and assisting users with information from the Federal Government. The FDLP provides Government information at no cost to designated depository libraries throughout the country and territories. These depository libraries, in turn, provide local, no-fee access to Government information in an impartial environment with professional assistance.
As institutions committed to equity of access and dedicated to free and unrestricted public use, the nation's nearly 1,250 depository libraries serve as one of the vital links between "We the people" and our Government. Anyone can visit Federal depository libraries and use the Federal depository collections which are filled with information on careers, business opportunities, consumer information, health and nutrition, legal and regulatory information, demographics, and numerous other subjects.
The Depository Library Council (DLC) to the Public Printer was established in 1972 to provide advice on policy matters relating to the FDLP. The primary focus of the DLC's work is to advise the Public Printer, the Superintendent of Documents, and appropriate members of GPO staff on practical options for the efficient management and operation of the FDLP. "

Government Printing Office http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/about.html

This is the interior of the Downtown Reno Library.

The Government Document Section is located on the 4th(top) level.

Click on image to enlarge.

Blogging is new to me and I will be working and learning to make this an informational site for postings on new developments in federal, state, and local government publications, both in book and electronic formats.

Welcome to the Washoe County Library Government Documents Blog.

This will be an interactive approach to federal, state, and local government questions.