Wednesday, April 18, 2007

San Francisco Earthquake Anniversary


Today is the anniversary of the Great San Francisco earthquake and resulting fire. Learn what happened with archival photos, movies and eyewitness stories aggregated in this web site. http://www.awesomestories.com/disasters/san_francisco/san_francisco_ch1.htm
Examine the U.S. Geological Survey maps of the quake itself - the shaking was recorded halfway around the world at the Gottingen observatory in Germany - plus USGS maps of current California and Nevada quakes, updated hourly.
Group access to the site is free for all schools, libraries and educators. Obtain group access with this form. It is also free for library patrons, individual students, their parents and members of the general public. Select an individual password with this form.
The site's privacy policy is strictly enforced.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Environmental Impact Statements



Environmental Impact
Statements can be found full-text on the EPA's National Service Center for
Environmental Publications (NSCEP)
Go to their advanced search and type "final
environmental impact statement"--be sure to select exact phrase and uncheck
hardcopy publications. You might need to check additional dates as well.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Armed Forces Medical Library Closing ?

A letter from
Patrick R. Walz


Hello!
I am a Tech Info Specialist at the Army Surgeon General's Armed
Forces Medical Library. We are currently in a battle to save our
Library which has been an esteemed part of the US Military Medical
Corps since 1836.
We perform research for the Surgeons General of all the Military
Branches, as well as soldiers overseas in Germany, Great Britain,
Iraq and Afghanistan.
Recently, the Military has been forced to make some budget cuts,
and as is usually the case, the "easy target" library has come
under the microscope. We were suddenly and inexplicably placed
under a highly aggressive "work-group" comprised of Lean
Six-Sigma-ready business ninjas. They want to
close/move/consolidate or minimize our already scant resources.
As is always the case, our customers know the value of the Library.
We've already received official letters, memos, testimonials etc...
from a wide-range of military historians, commanders, executive
officers and researchers, but it seems to be not enough.
FY 06 marked the closings of nation-wide EPA Libraries and the Air
Force has decided to close all of its Medical Libraries. We're
getting a little freaked out.
We must prove to the current bureaucracy that after 171 years, we
are still an asset to the organization.
We have a plan of attack, we're wearing out a copy of MAKING THE
CASE FOR YOUR LIBRARY. What we lack is information. That's all this
workgroup wants. Graphs, charts, spreadsheets and death by
PowerPoint.
If we could argue the entire case using ones and zeros we'd be in
good shape.
We are hoping that you may have researched, or know someone who has
researched the impact of closing a library. We'd like to know the
cost differences between reciprocal document delivery and
independent research contractors. Physical Librarian vs.. 100%
automated databases.
The bosses are looking for short-term cost avoidance, and if they
can save FY07 funds by canning the Library they won't hesitate.
We wouldn't ask you for this if we had time to compile the data,
but we don't have time. They want everything immediately. It's like
an information ambush: defend your library with some annual usage
stats that mean nothing to the workgroup and a wet noodle. Good
luck!
If you have any research or know anyone that's recently fought the
good fight, the help would be greatly appreciated. I was the
Director of Medical Library in Germany prior to my coming here. I
lost that fight and the library there is no more.
Many thanks!
Patrick R. Walz
Technical Information Specialist
Armed Forces Medical Library
5109 Leesburg Pike, Room 670
Falls Church, VA 22041
E-mail: Patrick.Walz@tma.osd.mil
Phone: 703-681-8028; FAX: 703-681-8034
Armed Forces Medical Library

Sunday, April 01, 2007

New GAO Report on FOIA


The GAO released a report today on FOIA entitled "Processing Trends Show Importance of Improvement Plans." [PDF] From the "Highlights" page:
The improvement plans submitted by the 25 agencies mostly included goals and timetables addressing the four areas of improvement emphasized by the Executive Order: eliminating or reducing any backlog of FOIA requests; increasing reliance on dissemination of records that can be made available to the public without the need for a FOIA request, such as through posting on Web sites; improving communications with requesters about the status of their requests; and increasing public awareness of FOIA processing. Most of the plans (20 of 25) provided goals and timetables in all four areas; some agencies omitted goals in areas where they considered they were already strong. Although details of a few plans could be improved, all the plans focus on making measurable improvements and form a reasonable basis for carrying out the goals of the Executive Order.