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.