Alert!

USAJOBS, the official job site of the U.S. government, has posted an alert, stating that malicious software was recently used to access personal contact information contained in the resume database of Monster.com. Those registered with USAJOBS.gov may have been affected because Monster Worldwide serves as the technology provider for the USAJOBS website. Social Security numbers were not captured, but other personal information--name, address, telephone number, and e-mail--was accessed.

Visit USA.gov's link USAJOBS Security Notice for additional information and guidance.

U.S.Senate: Art and History

First Among Equals

This volume is the first major study of the Senate leadership to be cast in a biographical perspective. First Among Equals highlights nine outstanding twentieth-century Senate floor leaders in essays written by noted historians, journalists, and political scientists. Each essay places its subject in the context of the political environment and Senate institutional setting of his era, and describes his personal qualities, performance in office, contributions to the Senate, and place in the nation’s political history.

U.S. Senate: Art and History

Ralph E. Flanders: A Featured Biography

In a dramatic Senate floor speech on March 9, 1954, Vermont Senator Ralph E. Flanders became one of the first members of the Republican Party to denounce fellow senator Joseph McCarthy’s methods in fighting communism. Flanders introduced the resolution that would eventually lead to McCarthy’s censure by the Senate on December 2, 1954. Reflecting on this battle, Flanders later wrote, “the conviction grew that something must be done about this, even if I had to do it myself.” During his two-term Senate career, Flanders served on a number of key committees, including Armed Services, Banking, and the Finance Committee. Although he had no official college diploma, Flanders received 16 honorary degrees and was an accomplished mechanical engineer and inventor in the field of machine tools from a young age until his death in 1970.

http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/art/a_three_sections_with_teasers/art_hist_home.htm

What is this blog?

And why am I doing it?! I work at the University of South Florida Tampa Library in the Government Documents department. Government Documents departments are not sexy! At all. Government depository collections are relegated to basements in most academic libraries; I think public libraries integrate documents into their book collections. In this sense, they are just considered another book to be checked out. In academic libraries, documents collections are set apart with strange call numbers. Why are they so strange? They have colons and slashes, and instead of using the period as a decimal point, they use the period as a divider. Which means what? It is considered a whole number. To me, this makes it easy. Point 10 means ten, not 10%; Point 50 means fifty, not 50%. How difficult is that? People do find it difficult, especially people who work in libraries. They just don't want to deal with it, so they have a hard time helping patrons find government documents. Hey! Everyone out there! Documents are easy to find if they are cataloged in the library catalog and a cogent map is available. This is the easy aspect of Government Documents.

I guess a crucial point to consider is that most depository collections are not cataloged. Before a certain time. Before 1976 collections were cataloged only in card catalogs (does anyone know what a card catalog is?!) Yes, it comes from the time in history when call numbers and titles of documents were housed in small drawers, not on computers. Considering all the government documents produced before this 1976, there are millions. Consider that the government has been producing them since the 1700's; consider that the U.S. Government is the largest publisher in the United States; consider that most are not on line, consider the treasures lost to most of the public. However, there is a government document contingent intent to take responsibility for collaboratively cataloging this significant government information. This group is cooperatively cataloging different sections of the pre1976 collection to make it available to the general public.
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/cip/co-opcat.pdf

This is getting to be a long blog. I guess there is a lot to say. The point of this blog is not to concentrate on the intricacies of government document collections or call numbers. They are important in providing a background in how most people see government documents. This blog is hoping to concentrate on more than these basic considerations. I hope to concentrate on providing content to relevant government and political issues which are significant now in the context of our lives: immigration, politics, the environment, Iraq, the presidency, congress, recalls, China, the 2008 election. Hopefully, it will address these issues besides the intricacies of the issues in Government Documents and what these will mean in the future. Signing off, Julie