Library & Information Services » Hans Raum

President Obama’s latest budget is now online

Hans Raum — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:53:21 +0000

The just released Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2014 will no doubt get a lot of news coverage in the next few days and you can view it online at http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS2343. The Appendix to the Budget, which is much more detailed than the Budget itself, is available online at http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS862

National Child Traumatic Stress Network

Hans Raum — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 14:45:12 +0000

Children who survived the mass shooting in Connecticut last Friday may be traumatized by the event and a federally funded online resource, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network , may provide helpful information to parents, caregivers and others who might be concerned about the long-term implications for children who survived the tragic event and similar events elsewhere.

Contributions to the Candidates: How much money are they raising and who are the donors?

Hans Raum — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:29:28 +0000

The Federal Election Commission has created a Campaign Finance Disclosure Portal which provides detailed financial information on how much money has been raised by the presidential candidates and candidates for the House and Senate in all 50 states. The database includes the names of individual donors and political action committees and how much money they have given. Most of the money contributed to Vermont candidates for the U. S. House and Senate seats comes from out of state and the list of PAC contributions is both fascinating and surprising.

The Vermont Campaign Finance Disclosure Reports website provides data on contributions to the campaigns of Vermont House and Senate candidates and other elected state officials.

New Portal for Congressional Information

Hans Raum — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 18:05:24 +0000

This week the Library of Congress, in collaboration with the U. S. Senate, House of Representatives and the Government Printing Office unveiled a new portal for accessing free, fact-based Congresional information. Congress.gov features platform mobility, comprehensive information and user-friendly presentation. The site includes live video from the floor of the House and Senate, as well as information about members of Congress, current legislation, and how your Congressman voted on each bill.

Congress.gov will replace Thomas.gov, which has been the main gateway to Congressional information resources for the past 17 years.

Labor Day 2012

Hans Raum — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 22:38:31 +0000

Labor Day was established by an act of Congress in 1894. This and other interesting facts about Labor Day, employment and occupations may be found at a Bureau of the Census website at http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb12-ff14.html.

Enjoy the holiday!

Where do your charitable donations go?

Hans Raum — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:55:22 +0000

It’s dinner time and the telephone rings. The caller is asking for a donation for a worthwhile charitable cause. What you may not know is that some non-profit organizations hire professional fundraisers to solicit contributions on their behalf and the fundraisers typically receive a commission of more than half of the amount you pledge, and in some cases they get up to 90% of your pledge. To provide detailed information on how funds are split between the charities and the professional fundraisers, the Vermont Atty. General’s office has published a helpful report at http://www.atg.state.vt.us/assets/files/WhereHaveAlltheDollarsGone2009.pdf

How does your favorite charity rate?

Facts for Mother’s Day, May 13

Hans Raum — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:19:51 +0000

The Bureau of the Census has compiled an interesting assortment of facts and figures relating to mothers, compiled from a variety of government information resources. Check them out at http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb12-ff08.html

1940 Census records now available online

Hans Raum — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:24:11 +0000

On April 2 the National Archives released online census records for 1940 and the site received more than 22 million hits in the first three hours, which temporarily crashed the website. Individual records from a decennial census are made available every 10 years, as soon as the government’s legally mandated 72-year waiting period ends. The nearly 4 million images of handwritten census pages provide information on person’s names, ages, addresses, marital status and number of children. The website is at http://1940census.archives.gov/ and you need to first identify the enumeration district before you can find the names and addresses you are seeking.

The Davis Family Library also has individual family census records for 1790 to 1930 for Vermont on microfilm and the Genealogy Research Guide can provide more detailed information for researching family history.

Feds plan to close 1,200 Data Centers

Hans Raum — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:31:08 +0000

The U. S. government is increasing its effort to consolidate its data centers and now expects to close at least 1,200 data centers, or about 40% of federal government IT facilities, as part of an effort to streamline its IT infrastructure. According to Steven VanRoekel, the federal CIO, the data centers being closed or consolidated “represent billions in wasted capital that could be better used to improve upon critical services for American taxpayers.”

It is too soon to tell what impact, if any, these closures will have on the availability of government information resources that are relevant to our curriculum and student research interests. A list of data centers targeted for closure is available at Data.gov

New federated search engine: MetaLib

Hans Raum — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:40:05 +0000

The U. S. Government Printing Office is hosting a new federated search engine, called MetaLib, that searches more than 50 government databases covering a broad range of subjects, including energy, the environment, health, defense, geodata and statistics. The database retrieves reports, articles, and citations while providing direct links to selected resources available online. Three search modes are available: basic, advanced and expert.