Criminal Law Library BlogBarack Obama’s transition team has released its internal report about any contacts between Mr. Obama’s staff and embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich over an appointment to the Senate seat being vacated by Mr. Obama.
Articles Posted in Commentary and Opinion
Special Report: Toward a 21st Century Right-to-Know Agenda: Recommendations to President-elect Obama and Congress
At the beginning of 2007, the steering committee of OpenTheGovernment.org put a spotlignt on the importance of developing recommendations for the next administration and Congress to strengthen government transparency. OMB Watch agreed to spearhead such a project and to work with the OpenTheGovernment.org coalition and others including the AALL Government Relations Office staff in fashioning recommendations for providing a new roadmap for openness in the federal government that will in turn provide greater government transparancy, accountability and usability of government information.
The resulting report “Moving Toward a 21st Century Right-to-Know Agenda: Recommendations to President-elect Obama and Congress,” was delivered to President-Elect Obama’s transition team the day after the election. It includes more than 70 prioritized recommendations on issues relating to national security and secrecy, usability of government information, and how to create an environment for greater transparency. Those who are concerned and would like to make their own positions known can go to a special website established by OMB Watch and endorse the findings of the Report.
Technology: What’s Coming in 2009?
Michael Gartenberg’s predictions as reported in Computerworld – December 17. 2008.
“Well, it’s that time of the year again. Time to enjoy the glow of a nice LED-backlit display and huddle with the warmth that only an overclocked PC can produce. Yep, it’s time to take a look at what’s going to happen in technology in 2009. Here are my five predictions for the new year.”
ABA Journal Weekly Newsletter. December 23, 2008.
Top Ten Stories of the Week December 23, 2008.
Law Firms Is Thacher Proffitt Dissolving Before Christmas?
Dec 22, 2008, 11:59 am CST
U.S. News and World Report Names Librarianship as “Best Career” in 2009
Source: AALL: From the Desk of James E. Duggan, December 18, 2008.
Some welcome news is today’s tough economy, U.S. News and & World Report last week named librarianship as a “Best Career 2009.” The overview dispels the image of librarians as “mousy bookworms,” reporting that librarians have become “high-tech information sleuths, helping patrons plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital records, often starting with a clever Google search but frequently going well beyond.” Special librarianship in particular is named the field’s fastest-growing job market.
New York State Archives: E-Mail Policy Guidelines
From: New York State Archives – Region 1 Newsletter, December 2008
The New York State Archives is pleased to announce the release of its email policy development guidelines. These guidelines are intended as a starting point for state agencies and local governments to use for writing policies and procedures that will guide a program for managing email. Given the complexity of managing email, not all agencies will have the same needs and issues. Users should adapt the guidelines to meet their own needs and capabilities, and continue to update their policies on an as-needed basis. If users have questions or comments regarding the guidelines, please contact Ann Marie Przybyla at aprzybyl@mail.nysed.gov, or 518-474-5834.
A copy of the guidelines is available at http://www.archives.nysed.gov/a/records/mr_pub85.shtml. If you have problems accessing the guidelines, please contact Sarah Durling at durling@mail.nysed.gov or 518-473-6803.
Libraries Taskforce to Investigate OCLC Policy Change Regarding Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records
According to libraryjournal.com, a libraries taskforce has been formed to investigate the recent OCLC policy changes regarding the use and transfer of WorldCat records.
According to libraryjournal.com:
“Taking a step likely to be welcomed by many in the cataloging community, the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) have formed an ad hoc task force to study the recently disseminated OCLC policy governing the use and transfer of WorldCat records.
NBC Report: During Economic Downturn, Library Use “Way Up”While Budgets are Being Cut
According to an NBC report on MSNBC, use of library has gone “way up” during the present economic downturn; circulation is “skyrocketing”. All of this at a time when the budgets of many of these libraries are being cut..
When you go to the above link, be patient, You will first need to listen to a brief commercial before getting to the report about libraries.
GPO Authentication Initiative: Beta Release of Authenticated Congressional Bills
“GPO’s Authentication initiative focuses on the primary objective of assuring users that the information made available by GPO is official and authentic and that trust relationships exist between all participants in electronic transactions. In furthering GPO’s mission to provide permanent public access to authentic U.S. Government publications, GPO is working to afford users further assurance that files are unchanged since GPO authenticated them.
The Beta release of an Authenticated Congressional Bills application provides digitally signed and certified Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files for a sample set of Congressional Bills from the 110th Congress. GPO has signed and certified the House and Senate bills PDF files within this application as part of GPO’s initiative to reassure users that the online documents are official and authentic.
The documents in this database are available as ASCII text and digitally signed and certified Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files.”