Entry bubble Ask a Librarian

By: Nicole | April 18, 2008 | Category: General

BabyMany Gov Gab regulars might know that our Friday blogger, Sommer, has been expecting her first baby. Her son, Andrew, arrived late Wednesday night, and Sommer will be spending the next few months enjoying his company (and changing his diapers!).

In the meantime, I’m thrilled to be your temporary Friday blogger. I’m looking forward to sharing tidbits of information and pointing you to government services in your area. For example, did you know that this week is National Library Week? It’s true. And it seems like the perfect time to remind you that many libraries have government publications, like the Consumer Action Handbook, available in their reference sections.

Library ShelfNational Library Week is designed to promote library use and support, and I feel more than qualified to help. Even as a kid, I loved to read. In fact, on a soggy spring day in fourth grade, I managed to get myself locked in a public library after closing time. Boy did that emergency exit alarm cause a ruckus.

Despite this slightly traumatic experience, I’ve decided to celebrate National Library Week by highlighting two free online services. First, "Ask a Government Information Librarian" gives you immediate access (by chat or e-mail) to librarians who are experts in government information and resources. Want to know more about the Presidential election process or where to get a passport form? Want to ask about the history of the Social Security Administration? Go ahead. Test their knowledge. If you have a more detailed research question, "Ask a Reference Librarian" gives you access to researchers at the Library of Congress.

If you’re looking for more information about libraries across the country, don’t forget to check out USA.gov’s Libraries page, which lists government and public libraries and allows you to locate the ones closest to you.

| Comments [4] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: congress  government  information  library  reference  research 

 

Entry bubble Curl Up With A Good Book This Winter

By: Sam | December 19, 2007 | Category: Fun

I may be biased but many fabulous things have come out of Georgia.  Delicious food, R.E.M., Hank Aaron, the Varsity, Gone With the Wind…I could keep going.  But it wasn’t till I read this recent Washington Post article that I realized how many great authors are from the Peach State (this coming from a girl who took a year of GA history).

The article looks at six major American fiction writers and the ongoing efforts to preserve their homes and other landmarks.  These authors include such luminaries as Alice Walker, Flannery O’ Connor, and Carson McCullers.  After reading the article, I was really surprised at how many of their books I hadn’t read.  How could I’ve missed a book that summarizes my single gal woes in one simple phrase:  A Good Man is Hard to Find.

With this realization, I decided to put together a list of books that I wanted to read this winter.  I started my search at the Big Read blog.  The Big Read  is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center of American culture.  It provides citizens across the country an opportunity to read and discuss a single book within their communities.  The books are some of the most iconic in literature, including one of my all time favorites, The Great Gatsby.

Of course a search of great books would not be complete without a stop at the Library of Congress.  The Center for the Book, along with this wonderful thread from the Library’s blog, gave me plenty of interesting selections for my list.  But I didn’t stop there.  Here are just a few more sites that I checked out for my ultimate winter reading list:

Before I head off to the library, I would love to get recommendations from y’all.  Some of my favorites are Beach Music by Pat Conroy and Personal History, the autobiography of Katharine Graham. 

| Comments [4] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: books  library  literacy  literature  reading  winter 

 

Entry bubble Finding Information About Illnesses and Other Ailments Online

By: Jake | December 03, 2007 | Category: Health

My brother recently did a two week stint in the hospital because he had pancreatitis. He’s fine now, but it was quite a scare.

If you are like most of the people I have talked to (that aren’t doctors or nurses), you probably have never heard of pancreatitis. When I found out my brother had it I scoured the Internet to find out everything I could about it. I found two really good websites that provided insight on the ailment and ways to prevent future cases.

MedlinePlus has information on 740 different diseases and ailments and it is where I found the Pancreatitis link above. This is no surprise since MedlinePlus is maintained by the world’s largest medical health library, the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

I found out at MedlinePlus that there are two forms of pancreatitis, acute and chronic, and it can be triggered by alcoholism and diabetes. My brother had acute pancreatitis and his doctors said his pancreatitis was caused by diabetes, which he was unaware he had.

I know a lot about diabetes since I read Sam’s recent blog post. Still I was able to find more information about diabetes using HealthFinder.gov, a partnership of many federal agencies maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services. HealthFinder.gov focuses more on prevention than MedlinePlus and links to carefully selected information and Web sites from over 1,500 health-related organizations.

While the internet is not the only way to find health information, these two sites can cover a lot of ground for you. And as always the best health expert is your doctor.

| envelope Email This Entry | Tags: alcoholism  diabetes  health  hhs  library  medical  medicine  pancreatitis 

 

Entry bubble Library Benefits

By: Marybeth | November 27, 2007 | Category: General

I like the idea of having an in-home library with old, built-in bookshelves and rows of hard-bound books, but I don’t have the space, shelves, or books. My collection—if you can call it a collection—consists of tattered paperbacks stored in cardboard boxes.

Photo of library booksOther than reference materials, a few favorite books, and special editions that were gifts, I find that most books end up in storage boxes. So, driven by hopes of reducing clutter and saving money, I’ve gone back to the stacks.

It’s free and easy to sign up for a library card. You can find a library near you by entering your ZIP code in the Library Search box on USA.gov’s Government and Public Libraries page. From here, you can also access federal government libraries, presidential libraries, the Library of Congress’ Ask a Librarian, and more.

Library holdings vary, but in addition to paper books, music, and DVDs, some library systems offer eBooks and eAudiobooks, which you can download to your computer or portable device. If you need help doing research or navigating the catalog, talk to the library’s best resource—the librarian(s).

When I started using the library again, I figured I’d only stick with it if it ended up being convenient. It has been convenient, though I’ll admit that I’ve had to renew every set of books I’ve borrowed (and perhaps had to do a few renewals on a certain Tolstoy novel). Still, such transactions are easily managed online. Taking everything into account, it's been positive and I've ended up doing more than reducing clutter and saving a little money—I’ve made more time to read.

| envelope Email This Entry | Tags: books  clutter  librarian  library  money  reading 

 

Entry bubble Perfect Sound Forever

By: Jake | October 01, 2007 | Category: Fun

On Saturday I saw Thurston Moore perform his new solo album in Washington, D.C. Moore is better known for being the leader of Sonic Youth and I saw Sonic Youth perform their 1988 album “Daydream Nation” in July.

A 33 album playing on a record player

“Daydream Nation” is one of 225 recordings in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. The National Recording Registry was created by the National Recording Preservation Act in 2000 “to maintain and preserve sound recordings and collections of sound recordings that are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

The National Recording Preservation Board chooses which recordings are to be submitted every year. They have chosen things you’d expect to see (or hear) such as the “I Have A Dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr. and President Roosevelt’s address to Congress after Pearl Harbor and things you wouldn’t expect such as recordings of Asian Elephants by Katharine B. Payne and various popular rock, rap and country albums.

The coolest thing about this registry is that the board accepts recording nominations from the public year round. A recording has to be 10 years old and can’t be a video recording to be nominated. I looked over the list to see if there is anything “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” that I would nominate and found they really do have a lot covered. Most major historical events I thought of I witnessed on television so they’re not eligible.

Of course one major historical event they don’t have is the first Federal Citizen Information Center campaign “Happy Facts” from 1973, but I'm not too certain it would make the review board's cut. The government still uses radio and television campaigns, but has expanded to use podcasts and blogs to distribute information these days.

While historical event sound recordings were a challenge for me, I had no problem thinking of three albums to put on the list. Suggest your own sound recordings in the comment section so we can discuss them.

“Remain in Light”-Talking Heads (1980)
“Ride the Lightning”-Metallica (1984)
“Slanted and Enchanted”- Pavement (1992)

| Comments [2] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: congress  government  historical  history  information  library  music  preservation