Instructional Videos for American Factfinder 2

If you found still difficulty moving around the new American Factfinder (AFF), you would find the two instructions below very useful:

--A 5-minute video on the basics of the AFF 2:http://youtu.be/4Jt3-1dATdk
--A 9-minute video on advanced search: http://youtu.be/V77TkN0YNGQ

Created by a librarian at the University of Colorado.

Link to USGS Publications Changing

"The U.S. Geological Survey's Publications Warehouse (pubs.usgs.gov) will complete a process to migrate all of its' on-line publications into Portable Document Format (PDF) files by September 1, 2011."

the preferred link to this publication is:
http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/b1967

The previous online publication format will stop working by Sept. 1 this year.

(source: govdoc-l)

Exhibit at GPO-150 Years of Service to the Nation

GPO is celebrating its 150 years of anniversary and hosting the history exhibit, titled as KEEPING AMERICA INFORMED: THE U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 150 YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE NATION. This exhibit covers the history of people, the machines, and the material produced at GPO over the past 150 years.

It's open to the public. See the full report.

Update on Davis Bacon Wage Determinations

The U.S. GPO has a partnership with the Dept. of Labor and the NTIS to provide permanent public access to Davis Bacon Wage Determination information.

Visit www.wdol.gov to search and browse both current and archived wage determinations (2000-).

No Longer "Google's Uncle Sam and GovSearch.Google.com" Available

It's official that these two Google Search Engines that Google offered at least for a decade were offline. See the article directly.

Congressional Committees Hearings via C-SPAN

Government-recorded Hearings Now Being Added to the Video Library C-SPAN Video Library Blog.

"The C-SPAN Video Library now contains committee hearings produced by House and Senate committees. C-SPAN can only record a limited number of committees every day. However, a number of House and Senate committees have installed their own equipment to webcast their committee proceedings. These webcasts are now scattered across House and Senate committee websites or not available at all. In order to enhance the offerings of the C-SPAN Video Library and to consolidate these hearings in one place, we are importing government produced committee video into the Video Library."

Browse the C-SPAN video library!

Access to STAT-USA Data Through USA Trade Online

Although Stat-USA is no longer available, depository libraries still can access U.S. export and import data through USA Trade Online free of charge. Learn more about USA Trade Online and Mason access to this site at http://infoguides.gmu.edu/content.php?pid=70206&sid=531504

New 2010 Census Data To Be Released

Visit the American Factfinder at www.census.gov to access American Community Survey (ACS) Multi-Year Estimates. The U.S. Census Bureau just released for the first time five years for detailed information about American Communities. This is the first time that ACS data is available for all communities in the U.S.(annually from 2005).

Data includes:
familes and relationships, income and benefits, health insurance, education, veteran status, disabilities and commuting, and more.

If you want to learn more about this detailed data available from this survey, visit this helpful guide: Demographers at the UVA's Weldon Cooper Center .

If you need data for the geographies of Census Block Group and Census Block geographies in the 2010 Decennial Data, visit American Factfinder's "Download Center" as an anonymous FTP download. The URL is: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DownloadDatasetServlet?_lang=en

U.S. Floods

The ongoing oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico and the Times Square bomb square, both of which have rightly received significant attention, have also been somewhat overshadowing the Nashville floods, which have been dubbed a rare 500-year event and resulted in deaths and property damage of $1 billion or more.

Dealing with the consequences of natural disasters like flooding is a regular responsibility of the federal government. Here is report from the Congressional Research Service on the National Flood Insurance Program:

Despite investing significant resources to identify flood risk and shape floodplain and coastal development, flood costs have risen over the past recent decade. The unprecedented losses in 2005 from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the 2008 Midwest flood and Hurricanes Ike and Gustav have focused national attention on hurricane risk and the impact of storm surge on property, inland flooding on rivers, and the financial viability of the NFIP.

Here is another report that deals specifically with the implications of the 2008 Midwestern floods on the program.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has a useful page with some basic information about flooding threats and preparedness. The U.S. Geological Survey also provides some detailed information and reports on flood-related natural hazards.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center has published an interesting chart (PDF) showing some of the most severe disaster emergencies from 1980-2009 (does not include the current year).

More Oil Spill Resources

We've posted two more useful resources on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Mason Libraries GIS blog, over here.

Oil Spills in U.S. Waters

The big news over the past several days has been the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which poses significant health risks for humans and wildlife alike.

For a little context, here is a Congressional Research Service report (PDF) from 2010 that discusses oil spills in U.S. waters. The report reviews history and trends of oil spills, discusses the relevant agencies with authority over prevention and response, and identifies future oil spill threats. From the report summary:

Considering that U.S. oil consumption and oil imports have steadily increased, the trend of declining spill incidents and volume in past years is noteworthy. Yet, recent annual data indicate that the overall decline of annual spill events may have stopped. Although Energy Information Administration projections indicate that oil imports are expected to decline in coming years, the United States is projected to continue importing a substantial percentage of the oil it consumes. The threat of oil spills raises the question of whether U.S. officials have the necessary resources at hand to respond to a major spill. There is some concern that the favorable U.S. spill record has resulted in a loss of experienced personnel, capable of responding quickly and effectively to a major oil spill.

The U.S. Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other agencies share responsibility for cleanup and prevention; the Coast Guard also administers a federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. Some background on the current status of this report is available via this Government Accountability Office report. Fenwick Library Government Documents also possesses several resources on oil spills, such as this report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on spill response strategies. Additional information related to oil spills can be found through the National Response Center website.