Government Info Pro

U.S. Census Bureau Library

As seen on the Federal Librarians Discussion List...

We cordially invite you to join the U.S. Census Bureau Library in celebration of National Library Week’s, 50th Anniversary.

Guest Speaker: Ms. Trudy Suchan Branch Chief of Information Resources and Dissemination; Co-Author of The Census Atlas of the United States

Reception immediately following.

Monday April 14, 2008
1:00pm

Please RSVP by: April 11, 2008

4600 Silver Hill Road
Suitland Maryland 20746
301-763-2511 or 301-763-2529
library@census.gov

NOAA Librarians Get Press

Check out SLA/DGI Blog's recent post: NOAA Librarians in Information Outlook. The post talks about four NOAA librarians who got some press in the March 2008 issue of Information Outlook. The article: Four for the Air and the Sea: NOAA Libarians Took Different Paths to the Profession by Forrest Glenn Spencer, is available online to SLA members.

Promoting Your Library

Library Week is coming up fast. Perhaps you need some ideas for marketing your library. Here are some resources that might be of help. These resources are all provided on the LexisNexis Info Pro site and include sections on:

Creating Your Marketing Plan

Opening Your Library to Your Patrons and Have Some Fun

Reaching Your Patrons

Spreading Your Library's Message.

Want more ideas? You might also want to take a look at these Government Info Pro posts: Stephen Abram Talks About Ten Cool Technologies and PR in Libraries and IL 2007: Online Marketing for Libraries. 

While you're at it, listen to this Government Info Pro Podcast. There are plenty of marketing tips gleaned from summer library conferences in this podcast.

Lessons Learned for Surviving Professional Social Events

Danielle Francis, LexisNexis Librarian Relations Consultant, wrote a column recently that is a perfect read as we move into the season of conferences and programs galore. The column, out on the LexisNexis Info Pro is called Lessons Learned for Surviving Professional Events and part of a monthly series written by the Librarian Relations Consultants.

She begins...

Welcome to March, which means you are finally done with seasonal parties. From November through February we are invited to an abundance of lunches, dinners, and cocktail parties. These events, whether personal or professional, are not always easy or fun. I learned three things this year that will make these events more enjoyable and beneficial.

She covers the Blackberry, new people, and conversation starters. 

Read the whole column here.

Vote for FEDLINK OCLC Members Council Delegate

As seen on the Federal Librarians Discussion List...

Ballots are now online for OCLC member libraries to vote for the FEDLINK delegate to the OCLC Members Council.  Ballots are due by close of business April 11, 2008.

We would like to thank the candidates for agreeing to run:

- Chris Cole, National Agricultural Library
- Blane Dessy  Department of Justice
- Robin Miller Dixon, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Candidates' biographies and more information about the OCLC Members Council are included with the ballot. Each governing member library has one vote.  Governing libraries were formerly known as full members and have agreed to catalog current collections on OCLC.  Please coordinate with your library staff so that FEDLINK receives one ballot per library symbol.  Some FEDLINK Interagency Agreements (IAG's) cover multiple OCLC symbols.  The IAG point of contact may redistribute the information and ballot to their individual Governing Member libraries.

Print the ballot which appears as the last page (page 4) at the above URL and fax it to FEDLINK at 202-707-4828 by close of business April 11, 2008.

Some New Health-Related Government Blogs

A couple new government blogs have recently hit the web with a focus on health. The first two are military: US DOD's The Military Health System Blog and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center Commander's Blog. The third is from the National Institute of Safety and Health: the NIOSH Science Blog.

Take a Walk

It's Friday! Time for a little rest and relaxation. Or maybe a walk. I love to walk once the weather gets nice but in the winter I'm a slacker. I was inspired by an article on the virtues of taking a walk in the All in a Day's Work column of LexisNexis In the Know for State and Local Government Customers. The article by Judy Fortin entitled Riding, walking to work builds fitness into day may make you resolve to find the time to squeeze a little me-time into your day in the form of a nice refreshing walk.

Talking About Twitter

Curious about Twitter? Jill Hurst-Wahl, writes about Twitter, on the Blogging Section of the SLA-IT Blog. The post: Gathering Around the Virtual Coffee Pot, highlights some of the benefits of "Twittering" and discusses Twitter tools.

Library of Congress Blog

Congrats go out to the Library of Congress Blog for being a SXSW Web Awards finalist in the blog catagory. All finalists were sites that have launched or been completely redesigned in 2007. Read what the Library of Congress Blog had to say about it in this post: An Honor Just To Be Nominated.

Finding State Law using the Martindale-Hubbell(R) Law Digests on lexis.com(R)

Check out this monthly tip from LexisNexis Customer Support on using Martindale-Hubbell Law Digest for finding state law.

The Martindale-Hubbell Law Digest contains a summary of the laws, with statutory references, for each state in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

United States Law Digests are often used by attorneys to research the law in other states prior to taking legal action there.

The Digests are updated annually to include changes in court rules and to include the most current enactments of the various legislatures. The digests are updated by leading law firms and attorneys in their field of expertise.

There is a separate database for each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. There is also a group file combining all the separate databases.

Each Digest is arranged by Category and Topic. Additionally, Category and Topic operate as segments which are useful in search construction for retrieving precise results. The LexisNexis Knowledge Base has additional information on segment searching.

Read the full article and see an example here.