Government Info Pro

Best Places to Work in the U.S. Government

If you are interested in knowing how U.S. government agencies stack up as workplaces, then take a look at The Best Places to Work Rankings for 2010. It is put together by the Partnership for Public Service and American University's Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation (ISPPI).

Designed to help a broad audience of job seekers, researchers, federal employees and government leaders, the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings draw on responses from more than 263,000 civil servants to produce detailed rankings of employee satisfaction and commitment across 290 federal agencies and subcomponents.[About Page, The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government.]

The 2010 rankings compare the overall index scores for 2010 versus 2009 and indicate the percentage change. You can search for an agency, compare agencies, or view by categories by which agencies were scored. These categories include:  training and development, effective leadership, teamwork, pay, work/life balance, and more.

Directory of Government Agencies on Twitter: GovTwit

If you are looking for a directory of government agencies on Twitter then visit GovTwit. This is how GovTwit describes themselves:

This website hosts the world's largest list of government agencies on Twitter, tracking state/local, federal, contractors, media, academics, non-profits and government outside of the U.S. Follow on Twitter using the button below for Gov 2.0 & Open Government news, and become a Facebook fan at Facebook.com/GovTwit. (GovTwit)

GovTwit provides a tweetstream as well as several useful sidebar links including:

• trending topics
• newest to list
• most followed
  
• most active

Obtaining Information on Goverment Officials

Are you looking for information on government officials?  If so, this tip from the Weekly Tips from Librarian Relations Consultants will be of interest to you.

Read on...

If you are seeking a quick and easy way to locate information on elected officials (state, federal, even European), then your best bet is to search the Government Biographical Information Sources file at lexis.com®

Legal > Federal Legal - U.S. > Access Directories > Government Biographical Information Sources

This group file searches across multiple databases ...

Read the full tip.

The ABC's of Military Resources

DC Area Librarians:

This March 22, 2010 program might be of interest to you. Registration closes on Friday, March 19, 2010.

Here's the program information.

DC/SLA members and guests and 2010 DTIC Conference attendees are invited to join the Military Librarians Group of DC/SLA for "The ABC's of Military Resources" with Greta Marlatt and Lily McGovern. This presentation is a reprise of their popular session first given to a full-house during SLA's 2009 conference in Washington, DC. If you are confused by the abundance of military information and don't know where to turn for the most authoritative and useful resources, this program is a must for you.

About the speakers:

Ms. Marlatt is the Information Services Manager of the Dudley Knox Library, Naval Postgraduate School. She serves as the Library's liaison for a variety of schools, departments, and centers, including the School of International Graduate Studies, the National Security Affairs Department, the Center for Contemporary Conflict, the Center for Civil Military Relations, the Defense Resource Management Institute, the International Graduate Programs Office, the Center for Executive Education, the Center for Information Assurance and INFOSEC Studies and Research, the Institute for Joint Warfare Analysis, the Joint Center for International and Security Studies and JPME/Naval War College. She is currently chair of the Military Libraries Division (MLD) of SLA.

Ms. McGovern is a reference librarian at the National Defense University where she supports students, faculty and staff of the National War College, Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF), Information Resources Management College, Institute for National Security Studies, and regional centers. She has also been a reference librarian in the Fort Myer Post Library, the Army Management Staff College, the Pentagon Library, and the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC). She was a Director on the SLA Military Libraries Division Board from 2004-2006 and is a member of the planning committee for the Military Libraries Group (MLG) of the DC Chapter.

See the full notice and registration information here.

Government Blog Spotlight: COLLABORATE

The National Archives is making interesting use of a blog with COLLABORATE by using it as a collaboration tool.

COLLABORATE serves as the virtual meeting place for members of the National Archives education team in Washington, DC, and colleagues from schools, institutions, and organizations across the nation to share innovative ideas and best practices. These conversations will serve as a basis for an exciting new web site and will also offer important feedback and commentary on the site as it develops. (COLLABORATE ABOUT page)

Government Blog Spotlight: Armed with Science

If you are interested in science, technology, and the military then check out Armed with Science from the U.S. Department of Defense. 

Armed with Science highlights the importance of science and technology to military operations and celebrates those involved in cutting-edge research, development, and education. (Armed with Science)

For more information on the background of Armed with Science and to meet the contributors see the Armed with Science About Page.

Here are some examples of recent articles:

• New Army Simulator Sharpens Driving Skills [Interview]
• Wednesday Webcast: Teaching Vehicle Control to SAVE Soldiers Lives
• Computer Game Trains "Art of Battle Command"
• Defense Media CTO: Clouds on the Horizon

New DoD Home Page

The Department of Defense launched a new home page recently: http://www.Defense.gov. Have you checked it out yet?

Designed to invite participation from the public and make military news and information more accessible. The new Web site will provide quick access to those sites that are most sought by Web site visitors, including DoD social media sites, the Pentagon Channel and DoD news stories. [DoD News Release No. 620-09, August 15, 2009]

Defense.gov has a number of features to explore:

• “We Want to Hear From You”
• Latest DoD News
• Defense images
• Links to Special Features, Pentagon Channel
• Easy ways to share and subscribe
• and much more.

According to the Press Release "http://www.Defense.gov , replaces http://www.DefenseLink.mil as the department’s main Internet entry portal. DefenseLink will remain a news Web site and may be accessed from Defense.gov."

USA.gov Word Cloud

Have you seen the USA.gov word cloud?? This word cloud gives a graphic depiction of the 75 most popular words on USA.gov. The most frequently used words are shown in a larger font.

 

Below the cloud you will also find a list of words in order of frequency.  Visit the USA.gov Word Cloud.

Future of Government

Chris Zammarelli, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shares information about the March 12, 2009 program: 10 Challenges Facing Public Managers from the Future of Government seminar held in Washington D.C. in his article: The Future of Government out on the SLA DGI site. The event featured speakers Jonathan Breul, Executive Director of the IBM Center for the Business of Government, and Michael Keegan, producer of The Business of Government Hour and Managing Editor of The Business of Government Magazine. The article summarizes the 10 challenges and provides links to the presentation and 10 Challenges Facing Public Managers from the Future of Government Report.

The links to the presentation and report are also available on the DC/SLA website.

DODTechipedia

The SLA Military Libraries Blog shares information about the DTIC DODTechipedia in this post: DTIC Presents DODTechipedia.

Here's an excerpt:

A DoD scientific and technical wiki, DoDTechipedia is designed to increase communication and collaboration among DoD scientists, engineers, program managers and operational warfighters. This collaborative tool promotes the rapid development of technology and innovative solutions to meet critical needs.

Read the full post.