Six State Virtual Government Information Conference August 11-13 and 16-17, 2010

Making Documents Accessible

Deb Van Tassel, University of ColoradoJanet Fisher, Arizona State Library and Archives

Camille O’Neill, Arizona Western College

Six State Virtual Government Information Conference August 11-13 and 16-17, 2010

Multi-state effort

Debra Van TasselUniversity of Colorado - Boulder

A continuing education program to train reference and public services

librarians and library workers in the use of electronic government

information

Gi21is made possible by a grant

from the

U.S. InstituteOf

Museum and Library Services.

Identified Issues• For help with a variety of common problems,

more people turn to the Internet than consult experts or family

• Most Americans (70%) expect to be able to get info or services from a government agency website

• Reliance on a commercial search engine misses “a lot” of government information

More Issues

• 4 in 5 (78%) have visited government websites to seek info

• Assistance from library staff vital to finding info

• General “lack of awareness and skills” to make effective use of online gov info among librarians

- Pew Internet & American Life Project“Information Searches that Solve

Problems”

93% of Current Government Informationis published electronically

GoalsGoal 1: Develop a group of government

information professionals who are available to train and support non-government information professionals in their use of electronic government information.

Goal 2: Expand the base of library professionals and library workers who have knowledge of and experience with electronic government information resources among our various states.

Goals

Goal 3: Increase their level of satisfaction with government information resources in meeting the information needs of their specific user communities.

Goal 4: Develop a new model for the support and training of participants of the Federal Depository Libraries in the 5 state region that can be adopted nationally.

5 State Coordinators

Arizona State Library

University of Colorado, Boulder

New Mexico State Library

University of Utah

Wyoming State Library

Gov Info Specialists by State

18

5

11

5

9

TOTAL 48

Gi21 Trainees

TOTAL 73183 sessions

Average: 8.8

176

90

120

111

234

Six State Virtual Government Information Conference August 11-13 and 16-17, 2010

Transitions: What comes next?

Janet FisherArizona State Library, Archives and Public

Records

Transitioning from Gi21

• In addition to training during grant period– Depository Librarians continued talking about the project

and headway made during grant period• Fall 2008 Federal Depository Conference• Librarians used and referred patrons to subject modules

– First project coordinator volunteered time from Fall 2008 through early this year to update pages and investigate involv more states in this project

– Arizona took on responsibility to keep site up-to-date• Checking every link• Content will be updated and additional information added

Difficulties in creating sustainable project

• No champion emerged within 5 states as we were coping with the economy and our own libraries

• Services of a grant writer no longer available to identify and write another grant -- librarians completing training commitments of first grant

Others still refer to project

• ALA Open Forum for all Divisions in Summer 2009 – e-government information is important for all librarians to know

• OCLC WebJunction’s newsletter, Crossroads - February 2010 issue featured the Government Information in the 21st Century site

CROSSROADS NewsletterFebruary 2010

Patrons Seek E-Government Resources More than Ever

“Public libraries are relied upon to provide access to e-government resources, and to help patrons find and use the information there. With such high demand, how do library staff keep current with federal, state, and local government agency websites? For starters, check out Government Information in the 21st Century which provides guidance and hundreds of links to federal e-government resources. We'll be adding more content throughout the month, so stay tuned. And if you have resources to share, please let us know.”

Others offering related training and publications

• WebJunction archive includes:– Webinar “Re-tooling Frontline Staff with E-government

Resources” (Florida focus) (http://www.webjunction.org/events/webinars/webinar-archives/-/articles/content/98612509)

– Best Practices for Government Libraries 2010: The New Face of Value (collaborative document; downloadable (http://www.webjunction.org/gi21/-/resources/discussion/99201998)

Others offering related training and publications (continued)

• University of Maryland, College of Information Studies – E-Government Concentration

• ALA publication, Libraries Connect Communities: Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2009–2010, references importance of e-government (http://www.ala.org/ala/research/initiatives/plftas/index.cfm)

Library decision-makers using Gi21 as foundation for other efforts

• Arizona applied for Broadband Stimulus grant – Included training on e-government sources

related to job and business-related tools, based on modules in Gi21

• Other ideas?????

Six State Virtual Government Information Conference August 11-13 and 16-17, 2010

Portals to Federal Government Information

Camille O’NeillArizona Western College

Academic Library

• A partnership library• Serves Arizona Western College (community college service

region includes Yuma & La Paz Counties)• Serves Northern Arizona University--Yuma Branch Campus• Uses a library catalog shared with the Yuma County Library

District• Serves as a Federal Depository Library for the western portion of

the 7th U.S. Congressional District • Located in SW corner of Arizona near borders with Mexico and

California• Nearest other depository is 160 miles away• Yuma County unemployment rate is over 20%

Start at our Library’s web site:http://www.azwestern.edu/library/

• Click on “Government Information” link• Click through transition page to “Government

Information” Libguide--Research Help Guide:• http://libguides.azwestern.edu/gov_info

About the Libguide Format• Recent library objective was to update our formerly

print research guides • Saw Libguides demonstrated at American Library

Association conference• It’s a very user-friendly way for novices to

incorporate Web 2.0 tools, update content• We already had Government Documents web pages,

migrated them to Libguide format• Ann Ewbank, Arizona State University-West campus,

came to Yuma for Libguide training & shared ASU’s “Best Practices”

• More info at http://www.libguides.com

• “Home” page includes basic information about the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP)

• “Quick Links” to government information • Government RSS feeds of current interest• Ask A Librarian services

RSS Feed from

USA.gov

Quick Links

Catalog of Government Publications

“The finding tool for federal publications

that includes descriptive records for historical and current publications,” some

with full text links . Can find nearby libraries

with holdings.

Finding Government Information

All depository libraries are required to

provide access to the Basic Collection

FDLP Basic Collection

Selected Portals to Federal Information

Federal Information Online tab

More of “Federal

Information” Online page

Selected Portals to Federal Information

USA.gov: the official web portal of the

U. S. Government

Usa.gov

• The official web portal of the U.S. Government.

• Use it to access health, consumer, educational, career, and many other types of information.

• Recently revised• Available in Spanish version

Explore Topics Most

Popular

Usa.gov: Explore by Topic or Audience, or Search

Usa.gov Web 2.0 & Mobile apps

Web 2.0 & mobile tools

Usa.gov en espanol

GPO Access & FDsys

• Provides “online access to the official published information of the Federal Government”

• Will transition to FDsys.gov in the near future• FDsys “provides public access to Government

information submitted by Congress and Federal agencies and preserved as technology changes”

Government Information in

the 21st Century

Modules

Government Information on

the Web Subject Index

St. Mary’s University

• Partnership project with the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)

• Provides “starting points for browsing subject areas, bringing both broad and detailed subject listings from many libraries together in one index.”

Create your own search

or use subject list

Federal Information portals from Arizona State

Library, Archives & Public Records

Thomas.gov Legislative Information

Current Activity

Weekly Top Five

items searched

Government portals

selected by Library of Congress

Ben’s Guide to the U.S.

Government for Kids includes resources for

educators

Government portals from

Library of Congress

Selected Statistical Resources

Fedstats.gov: Data from over 100 agencies

Census.gov

• Census.gov is a comprehensive site for statistical data about the United States, its population, and much more

• Includes business & industry data• Includes American Factfinder, a user-friendly

interface. Users can create their own tables & maps

Census.gov

American Factfinder

New resource – data sets from the Executive

Branch

Thank you!

Contact us at:Debra Van TasselDebra.VanTassel@Colorado.edu

Janet FisherJFisher@lib.az.us

Camille O’Neill

Camille.Oneill@azwestern.edu

Six State Virtual Government Information Conference August 11-13 and 16-17, 2010