Colgate University Libraries News and Events

A reprise of our traditional (hopefully) post about Thanksgiving.
 
Soon many of you will be fleeing campus to the comfort of home and the traditional American Thanksgiving feast. Although we tend to think of Thanksgiving as a harvest celebration dating back to Plymouth Colony, it was actually created by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 (See Statutes at Large vol. 13, appendix, p. 749; also online at Library of Congress). It was under Roosevelt (FDR) that Thanksgiving became the fourth Thursday of the month (see Statutes at Large vol. 55, p. 862), not meandering between the fourth and the fifth, in order to increase time to shop. So I guess we have him to "thank" for Black Friday!
 
For fun facts about Thanksgiving, go to the U.S. Census Bureau website. For example, it is expected that 248 million (yes, million) turkeys will be raised in the U.S. this year, with Minnesota leading the way, with an estimated 46.5 million. However, that won't be enough to fill our needs for the entire year. Between Jan and July 2011, we imported $7.8 million worth of live turkeys, primarily from Canada.
 
Intersted in knowing where all that traditional Thanksgiving food comes from? Check out the Where does Thanksgiving Grow poster (created by Linda Zellmer of Western Illinois University), with maps of the production in the U.S. of various Thanksgiving foods. And, finally, if you are traveling, travel safe, both leaving and coming back! Yumm, visions of pumpkin pie!!!!

Welcome back; we see that you brought some "company" with you. In a remarkable coincidence of timing, school travel and arrival has been and will be accompanied by earthquakes and hurricanes. Now Central N.Y. is known for snow, but earthquakes and hurricanes!
 
Two days before the first years arrived (and some of you were already here or on the road), an earthquake struck about 100 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. We felt the shaking here in the library, as did folks all along the Applachcians. Californians may scoff at our 5.8 magnitude quake, but with our older rocks and the quake's shallow depth, life was interesting for a minute. Read more about it and report what you felt at the USGS website.
 
Now folks are preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Irene. Things aren't supposed to be too bad here, but you can't trust Mother Nature. Track Irene's progress at the National Hurricane Center.
 
Hopefully, life will settle down to normal soon. Meanwhile, stay dry!

I turned around at the reference desk this morning, and there it was on our new reference book shelf, the last Statistical Abstract of the United States that will be published – ever. This venerable title dates back to 1858, and, if you’ve ever needed statistics, you’ve probably used it or have seen a librarian use it. It’s our go to source for many questions that need a quick answer. Questions that you can answer range from the fun (number of adults who do Sudoku: 26,250, Table 1239), to the relevant (number of 18 to 24 year olds getting insufficient rest or sleep: 13,881, Table 191), to the serious (e.g. Table 156, Annual Revenue for Health Care Industries). A favorite of government documents librarians is the table, Injuries Associated with Selected Consumer Products. It was made “famous” by Bill Bryson in I’m a Stranger Here Myself, in which he concludes that he’s "far more likely to be hurt by his ceiling or underpants--to cite just two potentially lethal examples--than by a stranger" (p. 19).
 
So why is the 2011 ed. the last? Simply put: budget cuts. The U.S. Census Bureau's Budget Estimates for FY12 would eliminate all funding ($2.9 million and 24 FTEs) for the bureau's Statistical Compendia branch, which gathers data from about 300 government, private, and international agencies and compiles Stat Abs. It also produces periodic supplements, such as the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book, County and City Data Book, and USA Counties web database. The budget would also eliminate Current Industrial Reports and Federal Financial Statistics. Unintentially, the cut will also affect statistical compilations published by the private sector, as some of them also rely on the data in Stat Abs. 
 
Why do I care? After all, it’s all out there on the web, right? Well… some of it is (OK, maybe more than some), but how long will it take me find that information the next time you want it? The Compedian branch gathers information from about 300 sources, and not all of those sources are publicly available. How long would it take you to search the most logical 20 websites for the information that you need, never mind the 300! Will it be in a nice easy to digest table, or will you have to download the data into a statistical analysis software and interpret the variables with a code book? Will it still be there in 2111 or 2211 or ...?
 
Perhaps my congressman and senator can do something about this untimely demise, but if not, here’s to Stat Abs!

As we get closer and closer to a government shutdown, there is the very real possibility that some government websites will go offline. The last time the government shut down, the census website went offline! If a government website that you are trying to use isn't connecting, the most likely cause will be the shutdown. At Colgate, we won't have any way of determining the cause. Ask a Reference Librarian if there are alternative sources.
So far, there has been official confirmation that the following will be up:

• The Government Printing Office does plan to continue posting content from Congress and the Office of the Federal Register on FDsys (the replacement for GPO Access).  GPO also plans to keep the Catalog of Government Publications up and running, but they will not be performing any bibliographic maintenance, such as fixing any broken URLs.
• Medline and other NLM websites
• Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information intends to continue to make available OSTI's main homepage and searchable databases. http://www.osti.gov/resource_flyers/OSTIresources.pdf . OSTI operated resources Science.gov and WorldWideScience.org will also be accessible

Meanwhile, you can keep an eye on the Washington Post, and take a look at the Countdown clock (various sources), keep your fingers crossed!

Soon many of you will be fleeing campus to the comfort of home and the traditional American Thanksgiving feast. Although we tend to think of Thanksgiving as a harvest celebration dating back to Plymouth Colony, it was actually created by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 (See Statutes at Large vol. 13, appendix, p. 749; also online at Library of Congress). It was under Roosevelt (FDR) that Thanksgiving became the fourth Thursday of the month (see Statutes at Large vol. 55, p. 862), not meandering between the fourth and the fifth, in order to increase time to shop. So I guess we have him to "thank" for Black Friday!
 
For fun facts about Thanksgiving, go to the U.S. Census Bureau website. For example, Minnesota is tops in raising turkeys, with an estimated 47 million (yes, million) forecasted for 2010. Intersted in knowing where all that traditional Thanksgiving food comes from? Check out the Where does Thanksgiving go poster (created by Linda Zellmer of Western Illinois University), with maps of the production in the U.S. of various Thanksgiving foods.
 
And, finally, if you are traveling, travel safe, both leaving and coming back!
 
Yumm, visions of pumpkin pie!!!!

This is the annual contest that I wait for every summer, the Tour de France. And what a start it has been! With the prologue and 2 stages complete (haven't seen today's stage 3 results yet - that's for tonight's re-broadcast), there has already been numerous crashes, and some big names are out of the competetion. Everyone held their breath at the end of stage 1, when crash after crash took down competitors, one crash bringing the entire peleton to a stop. In stage 2, the combination of rain and oil leaked from an officials motorcylce took down numerous favorites and took Christian Vandevelde (broken ribs) and Frank Schleck out the race!
 
What's in store: today was cobblestones (hopefully, they had a dry day), then more than 3,000 km of "flat", mountains, and an individual time trial. I wish they'd bring back the team time trials, there's nothing quite so beautiful as a well executed team stage. It all cumulates in he final triumphant (and heart stopping) finale down the Champs Elysees.
 
Follow the action on the official Tour de France website, and for those of us following on TV, Versus (Time Warner channels 50 and 803). In the libraries, you can also catch news from databases like LexisNexis Academic and Access World News International, or check out books in our catalog on cycling, bicycle racing, or the Tour itself.

Early today, the U.S. Senate's longest serving member, Robert Byrd (D - West Virginia), died at Inova Fairfax Hospital. Perhaps best know for his knowledge of and passion for the Constitution (he is reported to have always carried a copy on the Senate floor), he was also a fiddle player, and the author of 5 books: The Senate, 1789-1989; The Senate of the Roman Republic:  Addresses on the History of Roman Constitutionalism;  Losing America: Confronting A Reckless and Arrogant Presidency;  Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields;  and Letter to a New President, co-authored with Steve Kettmann. Colgate owns most of these books, the majority of which are official U.S. government documents. Take a look at them in our catalog, and then in person.
 
There is a lengthy obituary about Byrd in the Washington Post, and more information about him is available on the Senate website.
 
As might be expected, speeches about Byrd came quickly in Congress. You can read those by going to fdsys.gov and search for Byrd in the Congressional Record daily. I'd limit your results to after June 27, 2010 and add terms like remembering, condolences, and memorium. Try this link, and see if it gets you there (don't know if FDSys has durable URLs).

That quadrennial sporting event beloved by the world and ingored by a significant number of Americans, is underway in South Africa. If you haven't found your way to watch the matches or stay up to date on the news and events, check out our list of online and TV sources. Have a good one that isn't listed? Post a comment with the link and I'll add it our webpage.

The decennial census is well underway. Mandated by the Constitution, this head count of the people living in the United States happens every 10 years, and has significant consequences that last until the next Census. Census results are used to help determine the number of representatives for each state in the House of Representatives, and to equitably distribute federal funds for social programs, infrastucture, and emergency services. Closer to home on a college campus, many of the statistics that you use in your research, papers, and projects come from the census.
You should have received a decennial census form in the mail, and I hope that you have returned it (it's not too late). Right now, only 64% of the people living in the village of Hamilton have. Didn't get or lost your form? Call the Telephone Questionnaire Assistance toll-free number 1-866-872-6868. Students: have a question about whether or not to indicate that you live in Hamilton on your form? The quick answer is yes, the full answer is at http://2010.census.gov/2010census/how/where-counted.php ; click on "Students".

FAQs are on the Census 2010 website. Start with http://2010.census.gov/2010census/about/whole.php . As the federal documents librarian, I get 2 questions/comments: "I don't want just anyone knowing about me and my household" and "How come the survey is so short?". The response to the first comment is that the Census takes your privacy very seriously, and does not provide public access to individually identifiable information. Check out http://2010.census.gov/2010census/privacy/index.php . The answer to the second question is that the Bureau of the Census now runs an annual survey called the American Community Survey, which is sent to a sample of the U.S. households each year. See http://www.census.gov/acs/www/SBasics/ for more information. Yes, you may get both surveys this year.

One is tempted to ask "Why is "Census Day" was April 1st, but there it is. Proof that the federal government has a sense of humour!

The Government Printing Office (GPO) has posted to the Federal Digital system (FDsys) the authenticated full text of H.R. 3590 (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) and H.R. 4872 (Health Care and Education Reconcilliation Act of 2010), and of  debates and votes in the Congressional Record.
 
Direct links to the bills:
H.R. 3590
H.R. 4872

Direct links to Congressional Record debate:
Congressional Record Volume 156, Issue 43 (March 21, 2010)
Congressional Record Volume 156, Issue 43 (March 21, 2010)
Roll call vote no. 165
 
If you (like many of us) are overwhelmed by the sheer size of the bills, you can get a good start at Thomas. The Health care bills are front and center on the website today, but you can always search by the bill numbers to get to a summary, view the actions and ammendments proposed on the House and Senate floor, and link to the texts and the Congressional Record.
 
Your tax dollars at work, courtesy of the federal depository system. We will have paper copies of the law in time, but online's the way to go for now!