New Help! Webinar on Gov Info Sites

Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian presents…I Didn’t Know I Could Do That!: using government and government-related websites for research on just about anything, September 25 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern)

The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association welcomes you to a series of webinars designed to help us all do better reference work by increasing our familiarity with government information resources, and by discovering the best strategies for navigating them.

Government and government-related websites are great places to find a wide variety of information useful to librarians and citizens. All too often,  they are overlooked and underutilized. This webinar highlights a number of official local, county, state, and federal sites, and also covers some very useful demographic, legal, and medical information resources. The resources used in the presentation slides are all hyperlinked, so you can start exploring as soon as the presentation is available.

Alexandra (Alex) Simons is the Research and Instruction Librarian for History, Political Science, and Government Documents at the University of Houston’s M.D. Anderson Library. She has done presentations and webinars for librarians, law librarians, researchers, and the general public on using government resources, and has also written articles and presented on marketing and branding for librarians and library collections. Alex is the immediate past chair of the Texas Library Association’s GODORT, and is currently on the Education and Development committees of ALA’s GODORT. She received her MLIS from the University of North Texas. She can be reached at acsimons @ uh.edu.

We will meet together for Session #30, online on September 25 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern). Please RSVP for the Session by September 24 at 5:00 pm using this link: http://tinyurl.com/grs-session30

New Help! Webinar on Economic Data

Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian presents…Historical Economic Data Sources & Economic Time Travel, August 21 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern)

In economics, historical data aren’t necessarily 200 years old; historical data could be two weeks old. That’s because economic data are revised, frequently.  And those revisions mean that the historical data librarians find for patrons may not be the same values that an individual would have seen when the data were initially released.

Economic data are made from estimates. Over time, more information becomes available and these estimates are revised. Policy-makers, businesses, and consumers make economic and financial decisions based on unrevised data available at a point in time. These unrevised are useful for studying historic decisions and economic policies. This webinar will describe sources available for uncovering historical economic data and methods for using those sources that provide a window into the past.

Presenter Pamela Campbell, is a Senior Librarian at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. She has been working with government documents for nearly four years, with a focus on economic history. Pamela is part of the team that provides FRASER <http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/>, a digital library dedicated to preserving the nation’s economic history.

We will meet together for Session #29, online on August 21 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern). Please RSVP for the Session by August 20 at 5:00 pm using this link: https://tinyurl.com/grs-session29

Help! Webinar on Congressional Research

The upcoming Help! webinar is called Climbing Capitol Hill: The Basics of Congressional Research. Hope you can join us on August 8 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern)

Do questions about congressional research make you wish you had paid more attention in civics class in high school? Have no fear, while researching (or helping others research) the activities of our Congress may seem daunting, it really isn’t once you know the basics and a few tricks. This webinar will break down the types of Congressional information that are out there, discuss what types of information they contain and provide strategies for helping researchers find and use them.

Rosalind Tedford is the Director for Research and Instruction at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library at Wake Forest University. She earned her BA in English and Psychology as well as her MA in English from Wake Forest and an MLIS from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In addition to managing the research and instruction programs at Wake Forest she teaches for-credit information literacy courses and is the liaison to both the Political Science and Communication departments. She has presented at LOEX, ACRL, ALA and regional conferences on issues ranging from copyright to technology trends to information literacy. In what little free time she has, she can be found hanging out with her two kids, watching ACC basketball and reading (but not at the same time).  She can be reached at tedforrl@wfu.edu

We will meet together for Session #28, online on August 8 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern). Please RSVP for the Session by August 7 at 5:00 pm using this link:  http://tinyurl.com/grs-session28

American FactFinder?? HELP!

We have a great new Help! webinar headed your way in June. I’ve seen Katharin do a similar session before and she is the bomb (disclaimer: and my co-author). Good times right here.

Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian presents … Just the Facts, Ma’am! Getting Started with the U.S. Census & American FactFinder

The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association welcomes you to a series of webinars designed to help us all do better reference work by increasing our familiarity with government information resources, and by discovering the best strategies for navigating them.

The U.S. Census and American Community Survey provide a wealth of social, economic, and housing information of use to social scientists, policy-makers, social workers, community activists, and anyone interested in understanding a specific population or community. For many, however, the complexity of the American FactFinder interface can be a hurdle to getting started. This webinar will provide a concise introduction to the U.S. Census and American Community Survey focusing on the background information necessary for understanding and using current population statistics and the steps to successfully navigate American FactFinder in order to obtain the statistics you need. You don’t need to be a statistician to use these great statistics! This webinar will be useful for librarians new to the Census as well as those looking for new ways to present American FactFinder to users.

Katharin Peter is the Social Sciences Data Librarian for the International and Public Affairs Library at the University of Southern California. She has a BA in Sociology, an MLIS, and a Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Science & Technology. She is also an adjunct lecturer for the San Jose State University School of Library & Information Science where she teaches courses on data librarianship and survey research methods.

We will meet together for Session #27, online on June 12 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern). Please RSVP for the Session by June 11 at 5:00 pm using this link: http://tinyurl.com/grs-session27

Technical requirements: We will be using collaborative software called Blackboard Collaborate. It requires that you be able to download Java onto your computer, but you do not need any special software. After you RSVP, we will send you a link that you can use to test the software. If you have any questions, please contact Lynda Kellam (lmkellam@uncg.edu). You do not need a microphone as a chat system is available in the software, but you do need speakers or headphones.
The session will be recorded and made available after the live session, linked from the NCLA GRS web page (http://www.nclaonline.org/government-resources).

New Help! Webinar!

Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian presents … “Legal Research …Without the Law Library”  Tuesday, May 14 at 12:00 pm

 

The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association welcomes you to a series of webinars designed to help us all do better reference work by increasing our familiarity with government information resources, and by discovering the best strategies for navigating them.

 

Researching the law is a complex and difficult process, not just for library patrons but also for the librarians who are asked to provide them with guidance. Effective legal research requires an understanding of the interplay between legal materials from all three branches of government within both federal and state systems. Unfamiliar jargon and constant changes to the law can also pose unique challenges for the novice legal researcher. The next Government Resources Section webinar will outline a mix of free and widely-available subscription resources which can help library patrons find and use legal materials, along with tips to help librarians identify the important distinctions between “legal reference” and “legal advice.”

Jennifer L. Behrens is the Head of Reference Services & a Lecturing Fellow at Duke Law School’s J. Michael Goodson Law Library, where she provides regular instruction on legal research topics. Jennifer holds both a JD and an MLS from the University at Buffalo, and previously worked as a graduate assistant in UB’s Charles B. Sears Law Library as well as its Lockwood Library’s former Business & Government Documents Reference Center. She served as Secretary/Treasurer of NCLA’s Government Resources Section from 2009-2011.

We will meet together for Session #26, online on Tuesday, May 14 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern). Please RSVP for the Session by May 13 at 5:00 pm using this link:  http://tinyurl.com/grs-session26

 

Technical requirements: We will be using collaborative software called Blackboard Collaborate. It requires that you be able to download Java onto your computer, but you do not need any special software. After you RSVP, we will send you a link that you can use to test the software. If you have any questions, please contact Lynda Kellam (lmkellam@uncg.edu). You do not need a microphone as a chat system is available in the software, but you do need speakers or headphones.

The session will be recorded and made available after the live session, linked from the NCLA GRS web page (http://www.nclaonline.org/government-resources).

#diylib free government information support

I’ve been stalking the In the Library with a Lead Pipe for the past few weeks. The editors are presenting at ACRL on do-it-yourself (DIY) projects in librarianship and have been asking librarians to give suggestions. So, here is my suggestion for #diylib.

The Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian webinar series created by the NCLA Government Resources Section is mega-DIY. (Full disclosure: I organize and run tech for these things.) While it is known in the niche community of govdocers, the series has gained tremendous momentum in the past 2 years. Our 25th webinar is coming up this month and we are hitting our second anniversary.

You may ask what about an organization’s webinar series is DIY? Well, keep in mind the organization that created this series has about 5 active members (and 25 dues paying members). We came up with the idea because we realized we weren’t getting the training and support needed to be good gov info librarians. Most of us are thrown into this area as an after-thought with the expectation that we can suddenly help patrons with everything the government produces (let’s see: the Census, Education statistics, BEA, BLS, legal research, Congressional research, economic information, and more). It makes your head spin. So, if we weren’t getting the support we needed, we decided to make it happen…entirely for free. And it is all through the lovely contributions of a bunch of talented librarians (who don’t get paid).

The series was created in the spirit of free government information being accessible to all AND the need for the library community to support the continuing education of its librarians. So, again, mega-DIY.

The NCLA Government Resources Section

I may have interpreted it all incorrectly, so if I’ve stepped on any DIY toes, I apologize.

25 webinars in 2 years?! YES YOU CAN!

I am pretty happy to announce this. The NCLA Government Resources Section has hit its 25th webinar in 2 years! Our first webinar presenter, Bryna Coonin, return to talk about the history of the US Census. It is hard to believe that we hit two years and 25 sessions, but yay! Help us celebrate by joining us! If you are interested in our previous webinars (or membership), you can find more information here: http://www.nclaonline.org/government-resources

Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian presents … “Come to Your Census: the development of the U.S. Census from its inception to the present”

The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association welcomes you to a series of webinars designed to help us all do better reference work by increasing our familiarity with government information resources, and by discovering the best strategies for navigating them.

A census is a count of a country’s population as of a fixed date, to assess whether its population is growing, stable, or declining, and what the population looks like in terms of characteristics. Censuses have been taken since ancient times, but few censuses can rival the United States Census in richness and value for us as government information professionals. Mandated in 1787 as a mechanism for determining political representation for each state in the House of Representatives, the census has been taken decennially since 1790. Join us for a look at how this remarkable ongoing collation has developed and changed over the years, and how it provides researchers with vital information about changes in American society over time.
Bryna Coonin, M.L.I.S, M.B.A., is a member of the Research & Instructional Services Department at Joyner Library, East Carolina University (ECU) in Greenville, N.C. Bryna served as a graduate student at UNC Libraries in the mid-1980’s for the legendary regional documents librarian Ridley Kessler. She has worked as a reference librarian at the University of Georgia, and NC State University. In each of her reference assignments Bryna has remained intentionally and actively involved with state and federal government documents. Bryna taught basic reference for the School of Information & Library Science at UNC-Chapel Hill and basic reference and government documents courses for the graduate library school program at ECU. A longtime member of NCLA, she has chaired both the Reference & Adult Services Section (RASS) and the Government Resources Section (GRS).

We will meet together for Session #25, online on April 22 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern). Please RSVP for the Session by April 21 at 5:00 pm using this link: http://tinyurl.com/grs-session25

Technical requirements: We will be using collaborative software called Blackboard Collaborate. It requires that you be able to download Java onto your computer, but you do not need any special software. After you RSVP, we will send you a link that you can use to test the software. If you have any questions, please contact Lynda Kellam (lmkellam @ uncg.edu). You do not need a microphone as a chat system is available in the software, but you do need speakers or headphones.

The session will be recorded and made available after the live session, linked from the NCLA GRS web page (http://www.nclaonline.org/government-resources).

New Help! Webinar Series on Economic Indicators

Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian presents… All you ever wanted to know about Economic Indicators!

The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association welcomes you to a series of webinars designed to help us all do better reference work by increasing our familiarity with government information resources, and by discovering the best strategies for navigating them.

Economic indicators are metrics that document the condition and direction of the economy and its sub-sets.  The data, which is gathered and reported by various Executive Branch agencies, is used by investors, legislators, policy-makers, labor leaders, economists, and many others.

 

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• What are economic indicators
• Examples of indicators covering a range of economic activities, such as: size and growth rate of the economy, inflation rates, employment and unemployment, wages and hours worked, personal indebtedness, consumer confidence, and others 
• What the individual indicators reveal about the economy
• Where to find them

Mary G. Scanlon is the Research and Instruction Librarian for Business and Economics at Wake Forest University.  She earned her MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and her MLIS from Kent State University.  Her publications include “Reconceiving Entrepreneurship for Libraries: Collaboration and the Anatomy of a Conference” and “The Entrepreneurial Librarian: Essays on the infusion of Private-Business Dynamism into Professional Service.”  She is currently serving as the Chair of Business Librarianship in North Carolina, a section of NCLA, and teaches LIB230: Business & Accounting Research Sources and Strategies.  She can be reached at scanlomg @ wfu.edu . 

We will meet together for Session #24, online on March 27 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m (Eastern). Please RSVP for the Session by March 26 at 5:00 pm using this link:  http://tinyurl.com/grs-session24

Technical requirements: We will be using collaborative software called Blackboard Collaborate. It requires that you be able to download Java onto your computer, but you do not need any special software. After you RSVP, we will send you a link that you can use to test the software. If you have any questions, please contact Lynda Kellam (lmkellam @ uncg.edu). You do not need a microphone as a chat system is available in the software, but you do need speakers or headphones.

The session will be recorded and made available after the live session, linked from the NCLA GRS web page (http://www.nclaonline.org/government-resources).

New Help! Webinar

Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian presents… Homeland Security Digital Library

 

The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association welcomes you to a series of webinars designed to help us all do better reference work by increasing our familiarity with government information resources, and by discovering the best strategies for navigating them.

 

The Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL) is the nation’s premier research collection of open-source resources related to homeland security policy, strategy and organizational management. The HSDL is sponsored by the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Directorate, FEMA.

 

Greta Marlatt is the Outreach and Collection Development Manager for the Naval Postgraduate School’s Dudley Knox Library and the Content Manager for the Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL).  She has over 30 years of experience working in libraries in various capacities. Ms. Marlatt has published several articles and is the author of a number of bibliographies and help guides for topics relating to Intelligence, Information Warfare, Special Operations, Homeland Security, Mine Warfare, Directed Energy Weapons, NBC Terrorism and more.  She has given numerous presentations on topics related to conducting research in the homeland security and military arenas. Ms. Marlatt holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Arizona State University, a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Arizona and a Master of Arts degree in National Security Studies from California State University, San Bernardino.

 

We will meet together for Session #23, online on February 27 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (eastern). Please RSVP for the Session by Feb 26 at 5:00 pm using this link:  http://tinyurl.com/grs-session23

 

Technical requirements: We will be using collaborative software called Blackboard Collaborate. It requires that you be able to download Java onto your computer, but you do not need any special software. After you RSVP, we will send you a link that you can use to test the software. If you have any questions, please contact Lynda Kellam (lmkellam@uncg.edu). You do not need a microphone as a chat system is available in the software, but you do need speakers or headphones.

The session will be recorded and made available after the live session, linked from the NCLA GRS web page (http://www.nclaonline.org/government-resources).

New Help! webinar coming your way just in time for the Holidays!

It’s a big Christmas gift wrapped up in virtual continuing education goodness! Yummy.

Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian presents … British and Commonwealth legal materials, December 13 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern)

The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association welcomes you to a series of webinars designed to help us all do better reference work by increasing our familiarity with government information resources, and by discovering the best strategies for navigating them.

Working with legal materials can be daunting for undergraduate students. Working with legal materials from a foreign jurisdiction adds an additional level of complexity and unfamiliarity. However, interdisciplinary approaches within advanced undergraduate classes may require students to find and evaluate sources of law from outside of U.S. jurisdictions.

This webinar considers two such examples drawn from upperclass level classes recently taught at Valdosta State University: a history class requiring the use of historical English capital statutes, and a communications class focusing upon comparative media law. The webinar will discuss sources of law for the purposes of these classes, in addition to strategies for effective information literacy instruction that were attempted.

Presenter Howard S. Carrier, graduated with an M.S.L.S. degree from UNC Chapel Hill in May 2009. He is currently employed as a Reference Librarian and Assistant Professor in the Odum Library at Valdosta State University. Prior to becoming a librarian, Howard completed a law degree and a subsequent Master’s degree in Human Rights Law at the University of Leicester (United Kingdom), thereafter working as a Research Associate in the Centre for Risk and Insurance Studies at the University of Nottingham, and as a Lecturer in Law at the University of Sunderland.

We will meet together for Session #21, online on December 13 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern). Please RSVP for the Session by December 12 at 5:00 pm using this link:  http://tinyurl.com/grs-session21