Tutt Library News

"Liberating" Data - a new policy

Today the Executive Order regarding a new Open Data Policy was released by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget. Basicaly it states that "all newly generated government data will be required to be made available in open, machine-readable formats, greatly enhancing their accessibility and usefulness, while ensuring privacy and security."  This Executive Order and accompanying policies aim to build public reporting systems, revamp goals, and create new means for public participation while specifying principles for openness.

The Federal Government has been taking steps to make government data more available.  In 2009 Data.gov was launched allowing users to access thousands of government datasets. The Digital Government Strategy, the Health Data Initiative, and Open Data Initiative (in health, energy, education, public safety, finance, and global development) are further examples of how agencies have been unlocking government data.

Furthermore, the US Chief Information Officer and the US Chief Technology Officer are releasing open source tools on Github (where communities of developers can work collaboratively).  Better known as Project Open Data, this effect accelerates the adoption of open data practices by providing tools and best practices to help agencies improve the management and release of open data.  For example, one tool released today automatically converts simple spreadsheets and databases into APIs for easier consumption by developers.

However, there still remain datasets that are not only hard to find but are also locked-up in unusable formats. (Remember floppy disks?)  This new Executive Order and Policy signed today, May 9th, requires that government agencies provide newly generated government data in machine-readable formats (like CSV, XML, and JSON and even Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) when appropraite).

 

Maintenance on Interlibrary Loan Software Tuesday Evening

Please note that ILL willl not be available if you are trying to submitt a request or view artilces in your account tomorrow evening, Tuesday April 23rd, at 7pm.

During that time our hosted Illiad server will be down for up to two hours for “critical patching and preventive maintenance”.

Documents in the News

Amendment 64 Implementation

The State of Colorado has recently released its Task Force Report on the Implementation of Amendment 64, Regulation of Marijuana in Colorado.  This task force, created through Executive Order B2012-004, "was asked to identify the legal, policy and procedural issues that need to be resloved, and to offer suggestions and proposals for legislative, regulatory and executive actions that need to be taken, for the effective and efficient implementation of Amendment 64 -- the constitutional amendment authorizing the use and regulation of marijuana in the State of Colorado."

(from the State Library 4/01/13)

SNOW! in CS

It seems like we haven't had much snow this winter. Or for the past several winters come to think of it.  But how to check whether that is just an opinon or fact?  If you are interested in fact checking that you could use:

Climatological data for Colorado is available both here at Tutt library and online.
Climatological data. Colorado. Paper in South Basement at C55.214/7: from 1914 to 1998 and online from NOAA starting in the year 1886.

Many reports and news articles say there is an issue with lack of snow fall; others debunk that idea. Online all sorts of information abounds.  Such as the Real Science blog offers the following graph and notes "Actual data shows that there has been no trend in either winter temperature or snowfall at all stations which have been continuously active since at least 1920."

Yet measuring snow fall is not all that easy.

The Snow Booklet from the Colorado Climate Center covers:
A Few Facts About Snow
U.S. Snowfall Patterns
Problems and Challenges in Measuring Snow
Instructions for Measuring Snow

Other interesting links are:

National Snow and Ice Data Center's Colorado page

Colorado Springs Record Snowfall data.

It turns out that knowing how much snow has snowed is tricky to measure and somewhat controversial at that. Meanwhile, enjoy the snow!

Presidential Inauguration - Monday, January 21st

On Inauguration Day, the President-elect and Vice President-elect swear in and take office.

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." -- Article II, Section 1, clause 8 - U.S. Constitution

Visit USA.gov's President Barack Obama page for information about Inauguration Day events. You can also learn about inaugural history, download the 57th Presidential Inauguration mobile app, and view a video about the ceremony location.

The Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents (text)

Did you know that not all of the US Presidents were inaugurated?

10 Interesting Things You Should Know About Inauguration Day

Facts, Firsts and Precedents about US Presidential Inaugurations

Election Time

  We are a week away from the 2012 presidential election, and today members of the Colorado College debate team faced off against cadets from the U.S. Air Force Academy debate team, "in a fast-paced exchange that highlighted top issues of the campaign."

  For more information about the

- current ballet issues
- historical data on voting and elections,
- databases,
- website links and
- statistics,

visit Tutt Library's Libguide on Elections & Voting.

  It points to some excellent references:

Historical Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections 1788-2004
Call Number: Docs Atlas, G1201.F9 H5 2006

Mosh the polls : youth voters, popular culture, and democratic engagement 
Call Number: HQ799.2.P6 M66 2008 

America at the polls : a handbook of American presidential election statistics
Call Number:  JK524.A73 1994

And links such as:

• Voting America, United States Politics, 1840-2008
• UVa Library Geostat Center: Election Information, Data, & Maps
• PolitiFact (check facts)
• Campaign Finance Reports and Data

 

To view specifically Colorado concerns see: Initiatives and referendums on the ballot - information and contacts

Another opportunity on campus to learn and listen is Thursday evening, November 1st at 7pm in Bemis Hall. Political Science Professors Dana Wittmer, Andy Dunham and Bob Loevy will talk about and answer questions.

 

 

"Deadwood as History" by Anne Hyde

Anne Hyde, distinguished CC faculty member and current director of the Crown Faculty Center, has written a piece on the HBO show "Deadwood" and how its portrayal of the West differs from historical reality.

"Deadwood as History" appears on the Foreign Affairs website (registration required to read).  As per publisher agreement, Tutt Library will make the article available for 6 months.

(HBO)

Tutt Library Fifth Annual Haiku Contest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

procrastinating?
put your daydreams to good use
send us a haiku

In celebration of National Poetry Month and National Library Week, Tutt Library is happy to be seeking your original, library-themed haiku for the fifth time. Please submit no more than a dozen entries to the reference desk (or email them to tuttref@coloradocollege.edu, or comment on this post) by April 30^th.  Winners will receive fabulous prizes and their haiku will be creatively immortalized. 

 The fine print: If you use more or less than seventeen syllables, if you aren’t a CC student or employee, if you don’t talk about libraries or your experience in them, or if you submit pseudonymously, you are unlikely to win any prizes (but we’d still like to read your haiku). 

 Use your imagination!  Embrace your poetic nature!  Tell all your friends!

always wanted to
tell libraries how you feel?
Five-seven-five it!

Want to know more before you take the plunge? Well, this is a library -- we can help! 

The online Oxford English Dictionary defines haiku here and senryu here.  (The astute or anxious reader may now be wondering whether senryu are also allowed in our contest.  Absolutely!)
 
Tutt Library has books of haiku by Basho, Shiki, Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser, and Jack Kerouac - and our own Curator of Special Collections, Jessy Randall, has published several haiku, including this one.  You can find thousands of examples of and scholarly articles on haiku in Granger's, JSTOR, MLA Bibliography, Humanities International Complete, and more, via our English Subject Guide.

We hope all this haikuphilic information serves as an inspiration for you to get started writing your own, and sharing them with us.

Congress's response to Occupy Wall Street

(Occupy Wall Street by Lalo Alcaraz)

     Did you go to the panel on Tuesday, "Understanding Occupy Wall Street: CC Faculty Discuss the Protests"?
     Do you want to get the inside look at what your congress people are saying in the chambers of Congress? If so use the Congressional Universe database to search the Daily Congressional Record & Rules (on the left side navigation bar). Using the Keyword search box type in "occupy wall street" to retrieve the results from October 11th to present.

    Mr. Markey says "That's why 65 of my colleagues are going to introduce this effort to cut $200 billion out of the nuclear weapons program over the next 10 years." Will this be done? Check back with Congressional Universe in the near future to see.
 

"9/11 10 Years Later" blog

For the next 10 Tuesdays leading up to the upcoming 10th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL) will post a special blog discussing some of the different facets of our shared American experience that have changed significantly or been deeply affected by that historic Tuesday morning. 

See the introductory post along with the schedule of topics for this commemorative blog series entitles "9/11 10 Years Later"  at: https://www.hsdl.org/hslog/?q=node/6232.

The proposed schedule is :

July 5 – Terrorism, Terrorists and Threats
July 12 – The Department of Homeland Security
July 19 – The 9/11 Commission Recommendations
July 26 – Emergency Preparedness
August 2 – Border Security and Immigration
August 9 – Transportation and Travel
August 16 – Freedoms and Rights
August 23 – Protecting Critical Infrastructure
August 30 – Communication
September 6 – Commemorating 9/11