20th anniversary of Chernobyl

Twenty years ago this week the world's largest nuclear accident occurred at Chernobyl in present-day Ukraine (USSR at that time). Want to know more about the lasting effects of this accident? Check out the International Atomic Energy Agency's In Focus: Chernobyl which contains reports and stories of the effect of radiation. The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation also has a number of reports on the Chernobyl accident, including the first report from 1988.

National Archives Audit

As we mentioned in our February 22 post, National Archives (NARA) has been reviewing the reclassification of documents in their collection. They just released an audit of the documents that were removed from public view. It discovered that of "a sample consisting of 1,353 of the withdrawn records, we concluded that 64 percent of the sampled records did, in fact, contain information that clearly met the standards for continued classification. " NARA has released "Interim Guidelines Governing Re-review of Previously Declassified Records at the National Archives." These guidelines require a report of the number of records withdrawn by which agencies at least once a year.

GeoNetwork

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has just released a new geospatial mapping product called GeoNetwork. GeoNetwork allows you to search for geospatial data as well as create maps using their interactive map viewer. If you want to know more about what the FAO has to offer, check out our subject guide. If you are interested in more online maps, check out our subject guide or the Map Library's links and web resources.

Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime just released it's report on human trafficking. This report, available online, provides details on where people are trafficked from and to. For details on individual countries or types of trafficking, see the appendices.

Tenure Report from University of Colorado

The Independent Report on Tenure-Related Processes at the University of Colorado was released yesterday. All the local newspapers wrote on this report, so you can read their reviews if you don't want to read all 117 pages of the report. The Daily Camera's story is called "CU tenure flawed." The Denver Post wrote "CU's tenure review calls for 'sweeping changes.'" And finally, the Rocky Mountain News wrote "CU tenure report plays it safe."

Brazil reaches oil independence

Brazil now produces as much oil as it consumes, with the opening of a oil rig. Brazil has information on this milestone on their web site in Spanish. You can also read the Denver Post article entitled "Brazil ushers in oil independence." If you want more information on the international energy market, check out our energy subject guide.

Earth Day 2006

Today is Earth Day, which was first celebrated in 1970. This year Earth Day starts a campaign on Climate Change. For information on a international level, check out the earthdaynetwork. On a national level, check out the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) web site which has tips on how you can protecting the environment on a daily basis. Finally, on a local level both the city and county of Boulder have information on Earth Day. If you are looking for something to do tonight the Boulder Office of Environmental Affairs is sponsoring a free sneak-preview of the HBO documentary "Too Hot Not to Handle" at the Boulder theatre.

State of the World Refugees

The United Nations High Commission on Refugees publishes a report called State of the World Refugees, the 2006 version is now available online. (The four previous editions are also available online.) This book "examines the changing dynamics of displacement over the past half decade. While the number of refugees – 9.2 million – is now the lowest in 25 years, it says the international system for dealing with human displacement has reached a critical juncture as it struggles with new challenges in an increasingly globalised world. These include the plight of tens of millions of internally displaced people; widespread confusion over migrants and refugees; tightened asylum policies and growing intolerance."

Hundred Year Anniversary of San Francisco Earthquake and Fire

On this day 100 years ago a 8.3 magnitude earthquake hit the city of San Francisco. The Library of Congress highlights this event in their "Today in History" series. You can also see motion pictures of San Francisco before and after in "Before and After the Great Earthquake and Fire: Early Films of San Francisco, 1897-1916." Finally, to learn more about the causes and map of the quake take a look at the US Geological Survey's "The Great 1906 Earthquake, 100 years later." This site has a variety of maps, photographs, and essays.

Taxes are due Monday!

It is April and that means it is time to turn in those tax forms to the government. Here in the Government Publications Library at CU-Boulder we still have some paper tax forms left. To see a list of available forms and instructions here, check out this blog entry. If you just want to print out the forms at home or we don't have one here, check out this guide.

Rebuilding New Orleans

Yesterday the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released cost estimates for replacing the levees and advisory flood data. Read the press release online. The FEMA flood recovery guidance provides information on areas where housing can be rebuilt, it is available by parish online.

Iran and nuclear enrichment

The Denver Post article "Iran: We're in nuke club" discusses Iran's claim that it has enriched uranium, the first step in developing nuclear weapons. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice responded to this statement today, stating "I do think that the Security Council will need to take into consideration this move by Iran and that it will be time when it reconvenes on this case for strong steps to make certain that we maintain the credibility of the international community on this issue" (From remarks before meeting with Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo). To learn more about Iran, why not check out our Iran country guide.

Boulder Open Spaces

It is a beautiful day and looks to be a beautiful week, so why not check out some of the nature around Boulder? The Boulder City Open Spaces web site provides information on trails and wildlife. They even have a photo gallery. Alternatively, you can check out the Boulder County Open Spaces web site, which also provides links to the Boulder county parks.

Senate's on vacation

The Senate is in recess for the next two weeks, but why not go on over to their web site anyway? They have a nice web site with a variety of digitized paintings from the Capitol building, with good descriptions and histories. If you want to different paintings of people discovering America, take a look at "Leiv Eiriksson Discovers America A.D. 1000" and "The Recall of Columbus."

And Gas prices keep rising...

The Congressional Budget Office just released a report entitled "China's Growing Demand for Oil and Its Impact on U.S. Petroleum Markets." This 58-page paper discusses how the growing demand for oil in China will effect the supply and cost of oil in the United States. The Congressional Budget Office writes reports on the costs to the federal government of every bill reported by a Congressional committee. This report is an example of an analytical study, produced at the request of Congress.

Sudan

The Government Publications Library has prepared a web page linking to various electronic resources on Sudan, including numerous links dealing with the situation in Darfur. The African Union is heading up the peacekeeping mission in Darfur, but you might also want to check out the UN's informational web page on the Darfur crisis.

Immigration Information

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has put together a page linking to various immigration reports on demographics, immigration enforcement, labor markets, and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. If you are interested in additional information take a look at the library's subject guide on immigration.

International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action

The United Nations declared that April 4 will be the "International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action" Want to learn more about the UN movement to deal with demining? Check out the Electronic Mine Information Network at: http://www.mineaction.org/index.asp. You can read the treaty "Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction. Oslo, 18 September 1997" at: http://www.mineaction.org/downloads/APMBC.pdf. The United States has not signed onto this treaty, but to see who has you can use the United Nations Treaty Collection (password available at the reference desk). For additional resources on this topic, check out the UN subject guide.

RTD strike

As I am sure you all aware the RTD bus drivers are on strike. This means fewer buses in Boulder are running. For information on the buses running up to campus take a look at the University of Colorado web site at: http://ucbparking.colorado.edu/Default.asp?Action=ViewAnyPage&ID=171. For RTD information on the strike with links to all the buses running via RTD see: http://www.rtd-denver.com/public_strike/. For information from the Amalgamated Transit Union see their web site at: http://www.atu.org/.

World Regional Geography

This is a blog entry for the GEOG 1982 class. Feel free to ask questions on finding country information, discuss geographical issues, or other discussions from the class here on the blog. This blog is monitored by librarians, so feel free to ask questions of us as well as each other. The handout used in this class is available online.