GPO Announces Google Partnership to Sell You Items It Provides Elsewhere For Free

The Government Printing Office announced on December 14 of this year a new partnership it has entered into with Google Books to sell -- "for the first time" -- "e-book format" versions of some of its more popular titles. According to the Press Release, the titles will appear in the Google ebookstore, "which can be searched, purchased and read on any connected device with a capable browser."

Keeping America Informed. O RLY?

Publications mentioned specifically in the Press Release include the following, with their current price at the Google ebookstore noted and linked in parenthesis:

The Budget of the United States, Fiscal Year 2011 ($9.99)
Remembering the Space Age ($7.99)
Borden's Dream: The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC ($7.99)

And this is the strange part: If you clicked on the links for these titles above you will quickly realise that there are freely and legally accessible electronic copies of these materials already available -- all of which are also able to be "read on any connected device with a capable browser." Which means that the GPO partnership with Google sells information that can be found freely online from GPO and other government sources, and in nearly identical formats.

The Google ebookstore does not specify the file formats offered for these for-sale books, though the Press Release's qualifier implies strongly that these are PDF files locked into the Google ebookstore interface, or as Google likes to call it, "the digital cloud." Which means that if you download the freely available copies of these publications, you will actually have greater options for access (i.e., offline access, unattached to any specific account, and infinitely transferable) than you will if you purchase them. In other words, this partnership makes no sense at all.

Of course, fans of the Federal Depository Library Program (in which CU Boulder is one of more than 1,000 participants) will already know that the government has a proud (and legally mandated) history of disseminating government information freely to the general public. The FDLP is one of the reasons why this blog exists. So it is a mystery as to why the GPO would actively undermine the FDLP, and seemingly prey upon any general lack of awareness, with no disclaimer provided, that these materials being sold are also very easily found for free in the same or an exceptionally similar digital format.

In short, the partnership between GPO and Google is puzzling to understand from any number of sides. But at least it came in time for Christmas.

Learner's Lunch: Learn about US data

This week on Wednesday at 12:30 and Thursday at noon, some of us from the Government Information Library will be talking about US data in E113 in the Norlin Commons. This is a presentation in the Learner's Lunch series that has been happening in the library. This month brings the last three presentations which focus on data, maps and statistics (some of our favorite topics). Everyone is welcome to attend and we hope to see you there. Please send us a comment below if you have any questions or specific requests!

Learner's Lunch: Learn about International Statistics

This week on Wednesday at 12:30 and Thursday at noon, some of us from the Government Information Library will be talking about international data in E113 in the Norlin Commons. This is a presentation in the Learner's Lunch series that has been happening in the library. This month brings the last three presentations which focus on data, maps and statistics (some of our favorite topics). Everyone is welcome to attend and we hope to see you there. Please send us a comment below if you have any questions or specific requests!

Serial Set records in the catalog

Government Publications and Cataloging and Metadata Services are happy to report that records for the U.S. Congressional Serial Set (a subscription database) are now available in Chinook, the library catalog. The Serial Set is an important source of information for the study of U.S. politics and history. The set includes gems such as (the links will take you to the record in the catalog):

• Report of the Secretary of War, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate of February 4, 1867, a copy of the evidence taken at Denver and Fort Lyon, Colorado Territory, by a military commission, ordered to inquire into the Sand Creek Massacre, November, 1864. February 14, 1867 (Serial Set Volume 1277 includes eye witness testimony before the commission.)
• Message of the President of the United States, communicating a letter addressed to him from a committee of gentlemen representing the Freedman's Aid Societies of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati, in relation to the freedmen under the Proclamation of Emancipation. December 17, 1863. (Serial Set Volume 1176--regarding the transition from slavery to freedom. Lincoln had not yet developed a "mature opinion" on the issue)
• The Louisiana Purchase and our title west of the Rocky Mountains, with a review of annexation by the United States, by Binger Hermann, Commissioner of the General Land Office. (Serial Set Volume 4002 -- an in-depth discussion of the expansion of the United States to 1900)
  

I encourage everyone to check these resources out, you will be surprised by the types of information you will find! If you want to search just for these titles in the catalog type the phrase "U.S. congressional serial set" and your topic in the advanced search in Chinook.

Want some country info?

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed the links to guides to countries that are at the end of many of our posts. Well, due to the tireless work of Darci, CU has managed to create a country guide for all the countries of the world!

Each of these pages contains the following information: Government Information, Country Profiles, Articles & Databases, Diplomatic Relations, Health, Peacekeeping & Military Information, Resources in the Catalog and Related Topics.

While there are a few resources that are databases only accessible to CU users, the majority of the resources are freely available to all. Feel free to check out the guides and let us know what ya think.

Extended Hours in Norlin

Need more study time in the library? Norlin begins extended hours tomorrow -- just in time for finals.

• Friday, Dec. 14: 7:30 am - 2:00 am (Last day of classes)
  
• Saturday, Dec. 15: 7:30 am - 2:00 am (Final exams)
  
• Sunday, Dec. 16: 7:30 am - 2:00 am (Final exams)
• Monday, Dec. 17: 7:30 am - 2:00 am (Final exams)
• Tuesday, Dec. 18: 7:30 am - 2:00 am (Final exams)
• Wednesday, Dec. 19: 7:30 am - 2:00 am (Final exams)
• Thursday, Dec. 20: 7:30 am - 5:00 pm (Last day of exams)
  
• Friday, Dec. 20: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm (Commencement)

Check out the library's website to find the hours for other libraries on campus and the hours Norlin Library will be open during the Holiday Break.

From September 11th to Operation Iraqi Freedom

Want to know what you can find in the library on the September 11th attacks? Or maybe you are interested in terrorism resources or facts on Operation Iraqi Freedom. If you are here in Boulder stop by room E160 in the Norlin Library (across from the reference desk on the 1st floor) from 5:30 to 6:30pm.

A couple of us from here in Gov Pubs will be there to talk to you about these resources and hopefully introduce you to some new sources. The handout for the drop-in session is already available online.

New way to get guides from the library

I am sure on day two of the semester all of you are already getting to work on your final papers, but in preparation for that day I thought I would alert you to a new resource in the libraries, the Research and Subject Guides database.

This source gives you a single location to search for all the guides in the library on everything from Art to Zimbabwe. You can also browse by department, for example check out the Environmental Studies page. Hopefully this will work as a good place to start your research.

Tags to the right

Did anyone notice the new blog feature put up yesterday afternoon? For the past few weeks I have been tagging with subjects all the blog postings and resources mentioned in those blogs. We are now debuting the tag cloud over to the right. We have been labeling the posts for some time, but these allow you subject rather then organization access to the blog.

What does this tagging provide? Well, click on environment. You can now see not only the blog posting on World Environment Day, but also a number of resources on the environment. As the blog posts more material these categories will provide more and more links and can be used as ideas of places to go for more information on topics of interest.

This is a work in progress, but if you have any comments or questions please feel free to leave them as a comment on this post!

Chinook, the Library's catalog gets a new look!

Have you checked out the new look for CU Boulder's library catalog, Chinook? You can now do a quick search from the home page, with lots of options on searching, such as a search just for online materials or journals.

When you conduct a search you will now see the call number immediately, without having to go into the record. The keyword search also has a relevancy search (in other words it ranks the material by the most useful items first).

On the page of search results if you see a link under the title that says "website" this is a link to the online version of the document.

Questions? Need help conducting a search? Feel free to add a comment to the post or send us an email.

How do you know if there's an elephant under your bed?

Want to know the answer to these and other fine questions, such as Why is Turtle Wax so expensive? Come to "Can the Government be Funny?" drop-in session this afternoon (4-5) in room E160, next to the reference desk on the first floor. We will discover that sometimes the government can be funny and sometimes it is funny without trying to be.

For those of you not here in Boulder, I'll put the answers to the questions up as comments after the session.

Norlin hours are extended

Have you got a lot of papers due and want to stay in the library even later? The library is now open until 2 am! During finals week (May 4-9) the library will stay open until 4 am.

The Government Publications library hours are available on our web site. Hours for the other reference desks and branches are also available online.

Scientific Writing class

This is a blog entry for the ENVS3020 class. Feel free to discuss issues or any other discussions from the class here in 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.

Does the Census have current data on America?

For those of you here in Boulder, I will be doing a drop-in session this afternoon from 4-5 in E160 (right across from the reference desk on the first floor) entitled "Does the Census have current data on America?"

Data from Census 2000 too old for you now? With the new American Community Survey, some cities and counties will have access to annual demographic and socio-economic estimates from the Census. By 2010, every county, Census place (city or town) and Census tract will have new data every year, not just every ten years. Come learn about the American Community Survey and see a demonstration of the American Factfinder website.

The handout for the class is available online.

Discovering the Developing World

Leanne will be doing a drop-in session on "Discovering the Developing World" this afternoon from 4-5 in E160 (to the right of the reference desk on the first floor), everyone here in Boulder is welcome to attend!

This session will focus on finding information on developing countries, such as Sudan, Iraq, and China. It will cover both statistics and information on the countires themselves. We will discuss both print and electronic resources, such as World Development Indicators, Global Development Finance, the United Nations, and much more.

The handout for this session is available online.

Discovering the Developed World

For all of you here in Boulder I (Jennie) will be conducting a drop-in session today from 4-5 in E160 (to the right of the reference desk on the first floor) entitled "Discovering the Developed World." This session will show you some resources for starting your research on countries in the developed world. It will cover both statistics and finding information on the countries themselves. We will discuss both print and electronic resources, such as Eurostat, Europa, SourceOECD, the United Nations, and much more.

Everyone is welcome, if you want to see some of the resources I'll be covering, check out the handout.

HIST 1025 class

This is a blog entry for the HIST 1025-040 class. Feel free to discuss issues or any other discussions from the class here in 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.

Lies, More Lies, and Statistics

Frank will be doing a presentation this afternoon from 4-5 in E160 in Norlin Library entitled "Lies, More Lies, and Statistics." This session will discuss how to start a statistical search and how to determine which resources to use. The session will focus on sources for historical statistics in print format as well as statistical databases like the Census, LexisNexis Statistical, UN Common Database, World Development Indicators, and more.

New Look and Feel

As many of you may have noticed the blog looks a lot different today! You may have also noticed the little labels at the bottom of the posts that started showing up last week. We decided after a year that perhaps it was time to play around a little with the template, so we redesigned the page to make it fit in with our new home page in the library.

As you can see from the "Tags" category on the right you can now click on and read the post on a particular topic. It will only display a few of the results on the first page, but if you want to scroll through, just click the "Older Posts" link at the bottom of the list. We have tagged all of the posts going back to the first one on the National Flu Pandemic.

If you have any comments on our design or the new layout, please post a comment or send us an email.

Scientific Writing Class

This is a blog entry for the ENVS3020 class. Feel free to discuss issues or any other discussions from the class here in 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.