New American Community Survey Data available

While we’re waiting for the Decennial Census data to released there is new cumulative American Community Survey (ACS) material.
(from the Bureau of the Census)
“The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing survey that provides data every year — giving communities the current information they need to plan investments and services. Information from the survey generates data that help determine how more than $400 billion in federal and state funds are distributed each year.

To help communities, state governments, and federal programs, we ask about:
age, sex, race, family and relationships, income and benefits, health insurance, education, veteran status, disabilities, where you work and how you get there, where you live, and how much you pay for some essentials

All this detail is combined into statistics that are used to help decide everything from school lunch programs to new hospitals.

They’ve recently added 2005-2009 ACS 5-year estimates most of which can be found in American Factfinder
* Most detailed tables
* All data and narrative profiles
* All subject tables
* All geographic comparison tables & thematic maps
* Estimates available to the Census Tract level
*Browse the list of detailed tables not available on American FactFinder here.”

Also check out their terrific thematic maps!

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Good News about the Census

Andy Beveridge, who should know, says that the NYC count was good and captured most our residents. You know what that means–NEW DATA!
You can read more from Andy here at the Gotham Gazette

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So I was at a party talking Econometrics with someone…

OK, it was a party that skewed pretty heavily to librarians, but there was one lone economist there who gave me this terrific resource…
Economic Research at the St. Louis Federal Reserve
It’s a terrific site with wide ranging data–US, international, time series–often with normalization over time, historical economic data, and downloads in a variety of formats…what’s not to love. They’ve even got social media via the FRED network.
I’ve been sharing it with our Economics students and others who have found it helpful. I hope that you find something to love about the site as well.

All blurbs lifted from their site –just to be clear –this is cut and paste, FRED wrote it, I’m just sharing.

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is the center of the Eighth District of the Federal Reserve System. The Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is responsible for advising the Bank president on matters of economic policy. The Division monitors the economic and financial literature and produces research in the areas of money and banking, macroeconomics, and international and regional economics.
A diverse group of Bank publications allows the Research Division to address quickly changing economic trends, explore the relevance of historical and current data for economic policy, and expand the understanding of issues relevant to the Eighth District and beyond.
The Research Division also furnishes its working papers to provide insight into current Bank interests and developing theories and to stimulate discussion.
This site offers a wealth of economic data and information to promote economic education and enhance economic research. The widely used database FRED is updated regularly and allows 24/7 access to regional and national financial and economic data.

Which doesn’t do justice to all that they offer—
FRED® (Federal Reserve Economic Data), a database of 21,432 U.S. economic time series. With FRED® you can download data in Microsoft Excel and text formats and view charts of data series.

ALFRED® (ArchivaL Federal Reserve Economic Data) aka Economic Data Time Travel from the St. Louis Fed’s Economic Research Division.
ALFRED® allows you to retrieve vintage versions of economic data that were available on specific dates in history. In general, economic data for past observation periods are revised as more accurate estimates become available. As a result, previous vintages of data can be superseded and may no longer be available from various data sources. Vintage or real time economic data allows academics to reproduce others’ research, build more accurate forecasting models, and analyze economic policy decisions using the data available at the time.

GeoFRED® is a web application that allows users to create thematic maps of U.S. economic data for geographies including states, counties, and metropolitan statistical areas. Maps can be created from over 12,000 regional data series available in the FRED® database. Regional data series include civilian labor force, residential population, and unemployment rate. Various tools allow users to customize and print these maps.

Liber8® — an economic information portal. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Research Department librarians designed this site with university and government document librarians, students, and the general public in mind. Economic information can, at times, be difficult for the non-economist to find and understand. We hope this site will provide a single point of access to the economic information that the Federal Reserve System, other government agencies, and data providers have to offer. We specifically selected non-technical sources that would be simpler to use and easier to understand.
Liber8® is provided by the Research “Lib”rary of the “8”th Federal Reserve District.

FRASER® The Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER®) is a unique project of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ Center for Economic Documents Digitization (CEDD), which seeks to preserve the nation’s economic history through digitization. Further, FRASER® contributes to the long-standing mission of the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: to provide timely and convenient data to scholars, analysts, students and interested observers of the U.S. economy.
Empirical economic research depends on economic data, especially data published by governments. Such data presents two difficulties for researchers. First, certain government documents can be difficult to locate, particularly older volumes, special issues associated with benchmarks or major revisions, and long sequences of issues. Second, published figures frequently are revised by their issuers. FRASER® is designed to address both of these issues.

CASSIDI strives to be the one-stop shop for your banking competition information needs. CASSIDI contains information for the entire country and is updated regularly. Through CASSIDI, you will be able to search for and view banking market definitions, find banking market concentrations, and perform “what if” (pro forma) analyses on banking market structures.
CASSIDI also offers an array of mapping options, enabling you, for example, to view banking market boundaries, find depository institutions, and compare market concentrations across banking markets. (These features are currently being developed.)

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Mapping the Response to BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

If you’ve been following the oil spill, as most of us have, heres new tool from NOAA, GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse
Their website says “The dynamic nature of the BP oil spill has been a challenge for a range of communities – from hotel operators to fishermen to local community leaders. We know the American people have questions about how the federal government is responding to this crisis, and we are committed to providing the answers with clarity and transparency. The site you’re viewing right now is a symbol of that commitment.

GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse is a new online tool that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. Developed by NOAA with the EPA, U.S. Coast Guard, and the Department of Interior, the site offers you a “one-stop shop” for spill response information.

The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill’s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources — such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships — into one customizable interactive map.

GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA®) a web-based GIS platform developed by NOAA and the University of New Hampshire’s Coastal Response Research Center. ERMA was designed to facilitate communication and coordination among a variety of users — from federal, state and local responders to local community leaders and the public. The site was designed to be fast and user-friendly, and we plan to keep it constantly updated.”

I think this will be a useful tool for Environmental Science, as well as a range of social scientists charting the social and economic impact of the spill. Next time something more cheerful.

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The CIA World Factbook –there’s an APP for that. What?

Ever since reading the new report from Pew Internet and American Life Project on new paths to government services I’ve been intrigued by the idea of social networking and gov docs. And by extension all the non-book ways users can access the information they need.

Today while trying to figure out if a new book was just a commercial version of the CIA World Factbook, I stumpled over this article comparing World Factbook apps for my IPhone. Not only is it available there are choices. I must do more exploring.

If you don’t have an IPhone, don’t despair, there are also mobi-pocket and Blackberry versions (available for download from CNET) as well, no need for anyone to be left out of the move to mobile government information.

I’m going to have to do some more investigating on this topic.

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Best Title EVER!

These covers were collected by the librarians on the GovDoc-L discussion group. They are funny or ironic or just “what where they thinking?” All items are actually government publications. http://www.flickr.com/groups/besttitlesever/pool/

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National Security Strategy Document

Courtesy of  Greta E. Marlatt who keeps all the docs librarians updated on new reports…

Here’s the official word…http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/national_security_strategy.pdf

Their blog adds this background for the document

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/05/27/a-blueprint-pursuing-world-we-seek

The National Security Strategy is guided by a clear understanding of our
increasingly interconnected world where the free flow of information,
people and goods continues to accelerate at an unprecedented pace
promising new opportunities while simultaneously posing challenges that
no longer recognize borders: global networks of terrorists and
criminals, threats in space and cyberspace, a degrading climate, and
technologies with tremendous destructive power. The response systems and
international architecture of the 20th century, designed for another
time, are buckling under the weight of these new threats. Currently,
these realities describe the world as it is.


Throughout American history, we have risen to such moments of transition
and faced new challenges head on to help shape a world of greater
security and prosperity. The National Security Strategy is a blueprint
for pursuing the world that we seek by outlining a strategy to rebuild
our foundations, promote a just and sustainable international order,
strengthen and integrate national capabilities, all while advancing
American interests, security, prosperities, and universal values.

From ensuring strong alliances, which are the foundation of U.S.,
regional and global security, to leveraging American leadership to
encourage sustained international cooperation to address global issues,
America has the tools to face the national security challenges of the
21st century while holding true to the universal values our nation has
stood for since its founding.

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Afganistan and Pakistan Smart Books

Available at Depository Libraries  and online.

These are Country Guides, more compact than the Area Handbooks, that you might know from previous library visits.

You can find Pakistan here

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pakistan_Smart_Book_v1.pdf

And Afghanistan here

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AFGHAN_SMART_Book-1-.pdf

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