Major Minor

The new Minority Data Resource Center (MDRC) is an initiative of ICPSR (Inter-univeristy Consortium for Political and Social Research) at the Univ. of Michigan. The goal of the site is to provide data resources to educators, researchers and students who are interested in analyzing issues affecting racial and ethnic minority populations in the US. The data includes large on-going national surveys in the large gathering of data. Subjects include: education, employment, history, housing, immigration and health.

Growing Pains

The BIRTH Television Archive (BTA) is the World's first internet archive of vintage from the early times of European television. This unique archive was built up by five major European television archives from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), Nederlandse Instituut voor Beeld and Geluid, Radio Télévision Belgique Française (RTBF) and Südwestrundfunk (SWR) together with the technical partners Joanneum Research and Noterik Multimedia. Currently, the BTA comprises more than 630 television programme items, over 370 images, 110 television guides and schedules as well as over 80 articles.

Obligation To Preserve

The American Presidency Project is an online archive, maintained by the University of California at Santa Barbara, it contains over 72,000 documents related to the U.S. Presidency. The searchable database includes, the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Washington - Taft (1789-1913), the Public Papers of the Presidents:Hoover to Bush (1929-1993), the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents:Clinton - G.W. Bush (1993-2007). These documents include Executive Orders and Proclamations, State of the Union Addresses, Inaugural Addresses, press conferences, and much more.

Close To Home

California's Legislature is an electronic version of the most recent edition of the California Legislature handbook, "first published in 1942, [which] is regarded as one of the most authoritative and detailed sources on our state's legislative branch of government." Topics include California's historical background, the California Constitution, elections, the executive branch (governor, lieutenant governor, and other state officers), the judicial branch, legislative sessions, legislative districts, the legislative process, and more.

United We Stand

American President: An Online Reference Resource Collection of material about U.S. presidents, including "essays about each President and their lives before, during, and after their presidential terms. It additionally provides information about the First Lady and cabinet officials of each administration." From the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.

Divided We Fall

Database of Declarations and Conventions contained in General Assembly Resolutions This database contains links to declarations, conventions and other instruments, the text of which appear in resolutions of the General Assembly or their annexes. Instruments that have not been submitted for adoption by the General Assembly, i.e. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, are not included. Each resolution is followed by the link to a pop-up window providing access to the document in all six UN 0fficial languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Resolutions in Arabic are available starting from 1957). Documents are retrieved from the Official Document System of the United Nations (ODS).

Trading Up

FTC Decisions Since 1969 Now Available Online, "commission actions from the past 37 years, including documents previously available to the general public only in book form, are now available on the agency’s Web site. These volumes – more than 70,000 pages covering 1969 through 2005 – contain virtually all administrative documents issued by the Commission, including Opinions, Final Orders, Complaints, and Consent Orders that result from negotiated consent agreements, as well as all Initial Decisions issued by Administrative Law Judges in administrative trial proceedings.”

Go To The Source

Harvard Business School's Baker Library Research Guides focus on topical resources to help in your research. Research Guides cover general business topics, specific industries, and countries. There are also Guides that step you through the research process.

Get Out The Vote

Smart Voter is produced by the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund. Designed to help voters understand their choices better including local contests, Smart Voter offers extensive background information on candidates in participating counties as well as information on state and local ballot measures. The Smart Voter site allows users to find their custom ballot and polling place by entering their street address and zip code. Users may access "home pages" of each participating candidate that include their biography, endorsements, top priorities if elected, and position papers. All candidates in the participating counties are invited to participate. Each page about a contest includes links to relevant news or analysis articles written by online local media organizations or other nonpartisan information.

Until The Fat Lady Sings

Developed in association with the Indiana University Digital Library Program, the Televised Opera and Musical Comedy Database documents more than a half-century of opera, operetta, and musical comedy telecasts produced in the United States. The database traces performance programming from early live presentations on experimental TV stations, to contemporary productions released on broadcast television, various cable forms, and home video.

Go With The Flow

StreamStats is a Web-based tool that allows users to obtain streamflow statistics, drainage-basin characteristics, and other information for user-selected sites on streams. StreamStats users can choose locations of interest from an interactive map and obtain information for these locations. If a user selects the location of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data-collection station, the user will get previously published information for the station from a database. If a user selects a location where no data are available (an ungaged site), a Geographic Information System (GIS) program will estimate information for the site. The GIS program determines the boundary of the drainage basin above the site, measures the physical characteristics of the drainage basin, and solves the appropriate regression equations to estimate streamflow statistics for the site. The results are presented in a table and a map showing the basin outline. The estimates assume natural flow conditions at the site. In the past, it could take an experienced person more than a day to estimate this information for an ungaged site. StreamStats reduces the effort to only a few minutes.

By The Numbers

Economic Indicators is prepared by the Council of Economic Advisers to supply monthly updates related to the economic conditions in the United States. Economic Indicators provides statistical data both in tabular and graphic form and includes information on consumer and producer prices, employment, production, and money and banking. Tables typically display 10 years of annual data with the most recent 12 to 15 months broken out in detail.

In The KnoW

The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga has opened up access to one of its search tools to all web users. The National Library, in association with the Te Puna Strategic Advisory Commitee and Knowleage Basket, has moved to provide more ways to access Index New Zealand (INNZ). INNZ describes over half a million articles published in or about New Zealand over the past 20 years. The titles indexed range from popular magazines such as ‘North & South’ and ‘Consumer’ to more specialised journals such as ‘New Zealand Law Review’ and ‘Art New Zealand’.

Birth Of A Nation

The Early Americas Digital Archive (EADA) provides access to texts and links to texts originally written in or about the Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820. Documents can be located by browsing the title or author index, or the documents are searchable by various field indicators.

What You Say

The U.S. Supreme Court has begun posting transcripts of oral arguments on the same day the cases are heard. Older transcripts are also available on the site.

At What Cost

The Personal Disclosure Database took those hard-to-read pdf files and put them in a searchable database. You can now search the most recent reports for net worth, major holdings, liabilities and transactions, as well as sources of income, gifts, and travel reimbursements. The Congressional Travel database tracks lawmakers' privately sponsored trips around the world. Also, OMB Watch created FedSpending.org, a database that allows searching of over $12 Trillion of federal spending.

For Our Defence

The CNSS - The Committee on National Security Systems: Under Executive Order (E.O.) 13231 of October 16, 2001, Critical Infrastructure Protection in the Information Age, the President redesignated the National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Committee (NSTISSC) as the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS). The Department of Defense continues to chair the Committee under the authorities established by NSD-42. This was reaffirmed by Executive Order 13284, dated January 23, 2003, Executive Order Amendment of Executive Orders and Other Actions, in Connection with the Transfer of Certain Functions to the Secretary of Homeland Security.

The CNSS provides a forum for the discussion of policy issues, sets national policy, and promulgates direction, operational procedures, and guidance for the security of national security systems. National security systems are information systems operated by the U.S. Government, its contractors or agents that contain classified information or that involve intelligence activities; involve cryptographic activities related to national security; involve command and control of military forces; involve equipment that is an integral part of a weapon or weapons system(s); or are critical to the direct fulfillment of military or intelligence missions (not including routine administrative and business applications). Index of National Security System Issuances

Documenting A Democracy

The National Archives of Australia has recently created this website which explores the various documents that tell about the creation and formation of their country as a commonwealth. The homepage presents a map of the country, divided into its contemporary political divisions, allowing visitors to click on each area to read primary documents that provide insight into each locale. Areas such as New South Wales include transcripts and original documents, such as the secret instructions to Captain James Cook on what to do if he finds land and the New South Wales Courts Act of 1787. Other sections of the site include “Pathways”, which allow users to delve into these documents in a thematic fashion (related to issues surrounding land and the like) and a basic timeline that begins in 60,000 BC and continues to 1836.

Head Count

The National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) is a project to create and freely disseminate a database incorporating all available aggregate census information for the United States between 1790 and 2000. The NHGIS work invloves three major components: collecting and enriching historical and contemporary U.S. Census summary data, incorporating this data into a Geographic Information Systems framework, and creating a web-based system for access to both census data and the metadata.

Earth Angel

As the crucial element of the National Science Digital Library that provides information on the area of geoscience, the Digital Library for Earth Science Education (DLESE) provides access to “quality teaching and learning resources about the Earth as a system for a wide range of learners.” With an impressive array of materials, it’s hard to know where to start, but first-time visitors may wish to look over the most recent edition of their in-house newsletter, which profiles some of the materials that have been added to the site. Of course, there is also a general search engine that allows users to search all of the materials by grade level, resource type, standards, and thematic collection.

Connect The Dots

Environment Dot is the online resource for environment. Provide environment resources, water resources, vegetarianism, pollution prevention, agriculture, microbia, ozone and more.

The Fourth Element

The Encyclopedia of Earth is a new electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society. The Encyclopedia is a free, fully searchable collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and experts who collaborate and review each other's work. The articles are written in non-technical language and will be useful to students, educators, scholars, professionals, as well as to the general public. The scope of the Encyclopedia includes; The hydrosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, magnetosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere, and their interactions, especially in regards to how these systems support life and underpin human existence and the living organisms on Earth that constitute its biological diversity.

Beeker Full Of Secrets

The WWW Chemistry Guide is a comprehensive collection of annotated links for chemists and researchers involved in organic, biochemical, computational, medicinal and/or other chemistry research. All sites listed in the directory are examined by our team of editors (scientists with Bsc, Msc and Ph. D. degrees of chemistry), and only if qualified are granted inclusion. Editorial review ensures that all sites are appropriately listed in their most relevant category; all sites included must contain substantive unique content, navigate in a user-friendly manner, contain no broken links or pictures, be up and running 24/7, and conform to universally accepted web standards.

A Pin Drop

The Musical Acoustics Research Library (MARL) is a collection of independent archives or libraries assembled by distinguished groups or individuals in the field of musical acoustics research. MARL is directed by representatives of each member collection, in conjunction with the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University, which maintains the contents of each library. Currently, MARL is comprised of the Catgut Acoustical Society Library, the Arthur H. Benade Archive, the John Backus Archive, and the John W. Coltman Archive. MARL consists of an extensive collection of files compiled by or about many of the most prominent acousticians of our time.

Moving Picture Show

Moving Image Collections Union catalogs archives with portals providing specific information for general users, archivists, or science educators. The collection offers bibliographic records from more than 230 institutions and archives. Some records include links to file downloads or streaming video.

Make Them Laugh

The American Comedy Archives was established at Emerson College in 2005 to acquire, preserve and make available primary source material that documents the professional activities of the ground breaking individuals who have written, produced or performed comedy for radio, television, motion pictures or live performance. It is the first academic collection of its kind devoted to exploring the nature of comedy as an American art form and reflects the College's view that examining the history, sociology, and culture of comedy represents an important and underrepresented field of study.

White Collar

The Government Accountability Office's Financial Restatement Database alllows you to download two files containing its Financial Restatement Database, which includes 1,786 announcements from July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2006 "identified as having been made because of financial reporting fraud and/or accounting errors."

Democratic Control

Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) is an online legal database on security sector governance. This "database provides reference information and texts of over 300 laws and regulations from some 30 countries of the Euro-Atlantic region, relating to one of the following five topics; armed forces, democratic control of armed forces, intelligence, national security and police and non-military security forces." There is also publications from DCAF who’s goals are to "work with governments and civil society to foster and strengthen the democratic and civilian control of security sector organizations such as police, intelligence agencies, border security services, paramilitary forces, and armed forces." The publications area of this site includes "backgrounders," books, handbooks, occasional papers and policy papers from DCAF, freely available in PDF.

Lost In Translation

The Asia-Pacific Literacy Data Base is a resource from UNESCO for literacy facts and figures, reports, publications, and non-formal educational curricula and NGO literacy programs in the Asia-Pacific: Afghanistan, India, Maldives, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Bhutan, Iran, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Thailand, China, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Vietnam. Fulltext publications are in PDF format.

Casglu'r Tlysau

Gathering the Jewels: The Website for Welsh Cultural History is a website about Welsh history provides "over 20,000 images of objects, books, letters, aerial photographs and other items from museums, libraries and record offices in Wales." Searchable; or browse by county in Wales or by subjects such as agriculture, industry, arts, religion, politics, education, transportation, domestic life, and war. In English and Welsh. From the National Library of Wales