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Daily Archives: January 15, 2012

Commentary: Libraries Succeed by Constantly Evolving

Susan H. Hildreth, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services: “People depend on libraries now more than ever. Not only do visits and circulation continue to rise, the role of public libraries in providing Internet resources to the public continues to increase as well. Public libraries have also increased their program offerings to meet greater demand and provide more targeted services. In the business world, such demand for an industry’s services would mean big profits for that sector. But despite the demonstrated ability of libraries to adjust to meet the growing needs of the public, many libraries across the country face severe budget cuts. There is no doubt that the future success of libraries depends on their ability to change and evolve to meet the changing ways that people access and use information. As director of the Institute of Museums and Library Services, the federal voice for library and museum service in the U.S. — I see three big goals for libraries: provide engaging learning experiences, become community anchors, and provide access to content even as the devices for accessing that content change rapidly.”

2011 Transatlantic Trends: Immigration Survey

News release: “A new public opinion survey shows that in the midst of the global economic crisis and “Arab Spring,” attitudes toward immigration remain stable in the United States and five European countries. According to the 2011 Transatlantic Trends: Immigration survey, most Americans and Europeans see immigration as a problem yet remain optimistic about immigrant… Continue Reading

NLM: History of Medicine Finding Aids Consortium

History of Medicine Finding Aids Consortium: “Welcome to the history of medicine finding aids project. A finding aid is a tool created by archivists to give information about the contents of archival collections. Finding aids provide contextual information about collections along with detailed inventories to help researchers locate relevant materials. We currently have over 3,000… Continue Reading

Pew – Real Time Charitable Giving

Real Time Charitable Giving – Why mobile phone users texted millions of dollars in aid to Haiti earthquake relief and how they got their friends to do the same – Aaron Smith, Pew Internet Project, Senior Research Specialist “Charitable donations from mobile phones have grown more common in recent years. Two thirds (64%) of American… Continue Reading

2012 Presidential Primary Calendar; 2012 State and Presidential Primary and Caucus Dates

Via The Thicket: “National Conference of State Legislatures’s (NCSL) new 2012 Presidential Primary Calendar, and its companion, a state-ordered table, 2012 State and Presidential Primary and Caucus Dates…Jennie Bowser created the lists and checked them against a multitude of official sources. She says, “this year, it was more complicated than ever to assemble this data.”… Continue Reading

New GAO Reports: Arctic Capabilities, Defense Contracting, Taxpayer Privacy

Arctic Capabilities – DOD Addressed Many Specified Reporting Elements in Its 2011 Arctic Report but Should Take Steps to Meet Near- and Long-term Needs, GAO-12-180, January 13, 2011 Defense Contracting – Improved Policies and Tools Could Help Increase Competition on DOD’s National Security Exception Procurements, GAO-12-263, January 13, 2011 Health Care Quality Measurement – HHS… Continue Reading

IMF – Foreign Banks: Trends, Impact and Financial Stability

Foreign Banks: Trends, Impact and Financial Stability, Prepared by Stijn Claessens and Neeltje van Horen, January 2012 “This paper introduces a comprehensive database on bank ownership for 137 countries over 1995-2009, and reviews foreign bank behavior and impact. It documents substantial increases in foreign bank presence, with many more home and host countries. Current market… Continue Reading

A Toolkit to Assessing Fiscal Vulnerabilities and Risks in Advanced Economies

A Toolkit to Assessing Fiscal Vulnerabilities and Risks in Advanced Economies, IMF Working Paper, by a staff team led by Andrea Schaechter, January 2012 “This paper presents a range of tools and indicators for analyzing fiscal vulnerabilities and risks for advanced economies. The analysis covers key short-, medium- and long-term dimensions. Short-term pressures are captured… Continue Reading

ProgrammableWeb's database of 100 government APIs released in 2011

Programmable Web Services Directory of over 100 government [local, state and federal] APIs released in 2011. Over 2,000 APIs Added in 2011: Social, Telephony, Open Government See also How the Internet of Things Is Turning Cities Into Living Organisms – “When city services can autonomously go online and digest information from the cloud, they can… Continue Reading