I’m going to share a nifty new application called BookMyne that, at least for Utah, may allow you to find documents in seconds. If you’re a state employee, the State Library will even have them delivered to your office.

In this example, you’re assisting a committee member to understand the original intent of Utah’s Government Records Access and Management Act and you need access to the original guide to the Act produced by the Utah Attorney General’s Office in 1992. It’s not on current websites though some of the later revisions including the 2005 edition are in Utah Government Publications Online. For this exercise you just need to know that nearly all print state publications back to the 1970s are physically available at the Utah State Library and that all state employees are eligible to receive a library card to check out materials.

You didn’t know that? Yes, it’s true, and the card can be used to access all the Public PIONEER databases from your home or wherever you may be. For that reason, my USL library card is one of the few cards that I keep in my wallet to accompany me wherever I travel. To get yours, simple call or email Ruthanne Hansen at the Utah State Library (801.715.6758).

The next step (you only need to this once) is to download and install BookMyne from the Apple App Store. It is a free iPhone/Ipod Touch application from SirsiDynix that also works on the iPad. SirsiDynix is the company that provides the library cataloging software for dozens of academic and public libraries in Utah including the Utah State Library. The app installs automatically without any configuration needed. If your using an iPad, click the 2X button to enlarge the app to the full size of the device.

BookMyne uses your current location to list for you all the SirsiDynix libraries within a range of up to 300 miles. You can move a slider to reduce this range down to ten miles. Here’s the simple procedure:

1) From the list of libraries select USL Government Publications and touch the star under its name to select it as the current library. You’ll need to enter the number on your card in the space labeled Library Card Number. Unlike the web catalog access, you only have to enter this once and the application remembers it. Leave the Nickname field empty.

2) Click the search button and enter your keywords. In this example I’m simply enter the words Government Records Access and Management.

3) Click the radio button opposite titles of interest in the result list or click the title to read the full catalog record.

4) Click the Save button to email the record(s) to any email address, place a hold, or to save it to a personalized list. In this case, click Place a hold.

5) Choose whether you want to pick it up at the library or have it mailed to you (via state mail) and click Confirm. That’s all there is to it. If you choose to have it mailed, you’ll have it at your office in two business days.

The application also allows you to view your account to review your check outs, cancel holds, and pay overdue fines. You can click the Libraries button to easily backtrack to add other libraries where you might have library privileges. This includes the BYU, Utah State, UVU, and many other Utah academic and public libraries. Click on the Suggested button and easily link to Goodreads to get suggestions for books in your local library that might interest you.

BookMyne is much easier and faster to use than logging on to the Web to use a library catalog. Since it supports multiple libraries (limited to SirsiDynix Symphony connections at present) there’s all the more reason to use it if your library is supported. In any case, you know that the Utah State Library is, and now you know now, too, how to get quick access to all those older state publications that have not yet been digitized.

Ray Matthews is the state library’s Government Information Coordinator and administrator of Utah Government Publications Online

Wastebook 2010

Unnecessary office printing costs taxpayers $930 million in waste each year.

Wasteful Printing

The printing of government publications by the Government Printing Office also takes a big hit. In an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America, Sen. Coburn questioned the purpose of printing the federal budget, asking, “How many people actually read the printed budget of the President, the printed one? One, maybe two?”

While many state and local governments and federal agencies are now printing their publications digitally, Congress itself still hasn’t figured it out. The Congressional Record has been online for fifteen years yet it is still printed in paper at an annual cost of $25.25 million. ABC News’ Jonathan Karl says that about the only thing that the 4,551 daily copies are used for these days, “is filling up recycling bins on Capitol Hill.” Coburn shakes his said saying, “It’s all online.” Why are we still printing it? His answer: “Because we’re inept.”

Okay, blame it on librarians. Both the Congressional Record and the Budget of the United States Government are on the Government Printing Office’s Essential Titles List which mandates the need for certain publications be sent to depository libraries in paper or other tangible formats. The American Association of Law Librarians (AALL) supports their continued printing and paper distribution because they are “core documents of our democracy” and because the Library of Congress only recognizes paper or microfiche as archival formats.

Squeaks

An agency video publication, “Snapshot of America” produced by the U.S. Census Bureau cost taypayers $2.5 million to run as an advertisement during last year’s Super Bowl. It tanked. Media critics gave it the lowest score as the worst of all the Super Bowl commercials. This was only one of many publishing projects in a $133 million campaign to educate Americans about participating in the census enumeration. To Coburn’s chagrin, “none of these strategies appears to have produced an increase in census returns.”

The Wastebook cites at No. 4 in the report a $615,000 prestigious National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to the University of California Santa Cruz. This grant, one of 51 awarded by IMLS, is to develop a groovy, innovative, “socially constructed” archiving system to digitize photographs, flyers, T-shirts, and concert tickets belonging to the Grateful Dead. The report notes the net worth of the Jerry Garcia estate and Phil Lesh at roughly $40 and $35 million respectively and wonders why taxpayer funding for libraries is footing the bill to archive the band’s memorabilia?

My personal favorites of waste are the “Study of Why Political Candidates Make Vague Statements” (cost $216,884), “Study of Why Americans Voted in the Election” (cost $2.3 million), and the “Office for Retired Speakers of the House of Representatives” (cost $440,955).

Following Dr. Coburn’s prescriptions (he is an obstetrician), governments can save real money.

Accreditation Report

I’m hoping that the Wastebook will become an annual New Year’s tradition. It provides a wake-up call reminding the country of our need to trim the “wasteline.”

So, how much did Coburn’s report cost to print?

“Zero,” his spokesman John Hart tells Reuters. “We didn’t make a single printed copy. There’s something called the Internet.” Doh!

The Senator could have spent a few bucks, though, to hire a proofreader. It’s missing eight pages of its table of contents.

-rm

Sources:

Applications are due by 1 February 2010, and the program is scheduled to begin in Fall 2010. For more information, see www.liicenter.org/libegov.

From Peggy Garvin, SLA/DGI Blog

Citizen’s Briefing Book:  http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov

Simply log-in and submit your idea.  Your fellow citizens will rate your idea, comment on what you’ve said, and the best ideas will float to the top.  These will be gathered and delivered to President Obama after he is sworn in.

For example: “Libraries of all types need our support”

The collection can be searched, browsed, and sorted by most popular and most recent submissions.

How about we implement something like this locally to gather the best ideas from our citizens for bettering library services?