Full-text of Inaugural Available Through FDsys

The Government Printing Office (GPO) released FDsys to the public last Thursday  at the same time that Mike Wash, GPO’s chief technical officer, announced it in his Washboard blog.

FDsys: http://fdsys.gpo.gov/

One spankin’ new government publication it includes is the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents from The Office of the Federal Register (OFR). This publication appeared on January 20, . . . → Read More: Full-text of Inaugural Available Through FDsys

New Service for Choosing a Nursing Home

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has begun a five-star quality rating system for each of the nation’s 15,800 nursing homes that participate in Medicare or Medicaid. It’s the first-ever U.S. federal government website to help  with the difficult and emotional task of choosing a nursing home.

. . . → Read More: New Service for Choosing a Nursing Home

Get an Early Start on Your Taxes

The IRS has placed its comprehensive free tax guide for individuals online.

Publication 17 has been updated with important changes for 2008, including information on the new recovery rebate credit, new first-time-home buyer credit, and an additional standard deduction for real estate taxes.

As in prior years, the publication provides information on how to file . . . → Read More: Get an Early Start on Your Taxes

Utah Photos in Online Government Digital Libraries

Wilson Arch south of Moab, UtahAre you in need of that perfect Utah photo for your library website?   Did you know that U.S. Federal government agencies offer some of the richest collections of photos relating to Utah?  If you rely on Google Images for finding photos of Utah, you’re missing the big picture.     

The Bureau of Land Management, for example, has recently launched an enhanced version of their BLM Photo Library, http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/bpd.html, that contains 60,000 digital photographs in the public domain of landscapes and historical images that primarily of public lands in 12 Western state including Utah. The Utah photos include those of arches, rock formations, scenery, rangeland, wild mustangs, cowboys, Indian rock art, and oil and mineral extraction.  The collection cannot be browsed and retrieving images using the search is dicey because search terms have to match those in the limited metadata associated with each photo.  Searches for features and places seem to retrieve the best results.  Because the photos are in the public domain, this may be a great resource for teachers, webmasters, local governments, and those needing photos for tourism and related needs.  A shopping cart feature allows users to collect several images and then download them in a compressed folder.
Some other federal government agencies that have large public collections of photographs of scenes in Utah include:

Continue reading Utah Photos in Online Government Digital Libraries