President's State of the Union Address

President's State of the Union Address is scheduled for Wednesday, January 27, 2010, at 9:00 pm EST. Tune in on your TVs, via the White House YouTube Channel, or live webstream to a free iPhone application.

When President Obama walks into the Capitol on Wednesday to deliver his State of the Union speech, millions of American viewers will tune in. It is a unique moment for the President to address the public on a broad spectrum of issues, including economic recovery and job creation. Of course, many Americans will react to the speech with questions, comments, and concerns.


After the President's speech begins this Wednesday (1/27) at 9pm EST, anyone will be able to submit a follow-up question and vote on others at YouTube.com/CitizenTube. Then next week, the President will answer questions in a special online event, live from the White House.

New Addition to the Science and Technology Blogs at USA.gov

The Science and Technology Blogs at the USA.gov has been recently updated by a new link to NASA blogs. Check it out yourself. Also, don't forget you can subscribe to updates at USA.gov via email or RSS feeds.

New Addition To Laws And Regulations At USA.gov

One of USA.gov sites dedicated to Laws and Regulations has been updated with a link titled Open Congress.

Open Congress brings together official government data with news coverage, blog posts, public comments, and more.

Open Congress is a free, open-source, not-for-profit, and non-partisan web resource with a mission to make Congress more transparent and to encourage civic engagement. Open Congress is a joint project of the Participatory Politics Foundation and the Sunlight Foundation.

See About OpenCongress to read more about this project's mission. And see How To Use OpenCongress.

Don't forget that you can subscribe to the USA.gov automatic updates via email or RSS feeds.

New Blogs From The U.S. Government

The Reference and General Government Blogs via the USA.gov website added the following new blogs:

• Office of the United States Trade Representative Blog covering U.S. trade issues.
• United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) where David Kappos, the director of the USPTO, discusses the work of the agency.
• White House Office of Public Engagement blog that aims to engage the American public in a dialogue with the current Administration.

The Environment, Energy, and Agriculture Blogs via the USA.gov website added the following new blogs:

• Energy Empowers blog where readers can learn more about building a new energy economy by improving efficiency, building sustainable businesses, and using old skills in new ways to generate clean energy.
• White House Council on Environmental Quality blog discussing the Council's efforts to coordinate Federal environmental efforts.

The Business and Economic Blogs via the USA.gov website added the following new blogs:

• Inside Adams is a blog from the Library of Congress that points readers to the Library’s collections of books, journals, prints, photographs, digital collections, finding aids, and Webcasts related to science, technology, and business.
• President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board Blog covers the efforts of the advisory board that meets periodically and solicits information and ideas to promote the growth of the economy, establish a stable financial and banking system, and create jobs.
• The Small Business Watchdog blog is the official blog of the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy providing the forum of discussion and inviting readers to post their thoughts, ideas, and comments regarding the small businesses across the US.

Don't forget you can subscribe directly to any updates and news via email or via RSS feeds. Happy reading!

New Blogs From the Government

Via USA.gov, the following are some new blogs that have been added to the government blogs site.

Jobs, Education, and Volunteerism Blogs added ED.gov blog (the official blog from the U.S. Department of Education), Disability.gov blog (attempts to connect disability community to information and opportunities), and Collaborate (serving as a virtual meeting place for members of the National Archives education team and colleagues from schools, institutions, and organizations across the nation).

Travel and Recreation Blogs added TSA.gov blog (providing ongoing discussion on innovations in security, technology and the checkpoint screening process) and Fast Lane (providing forum for discussing the nation's transportation system and making announcements about future projects).

Business and Economics Blogs added Business Law Advisor (helping to comply with business laws and regs), In the Loop (information about business.gov plans and status), Small Business Cents (small business grants, loans, and finance), Small Business Matters (information about a range of small and home business issues), and The Industry World (small business professionals sharing their small-business expertise).

Science and Technology Blogs added OSTIblog, which is a place where members of OSTI community discuss personal perspectives, national impacts, OSTI products and content, and technology.

You can subscribe to automatic updates from the USA.gov website via email or RSS feeds.

Environmental Blog From the Government

Via USA.gov, a new blog of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Debris Program (NOAA Marine Debris Blog) has been added to the Environment, Energy, and Agriculture blogs generated by the U.S. government.

The NOAA Marine Debris Program serves as a centralized marine debris capability within NOAA in order to coordinate, strengthen, and increase the visibility of marine debris issues and efforts within the agency, its partners, and the public.

You can subscribe to automatic updates of the USA.gov site via email or RSS feeds.

Blogs From U.S. Government

The blogs from U.S. Government are now organized by subject. The list of topics include the following:

• Business and Economics Blogs
• Defense and International Relations Blogs
• Environment, Energy, and Agriculture Blogs
• Family, Home, and Community Blogs
• Health and Nutrition Blogs
• History, Arts, and Culture Blogs
• Jobs, Education, and Volunteerism Blogs
• Public Safety and Law Blogs
• Reference and General Government Blogs
• Science and Technology Blogs
• Travel and Recreation Blogs

You can subscribe to updates to this page via email or via RSS feeds.

America's National Parks

The Recreation and Tourism page of the USA.gov Web site has been updated by a new link National Parks: America's Best Idea Today.

For nearly 100 years, this best idea has been nurtured by the National Park Service. Over time, the number of national parks has increased and our mission has become more complex as the range of services we offer has grown beyond parks to meet the needs of thousands of towns and cities across the country. Filmmaker – and Honorary National Park Ranger – Ken Burns tells the story of the national parks and the people who helped create them in his new PBS film The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

Thoughts or comments?

USCIS Unveiles New Website

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) unveiled a new website. User can subscribe to new updates via RSS feed or updates can be received via email. The site seems clean and easy to navigate through. It offers information about USCIS related topics, forms, laws, resources, and news.

What do you think? Comments?

National Public Lands Day

National Public Lands Day (NPLD) is this Saturday, September 26, 2009. The USA.gov site provides information about when people can volunteer their time to improve and enhance public lands.

This day is the nation's largest hands-on volunteer effort. In addition to NPLD being a fee-free day in many federally managed lands, all NPLD volunteers who work at a site managed by the FWS, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) or Forest Service (FS) will receive a coupon good for a "fee-free" day at any site managed by those agencies. For more information, or to register and/or find an event, please visit the NPLD's website. You may also wish to view a full listing of NPS events.

You can find more volunteering opportunities and information at the links below:

Recreation.gov's web page on recreation-related employment
Serv.gov
Take Pride in America Initiative
The Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) Volunteer Opportunities
Public Services and Volunteerism

Conservation And Recycling

The Conversation and Recycling page of the USA.gov website has been recently updated by two new links:

• Recycling Centers by Zip Code - allowing you to find recycling centers near you using your zip code; and
• Where Can I Donate or Recycle My Old Computer and Other Electronic Products? learn more about local manufacturer or retailer, and government supported recycling programs for computers and other electronics.

You can subscribe to USA.gov updates directly via email or RSS feeds.

New on LLRX: The Government Domain - Congressional Documents on FDSys: the Basics

On July 27, 2009 Peggy Garvin published an article on LLRx.com titled The Government Domain - Congressional Documents on FDsys: the Basics. Peggy Garvin of Garvin Information Consulting is author of The United States Government Internet Manual 2006-2007 (Bernan Press) and Real World Research Skills (TheCapitol.Net).

The U.S. federal government’s content shop, the Government Printing Office (GPO), is rolling out a new website for the government documents stream that it manages. The Federal Digital System (FDsys) is to replace GPO’s fifteen-year-old GPO Access website by the end of this year. GPO is moving content to FDsys gradually, collection by collection, with congressional documents leading the pack. GPO refers to the current system as a public beta version.

Congressional documents collections currently (as of 26 July 2009) available through FDsys are listed below. The capitalized acronym for each document collection is the “collection code” used in advanced FDsys command line searching, described later.

• Congressional Bills, 103rd Congress (1993-1994) to present; BILLS
• Congressional Calendars, 104th Congress (1995-1996) to present; CCAL
• Congressional Committee Prints, 100th Congress (1987-1988) to present; CRPT
• Congressional Documents, 103rd Congress (1993-1994) to present; CDOC
• Congressional Hearings, if available from committee, 105th Congress (1997-1998) to present; CHRG
• Congressional Record, 103rd Congress, 2nd session (1994) to present; CREC
• Congressional Committee Reports and Senate Executive Reports, 104th Congress (1995-1996) to present; CRPT

Read the full article to learn more about the search options, including tips for a Boolean search and basic syntax, about the search results and the future of the FDsys.

H.R. 2998 American Clean Energy and Security Act

CBO (Congressional Budget Office) released a review of the H.R. 2998 American Clean Energy and Security Act - Cost estimate for the bill as amended and reported by the House Committee on Rules on June 26, 2009.

Update to Energy & Fuel Page at USA.gov

The Energy and Fuel page, at the USA.gov website has been updated by a new link. American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) provides information about current and potential energy legislation, energy policy, programs, consumer resources, publications and meetings, and most current news from the press room. The ACEEE was founded in 1980

The ACEEE is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting economic prosperity, energy security, and environmental protection. ACEEE carries out its mission by:

• Conducting in-depth technical and policy analyses
• Advising policymakers and program managers
• Working collaboratively with businesses, government officials, public interest groups, and other organizations
• Converting conferences and workshops, primarily for energy efficiency professionals
• Assisting and encouraging the media to cover energy efficiency policy and technology issues
• Educating businesses and consumers through our reports, books, conference proceedings, media outreach, and Web site

Don't forget you can subscribe to all news from the USA.gov by email or via RSS feed.

WTO Declares 2009 Influenza Pandemic

In the statement to the press on June 11, 2009, World Health Organization (WHO) announced its decision to raise the level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 5 to phase 6.

In late April, WHO announced the emergence of a novel influenza A virus. This particular H1N1 strain has not circulated previously in humans. The virus is entirely new. The virus is contagious, spreading easily from one person to another, and from one country to another. As of today, nearly 30,000 confirmed cases have been reported in 74 countries. On the basis of available evidence, and these expert assessments of the evidence, the scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met. The world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic.

A reminder, the following sites provide up to date information about the swine flu.

• WHO Influenza A(H1N1)
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Influenza
• PandemicFlu.com

New Blogs From the U.S. Government

For those who read blogs or for those who would like to start. The U.S. Government website has a section dedicated to government related blogs. Currently there are 50 blogs listed. The list offers blogs related to topics such are U.S. Marines, Coast Guards, Centers for disease control and prevention, congressional budget, energy savers, future digital systems, grants, Greenversations, minorities, National parks, Smithsonian Institution, White House, and many others. The latest additions are:

• Food and Drug Administration Transparency Blog
• Science and Technology Policy Blog
• White House Open Government Blog

You can subscribe to receive any U.S. Government website updates either via email or via RSS feed.

U.S. Government Channel on YouTube

The U.S. Government has its own official YouTube channel. This channel links you directly to videos across government. The U.S. Government joined YouTube channel on March 22, 2007, so far has 2,737 subscribers, and was viewed 90, 679 times. Not bad! You can subscribe too!

Data.gov - New Page at USA.gov

USA.gov has recently been updated with Data.gov as a part of the Data and Statistics - General Reference Resources page. The following is the stated purpose:

The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government.

Further,

Data.gov includes a searchable data catalog that includes access to data in two ways: through the "raw" data catalog and using tools.

The Primary Goal of this site reads as follows:

A primary goal of Data.gov is to improve access to Federal data and expand creative use of those data beyond the walls of government by encouraging innovative ideas (e.g., web applications). Data.gov strives to make government more transparent and is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. The openness derived from Data.gov will strengthen our Nation's democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

Users may also suggest other data and materials to be added to this page and the searchable database.

And don't forget that you can subscribe to receive automatic updates from USA.gov via email or via RSS feed.

Government Information Online

Gail Whittemore, Pace Law Library Special Collections and Reference Librarian, has compiled a guide to finding government information online. This guide contains links to federal government information on Congress and federal legislation, the President, Cabinet Departments, the federal courts and their decisions, and federal agencies.

GovBenefits.gov Is On Twitter

GovBenefits.gov is the official benefits website of the U.S. government, with information on over 1,000 benefit and assistance programs. You can subscribe via your email to receive updates, or now you can follow GovBenefits. gov on Twitter. There only are 2 updates so far. So, lets see! Stay informed!