Last fall, the House of Representatives formed a bipartisan committee to investigate federal, state and local response to Hurricane Katrina. The committee has finished its work, and yesterday (2/15) they released their report, entitled A Failure of Initiative: The Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina (PDF).

From the report's preface:

Our investigation revealed that Katrina was a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare. At every level - individual, corporate, philanthropic, and governmental - we failed to meet the challenge that was Katrina. In this cautionary tale, all the little pigs built houses of straw.

The Appendices listed in the table of contents are in a separate PDF file: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/katrinareport/appendices.pdf

For more about the committee, please see their website: http://www.katrina.house.gov/.


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Posted by Tami Smith to gov docs at 2/16/2006 09:23:00 AM

Labels: gov docs

From the website:

"The Economic Report of the President is issued by the Executive Office of the President and the Council of Economic Advisers. It includes:

• Current and foreseeable trends and annual numerical goals concerning topics such as employment, production, real income and Federal budget outlays.
• Employment objectives for significant groups of the labor force.
• Annual numeric goals.
• A program for carrying out program objectives.

The Economic Report of the President is transmitted to Congress no later than ten days after the submission of the Budget of the United States Government. Supplementary reports can be issued to the Congress which contain additional and/or revised recommendations.

A searchable database of the Economic Report of the President is available from 1996 forward. Documents are available as ASCII text and PDF files."

You can also find the print version of this report from 1993-present in the Government Documents section on the second floor of Langsdale Library; the SuDoc number is PR43.9: (year).

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Posted by Tami Smith to gov docs at 2/14/2006 07:33:00 AM

Labels: gov docs

The Spring 2006 issue of the Langsdale Link is now available online. In it you can read about many different activities in which Langsdale staff are involved, both inside of the library and out. In addition, you can find out about some of our new books and new staff as well kill some time with our book-themed word find.

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Posted by Michael to langsdale at 2/13/2006 02:18:00 PM

Labels: langsdale

On January 27, President Bush issued a Proclamation celebrating National African American History Month (also known as Black History Month). Want to know more about the origins of this annual event? Take a look at this 2003 publication from the Congressional Research Service: Black History Month (529K - PDF). In addition to background information, the report includes a bibliography and links to other resources.

Many government agencies have created websites and online exhibits celebrating the history and culture of African-Americans. Here are a few selected sites:

• American Memory Project - African American Collection
  This is a list of the 16 multimedia collections available online from the Library of Congress. The collections include Slave Narratives (audio), The Frederick Douglass Papers, The Zora Neale Hurston Plays, and many others.
  
  
• Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE): Black History Month Resources
  This Department of Education site has an annotated list of online exhibits from various universities and government agencies.
  
  
• NARA Research - African American Records
  Find links to slavery records, military records and other resources available at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
  
  
• National Register of Historic Places - Celebrate African American History Month 2006
  From the website: "This site showcases historic properties listed in the National Register, National Register publications, and National Park units commemorating the events and people, the designs and achievements that help illustrate African Americans' contributions to American history."
  
  
• Our Shared History: African American Heritage
  A National Park Service website with online exhbits on the Underground Railroad, Legends of Tuskegee, Martin Luther King, and more.
  
  
• U.S. Census Press Release: African-American History Month
  This annual release contains lots of interesting facts about the African-American population in the U.S.
  
  
• Profile America: Black History Month
  From the website: "Profile America is a daily, 60-second feature that uses interesting vignettes from key events, observances or commemorations for that day to highlight information collected by the Census Bureau."
  
  Each 60-second podcast features the contributions of a different African-American. You can listen online, or download the .mp3 file. There is also an RSS feed available.
  
  
• U.S. Senate: Celebrating Black History Month
  This site honors the contributions of African-American senators, from Hiram Revels to Barak Obama.

Looking for other resources? Contact us here at Langsdale Library, and we'd be happy to help you!

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Posted by Tami Smith to gov docs at 2/09/2006 10:22:00 AM

Labels: gov docs

The Budget of the United States Government: Fiscal Year 2007 was just released this morning at 10 a.m., and is now available online here: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy07/index.html.
The online version is browsable in PDF format, and it's also searchable.

The paper and CD-ROM versions will be sent out to federal depositories (including Langsdale) soon. In the meantime, you can find past budgets in the Government Documents section (PrEx 2.8:) on the second floor of the library, or online at GPO Access.

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Posted by Tami Smith to gov docs at 2/06/2006 08:39:00 AM

Labels: gov docs

If you missed President Bush's speech last night, you can now find the complete transcript on the Government Printing Offfice website (transcripts available back to 1992): http://www.gpoaccess.gov/sou/index.html

If you'd like to watch the video you can go to C-SPAN, which has video coverage back to 1989 and transcripts all the way back to Harry Truman's 1945 address: http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp

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Posted by Tami Smith to gov docs at 2/01/2006 07:16:00 AM

Labels: gov docs