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Daily Archives: June 28, 2016

Paper – Detecting US Federal Documents to Expand Access

Detecting US Federal Documents to Expand Access, Mike Furlough, HathiTrust, Ann Arbor;  Valerie Glenn, HathiTrust, Ann Arbor.

“This paper reports on HathiTrust’s Federal Documents Program, which facilitates collective action to create a comprehensive digital collection of United States government publications issued by the Government Printing Office and other agencies. Most government information is now produced and distributed digitally, but US research libraries, especially those that participate in the Federal Depository Library Program, hold large numbers of historical print publications that are difficult to discover, find, and use. In June 2016 HathiTrust held over 700,000 items identified as federal documents, but we know this to be only a fraction of what exists. Because of varied cataloging practices we have limited understanding of the number of federal documents at the title level, as well as the corresponding number of volumes, the number of pages, and their distribution across libraries in North America. All of these are important details necessary to plan comprehensive mass digitization of federal documents. A major component of HathiTrust’s program has been the development of the US Federal Documents Registry, envisioned as a reliable inventory of items published at the expense of the US government. The methodology employed for the Registry’s development includes extensive comparative bibliographic analysis, based upon more than 20 million records submitted by 40 libraries in response to a request from HathiTrust. This paper describes methods of de-duplication, relationship-detection, and record consolidation. While many potential use cases exist for such a registry, its primary role is as a tool for identification of materials to be digitized among HathiTrust member libraries and in partnership with other agencies and groups.”

Germany Tops 2016 Logistics Performance Index

World Bank – “Progress in logistics performance has slowed for the first time since 2007 for the world’s least developed economies, while emerging economies that implement comprehensive initiatives continue to improve their performance, according to a new World Bank Group report released today. The latest edition of the Logistics Performance Index, which is a part… Continue Reading

The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2013

The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2013 – June 8, 2016 “In 2013, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimates, average household market income—a comprehensive income measure that consists of labor income, business income, capital income (including capital gains), and retirement income—was approximately $86,000. Government transfers, which include benefits from programs such as… Continue Reading

Social Security Disability Insurance: Participation and Spending

Social Security Disability Insurance: Participation and Spending, June 15, 2015: “The Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program pays cash benefits to nonelderly adults who have worked in the past but are judged to be unable to continue performing substantial work because of a disability. The program also pays benefits to some of those adults’ dependents.… Continue Reading

The Macroeconomic and Budgetary Effects of Federal Investment

The Macroeconomic and Budgetary Effects of Federal Investment, June 16, 2016: “The federal government buys many goods and services that are expected to increase private-sector productivity—that is, the ability of the private-sector workforce, using the stock of capital, to produce goods and services. Such purchases by the federal government are called investment. In an earlier… Continue Reading

Budgetary Effects of US Participation in the International Monetary Fund

Via CBO – The Budgetary Effects of the United States’ Participation in the International Monetary Fund, June 16, 2016 “Since 1945, when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established to promote global economic cooperation and stability, the United States has been its largest contributor. Today, the United States’ financial commitment to the IMF totals approximately… Continue Reading

2012 Economic Census Subject Series: Miscellaneous Reports for Seven Sectors

“These reports present data for a variety of industry-specific topics, such as end-of-year inventories for establishments of firms with payroll. Presentation of data varies by kind of business. This concludes the subject series for these sectors. Transportation and Warehousing Information Professional, Scientific and Technical Services Administrative Support and Waste Management and Remediation Health Care and Social… Continue Reading

2012 Economic Census Subject Series: Other Services: ZIP Code Statistics

“This release contains a data file on the other services sector (repair and maintenance, personal and laundry services, etc.) for the entire United States. These statistics are limited to a count of the establishments in each industry by sales-size range of establishments. These ZIP codes are reported by businesses or coded from addresses. This will… Continue Reading

GAO Reports – Casualty Assistance, Defense Civil Support, Human Trafficking

Casualty Assistance: DOD and the Coast Guard Need to Develop Policies and Outreach Goals and Metrics for Program Supporting Servicemembers’ Survivors, GAO-16-569 Published: Jun 28, 2016. Publicly Released: Jun 28, 2016. Defense Civil Support: DOD Has Made Progress Incorporating the Homeland Response Force into the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Response Enterprise, GAO-16-599: Published: Jun… Continue Reading

Smithsonian – The Surprising History of the Infographic

Early iterations saved soldiers’ lives, debunked myths about slavery and helped Americans settle the frontier – Clive Thompson “…We live in an age of data visualization. Go to any news website and you’ll see graphics charting support for the presidential candidates; open your iPhone and the Health app will generate personalized graphs showing how active you’ve… Continue Reading