Some records sent to Jan. 6 committee were torn up, taped back together mirroring a Trump habit

Washington Post: “When the National Archives and Records Administration handed over a trove of documents to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, some of the Trump White House records had been ripped up and then taped back together, according to three people familiar with the records. Former president Donald Trump was known …

Subjects: Congress, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

How We Broke the Supply Chain

This article appears in The American Prospect magazine’s February 2022 special issue, “How We Broke the Supply Chain.” Anyone old enough to remember the Cold War is familiar with a scene routinely depicted on U.S. television at the time: the Soviet breadline. Warning Americans about life under communism, these clips showed Russian citizens lingering forlornly outside …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Health Care, Transportation

Transforming Metadata into Linked Data to Improve Digital Collection Discoverability

Bahnemann, Greta, Michael Carroll, Paul Clough, Mario Einaudi, Chatham Ewing, Jeff Mixter, Jason Roy, Holly Tomren, Bruce Washburn, and Elliot Williams. 2021. Transforming Metadata into Linked Data to Improve Digital Collection Discoverability: A CONTENTdm Pilot Project. Dublin, OH: OCLC Research. https://doi.org/10.25333/fzcv-0851. “This report shares the CONTENTdm Linked Data Pilot project findings. In this pilot project, …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Libraries

Book Ban Efforts Spread Across the U.S.

The New York Times: “…Parents, activists, school board officials and lawmakers around the country are challenging books at a pace not seen in decades. The American Library Association said in a preliminary report that it received an “unprecedented” 330 reports of book challenges, each of which can include multiple books, last fall. “It’s a pretty …

Subjects: Censorship, Education, Libraries

It’s Not Just the IRS—the US Government Wants Your Selfies

Wired: “…More than 20 federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration, use a digital identity system called Login.gov run by the General Services Administration. It’s built on services from LexisNexis and can use selfies for account verification. The GSA’s director of technology transformation services Dave Zvenyach says facial recognition is being tested for fairness and accessibility and …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

Stop the Presses? Newspapers in the Digital Age

CRS Report – Stop the Presses? Newspapers in the Digital Age, January 27, 2022: “During the last 20 years, more than 200 local daily newspapers have either reduced their publication frequency or ceased publishing altogether. Among those that survive, many employ a fraction of the journalists that they did at the turn of the 21stcentury, …

Subjects: Economy, Government Documents, Internet, Social Media

How to (Ethically) Get Rid of Your Unwanted Stuff

Wired: “With so many extensive online selling and donation resources, there’s no need to get bogged down. If we have stuff we neither want nor need, what should we do with it? A lot of people save items for “someday,” but Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, aka The Minimalists, advise against that. The Minimalists …

Subjects: Economy

Supreme Court Appointment Process: President’s Selection of a Nominee

CRS Report – Supreme Court Appointment Process: President’s Selection of a Nominee, Updated January 28, 2022: “The appointment of a Supreme Court Justice is an event of major significance in American politics. Each appointment is of consequence because of the enormous judicial power the Supreme Court exercises as the highest appellate court in the federal …

Subjects: Congress, Courts, Government Documents, Legal Research