The Library will be shuttered for Thursday, November 27; it will awaken on Friday, November 28 from 8:30am to 4:30pm before returning to a turkey-induced slumber on Saturday, November 29 and Sunday, November 30. It will be alert and ready for the end-run of the semester beginning Monday, December 1 at 7:30am.
Archive for November, 2008
Thanksgiving Day
“For in Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America….He is besides, tho’ a little vain and silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.” So wrote Benjamin Franklin to his daughter Sarah Bache on January 26, 1784 in a letter discussing, among other points, the differences between an eagle and a turkey. To read through cookbooks dating back to the 18th century and learn how to cook a turkey, like boiling it in water for two hours with a head of cabbage, visit this site. Go here to read the convoluted history of this day and also consult this entry from the Smithsonian Encyclopedia. Interesting facts and figures about this holiday are found at this Census Bureau section. Primary source texts dealing with Plymouth Colony and the Pilgrims may be accessed here. The invaluable Plymouth Colony Archive Project can be used to great advantage. A brief history of the Pilgrims is also available. Scores of online books on Plymouth Colony are accessible from this site. Gooble, gooble!!
Candidates for Key Appointments in Obama’s Administration
This very informative resource from The New York Times examines many of the frontrunners for appointments to key positions in the new administration; also highlighted are the main players in the transition team. For additional biographical information, please consult the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for both past and present holders of a Congressional seat; i.e. Clinton, Daschle; the biographical section of the National Governors Association; i.e. Richardson; and the always reliable SourceWatch as well; i.e. Axelrod.
New Report Reveals Lack of Knowledge of American History
A new report – Our Fading Heritage – presents a rather bleak picture of our knowledge of American history, politics, civics, and economics. Of the 2500 people surveyed from all walks of life, a bewildering number, 71%, failed with an average of 49; American politicians fare even worse, recording a less than stellar 44. On a more distressing note, 56% correctly identified Paula Abdul as a judge on American Idol, while only 21% correctly identified the phrase “government of the people, by the people, for the people” as from the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln. The 2008 Civic Literacy Test is found on pages 24-27. Please read Wilfred McClay’s essay, “The Burden of the Humanities.” UPDATE: To see how far we have not come, please read this 2011 blog entry.
European Digital Library Opens 11/20, Closes 11/20
So great was the anticipation for Europeana, the name for the European Digital Library, that when it was opened yesterday more than 10 million hits per hour crashed the site. A planned repository of millions of texts, images, sound, and film, Europeana will become a resource of the first order when it is finally back up. Over 1000 institutions from the European Union have contributed digitized collections to this vast multilingual undertaking. A nice review of the project is found here. Europeana is slated to go back up in mid-December. In the meantime, check out our de facto national library, the Library of Congress and its digital treasures.
Top Ten American Newspaper Websites
This is a listing of the best websites for American newspapers; the New York Times tops the list. Several different criteria were employed, among them design, aesthetics, and usability. Needless to say, another list, based on different criteria, would yield dissimiliar results. For those who wish to dig deeper, try The Newspapers: Rating The Top 25 Newspaper Websites; also recommended is the Newspaper Association of America site which has a separate area for newspaper web sites. It is replete with updated statistics and contains circulation/views of many newspapers as well(use the “net reach” link for those figures). And do not forget the “research” link which will direct you to pertinent reports on newspapers and the Web. Another report of interest is American Newspapers and the Internet: Threat or Opportunity? A great journalism site with numerous links is found at the Poynter Institute.
Life Magazine’s Photo Archives Available via Google Image
Ultimately, all ten million photos from Life will be searchable in Google Image; at the present, about 20% are online, with the rest to be loaded in the upcoming months. You can access this collection here, or you can just add “source:life” to any Google Image search and limit the search just to Life images. The pictures available now stretch back to the Civil War.
Mainstreet Stimulus: Ready-to-Go Projects
While all the talk of late revolves around bailing out financial institutions and the U.S. automobile industry, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has issued their own report which focuses on the urban infrastructure. 153 cities have identified 4591 projects costing $24 billion and creating 256,000 jobs, all of which can be initiated and completed within one year. Each project is listed along with its costing and the number of jobs it would produce. Needless to say, New Jersey cities are represented in this undertaking, among them Elizabeth and Trenton. It seems coincidential that the figure being tossed around to help the car companies – $25 billion – is essentially the same as what the mayors are calling for.
Transcript of Obama’s “60 Minutes” Interview
For those of you who missed last night’s interview, here is the complete transcript.
The Prune Book
Hot on the heels of the Plum Book comes the Center for Excellence in Government’s the Prune Book. This tome highlights some of the demanding jobs that the incoming administration will have to fill. It gives details as to the scope and function of the job as well as detailing the various sub-departments or groups that are supervised by a particular appointed position. This work gives the transition team a primer to some of the most critical slots which need to be filled. In addition A Survivor’s Guide for Presidential Nominees can also be perused for insight into this nominating process.
The Economic Crisis – Even More Reports
Some additional light reading. Credit Rating Agencies and the Financial Crisis(House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform); Navigating the Global Storm(Asian Development Bank); Europe@Risk (Global Economic Forum); Role of Federal Regulators in the Financial Crisis(House Committee on Oversight…); Depressed Economy Wallops States(stateline.org); Impact of the Financial Crisis on Workers’ Retirement Security(House Committee on Education and Labor); The Unfolding Crisis: Implications for Financial Systems and Their Oversight(World Bank); Lessons from World Bank Research on Financial Crises(World Bank); Obama Pledges Quick Action on Economic Stimulus(Wall Street Journal); Hedge Funds and the Financial Market(House Committee on Oversight…); Emergency Economic Stabilization Act: Preliminary Analysis of Oversight Provisions(Congressional Research Service); Global Economy in Crisis(Council on Foreign Relations); Oversight of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act(Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs); Global Financial Crisis: The Role of the International Monetary Fund(IMF)(Congressional Research Service); Financial Crisis and Resolution 2008(American Bankers Association); Long-Term Implications of the Financial Crisis(Council on Foreign Relations); HUD Issues New Mortgage Rules(HUD); and the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy(White House).
Today in History: Nellie Bly Returns Home
“I was told when we were almost home to jump to the platform the moment the train stopped at Jersey City, for that made my time around the world. The station was packed with thousands of people, and the moment I landed on the platform, one yell went up from them, and the cannons at the Battery and Fort Greene boomed out…;” So concludes Nellie Bly’s Book: Around the World in Seventy-Two Days. Born Elizabeth Cochrane, Nelly Bly was one of the first, if not the first, female journalist. She exposed the ills of child labor, had herself commited to an insane asylum to report on the abuse of the mentally impaired, and in the feat for which she is most well-known, circled the globe in 72 days, beating the fictional record of one Phileas Fogg from Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days. She took over her late husband’s declining industries and transformed them into money-making enterprises. Her businesses became social experiments, providing libraries for the employees, health care programs, and every Christmas her 1200 workers received parcels of needed foods. During World War I, she reported from the frontlines and was later at the Paris Peace Conference. She returned to the United states and died in 1922. The most powerful newspaper editor at the time, Arthur Brisbane, declared her “the best reporter in America.” Biographical information may be found at several sites: The Great Reporters, Suite101, Scholastic, Spartacus, CUNY, and PBS. New York Times articles on this intrepid reporter are here. A fascinating article by Bly’s biographer which details the difficulties of writing on someone for whom no definitive biography/bibliography existed can be found in this issue of Prologue. The biography in question is Brooke Kroeger’s Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist; of course, the Guarini Library owns a copy.
The 2008 Plum Book
Technically called the United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions, the Plum Book will be an essential item for the Obama transition team to consult. It is published after each presidential election alternately by the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Government Reform. This work lists the more than 7500 noncompetitive, appointed positions in the Federal government scattered across its various departments. It lists the current office holder, the salary level, and the type of appointment; i.e., presidential, presidential with Senate confirmation, etc. “The duties of many such positions may involve advocacy of Administration policies and programs and the incumbents usually have a close and confidential working relationship with the agency or other key officials.”(Foreward, iii) The 1996, 2000, and 2004 versions can be accessed here.
World Bank Background Paper: Global Financial Crisis
“Coming on the heels of the food and fuel price shock, the global financial crisis could significantly set back the fight against poverty.” This study, accompanied with various recommendations and scenarios, is one that should be read by anyone interested in the global impact of the present financial crisis.
New Jersey Is Top State in Ethics/Transparency Laws
The Better Government Association has released a report (links at bottom of page) investigating all fifty states in five areas and rating their compliance. Each state’s laws for open records, whistleblower protection, campaign finance, open meetings, and conflcits of interest were reviewed, criteria were established, and a point-system was used to grade each indicator. New Jersey topped the list at 65%, meaning even the winner can do better in providing its citizenry with accountable governmental laws and practices. Take a look at S445, the “Transparency in Government Act” which was recently tabled in the NJ Senate.
Veterans Day
At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, hostilities ceased along the Western Front in Europe, bringing an end to the Great War as it is still known in Great Britain and France today. This remembrance day has had a convoluted history as both to its name and the date it is to be observed. Read this New York Times article on how this day is honored in other countries. The following sites also offer valuable information: from the Census Bureau, please consult the Facts for Figures: Veterans Day listing; consult this National Park Serivice site; review these PBS programs and their respective websites; visit the History Channel’s contribution; look at the BBC page on Armistice Day; and in Canada, the CBC’s homage to Remembrance Day. Books on World War 1 abound; try here and here for thousands of online works, from histories to memoirs to poetry to humor. Needless to say, the Guarini Library possesses dozens of recent works on this horrific war.
“Here Rests In Honored Glory An American Soldier Known But to God.” – inscription on the Tombs of the Unknown, Arlington National Cemetery.
Presidential Transition
“America is unique in the world in the scale and complexity of its transitions of power. In most parliamentary systems, career civil servants hold positions at the highest levels, and there are very few political appointments.” So wrote John C. Fortiet in his brief essay, “Ensuring A Seamless Transition.” Did you know that there is no provision for, nor even mention of, transition in the Constitution? And before the Twentieth Amendment established January 20 as Inauguration Day, rather than March 4, as had been previously practiced(in part, a reflection of the country’s more rural beginnings and lack of adequate, swift transportation or communication systems), the president-elect would have to wait more than four months to take the oath of office? And that until recently, there were no monies set aside to assist in this monumental undertaking, that the winning party picked up the tab? For a good read on this topic, look at the article “The Law of Presidential Transitions.” The following are some of the best resources around: Congresspedia’s Presidential Transition Resources, containing a plethora of information and sites; U.S. General Services Administration’s(USGSA) 2008 Presidential Transition, detailing its areas of responsibility from providing phones and parking to liaising with the National Archives; the National Academy of Public Administration’s Addressing the 2009 Presidential Transition at the Department of Homeland Security, re-emphasizing how the transition of power is always more dangerous during times of war or national emergencies; The Johns Hopkins 2008-2009 U.S. Presidential Transition site which succinctly states – “This transition will require at least 800 people at its peak and cost nearly $10 million”; www.change.gov, President-Elect Obama’s transition site; the IBM Center for the Business of Government: Presidential Transition Series, which offers books and reports from the management perspective on this move; the Brookings Institution Presidential Transition site, proffering their opinions on the transition and the issues involved; the Council on Foreign Relations Transition 2008 section with its own unique perspective; the White House Transition Project, a truly remarkable, collaborative undertaking with an enormous amount of information; and the 2008-2009 Presidential Transition Resources page from the National Archives and the USGSA. “I have asked some old friends to come in and help us during this difficult period, which we all hoped would not come. I hope you will render all possible cooperation to those who will be here to facilitate the transitions….” – Gerald Ford, Memorandums on the Transition of the Presidency, August 10, 1974.
How Hispanics Voted in the 2008 Election
This report from the Pew Hispanic Center details the voting patterns of Hispanics in the recent presidential elections. Replete with bar graphs and links, this study reinforces the notion of how influential a voting bloc Hispanics have become. This Census Bureau page has an abundance of statistics and reports on this rapidly growing segment of our population. Here’s a New York Times article on the “majority minorities.”
International Comparison of Academic Salaries
This self-titled “exploratory study” attempts to analyze academic salaries from fifteen different countries ranging from Argentia to the United States. Each country’s higher education system is also briefly reviewed, methodologies are explained, and average salaries are given for lecturers through to full professors. A lucidly written report, this 80+ page presentation is worth the time reading.
Best Immigration Data Sources
This handy guide from the Population Reference Bureau will point one in the right direction to valuable online sites ranging from immigrants’ health to their educational status. International immigration is also touched upon. Also, there are webcasts discussing immigration statistics which may be accessed as well.
Congressman Frank J. Guarini Library Blog 