Category Archives: Reference & Government

2020 Census outreach

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The U.S. Census Bureau held a kick-off for the 2020 Census ad campaign Tuesday, Jan. 14. For each decennial census, the Census Bureau hires an agency to conduct research and distribute messaging to encourage participation in the U.S. Census. The 2020 campaign, according to a Jan. 14 press release, “employs multi-language ads, partnerships and trusted voices.” The Census Bureau’s tagline, revealed in 2019 is “Shape your Future. Start here.” Examples of the new ads are available here. Census partners are encouraged to have local organizations use the national campaign materials in news media, social media and other outlets.

Efforts to publicize the census have been underway in Indiana for the past several years. The Philanthropy Alliance of Indiana made it a priority to connect its members with census resources early on in the state’s efforts. The Indiana State Library’s State Data Center has worked closely with the Indiana Business Research Center and the Indiana Department of Administration to coordinate efforts at the state level. The IBRC maintains the Census in Indiana website, a “for Hoosiers by Hoosiers” resource for digital and print materials promoting the 2020 census.

New on the site is a Promotional Tool Kit section which includes images and widgets for your websites. For librarians, there is a 2020 Census Toolkit containing important dates in the census, talking points and FAQs for Indiana libraries, an online resource list and ideas for displays and programs. The Census Bureau’s Facebook and Twitter pages contain daily updates about 2020 Census promotion. The State Data Center’s Facebook and Twitter pages post national, state and local updates about the 2020 census.

In mid-March, most U.S. households will receive an invitation to fill out the census online. A series of mailings will follow until each household completes the census online, by paper form or via telephone.

Please contact the library’s State Data Center for questions about the 2020 Census.

This blog post by Katie Springer, reference librarian. For more information, contact the Reference and Government Services Division at 317-232-3678 or submit an Ask-A-Librarian request.

Johns Hopkins University – Studies in Historical and Political Science series

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The Indiana State Library has in its collections the Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science book series dating back to 1883. The latest book we currently have was published in 2018. That’s 135 years of materials that include very in-depth research on specific topics under the general subject of historical and political science. At the library, the earlier volumes – 1883-1957 – are in bound volumes with individual writings on a common topic. For instance, volume one is titled “Local Institutions” and includes 12 individual writings. A number of them were written by Herbert B. Adams with titles such as “Saxon Tithingmen in America,” “Norman Constables in America” and “Village Communities of Cape Anne and Salem.” Titles in the 1907 volume, for example, are “Internal Taxation in the Philippines” by J. S. Hord, “The Monroe Mission to France, 1794-1796” by B. W. Bond, Jr., “Maryland During the English Civil Wars. Part II” by B. C. Steiner, “The State in Constitutional and International Law” by R. T. Crane, “A Financial History of Maryland, 1789-1848” by H. S. Hanna and “Apprenticeship in American Trade Unions” by J. M. Motley.

Table of contents from Volume 1 of the series “Local Institutions.”

Table of contents from 1907 volume of the series “International and Colonial History.”

As the series continued, the individual writings became longer. Later volumes, starting in 1958, present each individual written piece published as a separate book, which is either part of, or all of, a volume. Still cataloged as part of the series, these in-depth materials continued to cover an increasingly wide range of topics as shown by the following titles: “Search and Seizure and the Supreme Court: A Study in Constitutional Interpretation” by Jacob. W. Landynski, published in 1966; “Biomedical Computing: Digitizing Life in the United States” by Joseph November, published in 2012; “How NATO Adapts: Strategy and Organization in the Atlantic Alliance Since 1950” by Seth A. Johnston, published in 2017; and “The Bomb and America’s Missile Age” by Christopher Gainor, published in 2018. Each of these works can be useful in their own ways for scholars. For instance, for “The World of the Paris Café: Sociability among the French Working Class, 1789-1914” by W. Scott Haine, published in 1996, the author uses primary sources, such as marriage contracts, as well as police and bankruptcy records to investigate the café society in relation to work, leisure, gender roles and political activity. In “Juana the Mad: Sovereignty & Dynasty in Renaissance Europe” by Bethany Aram, published in 2005, the author draws on recent scholarship and years of archival research to assert that Juana was more complicated than she has previously been portrayed.

Cover of “Biomedical Computing: Digitizing Life in the United States.”

Cover of “The Bomb and America’s Missile Age.”

We encourage scholars, researchers and people who are simply interested in historical and political science to use this material. The pieces issued as separate books after 1950 can be checked out. The materials in the bound volumes can be can be viewed in the library, or in some cases we can find digitized copies online. This incredible series of materials is waiting for those who are ready for them.

This blog post was written by Daina Bohr, reference librarian. For more information, contact the Reference & Government Services Collections at 317-232-3678 or via email.

Census Day

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If you haven’t already, you’ll soon be hearing more and more about the 2020 census.

April 1, 2020 is Census Day and beginning in mid-March, everyone will be receiving census forms in the mail. If you do not like filling out paper forms, the 2020 count will be the first one to allow all U.S. households to respond online. You can also call 1-800 numbers to give responses over the phone. All of us will be asked the following: how many people are living or staying at your home on April 1, 2020; whether the home is owned or rented; the sex, age and race of each person in your home; and whether a person in your home is of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin. Some of us will receive a longer form called The American Community Survey.

Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution mandates that a count of people residing in the U.S. take place every 10 years. Our founders used this to both determine the number of representatives each state has in Congress and the amount to tax each state. Putting the taxation and representation together assured an accurate count. The more people a state had, the more the state would be taxed and the fewer amount of people in a state meant fewer representatives for that state.

But, questions, questions… why so many questions?

The federal government bases a large amount of its spending decisions on census data. Census data also underpins state legislative districts and local boundaries, like city councils and school boards. Businesses use census data to determine where to build factories and stores. Are there enough skilled workers in an area? Are the people that live there interested in buying the stores products? A local government needs to know how many people are traveling to work and from where to determine roadways and other transportation needs. School districts need to know how many children are expected to attend, and their ages, in order to decide to build new schools and where to locate them.

The United States census is more than just a head count. The census has become a snapshot of America history. For more than 100 years, America was primarily a rural country of farms and villages, but the 1920 census showed that more Americans were living in towns and cities than on farms. In the 1840s, the common school movement was beginning to spread and the 1850 census asked if the person was at school within the last year and if the person was over 20 years of age, could they not read and write? By the 1890s, Civil War veterans were in their 50s and 60s and many were suffering from war wounds. The 1890 census questions included: Was this person a soldier, sailor or marine during the Civil War (U.S.A. or C.S.A.), or the widow of such a person? The nation was experiencing an economic collapse, and needed to plan for potential pensioners. The 1930 census included an unemployment census. Answers to questions helped steer the government’s response to the crash and the Great Depression. The 1940 census was the first to include a separate questionnaire on the nation’s housing conditions, including questions about indoor plumbing and kitchen appliances. In 1940, they asked if the home had a radio and in 1950 added televisions to the questions. By 1970, they asked if the home had a radio that was battery-operated.

Even though there are many questions, the Census Bureau will never ask you for:
Your social security number
Money or donations
Anything on behalf of a political party
Your bank or credit card account numbers

If someone claiming to be from the Census Bureau asks you for one of these things, it’s a scam, and you should not cooperate.

The Indiana State Library  has a number of good books on the history and importance of the census:
Alterman, Hyman. 1969. “Counting people: the census in history.” New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.
Anderson, Margo J., and Stephen E. Fienberg. 1999. “Who counts?: the politics of census-taking in contemporary America.” New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Anderson, Margo J. 1988. “The American census: a social history.” New Haven: Yale University Press.
Cassedy, James H. 1969. “Demography in early America: beginnings of the statistical mind, 1600-1800.” Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Klein, Herbert S. 2004. “A population history of the United States.” Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

This blog post was written by Marcia Caudell, supervisor of the Reference and Government Services Division at the Indiana State Library. Contact the reference desk at 317-232-3678 for more information. 

Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch to chair Indiana 2020 Census Complete Count Committee

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Here at the Indiana State Library, our Indiana State Data Center Program has had an official partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau since 1978. We share statistical information and talk about the importance of access to good public data on a daily basis. Each decade, however, our efforts with the Census Bureau ramp up and we help “count everyone once, only once, in the right place” as of Census Day, April 1. The State of Indiana includes multiple stakeholders who take part in this effort.

On Monday, Aug. 5, 2019, Gov. Eric J. Holcomb announced that Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch will lead Indiana’s statewide Complete Count Committee for the 2020 Census. The goal of the committee is to encourage all Hoosiers to answer the census. Indiana’s CCC kick-off meeting will be Monday, Aug. 19, 2019, at 1 p.m. Eastern in the Indiana Government Center South Auditorium. You are invited. Register for the meeting here. 

The 2020 Census will be the very first census that provides online response. People can answer via their smartphones, use their home computers and laptops or go to their local library and use a public computer terminal. Because of this, libraries will see increased traffic next year during March and April. Indiana librarians will receive questions about what the census does and why the Census Bureau counts people. We will need to provide help with how it’s done.

This May, the American Library Association released its Libraries’ Guide to the 2020 Census. It explains the importance of the 2020 Census and also addresses the risks that we face if groups of people are undercounted in 2020. This is the reason that CCCs and promotional campaigns carry weight. Our efforts will impact the accuracy and completeness of next year’s count. Libraries are trusted voices, and librarians can make efforts to prepare ourselves to inform our communities.

Start learning about the census with Census Bureau’s Shape Your Future. Start Here website. Get details about promoting the census locally on the 2020 Census in Indiana website. Register and attend the CCC kick-off on Monday, Aug. 19 to learn more!

This blog post by Katie Springer, reference librarian. For more information, contact the Reference and Government Services Division at 317-232-3678 or submit an Ask-A-Librarian request.

Disaster management – water leak

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Building leaks happen, especially with older buildings like the Indiana State Library. In April of this year, an air conditioning unit’s leak caused water to spill into the library. Two floors were affected by the leak. The fourth floor leak created a harmless pool of water on the floor, but the third floor leak caused damage to library printed materials.

The leak likely occurred on a Sunday, as the library’s conservator, Seth Irwin, found the water damaged material Monday morning. The water damaged several documents from the library’s federal documents collection. Library staff moved quickly to minimize damage. Tables were set up, and fans brought into the room, as the conservator and his intern worked to separate and gently dry the damaged material. The bulk of the damaged items were promotional material for the U.S. Nursing Corps. The material included books, pamphlets, photographs and a couple of large broadsides.

Treating the photographs was fairly straightforward, but one of the broadsides posed a challenge. The two broadsides were folded before they were damaged by water. The conservator was able to unfold the items, but one of the posters was rather large. Unfolded, the item barely fit in the conservation lab’s sink. The poster was treated, cleaned and re-enforced so that it can be displayed for a future exhibit.

Luckily, the damage was relatively small in scale. After the incident, new procedures to minimize the damage of a future leak were implemented. The area now has nearby tarp, which covers the tables and material when it is not in use. The two tables primarily serve as a work station for wrapping and enveloping reference material. Building leaks are scary events, especially in a library, but with previous training and an understanding of disaster procedures, the staff was able to minimize the extent of damage.

This blog post was written by Indiana State Library Federal Documents Coordinator Brent Abercrombie. For more information, contact the Reference and Government Services at 317-232-3678 or “Ask-A-Librarian.”

Take a tour of the Indiana State Library

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Did you know that you could take a guided tour of the beautiful Indiana State Library and Historical Building? We offer three different tours: an architectural tour, where you can learn more about the many architectural features of the building; a researcher’s tour that will take you behind the scenes to point out facets of our various collections; and a tour for family historians. This is not a “how-to-research” session; instead, this is your opportunity to have an in-depth tour of the facility’s genealogical holdings.

The library was originally established in 1825 and housed in various locations until 1934. The library was one of first six state libraries established in the nation. Originally intended to meet the needs of the General Assembly and other state offices, the volume of materials and expanded public services has made it a premier research facility. Housed in the various statehouses, by the late 1920s the collection had grown so large that materials were being stored in hallways of the capitol. In 1929, the General Assembly raised a special tax to fund construction of a separate building and construction began in 1932. The building opened in 1934 at a final construction cost of $982,119.87. The building is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Designed by the architectural firm Pierre & Wright, the Indiana limestone façade of the building is Neoclassical Revival in style, but with strong Art Deco influences. The exterior includes bas-relief panels with carvings by Leon Hermant of Chicago. The panels tell the story of the settlement and development of Indiana with different types of citizens: an explorer, soldier, pioneer, farmer, legislator, miner, builder, constructor, manufacturer, educator and student.
The interior walls are Monte Cassino sandstone, quarried from St. Meinrad in Southern Indiana, and Indiana walnut, giving the library warm colors. The stairs lead up to the Great Hall with a 42-foot barrel vaulted coffered ceiling.

The Great Hall has five stained glass windows containing 3500 pieces of glass designed by artist J. Scott Williams. The center window depicts Indiana becoming a state with images of William Henry Harrison, Anthony Wayne, a Native America and the Indiana State flag.
The other four windows depict the transmission of knowledge throughout history, oral traditions, picture writing, illuminated manuscripts and Gutenberg reading a printed page.

There are four murals in the building also by J. Scott Williams, Song of the Indian Land, Indiana Gift of Corn, Winning of the State and Building of the State
The Great Hall has elaborate Art Deco lighting with a marble floor with small brass squares representing coins of many foreign nations.

The owl, a symbol of wisdom, is at the Senate Ave. entrance to the library and Art Deco owl heads are on display throughout main rooms.
The History Reference Room and browsing rooms feature walnut veneer paneling and stenciled concrete beam ceilings with printers’ marks used as a trademark by printers and publishers.
In 1976, a $4,985,072 addition was built and in 2000 this part of the building was renovated to accommodate modern technology. The main public entrance was changed to Ohio St.
To meet the educational needs of young Hoosiers, the library added a Statehouse Education Center and an Indiana Young Readers Center as bicentennial projects.
So, plan a tour of the Indiana State Library, have your picture taken next to Garfield and maybe your tour guide will show you the normally-closed 18-foot wooden pocket doors!

Both the building and the collections of the Indiana State Library are well worth seeing. To arrange for your class, organization, department or group to tour the Indiana State Library, please call the library at 317-232-3675 or 1-866-683-0008. Tours may take place Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and must be arranged at least two weeks in advance.

This blog post was written by Marcia Caudell, supervisor of the Reference and Government Services Division at the Indiana State Library. Contact the reference desk at 317-232-3678 for more information. 

Libraries and the 2020 census

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In December of last year, Kathy Kozenski from the Geography Educators’ Network of Indiana and I brought a giant 15′ x 21′ Indiana floor map1 to the Vigo County Public Library for a program called “Get On The Map!” Library patrons, ages 3 to 15, joined us in learning about state geography as we walked in socked feet across cities, lakes, rivers and forests.

Photo courtesy of Lauri Chandler, Youth Services Manager at the Vigo County Public Library.

We discussed the cardinal directions and talked with the students about where they had lived and traveled, and where they would like to go in the future. Despite their young ages, many had already been outside of the state and even outside of the country. We asked students to identify and locate map features. Lake Michigan, one of the map’s prominent features, was a favorite.

We asked what we might find in Indiana cities or towns. Answers were:

“Buildings!”
“Roads!”
“Trees!”
“Pets!”
“Cars!”

Part of my reason for this question was to introduce the idea of the census, so we asked what else a city or town needed in order to have all of these things.

“People!,” they answered.

This provided us with a chance to discuss how many people live in different areas, and that when there are more people we need more resources. We talked about the upcoming 2020 census, why we count people and why it is important to get an accurate count so that resources can be distributed where they are needed.

We followed our map exploration with the storied adventures of Fred the Fish. Made of a small piece of muslin, Fred swam in a river – a plastic container of water – next to several different sources of pollution. We poured in small amounts of dirt, oil and trash. We demonstrated the effects of these things on Fred, and talked about how important it is to notice the effects of human population on the surrounding environment.

With the 2020 Census approaching, librarians are on the forefront of community outreach, as our jobs will involve helping patrons report data to the federal government. This will be the first U.S. census in history to provide the opportunity for online response, and we expect to welcome our patrons to answer the census at our public computers.

In October of 2018, the American Library Association issued a policy brief entitled Libraries and the 2020 Census Vital Partners for a Complete Count that explains how libraries act as “trusted partners in achieving a complete count in the 2020 census” by:

  • Delivering information about the census and hosting community outreach activities
  • Providing internet access to enable respondents to complete the census form online
  • Serving as trusted messengers, including in hard-to-count communities
  • Training data users and providing access to census statistics for businesses and community members.

ALA recently hosted a free webinar, “Libraries and the 2020 Census” through its Chapter Advocacy Exchange. You can view the webinar here. The ALA president, assistant director of government relations and deputy director of public policy addressed the important role libraries play in ensuring a complete and accurate count of people. It featured librarians planning 2020 census outreach in Montana, California and Illinois.

In Indiana, there are several ways we can participate in planning for the 2020 census, which will take place a year from now, in March and April of 2020. Local communities are building Complete Count Committees, also known as CCCs, to encourage participation. At your library, you can help by hosting outreach efforts from the Census Bureau, promoting census jobs as they are available and incorporating census information in newsletters, social media and websites. Last week, the Census Bureau released its 2020 promotional guidelines.

For more information about the 2020 census in Indiana and how you can help, visit the Census in Indiana website. Follow the State Data Center on Facebook and Twitter for census messages and contact us at the Indiana State Library with questions.

1. GENI loans out giant traveling floor maps of Indiana to libraries and schools along with curriculum guides and a trunk full of learning tools.

This blog post by Katie Springer, reference librarian. For more information, contact the Reference & Government Services Division at 317-232-3678 or submit an Ask-A-Librarian request.

Pearl Harbor: The day and its place in our history

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Dec. 7, 1941 is the day the Japanese military bombed Pearl Harbor. The event and America’s subsequent entry into World War II are a part of our history, but it is a history many only know from a high school class or from movies. The materials in our collection could be used to add depth to your knowledge of the day “that will live in infamy” or even change your understanding of it.

The Indiana State Library has over 200 items on Pearl Harbor in various formats throughout our collections. The Federal Government Documents Collection includes hearings and reports on, and by, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, as well as materials such as “Pearl Harbor revisited: United States Navy Communications Intelligence, 1924-1941” by Frederick D. Parker and the United States National Security Agency/Central Security Service Center for Cryptologic History, which is part of the United States Cryptologic History series. Of particular interest is the book “From Pearl Harbor Into Tokyo: the Story as told by War Correspondents on the Air.” Published in 1945, it is best described by the following information, which is on the title page:

“The documented broadcasts of the war in the Pacific as they were transmitted by CBS throughout America and the world, are taken verbatim from the records of the Columbia Broadcasting System.”

The library’s general collection has a wide variety of materials on Pearl Harbor written from different angles and viewpoints. These include the book “Remember Pearl Harbor” by Blake Clarke, published in 1942. This book has accounts of the attack in snippet style, firsthand viewpoints of military and civilians, that give the feel of what happened that day. There is also “Pearl Harbor,” a 2001 National Geographic Collector’s Edition book that along with quotes from survivors, has photographs of a time leading up to that day, the attack itself and its aftermath.

So, if you’re interested in “the date that will live in infamy,” according to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or simply want to impress your teacher or professor with your next history project, come to the Indiana State Library and we’ll help get you the resources you need.

This blog post was written by Daina Bohr, Reference and Government Services librarian. For more information, contact the Reference and Government Services Division at (317) 232-3678 or via email.

Valuing library support staff

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Last week, on Friday, July 20, 2018, the Indiana State Library hosted a free, day-long conference for library support staff across the state called The Difference is You. I attend many conferences for my profession, but this is the one annual gathering that I won’t miss. This year’s theme, “Be Inspired” was fitting as The Difference is You is the most inspiring of all meetings I attend, which is why I’ve now participated for four years in a row. “Be Inspired” was a tribute to INSPIRE, the marvelous collection of databases that are provided, at no cost, to Indiana residents, available through this link. INSPIRE contains over 80 databases, organized by A-Z or by subject, and allows free access to information by way of articles from journals and magazines, which would otherwise require hefty fees. Additional resources include tools for operating a small business, resume help and career advice, foreign language lessons, news stories and videos, newspaper access, digital collections and much more. As Indiana citizens, we can’t take this access for granted! These resources are generally only available to university professors or students as part of tuition fees. We have open access to these resources as taxpayers. Explore INSPIRE now for more details about what you can find.

A full house.

Friday was an incredible day for teaching and learning! Sessions were filled with practical presentations that boosted our understanding about daily interactions and operations in the library. Conference presenters highlighted specific examples for problem-solving and conflict resolution. Plus, hands-on technology demonstrations and step-by-step training for online resources were offered. In my session after lunch, I overheard someone saying her brain was getting full.

Keynote speaker Lorelle R. Swader

The most inspiring part of the day was keynote speaker, Lorelle R. Swader, associate executive director of American Library Association (ALA) Offices and Member Relations, as well as associate executive director of the ALA-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA). The ALA-APA is unique in that it focuses on both professional librarians and library support staff. ALA-APA provides library workers with tools and resources for their own professional goals and promotes occupational awareness, workplace wellness and fair salaries. I believe that libraries are unique in that they attract employees who support one another, share resources and work as teams to accomplish goals. The ALA-APA goes one step further and supports employees from outside of their organizations. Their current tagline is “Libraries work because we do.”

Conference organizer Kimberly Brown-Harden

By the end of the conference, while relaxing near the well-stocked snack table, I had a chat with someone who said they had really valued the conference. I was able to turn that statement around and say to them that we value you. The conference was organized by members of the Indiana State Library’s Professional Development Committee, with assistance from state library staff. As a library worker for the past 14 years, I’m giving a special shout out to my colleague Kimberly Brown-Harden, who employs her own kind of magic to ensure this conference is a success. Thank you, Indiana State Library and IMLS, for making this conference a reality!

This blog post by Katie Springer, reference librarian. For more information, contact the Reference & Government Services Division at 317-232-3678 or submit an Ask-A-Librarian request.

Government Information Day 2018 recap

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On Thursday, May 24, 2018 the Indiana State Library hosted our third Government Information Day (GID). This year’s theme was Advocacy, Research and Collaboration. The Government Information Day events were created to promote awareness of various government resources at the federal, state and local level, and to inspire collaborative efforts among librarians, libraries and government entities. This collaboration improves staff and patron ability to access and utilize government resources. This very successful conference hosted over 100 attendees.

The keynote speaker for this year’s conference was Cynthia Etkin, senior program planning specialist in the Office of the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO). Etkin spoke to attendees about the history of GPO and the important role libraries play in the dissemination and access of government information. She also urged librarians to be promoters for transparent government information and to promote of their library’s government documents collections. Each of GID’s eight sessions actualized her message and was presented with the purpose of raising awareness of a particular government resource or collaborative project.

GID included training sessions on navigating government sites Govinfo.gov and USA.gov; a talk on the importance of the upcoming 2020 census; researching historic census material; overview of the Indianapolis Mayoral Archives; an introduction of Indiana Legislative Services and tools available through the Indiana General Assembly website; a discussion on the impact of decreasing print collections on libraries; as well as a talk on detailing the Preservation Steward Partnership with GPO. In addition to the presentations, GID also featured exhibitor booths from 16 different state agencies and two professional organizations. Attendees were allotted two separate time periods to interact with exhibitors to learn about government services offered or professional organizations to join for improved networking.

Government Information Day represents a day to promote, advocate and learn about government information resources and topics. The event provided the opportunity to interact with other library professionals interested in government information. The goal of Government Information Day was to provide an opportunity for library professionals from various backgrounds to learn about new resources and services, as well as gain a better perspective on the scope of government information. While GID18 is in the books, early planning has already begun on the next Government Information Day, slated for May 2020.

This blog post was written by Indiana State Library Federal Documents Coordinator Brent Abercrombie. For more information, contact the Reference and Government Services at (317) 232-3678 or “Ask-A-Librarian.”