GODORT Connection, Vol. 3, Issue 1

Alabama Library Association Government Documents Roundtable April 2020 Volume 3, Issue 1

GODORT Connection

This image was retrieved https://revenue.alabama.gov/wp-content/ uploads/2019/07/AlabamaCountsLogo_450web.jpg.

Moderator’s Corner To quote the great jazz and blues singer, Dinah Washington, in her great 1959 recording of the same title, “What a difference a day makes. Twenty-four little hours.” When I originally wrote the text for this column, the coronavirus crisis had not yet erupted although it was starting to get in the news. Within what seems a blink of an eye we went from normal life to “social distancing,” “flattening the curve,” and encountering supermarket shelves rapidly emptied out by hoarders.

Things look grim and our lives both professional and personal have been upended but, thanks to modern technology, most of us are able to still provide essential library services to our patrons whether they be students, faculty, and staff, school children, or members of the general public. It is heartening to see how librarians are rapidly organizing ways of providing services and resources. It is heartening to see how medical personnel and first responders are working frantically, and at great personal risk, to provide care and life-saving treatment for those afflicted by the coronavirus. It is heartening to see so many people in general doing their best to observe the new norms and to help one another as we deal with the worst health crisis since the 1918 influenza pandemic. Even database vendors and publishers are making freely available content to help researchers from elementary school through post-doctoral level get access to resources during this time when many of us must remain shut-ins at home and when most libraries are not physically open to patrons.

The annual convention of the Alabama Library Association (along with many other conferences) has been cancelled.

GODORT’s program featuring Leila Dickerson, Assistant Regional Manager of the Atlanta Regional Bureau of the U.S. Census, has had to be cancelled. My thanks go to Liza Weisbrod (Auburn University) who had done all the work in lining up Ms. Dickerson as our convention speaker. Reminder: please be sure to fill out your Census 2020 form whether by mail, online, or telephone. I filled out mine recently (postal mail) and was interested to see that this time around in addition to indicating race, the form asks one to specify more exactly one’s origins. For example, I indicated my race as White but then specified further my ancestry is English and Czech while for my wife, that her race is Black but her ancestry is specified as Bahamian.

Despite this virus disruption, I am happy to note that Editor Kelly Marie Wilson is working on writing and publishing this issue of the GODORT Connection. I hope you will enjoy the articles on NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), using government documents in History library instruction classes, and useful government information concerning COVID-19.

Things do look bad and uncertain but we will get through this.

Tim Dodge Auburn University

Inside this issue ALLA GODORT Steering Committee….….…….2 NOAA: Navigating the Flood of Information.....…3 Using gov docs in History library instruction.….4-5 COVID-19 government resources...........................6

Officers

Tim Dodge, GODORT Moderator 2019 - 2020 He has been employed at Auburn University Libraries since 1992, starting out as a government documents reference librarian. Since 2000, he has been serving as History and since 2008 as Political Science Subject Specialist in the Reference Department at Auburn. Tim held previous positions as a special collections librarian and archivist, serials librarian, and reference librarian at the University of New Hampshire (twice) and at Barry University (Miami, Fla.). Tim has held numerous offices in the Alabama Library Association including President (2004-2005) and ModeratorElect and Moderator of GODORT in

1994-1996. He has also held numerous offices in the Alabama Association of College and Research Libraries including President (20002001 and 2008-2009), and is currently President of the Southeastern Library Association. Under the name Dr. Hepcat, Tim Dodge has hosted the Golden Oldies radio show on WEGL – Auburn FM 91.1 since May 1998.

His radio career extends back to 1975, and Tim is the author of The School of Arizona Dranes: Gospel Music Pioneer (Lexington Books, 2013). He is also the author of Rhythm and Blues Goes Calypso (Lexington Books, 2019)

OPEN POSITION: GODORT Moderator-Elect, 20192020 We are currently looking for someone to volunteer for the Alabama Library Association’s GODORT Moderator-Elect position. According to the GODORT Bylaws, the official role of the Moderator-Elect is as follows: “The Moderator-elect shall perform the duties of the Moderator in the absence of the Moderator; shall be a member of the Steering Committee; shall be responsible for the program at

the annual meeting; shall serve as Membership Chairperson; and shall serve as an aide to the Moderator.”

Furthermore, the Moderator-Elect takes part in the Steering Committee which provides leadership for the round table, which includes meeting regularly.

For more information, please contact Tim Dodge at dodgeti@auburn.edu.

Rickey Best, GODORT Secretary 2019 - 2020 Rickey Best has been employed at Auburn University, Montgomery since 1986. He is also the contact for one of the two FDLP Alabama Regional depository libraries—AUM. He received his MLIS from the University of California, Berkeley in 1986. He also has a Masters of Arts degree in Historic Resources Management— Archives from the University of California, Riverside.

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NOAA: Navigating the Flood of Information By: Kelly Marie Wilson, Troy University

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was officially established 50 years ago, and is governed by the United States Department of Commerce. The official NOAA site, https://www.noaa.gov, is a hub for several sites such as weather.gov, climate.gov, and fishwatch.gov. The mission for NOAA is Science, Service, and Stewardship: “To understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts, to share that knowledge and information with others, and to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources.”

The NOAA site provides information and resources on numerous topics. The blue sidebar menu provides easy navigation to all areas of the NOAA site such as weather.gov, climate.gov, the National Ocean Service, information on NOAA’s satellites, research initiatives, sanctuaries, fisheries, and educational resources.

One particularly fun aspect of this site is that throughout most of its pages, there are factoids which can be used for displays, LibGuides, etc. For example, did you know that 2019 was the second warmest year on record, and that the 10 warmest years on record occurred since 2005? Did you know that 95% of the ocean has yet to be explored by humans? These facts can be shared via Facebook and Twitter!

Librarians and all visitors to the site have access to a plethora of information which can be used for displays, resources, research assistance, and much more through the NOAA education sources page that can be found here. Instructions on hands-on science activities can be found here. Information on NOAA’s research can be found here.

NOAA is just one of the many interesting governmental sites that offer free information and resources to the public. For more information, go to www.noaa.gov or click on the links dispersed throughout this article and the others in the “Additional Links” section on the right hand side of this page.

Additional Links NOAA’s 50th Anniversary Video—https://www.noaa.gov/ heritage/video/video-50-yearsof-science-service-andstewardship National Weather Service, Educational Resources— https://www.weather.gov/ learning NOAA Photo Library—https:// photolib.noaa.gov/ National Centers for Environmental Information— https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/ National Ocean Service— https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ NOAA Ocean Podcast— https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ podcast/ NOAA Fisheries “Find a Species”—https:// www.fisheries.noaa.gov/findspecies Fishwatch: U.S. Seafood Facts—https:// www.fishwatch.gov/ Satellite and Information Service Videos—https:// www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/ videos National Marine Sanctuaries— https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/ Nautical Charts—https:// www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/ NOAA Grants & Networks— https://www.noaa.gov/ education/opportunities/grantsnetworks

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Using Government Documents as Primary Sources in History Class Library Instruction

By Tim Dodge, Auburn University One of the important things college students in History classes learn about is how to identify and use primary sources for historical research. Primary sources are documents or other original sources created by the person or people one is doing research on, or the person or people who were direct participants or observers or near-contemporary participants or observers of the historical person or event one is researching. This is in contrast to secondary sources which are later works of scholarship about the person, people or historical event – in other words, books, journal articles, etc. produced by scholars. Primary sources typically are written or documentary but can also include photographs, art, sound recordings, and more. For example, a diary kept by the wife of a Civil War general is a primary source; a book written about that Civil War general by a historian is a secondary source, not a primary source. Where do government documents fit into this?

As we know, government documents, whether federal, state, local, or international, can cover an incredibly wide variety of potential research topics relating to most aspects of life: everything from paying taxes to addressing (or not addressing) healthcare, politics, military service, economic affairs, diplomacy, civil rights, and much more. For twenty years I have served as History Librarian at Auburn, and I almost always include government documents in the library instruction sessions I teach for History classes. To keep things manageable, I mainly focus on using federal government documents. Due to the typical time constraints (almost always the typical fifty or seventy-five minute one-shot session), I limit myself to just a small sampling of government documents. I attempt to whet the students’ interest by showing them just how fascinating and helpful government documents can be for a very wide variety of potential research topics. I will share just a small sample below of what might be typical for one of my History library instructions.

Passing out a reprint facsimile edition of the first Census of Population published report (1790), I ask the students to note not just the statistical information but to also look at how we were defined as population groups by the federal government: free white males age 16 upward “including heads of families,” free white males under age 16, free white females “including heads of families” but no age listed, “all other free persons,” and slaves. I also use this as an occasion to reflect briefly on the limits of primary sources and also how the census has radically changed in how it counts the American population in the 230 years since 1790. Time permitting, I sometimes provide a print-out from the manuscript census for Lee County, Alabama, in 1870 with a page covering Auburn displaying the handwritten entries for specific households indicating race, age, occupation, and financial worth to illustrate how census numbers reflect real people’s lives.

Congressional hearings are a potential goldmine of information. Using an example from Alabama history, I have displayed (via the ProQuest Congressional database), hearings held by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights March – April 1962 titled Literacy Tests and Voter Requirements in Federal and State Elections (SuDoc Y 4.J89/2:El2/3). Looking at page 329, one sees where Alabama Attorney General MacDonald Gallion expresses opposition to federal efforts to encourage African American voter registration. Gallion claims in regard to some of the Black Belt counties “not 1 in 50 Negroes with sixth-grade educations are literate in the sense of possessing knowledge or judgment relative to the voting process.”

(Continued on page 5.)

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Using Government Documents as Primary Sources in History Class Library Instruction (Continued) Of course, the 1965 Voting Rights Act soon demolished such arguments but the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision of Shelby County v. Holder has once again weakened voter protections in Alabama and other states since then which illustrates the continuing relevance of history to the present day.

At Auburn, one of the areas of concentration is the history of technology.

NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has produced a wealth of reports relevant both to historical researchers and to researchers in engineering, etc. The official Apollo 11 Mission Report published by NASA in 1971 (NASA – SP 238) provides a highly technical record of events. This includes a fascinating and disturbing account of the failure of the computer alarm on the descent of the landing module (the Eagle) with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on board as they descended to the moon coming close to catastrophe.

Finally, federal government documents are also useful as primary sources for historical research beyond the United States. The wonderful series, Foreign Relations of the United States (also known fondly as FRUS), is an ongoing release by the U.S. Department of State of official communications by State Department officials. Volumes are devoted to specific continents or geographical areas and time frames – sometimes covering just one or two years. Concerning the unstable situation in Haiti, U.S. Charge’ d’Affaires Robert V. Davis, Jr., stationed at the American Legation in Port au Prince, reported the following on July 28, 1915: “At 10:30 mob invaded French Legation, took out President [Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, of Haiti], killed and disemboweled him before Legation gates. Hysterical crowds parading streets with portions of his body on poles.” (475). This still being the era of gunboat diplomacy, the U.S. Marines were called in shortly thereafter with the end result of the United States beginning a 19-year occupation of Haiti.

This is just a small sampling of the types of government documents that can be used in library instruction classes for history students. I almost always run out of time because these primary sources are so rich in historical information. At least there is no need for me to summon up fake enthusiasm and energy for these library instructions! I believe I am able to translate at least some of this enthusiasm to college-level historical researchers and make a good case for considering government documents as primary sources.

Image retrieved from https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48213385341_2a0e62b371_b.jpg

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Alabama Library Association GODORT Provides a forum for librarians working with government documents. Objectives also include the promotion of availability, use and bibliographic control of documents; and the promotion of communication between documents librarians and other librarians. GODORT is an affiliate of the American Library Association. Membership is open to any member of the Association who subscribes to the objectives of the roundtable.

COVID-19 Government Resources Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “Coronovirus (COVID19)” - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html Alabama Public Health—https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/ infectiousdiseases/2019-coronavirus.html Office of Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, Newsroom—https:// governor.alabama.gov/newsroom/covid-19/ Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, COVID-19 Response—https:// www.alea.gov/covid-19-response CDC Covid-19 “Cases in the U.S.” - https://www.cdc.gov/ coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html Occupational Safety and Health Administration “COVID-19” https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/ Coronoavirus (COVID-19) - https://www.coronavirus.gov/

Submit Your Work Do you have an interesting experience with local, state or federal government information? Write up an article and share it with us!

You can send it to:

U.S. Small Business Administration “Coronavirus: Small Business Guidance & Loan Resources” - https://www.sba.gov/page/ coronavirus-covid-19-small-business-guidance-loan-resources IRS “Coronavirus Tax Relief and Economic Impact Payments— https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus-tax-relief-and-economic-impactpayments

Tim Dodge: dodgeti@auburn.edu

Kelly Wilson: kelly.m.wilson2011@gmail.com

Image retrieved from https://governor.alabama.gov/newsroom/2020/04/ governor-ivey-launches-states-guide-to-covid-19-relief-efforts/