Preserving U.S. Government Websites and Data as the Obama Term Ends

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Archives | Internet |Government websites

Jefferson December 15, 2016

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Long before the 2016 Presidential election cycle librarians have understood this often-overlooked fact: vast amounts of government data and digital information are at risk of vanishing when a presidential term ends and administrations change.  For example, 83% of .gov pdf’s disappeared between 2008 and 2012.

That is why the Internet Archive, along with partners from the Library of Congress, University of North Texas, George Washington University, Stanford University, California Digital Library, and other public and private libraries, are hard at work on the End of Term Web Archive, a wide-ranging effort to preserve the entirety of the federal government web presence, especially the .gov and .mil domains, along with federal websites on other domains and official government social media accounts.

While not the only project the Internet Archive is doing to preserve government websites, ftp sites, and databases at this time, the End of Term Web Archive is a far reaching one.

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Mark Cuban: Don’t Go to College to Study Business. Study the Humanities | February 18, 2017

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Career Advice | Higher Education

by John Feacuban

Johnson: So essentially what you’re making the case for is education and job training for grown ups.

Cuban: No, no. I think that won’t matter. What are you going to go back and learn to do?

Johnson: What it takes, right? Whether it’s finance, whether it’s software programming.

Cuban: No finance. That’s the easiest thing — you just take the data have it spit out whatever you need. I personally think there’s going to be a greater demand in 10 years for liberal arts majors than there were for programming majors and maybe even engineering, because when the data is all being spit out for you, options are being spit out for you, you need a different perspective in order to have a different view of the data. And so having someone who is more of a freer thinker.

Cuban’s forecast of the skills needed to succeed in the future echoes that of computer science and higher education experts who believe people with “soft skills,” like adaptability and communication, will have the advantage in an automated workforce.

Cuban highlighted English, philosophy, and foreign language majors as just some of the majors that will do well in the future job market.

Watch the entire interview here.

How to Stand Up to the Boss (And Not Get Fired)

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Career Advice | Mentoring

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Published on February 13, 2017

by Dorothy Tannahill Moran

As things go, one of the more difficult things to do is to confront or push back on the boss. A lot of people won’t do it because they fear it would cause them to get fired or minimally get on the bad side of the Boss.

While it’s an understandable concern, its also unfounded. Your brain is making up false assumptions appearing as real (F.E.A.R.). Unless you know without a doubt that your boss is too sensitive for well-executed confrontation, you need to add this to your toolkit.

Let’s first look at reasons why Standing Up to the Boss, can be a good skill:

a) The Boss isn’t always right

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Fake news is real | February 14, 2017

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Fake news | Information literacy

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Fake news. You’ve heard about it, consumed it, probably even believed it — at least on occasion. And if, like 92 percent of American adults, you’re on Facebook or Twitter, you’ve quite possibly helped pass it along.* But what is it? Why does it exist? How do we combat it and why can’t it just go away? USC Times invited to lunch two faculty members — David Lankes, director of the School of Library and Information Science, and Ernest Wiggins, associate professor in the School of Journalism — and alumnus Taylor Smith, a journalism and law school grad who serves as the attorney for the South Carolina Press Association. We asked our esteemed panel to discuss this most vexing of 21st century media problems — the rampant spread of fake news, clickbait profiteering and outright propaganda.

So let’s start at the beginning. What is “fake news”?

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Libraries Serve Refugees | Resources by librarians – for everyone

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Library Services | Refugees | Outreach

Urban Librarians Unite (ULU)

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This is an effort to bring together resources and assets to help libraries serve refugees. This is a growing and developing resource and is an active space for developing services, programming, and resources. All input is welcome. We are particularly looking to build a body of experts in this area and connect them to libraries that are developing services to refugee populations.

We will be looking at best practices, toolkits, case studies, government resources, NGO partnership possibilities, and asset development. Please check back for regular updates and if you are interested in joining our research team contact us ASAP.

This list is meant as a resource and is far from exhaustive. If you have more information or other resources we are interested in hearing about it. Please contact us here.

This content has been broken down into:

FAST RESOURCES – General practical information including toolkits, govt reports, and webinars
TOOLKITS – Toolkits, just-add-water
GOVERNMENT RESOURCES – Official reports, practical guidance, watch for changes
LOCATIONS – Libraries that are providing direct support services to refugees
ARTICLES – News stories about libraries providing services to refugees

Link to website