State Agency Databases Project

From GODORT:

In every US State and the District of Columbia, agencies are creating databases of useful information - information on businesses, licensed professionals, plots of land, even dates of fish stocking. Some of this content is available on search engines, but much of it is part of the invisible web. Since July 2007, librarians and other government information specialists have been working on identifying and annotating these databases in one place. We've chased across fifty state web sites so you don't have to! ALA RUSA named this site one of its Best Free Reference Web Sites of 2012.

All content on our project pages may be reused or remixed. Permission is not required. Attribution is appreciated.

State Database Orphans
The following states are available for adoption:

Michigan
New Mexico
New York
Wisconsin
If you would like to adopt a page, please contact susanne.caro@ndsu.edu

I suggested these choices:

LOTS of stuff at Open NY (health, budget, more)
Education
Legislature: Assembly (they have the State Senate)
Office of the Professions: stats, regs for medical-related and other professions
Transportation: Traffic Data Viewer
NYC planning has demographic and zoning info
Cornell Program on Applied Demographics

FRASER - the Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research

Here are additions to FRASER since its relaunch in October 2014. FRASER - the Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research - has added thousands of new items to its free digital library of economics and banking history and offers a wealth of primary and secondary sources for economics and history researchers, and now offers integration with the citation manager Zotero.

Highlights of the new additions include:

* Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor Statistics from the late 1800s through the early 1920s, including historic reports on women and minority labor conditions

* Annual Reports of the FDIC from the first issue in 1934 through 2013

* Publications of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, including the magazine Econ Focus, the research journal Economic Quarterly, and more than 300 working papers

* Policy statements and speeches of the presidents of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, 1914 - present

* Thousands of additional statistical releases from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, 1914 - present

Find FRASER at https://fraser.stlouisfed.org. Follow @FedFRASER on Twitter for updates on new collections and items added, interesting photos and documents, and glimpses into US economic history. FRASER librarians are also available at historical@fraser.stlouisfed.org for reference questions.

Free Access to Social Explorer During Government Shutdown

The current shutdown in Washington is limiting the access that scholars and researchers have to vital materials, including the US Census website. To that end, Oxford University Press and the Social Explorer team will open up access to Social Explorer – the premier US Census demographics website – through October 18. Social Explorer provides access to the US Census data from 1790 to 2010 and to the American Community Survey from 2005 through 2012.

For access to Social Explorer, simply email onlinereference@oup.com to request a username and password.

About Social Explorer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJfh7h1IpjY

Social Explorer provides quick and easy access to current and historical census data and demographic information. The easy-to-use web interface lets users create maps and reports to illustrate, analyze, and understand demography and social change. In addition to its comprehensive data resources, Social Explorer offers features and tools to meet the needs of demography experts and novices alike. From research libraries to classrooms to government agencies to corporations to the front page of the New York Times, Social Explorer helps the public engage with society and science.

AboutTheData.com - what Big Data has on YOU

From Advertising Age:

Data giant Acxion is aiming to quell concerns [about data mining, and privacy] with a little transparency ...

Acxiom's solution - the just-launched website AboutTheData - invites visitors to enter their names, addresses and the last four digits of their social security numbers to access a portal that the company has gathered on them. This includes age, estimated income, residence, ethnicity, marital status, and which categories of product purchases ... a consumer has made via mail order.

HIV/AIDS Database Update

This compilation of data from 219 countries and areas on the prevalence of HIV infection and AIDS cases and deaths is updated to include new data for more than 100 countries. Major updates include new data for China, Ghana, Ethiopia, India and Cameroon. The database focuses on HIV/AIDS surveillance data for countries and areas with at least 5,000 population, with the exception of Northern America (including the United States) and U.S. territories. Public health surveillance involves the collection, analysis and use of data to provide public health prevention resources where needed.

[I had difficulty getting data from Firefox, but successfully used with Internet Explorer and Google Chrome.]

UNdata - a data access system to UN databases

The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) launched an Internet-based data service for the global user community. It brings UN statistical databases within easy reach of users through a single entry point. Users can now search and download a variety of statistical resources of the UN system.

Since its foundation, the United Nations System has been collecting statistical information from member states on a variety of topics. The information thus collected constitutes a considerable information asset of the organization. However, these statistical data are often stored in proprietary databases, each with unique dissemination and access policies. As a result, users are often unaware of the full array of statistical information that the UN system has in its data libraries. The current arrangement also means that users are required to move from one database to another to access different types of information. UNdata addresses this problem by pooling major UN databases and those of several international into one single internet environment. The innovative design allows a user to access a large number of UN databases either by browsing the data series or through a keyword search.

Useful features like Country Profiles, Advanced Search and Glossaries are also provided to aid research. The numerous databases, tables and glossaries containing over 60 million data points cover a wide range of themes including Agriculture, Crime, Education, Employment, Energy, Environment, Health, HIV/AIDS, Human Development, Industry, Information and Communication Technology, National Accounts, Population, Refugees, Tourism, Trade, as well as the Millennium Development Goals indicators. Whilst this initial version of UNdata is fully equipped with all the functionalities for data access, the development team is continuously adding new databases and features to further enhance the usefulness to users. When fully developed, UNdata will have a comprehensive array of international and national databases providing the world instant access to a wealth of statistical information.

Welcome to NYC Open Data

This catalog supplies hundreds of sets of public data produced by New York City agencies and other City organizations. The data sets are now available as APIs and in a variety of machine-readable formats, making it easier than ever to consume City data and better serve New York City’s residents, visitors, developer community and all!

JSTOR Journal Archives Now Free to Public

From the Library Journal:

The archives of more than 1,200 journals are now available for limited free reading by the public, JSTOR announced. Anyone can sign up for a JSTOR account and read up to three articles for free every two weeks.

This is a major expansion of the Register & Read program, following a 10-month test, during which more than 150,000 people registered for access to an initial set of 76 journals. The new additions bring more than 4.5 million articles from nearly 800 scholarly societies, university presses, and academic publishers into the Register & Read offerings.

Statistics Resources and Big Data on the Internet

Statistics Resources and Big Data on the Internet is a comprehensive listing of statistics and big data resources and sites on the Internet. This bibliography of sources is taken from my Subject Tracer™ Information Blog titled Statistics Resources and is constantly updated with Subject Tracer™ bots.

These sites will help you to discover a wide range of avenues through which you may locate and leverage the latest statistics resources applicable to many different types of projects, programs and research. As this site is constantly updated it would be to your benefit to bookmark and return to the above URL frequently.

National Transportation Atlas Database

The National Transportation Atlas Database is a set of nationwide geographic databases of transportation facilities, transportation networks, and associated infrastructure. These datasets include spatial information for transportation modal networks and intermodal terminals, as well as the related attribute information for these features. Metadata documentation, as prescribed by the Federal Geographic Data Committee, is also provided for each database. The data support research, analysis, and decision-making across all modes of transportation. They are most useful at the national level, but have major applications at regional, state, and local scales throughout the transportation community.

HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data Base

The concept of the HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data Base was developed by the U.S. Census Bureau in consultation with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1987. The Data Base was created to provide easy access to published results from the multitude of seroprevalence surveys and other studies that were being undertaken at the time. The Data Base continues to be updated annually by the Census Bureau with the support of USAID to meet the needs of policy makers and program planners around the world.

The HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data Base is a compilation of information from widely scattered small-scale surveys on the AIDS pandemic and HIV seroprevalence (infection) in population groups in developing countries. The Data Base hosts information from medical and scientific literature, presentations at international conferences, and the press. Through the Data Base interface, available information for population groups in a selected country can be easily retrieved and displayed on the computer screen, and printed or saved to a .pdf or .csv file.

The current status of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and trends in the spread of HIV infection are critical issues for policy makers and program planners in developing countries and the international development community. Identifying "hot spots" in the spread of infection assists decision makers in effectively allocating scarce program funds. Programs of ongoing data collection from specific sites, known as sentinel surveillance systems, have provided much data on prevalence among specific population groups in many countries – pregnant women attending antenatal clinics, patients seeking healthcare from clinics, sex workers, intravenous drug users, and others. Beginning in 2001, HIV testing from population-based surveys, such as the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), has provided important data from the general population.

The HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data Base is maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau with funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development, and it is updated annually. The Census Bureau welcomes comments and suggestions from users and copies of articles or references to information that may have been overlooked.

International Data Base

The International Data Base (IDB) offers a variety of demographic indicators for countries and areas of the world with a population of 5,000 or more. The IDB has provided access to demographic data for over 25 years to governments, academics, other organizations, and the public. It is funded by organizations that sponsor the research of the Census Bureau"s International Programs Center for Demographic and Economic Studies.

Racing and Wagering Board releases two databases

The New York State Racing and Wagering Board released two comprehensive and searchable databases to the public: a detailed list of every horse that has broken down, died, sustained a serious injury or been involved in an incident at a track in New York State since 2009; and a list of every fine and suspension issued by the Board to licensees for nearly three decades.

Both databases - The Equine Breakdown, Death, Injury and Incident Database and the The Racing and Wagering Board Rulings Database - will be updated promptly as data submitted by field staff at each track is logged in by Racing and Wagering Board investigative staff.

International Data Base

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts demographic and economic studies and strengthens statistical development around the world through technical assistance, training, and software products. For over 60 years, the Census Bureau has assisted in the collection, processing, analysis, dissemination, and use of statistics with counterpart governments in over 100 countries.

Liber8

Liber8 is "An economic information portal for librarians and students" provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. It includes links to the International Economic Statistics (IES) Database, plus economic data and research articles. The "browse by subject" function is most useful.

USA Counties - a quick reference for many commonly requested data items

USA Counties features over 6,800 data items for the United States, States and counties from a variety of sources. Files include data published for 2009 estimates and many items from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing, the 1990 census, the 1980 census and the 2002, 1997, 1992, 1987, 1982 and 1977 economic censuses.

Information in USA Counties is derived from the following general topics: age, agriculture, ancestry, banking, building permits, business patterns, crime, earnings, education, elections, employment, government, health, households, housing, income, labor force, manufactures, population, poverty, retail trade, social programs, veterans, vital statistics, water use, and wholesale trade.

Files contain a collection of data from the U. S. Census Bureau and other Federal agencies, such as the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Social Security Administration.

New web site for Cornell Program on Applied Demographics

The last couple of months, the Cornell Program on Applied Demographics
has been working hard to completely overhaul its web site. This overhaul is related to limitations we had on the old site to present data. That limitation is now lifted.

Last month the new web site went live. The URL for the new homepage is http://pad.human.cornell.edu/index.cfm, and the link on the sidebar of this blog has been updated.

The whole structure of the new site is different from the old web site, so old bookmarks and links do not work anymore and need to be updated.

At the moment the site presents data from different sources on the County and School district level.

STAT-USA is going away

After more than 25 years of operation, STAT-USA is closing its doors.

USA Trade Online will continue, provided by the Foreign Trade Division of the Census Bureau—a key source of STAT-USA data. All USA Trade Online subscription accounts will be handled directly by that agency, with no interruption to the customer.

STAT-USA/Internet (which includes all State of the Nation and GLOBUS & NTDB databases) and our syndication services will cease September 30, 2010.

Give My Regards to Broadway

I went to see CATS this past weekend. It was the second-longest musical in Broadway history, surpasered only by another Andrew Lloyd Webber piece, Phantom of the Opera. Whoever maintainds the Wikipedia site for the longest-running Broadway shows is doing a stellar job, updating every week. And where are they getting their numbers? Why the Internet Broadway Database.

FindtheBest.com

Here's some data compiled on New York through a new website called FindtheBest.com. The website organizes data from nyc.gov, New York City Data Mine, and elsewhere and makes it easy to sort through and filter to get what you are looking for. Here are some examples that you can check out:
**NYC Hiking Trails.
** NYC Dog Runs.
** NYC Restaurant Inspections.