Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution specifies that the number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives is to be distributed proportionally among the states on the basis of the census to be conducted every 10 years.

The 2010 Census is the 23rd headcount of the population in our nation’s history. To highlight the grand tradition of the decennial census, we present a profile of each census starting with the first one in 1790. More information on the 2010 Census can be found at http://2010.census.gov/2010census/with more details on census history available at http://www.census.gov/history/ or in Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses from 1790 to 2000 http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/pol02-ma.pdf.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

1. Crowdsourcing and Open Access: Collaborative Techniques for Disseminating Legal Materials and Scholarship

by Timothy K. Armstrong
University of Cincinnati College of Law
Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal, Forthcoming
University of Cincinnati Public Law Research Paper No. 10-07

Partial Abstract:

This short essay surveys the state of open access to primary legal source materials (statutes, judicial opinions and the like) and legal scholarship. The ongoing digitization phenomenon (illustrated, although by no means typified, by massive scanning endeavors such as the Google Books project and the Library of Congress’s efforts to digitize United States historical documents) has made a wealth of information, including legal information, freely available online, and a number of open-access collections of legal source materials have been created. Many of these collections, however, suffer from similar flaws: they devote too much effort to collecting case law rather than other authorities, they overemphasize recent works (especially those originally created in digital form), they do not adequately hyperlink between related documents in the collection, their citator functions are haphazard and rudimentary, and they do not enable easy user authentication against official reference sources.

The essay explores whether some of these problems might be alleviated by enlarging the pool of contributors who are working to bring paper records into the digital era. The same “peer production” process that has allowed far-flung communities of volunteers to build large-scale informational goods like the Wikipedia encyclopedia or the Linux operating system might be harnessed to build a digital library.

2. Rich Texts: Wikisource as an Open Access Repository for Law and the Humanities

by Timothy K. Armstrong
University of Cincinnati College of Law
U of Cincinnati Public Law Research Paper No. 10-09

Abstract

Open access to research and scholarship, although well established in the sciences, remains an emerging phenomenon in the legal academy. In recent years, a number of open access repositories have been created to permit self-archiving of legal scholarship (either within or across institutional boundaries), and faculties at some leading research institutions have adopted policies supporting open access to their work. Although existing repositories for legal scholarship represent a clear improvement over proprietary, subscription-based repositories in some ways, their architecture, and the narrowly defined missions they have elected to pursue, limit their ability to illuminate the ongoing dialogue among texts that is a defining characteristic of scholarly discourse in law and the humanities. One of the wiki-based projects operated by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation–the Wikisource digital library – improves upon the shortcomings of existing open access repositories by bringing source texts and commentary together in a single place, with additional contextual materials hosted on other Wikimedia Foundation sites just a click away. These features of Wikisource, if more widely adopted, may improve academic discourse by highlighting conceptual interconnections among works, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, and reducing the competitive advantages of proprietary, closed-access legal information services.

Source: SSRN
Hat Tip: Peter Suber & Open Access Tagging Project

From the Independent Newspaper (via Twitter):

A new link to our past is now just a few clicks away. The National Library of Ireland yesterday launched its enhanced online service, which has 34,000 photographs recording almost 100 years of Irish history.

“The library holds the world’s largest collection of photographs relating to Ireland,” said National Library director Fiona Ross.

[Snip]

Last year, the National Library introduced an online service whereby 22,000 photographs from the Lawrence, Poole and Independent Newspapers collections were added to its website database.

Since then, library staff have digitised an additional 12,000 images from five other important National Photographic Archive collections: Eason, Stereo Pair, Clarke, Tempest and Keogh.

The 34,000 photographs of Ireland were taken between 1860-1954.

Source: The Independent (via Twitter)

Access the Database

2009 saw the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This was but one of the most dramatic of a whole series of breakthroughs by political movements across Central and Eastern Europe which brought down the reigning totalitarian regimes. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, a focus for design of all kinds, has placed online Designing Democracy, an excellent international collection of political posters produced by various opposition groups and organisations.

The posters come from several countries including Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia (as it was then), Poland and Romania; the period covered is from 1980 (when the trade union Solidarity was born in Poland) to the early 1990s, by which time Western-style elections had been held throughout the region. These changes can now also be seen as precursors to a more general reunion of Europe, not least in the shape of the European Union.

Each poster is carefully catalogued, noting the publishing organisation, artist, country and year of publication and media used. They are all complemented by a concise description which both places the poster in its political context and tries to convey something of the intended meaning. For even after a mere two decades, such commentary is vitally necessary to remind the older viewer, and teach the younger, of a state of affairs which already seems hard to imagine.

The posters on the initial page are only a taster of the whole collection. To see the rest, type “pro-democracy” into the search box here. There are three settings that can be chosen: All records; Only records with images; Best quality records including image and detailed description. The greatest quantity of images is generated by the first setting, and the least by the third. It appears that the main difference in quality between the two is the extent of the commentary given, as the standard of cataloguing is consistently high throughout. Incidentally, when the collection is accessed in this way it is usually necessary to click on the ‘Download PDF version” link to see the commentary.

One of the problems to which the Internet has arguably contributed is a tendency towards the ephemeral and a disregard for history. But collections such as Designing Democracy constitute a powerful response to such criticisms.

As the Chronicling America project from the Library of Congress and NEH passes 1.7 million digitized newspaper pages, the Library of Congress Digital Reference Section is presenting a demo on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time; 1:00 Central; noon Mountain; 11:00 a.m. Pacific; and 5:00 p.m. GMT.

Here’s How LC Describes the Event:

Get the news of yesteryear here! Explore contemporary reports of the fight for women’s rights, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, baseball scores, earthquakes, and more! It’s the news you want and the news you need from Chronicling America, the Library of Congress gateway to America’s historic newspapers, published between 1880 and 1922. Join Library of Congress staff for a sampling of century-old headlines and articles of significant events that echo in the headlines of today.

To attend (it’s free), head to the OPAL (Online Programing for All Libraries) Web Site

1. Returning OPAL participants should click on the phrase “Click here to enter the room” in the center of the screen.
2. First time participants should follow the directions highlighted in the gray rectangle in the center of the screen.
3. Type your name (no password is required) and click “Log on” to enter the online conference.

Allow yourself time to download the small software plugin needed to participate in the conference. Depending on your network security requirements, you may need assistance from your local technical support group to download and install the plugin. Actual installation should be very quick, depending on your computer and connectivity.

This page provides info about system requirements while tips for first time uses can be accessed here.

Key Links

1) Chronicling American Home Page and Search Interface

As of today, the database contains digitized newspapers from 16 states.

+ In addition to the database of newspaper digitized newspaper ages, Chronicling America is home to a large directory of American newspaper Info (1690-Present). The directory can be browsed or searched.

+The Newspaper and Current Periodicals Reading Room has a collection of “pre-buit” topics pages.

For example, Annexation of Hawaii offers a timeline of of major events, suggested topics, and links to a selection of articles from Chronicling America.. Topics in this growing collection (an excellent idea, btw) include everything from Battleships to Comic Strips.

Finally, users can access hundreds of digitized newspaper photos from the Library of Congress/Flickr Project.

“History can be a bore,” [Brian] MacConnell, 87, a WW II pilot] says plainly while sitting in the bright kitchen of his Regal Heights home. “My hope is that being a live part of the history of the Second World War might increase their interest.”

MacConnell is one of more than 700 Second World War veterans across the country who have participated in The Memory Project: Stories of the Second World War, a growing digital archive of veterans’ personal stories and memorabilia.

The project, run by the Historica-Dominion Institute and funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage, hosts “digitization events” across the country, giving every living Second World War veteran the chance to share their personal experience of the war.

The project’s staff record audio, scan love letters and photos and take pictures of personal artifacts to upload to a digital memory bank, which is used as a resource for students, teachers and Canadian history buffs. The personal accounts can be browsed by name, place of deployment or a specific battle.

Access the Complete Article

Access The Memory Project: Stories of the Second World Wart
Learn more about the project, browse stories, etc.

Source: Toronto Star

See Also: U.S.: Veterans History Project from the Library of Congress

A book secretely produced and published in a German POW camp is now being cared for by the National Library of Australia.

The book of poetry entitled Godziny Czekania is by Zbigniew Mystkowski, a Polish journalist then an officer who was captured by the Germans and spent most of the war in various camps.

[Snip]

Wanda Horky, who is Polish herself, works at the NLA and has been lovingly cataloguing this rare edition.

The book was donated to NLA by the author’s son.

Source: ABC

From the Announcement:

…the Interactive Census Collection has the unique ability to connect people related to ancestors found on the historical documents. Simply by clicking the “I’m Related” button for a name on the document will identify you as a descendant and also list others that have done the same.

OCR is in use. You can search for words found in the actual images of pages.

Access Footnote’s Interactive Census
It is available for the 1860 (Complete), 1900 (5% Complete), 1910 (3% Complete), 1920 (3% Complete), 1930 (98% Complete) U.S. Census.

If nothing else this is a great way to test the service and yes, it’s even rather fun.

Source: Footnote

The library has rebranded its Long Island Division at its Central Branch as the “The Archives at Queens Library.” The new name ushers in an online database, set to go live in a few months, which will include digital access to more than 4,000 photographs that date back to the late 19th century.

John Hyslop, the digital asset manager for the Queens Public Library, said although the task took many hours and much manpower, it was worth it because the materials will now reach millions of library patrons.

[Snip]

Photos are not the only items that will be getting the digital makeover. The library said it will also be posting documents online, including the papers of Wilson and Jane Rantus.

The black couple collected everything from receipts, bills and letters between 1834 and 1883 and those documents are the only existing records of a minority family living in Long Island at that time.

Those who worked on the digitizing process, such as Mary Grace DeSagun, the project’s imaging technician, said handling the archives helped to educate them about the legacy of the borough.

Access the Complete Article

Source: YourNabe.com

From the Home Page:

In the centuries before there were newspapers and 24-hour news channels, the general public had to rely on street literature to find out what was going on. The most popular form of this for nearly 300 years was ‘broadsides’ – the tabloids of their day. Sometimes pinned up on walls in houses and ale-houses, these single sheets carried public notices, news, speeches and songs that could be read (or sung) aloud.

The National Library of Scotland’s online collection of nearly 1,800 broadsides lets you see for yourself what ‘the word on the street’ was in Scotland between 1650 and 1910. Crime, politics, romance, emigration, humour, tragedy, royalty and superstitions – all these and more are here.

Each broadside comes with a detailed commentary and most also have a full transcription of the text, plus a downloadable PDF facsimile {Impressive!]. You can search by keyword, browse by title or browse by subject

See Also: Other Resources from the NLS Digital Library

Source: National Library of Scotland

Even as a taxi-driving college dropout I was attracted to the library’s creaky, old-shoe character. I went in to join in the early 1970s wearing a ponytail and army pants. Behind the desk was Helen Ruskell, to me a bit scary, kind of a battle ax. She looked at me doubtfully, and with good reason: Since 1920 she had been a gatekeeper of an institution that predated the public library system by more than a century.

The library was first quartered in City Hall, at Wall and Broad Streets, and it often claims to have been the first library of Congress, as congressmen borrowed its books when New York was the nation’s capital, from 1789 to 1790. Although Columbia College was also founded in 1754, I have discovered no other library, museum or similar organization predating this peculiar institution.

By the mid-19th century the library flowered into a full-fledged literary organization, with lectures by Poe, Emerson and others, and in 1856 put up a new home on University Place, then a smart residential address.

[Snip]

Members began moving uptown and having their books delivered, and the library’s literary aspirations faded. In 1937 it relocated to its present 1917 town house on East 79th Street, after shelves were installed in the gutted shell of the back half. That was the institution guarded by Miss Ruskell when I arrived, a wonderful but musty book-lending operation for polite private school families, although anyone could come to the first-floor reference room and consult any book.

The NY Society Library is located on E. 79th St.

They have a Facebook page and Twitter feed. You can also learn more on their web page.

Access the Complete Article

Source: NY Times
Hat Tip: ALA

The other day we linked to an article about Rick and Megan Prelinger from the Prelinger Archives (open to the public) in San Francisco where they work and curate various collections.

Perhaps Rick Prelinger is best known as a film archivist and the person who built a massive collection of motion picture content. These days, more than 2,100 of these films are accessible (free) via the Internet Archive. If you’ve never visited, it’s more than worthy your time.

Its goal remains to collect, preserve, and facilitate access to films of historic significance that haven’t been collected elsewhere. Included are films produced by and for many hundreds of important US corporations, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, community and interest groups, and educational institutions.

You can access the collection (search/browse) here, learn about the history of the collection, and view a tag cloud of its holdings.

But Wait! The Prelinger Archives is contains more than just motion pictures and some non-film content is being digitized and made available via the Prelinger Library Digital Collections from the Internet Archive.

The collection is home to, “public domain materials in in key subject areas.”

You can search for material and also browse by title or author. The Federal Writers’ Project sub-collection is small (but growing) and contains some fascinating reading. From the Stories of New Jersey (1938) to Boston looks seaward; the story of the port, 1630-1940 (1941). If you’re from the New York area or just love NYC New York city guide; a comprehensive guide to the five boroughs of the metropolis: Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Richmond ([c1939]) is great to read or browse. It might also be useful for educators. Actually, many titles would be ideal for teachers. The same goes for the films.

This is interesting content that must be saved. Access to most of these documents would be difficult if not impossible if they weren’t physically at the archives or available online.

Finally, if you’re interested in learning more about the Prelinger Archives, plan for a visit, review the archives “want list” of materials, etc. this page contains that info and more.

See Also: Megan Prelinger has a book coming soon titled, “Another Science Fiction: Advertising the Space Race 1957-1962.” You can read an interview with Megan that was published yesterday on the Wired web site.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is pleased to announce the creation of the Directory of History of Medicine Collections database. This unique resource is available at:
http://wwwcf.nlm.nih.gov/hmddirectory/index.html.

The Directory of History of Medicine Collections aims to serve as a resource to provide information about history of health sciences collections worldwide. The collections described in the Directory database provide research, reference and interlibrary loan services to scholars interested in the history of the health sciences.

The database is keyword searchable, with the ability to refine your search results by categories: organization type, state/province, country, collection subject strengths and organization name.

To view the table of contents, which is arranged alphabetically by US state, and city, followed by other countries listed alphabetically, go to:

http://wwwcf.nlm.nih.gov/hmddirectory/directory/locations.cfm.

Source: National Library of Medicine

According to the Ansel Adams Gallery Blog, the database contains more then 2600 digitized images including several rare ones.

The database homepage begins with a brief bio of Ansel Adams and also includes info about copyright and the database itself.

The Ansel Adams Archive at the Center for Creative Photography includes more than 2,500 fine prints, along with correspondence, interviews, unpublished writings, memorabilia, publications, negatives, transparencies, work prints, photographic equipment, and files documenting his commercial projects, exhibitions, affiliation with the Sierra Club and Friends of Photography.

The Center provides digital scans and facilitates permissions in collaboration with The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust, which holds copyright to all works by Ansel Adams. See http://www.creativephotography.org/rights/ for more information.

Users will need to register (it’s free and fast) to see large size images.

You can either browse or search to find imagery.

To browse and find images of Old Faithful we began with the letter “O” and found several. We also looked under the letter Y and found several more. So, if necessary try different letter/words. To view a large size image, click the small image found with every entry and if you’re logged-in, it should appear in a matter of seconds. Yes, all of this takes a bit of guessing but on the way to finding the image you’re looking for you’ll come across material that’s likely new to you. Serendipity still works. You’ll also be “learning” the database that will over time help to make retrieval easier.

To search, look for the search box, upper right side on any page. Enter your search terms and go. Images do not contain subject descriptors (at this point) so you’re primarily searching on words in the title of an image. Caveat. At this point you’ll be searching other digitized imagery from the Center for Creative Photography. So, make sure you select the advanced interface. Here you can limit your search to only the Ansel Adams Collection.

Well done to those who have bult the database and then made it available on the Internet. We will monitor the Ansel Adams Blog for updates and new features.

Source: Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona Libraries (via Twitter)

The Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, has acquired the archive of writer David Foster Wallace (1962-2008), author of “Infinite Jest” (1996), “The Broom of the System” (1987), “Girl with Curious Hair” (1988) and numerous collections of stories and essays.

The archive contains manuscript materials for Wallace’s books, stories and essays; research materials; Wallace’s college and graduate school writings; juvenilia, including poems, stories and letters; teaching materials and books.
[Snip]

Wallace’s publisher Little, Brown and Company is donating its editorial files relating to the author to the Ransom Center. Wallace worked with Little, Brown and Company beginning in 1993.

“Little, Brown and Company is happy to donate all of our correspondence and internal memos relating to ‘Infinite Jest,’ ‘Brief Interviews with Hideous Men’ (1999), ‘Oblivion’ (2004), ‘A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again’ and ‘Consider the Lobster’ to the Ransom Center,” said Michael Pietsch, Little, Brown and Company’s executive vice president and publisher and Wallace’s longtime editor. “David’s letters are delightful to read in themselves, and we hope that scholars will benefit from finding his notes to his editors and copy editors in the same archive with his draft manuscripts, journals and other correspondence.”

The announcement also includes:

+ From A to Z: Circled words in Wallace’s dictionary

+ See the inside of some of Wallace’s books

+ Journey of an Archive: How the Wallace archive came to the Ransom Center

+ Several Other Features. Look in the Right Column.

Source: Harry Ransom Center