The 110th Congress included not only new names and faces on the Hill, but a plethora of redesigned e-government sites, many of which are still very much under development. In her column this month, Peggy Garvin focuses on the changes in the House of Representatives website.
Jan Bissett and Margi Heinen’s pathfinder is a guide to specific commercial, government, academic and association sources that will assist you in focusing your results as you research this area of the law.
Scott A. Hodes recommends three direct techniques to increase the efficient processing of your requests.
Peggy Garvin runs the THOMAS beta test site through its paces, evaluating the new search engine and enhanced navigations features, accompanied by screen shots.
LaJean Humphries identifies the wide range of social networking sites with which researchers should be knowlegeable, and addresses legal, privacy and ethical concerns associated with their use. She also provides a bibliography of books, articles and reports that focus on the impact of social networking applications.
Scott A. Hodes recommends that federal government FOIA offices implement a rapid response team to deal with FOIA requests that are likely to lead to litigation in the short run.
A wide range of online calendars from agencies and Congress offer valuable information to researchers that includes: release dates for topical reports, news, surveys, meeting and official travel schedules, historical commemorations, House and Senate bill histories, and links to speeches and testimony. Peggy Garvin includes numerous examples of e-gov sites with such services that should be on your radar.
This month Jan Bissett and Margi Heinen offer tips for finding Bar exam results, exam schedules, and reciprocity, and also provide links to relevant court, association, government and legal newspaper websites.
Beth Wellington’s commentary takes an in-depth look at the divergent positions and issues associated with FOIA and biodefense related appropriations and legislation, from the perspective of legislators, public interest groups and journalists.
Peggy Garvin’s column compares and contrasts the features of FirstGov Search, Google Government Search and GovMine.