The librarian is: BLOGGING | Journalism Library, Columbia University

The Journalism Library Blog has MOVED! This site is no longer being updated as of July 2009. Come find us at our new location:

https://blogs.cul.columbia.edu/journalism

See you there!

Where can you find transcripts of City Council proceedings? Go to the Office of the City Clerk; transcripts are available for a fee.

The Empire Center for New York State Policy now provides a database tool through the SeeThroughNY network where you can look up salary information for New York City Government, State Government, and Public Authority payrolls.

Click on SeeThroughNY to use the tool; database is searchable by name Title, Branch or Entity, Agency and Subagency. Data can also be exported to Excel.

Library resources for MA students, handouts from Evidence and Inference course, Fall 2008 -

• Columbia
• Beyond Columbia

Want to learn more about legislation pertaining to Journalists’ Privilege and the First Amendment? Check out the latest CRS Report for Congress - Journalists’ Privilege: Overview of the Law and Legislation in the 109th and 110th Congresses, updated July 29, 2008.

The Statistical Abstract has been published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census since 1878. It is an excellent first stop for many statistical needs, since it covers a wide variety of topics and compiles data from government as well as non-governmental sources (including trade associations).

While the Stat Abstract was formerly available on the Census site in PDF format, the 2006 edition has been enhanced to work with Microsoft Excel, making it that much easier to generate charts and graphs.

Interested in earlier editions of the Stat Abstract? From the page above, follow the link labeled “Earlier Editions.” (Note that these are still in PDF format.)

Check out Free Government Info.

This is a site (started by a few librarians) which tracks threats to government information’s freedom from “many economic and political forces,” and is also involved in raising public awareness about the importance of this type of information.

This periodically updated report on exceptions to the First Amendment comes from the Congressional Research Service, and is archived on the website of the Federation of American Scientists, since the CRS does not have its own public website. The report summarizes Supreme Court interpretations of freedom of speech and press.

Columbia Libraries provide access to two different databases with declassified government documents. The Declassified Documents Reference System (access restricted to current Columbia affiliates) provides the full text of U.S. government documents which are routinely declassified, while the Digital National Security Archive (access restricted to current Columbia affiliates) includes documents which were declassified as a result of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Here’s an excellent guide to resources (both at Columbia Libraries and on the web) related to the U.S. Intelligence Community, maintained by one of my colleagues at Columbia.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s Facts for Features is specially designed for reporters, with timely press releases on a wide variety of topics.