National Moment of Remembrance

Tomorrow, we celebrate Memorial Day. In the midst of family get-togethers and the start of summer, please remember to take a moment at 3pm (your local time) to pause for just one minute in observance of the National Moment of Remembrance.
 
From the National Moment of Remembrance website (www.remember.gov): 

The National Moment of Remembrance, established by Congress, asks Americans wherever they are at 3 p.m., local time, on Memorial Day to pause in an act of national unity (duration: one minute).The time 3 p.m. was chosen because it is the time when most Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the national holiday. The Moment does not replace traditional Memorial Day events; rather it is an act of national unity in which all Americans, alone or with family and friends, honor those who died for our freedom. It will help to reclaim Memorial Day as the sacred and noble holiday it was meant to be. In this shared remembrance, we connect as Americans.

Friday Fun: Iron Baby

Can't decide whether you want to see Iron Man 2, or the movie Babies this weekend?

Now you don't have to choose! Check out the trailer for Iron Baby. He does everything regular Iron Man does, but cuter.

(via io9 and Cinematical)

WGBH video archive open to the public

PBS station http://www.wgbh.org/in Boston is the largest web and TV content provider. Now they're making their archive open to the public Open Vault. The station's archives go back to the 1950s, and now much of that great video is available for free!

The Open Vault site includes clouds to show relationships between videos, linking similar locations, people and  subject matter and allows browsing by topic and keyword. The site does require log-in, but allows you to save and annotate records and connect to other users.

Staff Report on Coffee Roasting Operations of the Department of Defense

Found in the digital archive: a 1952 Munitions Board report on the state of coffee in the military.

From the abstract:

This report is part of the Subsistence Study undertaken by the Office of Supply. It reviews the functions concerned with the coffee roasting, grinding, and packaging operations of the military departments, the financing, procurement and storage of green bean, and the distribution of roasted coffee to military messes and other consumers, including sales by commissary stores.

Want to read the Munitions Board report? It can be found here:
http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/u?/p4013coll11,790

Friday Fun: The Archive That Never Was

The United Kingdom's Royal Navy would like us to know that they do NOT have an archive of sea monster sightings.

This article from the The Telegraph explains that in response to a Freedom of Information Request from a marine biologist, the Royal Navy responded: ''The RN (Royal Navy), and MoD in general, does not maintain any form of central repository of information purely devoted to sea monsters"

They go on  to state that sailors are free to record this information in their ships' logs, so the information is available, though the RN does not have the resources to sift through all of this information and they are welcome to report sightings of marine animals, unique and non-unique alike, to the UK Hydrographic Office.

It's hard to imagine what an archive of sea monster sightings would look like, especially an archive that has the potential to be as long and storied as as one held by the Royal Navy. An archive full of sightings of sirines, sea dragons and monstrous squids sounds kind of fun!

Librarian, or lost patron?

Found back in CARL's cataloging area.

Is this a lost soul who wandered too far away from the familiar stacks, or a librarian who refuses to leave the library?

Maybe he's here a warning to others to return library materials on-time, and not to dog-ear pages, or he means to return his books, no matter what!  If you see him "floating" around the library, be sure to ask!

Need more Abraham Lincoln in your life?

Just can't get enough of our sixteenth president? The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, IL has a YouTube account where they post everything from  video of President Obama's speech delivered during the Lincoln Bicentennial festivities to a Lincoln rap and clips from the musical The Civil War.

http://www.youtube.com/user/PresLincolnMuseum

And the presidential library's website can be found at: http://www.presidentlincoln.org/

Report: Net Generation Guide

________________________________

IMMEDIATE RELEASE       No. 384-10

May 12, 2010     

________________________________

DOD Announces Release of Net Generation Guide

                The Department of Defense (DoD) announced today the release of the Net Generation guide, a 128-page report by the Federal Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council that focuses on preparing for change in the Federal Information Technology (IT) workforce.

                The report identifies the challenges agencies currently face to backfill IT positions with the shrinking workforce, as 957,000 federal workers will become eligible to retire in the next few years.  It also discusses how to attract workers between 17 and 31 years old, known as the Net Generation.

                "Clearly one of the things we want to do with the report is create a sense of urgency around the idea that we have to embrace new ideas and approaches to attract and retain the workforce of the future," said David Wennergren, DoD Deputy CIO.

                The Net Generation is a cohort that has grown up with the Internet and expects to work with cutting-edge technologies.

                Wennergren noted that "the report addresses the importance of providing the Net Generation workforce with access to information age tools and capabilities, as well as providing them with an environment that unleashes and nurtures the fire of their innovation and creativity."

                The guide is available online at http://www.cio.gov/Documents/NetGen.pdf .

U.S. Department of Defense

Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)

On the Web: http://www.defense.gov/releases/ 

Media Contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132 Public Contact: http://www.defense.gov/landing/questions.aspx  or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1

Afghan Progress Report

The April 2010 update for the regular report to Congress has just been release by the Dept of Defense.  Note, some links are long and may break in transmission so recommend copying and pasting into your browser if necessary, or go to http://www.defense.gov/pubs/

"Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan"  also incorporated in this report is the "United States Plan for Sustaining the Afghanistan National Security Forces"

http://www.defense.gov/pubs/pdfs/Report_Final_SecDef_04_26_10.pdf

Earlier United States Plan for Sustaining the Afghanistan National Security Forces reports are available at:

April 2009 - http://www.defense.gov/pubs/pdfs/October_2009.pdf

June 2008 -

http://www.defense.gov/pubs/United_States_Plan_for_Sustaining_the_Afghanistan_National_Security_Forces_1231.pdf

Earlier "Progress toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan" reports are available at:

October 2009 - http://www.defense.gov/pubs/pdfs/October_2009.pdf

June 2009 - http://www.defense.gov/pubs/pdfs/1230_June-2009Final.pdf

<http://www.defense.gov/pubs/pdfs/1230_June-2009Final.pdf> 

January 2009 - http://www.defense.gov/pubs/OCTOBER_1230_FINAL.pdf

Summer Reading Kickoff Party

Other fun summer events to follow!

Webcasts of WebWise Conference Available

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 10, 2010 IMLS Press Contacts 202-653-4632 Jeannine Mjoseth, jmjoseth@imls.gov Mamie Bittner, mbittner@imls.gov Webcasts of 2010 WebWise Conference Now Available Washington, DC-Anyone who missed the 2010 WebWise Conference on Libraries and Museums in the Digital World, held March 3-5 in Denver, Colorado, can now go online to watch sessions on leading edge digital technologies that libraries and museums use to share their collections and engage the public. The webcasts focus on the sustainability of digital content, engaging users, new tools and services, essential skills for practitioners, and funding. The captioned videos also feature a pre-conference session on school libraries and 21st century skills and a thought-provoking dialogue between Howard Besser, professor of cinema studies and director of New York University's Moving Image Archiving & Preservation Program, and Susan Chun, a museum technology consultant. Also available online are interviews with leaders in cultural heritage digitization such as Joyce Ray, IMLS associate deputy director for libraries and principal organizer of the annual WebWise conference. The "Digital Pioneers" project was launched by the University of Denver's Penrose Library and Morgridge College of Education's Library and Information Science. Full-text papers of many of the presentations will be available in the summer at the online journal First Monday. WebWise 2010: Imagining the Digital Future was sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur and Morgridge Family Foundations. The University of Denver, the Denver Art Museum, and BCR, a multi-state library collaborative, cohosted the event. About the Institute of Museum and Library Services The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.

New CSI Publication

Searching for Stability: The U.S. Development of Constabulary Forces in Latin America and the Philippines. Occasional Paper 30 by Dr. Richard L. Millett

http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/download/csipubs/millett.pdf

Renovation: Goodbye, Jacques

Last week, Jacques, our beloved (and massive) book disbinder was removed from the Archive floor by several large and strapping individuals, and was placed into a truck, to be carted off to a storage facility for the length of our renovation.

Goodbye, Jacques! We will miss your shiny pine working area and long, deadly blade until we see you again!

Report: Military Education System

The House Armed Service Oversight and Investigation committee has released a new report on the Professional Military Education (PME) system.

"Another Crossroads? Professional Military Education Two Decades After the Goldwater-Nichols Act and the Skelton Panel"

http://armedservices.house.gov/pdfs/PMEReport050610/PMEReport050610.pdf

This report was the result of a year-long assessment of the Professional Military Education (PME) system and is the "first comprehensive congressional review of the PME system since the Skelton Panel's groundbreaking review in 1989."

http://republicans.armedservices.house.gov/News/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1013

  

Report: "Capability of the People's Republic of China to Conduct Cyber Warfare and Computer Network Exploitation"

The latest from the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission is the " Capability of the People's Republic of China to Conduct Cyber Warfare and Computer Network Exploitation" report.

The direct link is http://www.uscc.gov/researchpapers/2009/NorthropGrumman_PRC_Cyber_Paper_FINAL_Approved%20Report_16Oct2009.pdf or it can be retrieved from http://www.uscc.gov/index.php along with other Commission reports and hearing transcripts.

Preservation Week (May 9-15)

The American Library Association (ALA) is sponsoring next week's "Preservation Week."

• Do you know how to halt the decay of brittle newspaper clippings that are important to your family history? 
• Do you know to best preserve your important family keepsakes for the next generation? 
• Do you know how to repair the damage caused by time to objects of sentimental value?

 
Preservation Week will be a time to learn about preserving your own collectibles, photos, family records and other valuable materials, and how your library can help. The goal is to connect library users with preservation tools, promote the importance of preservation, and enhance knowledge of preservation issues among the general public.


 See http://www.ala.org/preservationweek for events, resources and more information.

And for some great videos on preservation, check out http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alcts/confevents/preswk/tools/video.cfm

If you have any questions, or want more information, feel free to ask a CARL librarian!