We are seeking chapter proposals for a new edited collection tentatively titled "What Can Government Information Do for Me? Discovery and Practical Applications of Using U.S. Government Information", to be published by McFarland & Company.
The purpose of this work is to explore the identification of and practical application of U.S. government information. Libraries will be provided with information about finding and applying readily available and free U.S. government information sources. Library personnel must remain knowledgeable about critical agencies and departments of the U.S. Government and their websites, how to navigate the websites, learn what basic information each provides, and what "hidden treasures" are available. Library personnel need to understand how to apply this information in the performance of their duties and learn from the experiences of colleagues. This includes answering various types of patron questions, performing community outreach, engaging in civic activities, serving business patrons, and providing classroom instruction.
This work will collect chapters that focus on various topics and how users can navigate various U.S. departments and agencies, and their websites, to find information and answer practical problems. For example, one chapter could focus on finding information about grants and federal government internships. This could be of value to high school, college, and graduate students who are looking to build their resumes, but might not have thought about the federal government as a source for grants and internships. Most government agencies offer internships of some kind, from humanities, to medical, to science, to agriculture - a plethora of resources that could be useful to any major or interest a student might have.
Please submit a proposal of 250-500 words for consideration.
The audience is librarians and library professions from academic, public, school, federal, and special libraries. The book's thesis is to provide a volume that informs the reader about U.S. Government resources, how to use these resources to answer different topics, and provide practical applications the reader can implement and adapt in one's library environment. This will be a very practical, "hands-on" work to guide people to resources they might not have ever discovered.
Topics could include, but not limited to:
* Serial Set
* Entrepreneurship/starting a business/business plans/nonprofits/funding
* Treaties
* Executive Orders and Proclamations
* Military
* Presidential Campaigns/history
* Finding Images
* Native American History
* Census Bureau Statistics - case studies (e.g. business, population studies)
* Current Events
* Health and Human Services - health, nutrition, smoking, fitness, epidemics
* Lobbying/Campaign Financing/Expenditures
* International Trade
* Science (e.g. NASA, NOAA, NWS, USGS)
* Genealogical searching
* Researching an Industry with relevant examples
* Finding money - could include grants, property searches, and unclaimed money from the government, benefits and loans, spending, saving, and investing
* Federal job openings and internships
An example of a chapter on employment could include tracking these government sources:
* finding government jobs (e.g. usa.gov) and openings in individual states;
* outlook of a specific type of job, such as information found in the Occupational Outlook Handbook (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
* using census information to find out median incomes and cost of living (census.gov);
* COBRA continuation of health coverage; (https://www.dol.gov/agencies/
* retirement information (Social Security, planning for retirement including 401k (https://www.irs.gov/retiremen
By October 15, 2021, please email your chapter proposals to the co-editors:
Tom Diamond
Louisiana State University
notted@lsu.edu
Dominique Hallett
Arkansas State University
dhallett@astate.edu
Thanks,
Tom Diamond
Louisiana State University
Thursday, October 07, 2021
Call for Chapters: Discovery and Practical Applications of Using U.S. Government Information
