Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian presents ... Historical Economic Data Sources & Economic Time Travel

The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association is holding a series of webinars designed to increase familiarity with government information resources, and the best strategies for navigating them.

 

Session #29 on historical economic data sources  will take place online on August 21 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern). Please RSVP for the Session by August 20 at 5:00 pm using this link: https://tinyurl.com/grs-session29

In economics, historical data aren’t necessarily 200 years old; historical data could be two weeks old. That’s because economic data are revised, frequently. And those revisions mean that the historical data librarians find for patrons may not be the same values that an individual would have seen when the data were initially released. Economic data are made from estimates. Over time, more information becomes available and these estimates are revised. Policy-makers, businesses, and consumers make economic and financial decisions based on unrevised data available at a point in time. These unrevised are useful for studying historic decisions and economic policies. This webinar will describe sources available for uncovering historical economic data and methods for using those sources that provide a window into the past.  

 

Pamela Campbell is a Senior Librarian at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. She has been working with government documents for nearly four years, with a focus on economic history. Pamela is part of the team that provides FRASER <http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/>, a digital library dedicated to preserving the nation’s economic history.

 

Technical requirements: The webinar will be via Blackboard Collaborate. The conneting PC must have JAVA. On RSVP, a link will be sent that can be used to test the software. No microphone is needed as a chat system is available in the software, but speakers or headphones will be necessary.

 

If you have any questions, please contact Lynda Kellam (lmkellam@uncg.edu).   

The session will be recorded and made available after the live session, linked from the NCLA GRS web page (http://www.nclaonline.org/government-resources).

Help! I’m an Accidental Government Information Librarian presents...United Nations Statistics and Data Resources

The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association runs a series of webinars designed to improve reference work by increasing familiarity with government information resources, and by discovering the best strategies for navigating them.

The United Nations gathers and produces a wealth of data on health, development, education, industry, and more--but given the complex structure of the United Nations and all of its publishing and research activities, it can be difficult to know where to begin the search for UN statistics and data. With UNdata from the United Nations Statistics Division, researchers can search many UN statistical databases through a single interface.

This session will explore the benefits of starting a data search in UNdata, with a focus on gaining familiarity with the content that's available there as well as the ins and outs of the search interface. The contents and user experience of UNdata will also be compared to several of the UN's other statistical resources.

Melanie Maksin is the Librarian for Political Science, International Affairs, Public Policy, and Government Information at Yale University.

Session #20, online on November 14 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (Eastern). Please RSVP for the Session by November 13 at 5:00 pm using this link:  http://tinyurl.com/grs-session20

Technical requirements: The collaborative software called Blackboard Collaborate requires a Java download, but no special software. On registration a link will be sent to test the software. Any questions, please contact Lynda Kellam (lmkellam@uncg.edu).

The session will be recorded and made available after the live session, linked from the NCLA GRS web page (http://www.nclaonline.org/government-resources).