21st Century Government Documents

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21st Century Government Documents

• Best Sources for Electronic Government
  Information
• OLA Superconference 2005
• Presenters
• Mary Monteith, Kitchener Public Library Tom
  Bentley, Brantford Public Library

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E-Government Trends

• Canada rated number 1 for fourth year running in
  Accentures survey measuring E-government
  maturity
• Services and publications are shifting from
  physical to virtual formats
• Print collections shrinking electronic access
  increasing
• All library staff working more with government
  resources online

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Best Sources

• Electronic government information proliferating
  at a rapid pace
• Wealth of information available but can be hard
  to find
• Google alone is not the answer
• What are some good starting points?
• How can I keep up with developments in government
  information?
• How can I keep track of government news?

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Keeping Current

• Listservs
• GOVINFO General discussion list for Canadian
  government topics
• GOVDOC-L Discussion list for U.S. government
  information and the American Federal Depository
  Program useful for announcements regarding
  significant new publications and web sites

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Keeping Current

• Whats New everyone has news!
• One way of monitoring events is to read news
  directly from government web sites
• Decide whats important to you
• Bookmark your news sites and monitor
• Being selective helps you cope with the overload

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Keeping Current

• Whats new Government of Canada

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Keeping Current

• News Alerts
• Google has its place
• Google News Alerts keyword search of news
  and/or web
• Define frequency of updates daily, weekly, as
  it happens
• Alerts are sent to your email as per your request
• CBC also offers news alerts and is an excellent
  source for breaking news and relevant links

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Keeping Current

• RSS Feeds / Blogs
• Visit one site, instead of many
• News aggregators such as Bloglines let you keep
  up-to-date from a central forum
• Create custom feeds from Yahoo! News
• Government of Canada offers 35 RSS news feeds
  national, regional, by audience

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Portals

• Gateways designed to give access by subject or by
  audience
• Government of Canada has designed many
  subject-specific portals
• Portals available for most major governmental
  organizations

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Portals Government of Canada
www.gc.ca
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Portals Government of Canada
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Portals

• FirstGov American government portal
• www.firstgov.gov

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Portals

• FirstGov
• A-Z Agency Index
• Quick links to Executive Branch President,
  Vice-President, Cabinet, Executive Departments,
  Agencies, Boards, Commissions, etc.

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Portals

• FirstGov
• Legislative Branch
• Senate
• Senators home pages
• House of Representatives
• Agencies that support Congress - Library of
  Congress, Government Printing Office, etc.
• A-Z index of all Government Agencies

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Portals

• Foreign Government Resources on the Web
• University of Michigan

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Health

• Canada Health Portal
• Shortcuts to provincial health sites
• Advisories and warnings
• Targeting Health links by topic take you to
  publications, websites, news stories, reports,
  health-related legislation
• When in doubt, find the A-Z index, the site map
  or the site-specific search

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Health

• HealthyOntario
• Consumer health focus
• Content by audience
• Conditions and diseases
• Prescription Drugs
• Health Services find a doctor locate community
  support and services

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Health

• HealthyOntario Community Support
• I need to find support groups for Autism in
  Thunder Bay.
• Services Community Support Groups
• Drop-down menu choose condition
• Click on Go!

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Health

• Choose your community
• Note there are also links to Internet-based
  support

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Health

• Results listed include
• Names
• Addresses
• Phone
• Email / website links

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Health

• Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
  http//www.health.gov.on.ca/
• Many useful functions but some are hidden
• Long-term care facility locator
  http//www.ltccareers.com/FacilityFrame/english/
• I need to locate a long-term care facility in
  Bobcaygeon.

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Statistics

• Canada
• Statistics Canada www.statcan.ca/
• The Daily a first stop for current statistics
• The Daily is archived online to June 1995
• Consumer Price Index
• Economic Indicators
• Construction
• Employment
• Population

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Statistics

• Statistics Canada The Census
• http//www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/home/inde
  x.cfm
• 1996 and 2001 Census information
• Data can be searched by topic
• Community profiles give a snapshot of a
  particular area
• E-Stat is another source of Census data
  (1665-1871 and 1986-2001) - use is restricted to
  educational institutions and depository libraries

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Statistics

• Community Profiles

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Statistics

• Historical Statistics of Canada
• 1983 issue available freely online
• Can be viewed in .html or .pdf format
• What was Canadas population in 1947?

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Statistics
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Statistics

• Think about the origin
• Motor vehicle collision statistics Transport
  Canada
• School bus collisions, heavy truck collisions,
  pedestrian fatalities and injuries
• Aircraft collisions, rail and marine accidents
  Transportation Safety Board of Canada

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Statistics

• International Statistics
• FedStats Stats from over 100 U.S. federal
  agencies
• U.S. Census information Statistical Abstract of
  the United States
• National Statistics Office of the UK
• Eurostat Statistical office of the European
  communities

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Statutes and Regulations

• Canadian Federal Statutes Department of Justice
• Basic search - keyword in title or text of
  statute or regulation
• Advanced search Access by subject, keyword in
  title or text
• Search annual statutes from 1995 forward
• I want to see Bill C-3 from 1998. It had to do
  with DNA.

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Statutes and Regulations
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Statutes and Regulations
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Statutes and Regulations
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Statutes and Regulations

• Index to Regulations (Statutory Instruments)
• Table of Public Statutes
• Table of Private Acts, 1867 2004
• Shortcuts to the Constitution, the Charter
• Frequently accessed Criminal Code, Income Tax
  Act, Divorce Act
• Links to provincial, territorial legislation

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Statutes and Regulations

• Federal Bills - Laws in the Making
• Parliament of Canada
• Current bills of the House and Senate
• Bills archive
• Debates and Journals current and archived
• LegisInfo
• Bills text progress of legislation
• Press releases and backgrounders
• Votes and Speeches
• Related links and reading suggestions

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Statutes and Regulations

• Ontario Statutes and Regulations
• E-Laws full text laws and regulations
• Content up to date within 10 business days of
  enactment
• Searchable site has good help features
• Browsable by title
• Table of Public Statutes Table of Private
  Statutes Table of Regulations

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Statutes and Regulations

• Ontario Bills
• Ontario Legislative Assembly
• Text of bills currently before the House archive
  to Sept. 1995
• Bills Before the House Status Table service of
  the Ontario Legislative Library
  http//www.ontla.on.ca/library/bills/statustable.p
  df
• Hansard (Debates) archived to June 1985
• Current Hansard searchable by keyword, session,
  date, topic, speaker
• Committee debates

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Statutes and Regulations

• Library pathfinders available on some sites
• KPLs pathfinders
• Researching Federal Legislation
  http//www.kpl.org/ylo_govsites.shtmlfederal
• Researching Ontario Legislation
  http//www.kpl.org/ylo_govsites.shtmlontario
• (specific to KPLs resources and holdings)

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Court Decisions

• Canadian Legal Information Institute
• Important site for legal resources
• Links to legislative materials federally and
  provincially
• Publicly available court decisions are searchable
  by keyword, phrase, name, date, docket number
• Full text of decisions with search terms
  highlighted
• Courts in Canada Dept. of Justice Court
  Sites http//canada.justice.gc.ca/en/dept/pub/tri
  b/page5.html

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Citizenship and Immigration

• Citizenship and Immigration Canada
• Forms and applications
• Immigrating to Canada
• Studying in Canada
• Working in Canada
• Online Services
• Citizenship and immigration statistics 1966-1996
• Annual reports, performance reports, citizenship
  test questions

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Citizenship and Immigration

• Constant referrals from local Citizenship office
  to the public library for forms
• I want to sponsor my wife to come to Canada and
  they sent me here for the form.

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Citizenship and Immigration
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Citizenship and Immigration

• Find your member of Parliament
  http//www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/hou
  se/PostalCode.asp?SourceSM
• Find your member of Provincial Parliament
  (Ontario)http//www.electionsontario.on.ca/fyed/e
  n/form_page_en.jsp

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Citizenship and Immigration

• Settlement.org
• Site designed for two audiences newcomers to
  Ontario and those who work with newcomers
• Information and resources across the spectrum for
  people settling in Ontario
• Employment, Education, Housing, Health,
  Immigration and Citizenship, Language and
  Literacy, Legal Services, Consumer, Community and
  Recreation

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Citizenship and Immigration

• Settlement.org
• Local information by community
• Immigrant services offices
• Education school boards, education programs
• Health local OHIP offices with local phone
  numbers
• Employment local HRDC offices, job search
  workshops
• Housing help centres, subsidized housing,
  homeless shelters
• Language Literacy where to take English
  classes, language assessment centres
• More topics
• Option to print out all local information for a
  particular area option to get all
  information/crisis numbers

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Citizenship and Immigration

• Municipal information
• City sites ward maps, councillors, city hall
  officials
• Online services like paying your parking
  ticket!
• Council meeting minutes, annual reports,
  financial statements, budgets, municipal code,
  economic development

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Consumer Information

• Canada Consumer Information Gateway
• Contributions from over 400 government
  departments and agencies and NGOs
• 15 major topics with numerous links to online
  forms, services and publications
• Searchable by keyword and jurisdiction
• Sub-topics with each area complaints, recalls,
  warnings
• I need information on how to choose a funeral
  home.

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Consumer Information

• Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Business
  Services
• Central site for consumer information
• Shortcuts to forms and online services birth
  certificates forms for business dissolving
  corporation ServiceOntario life events E-Laws
• Consumer tips and warnings Consumer Beat
• Newsroom
• Related sites Comprehensive listing of consumer
  links including financial rating and counselling
  agencies consumer associations business
  agencies
• I want to complain about a business.

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