GODORT (Government Documents Round Table)

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The mission of the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) is to (1) To provide a forum for discussion of problems, concerns, and for exchange of ideas by librarians working with government documents; (2) to provide a force for initiating and supporting programs to increase availability, use, and bibliographic control of documents; (3) to increase communication between documents librarians and other librarians; (4) to contribute to the extension and improvement of education and training of documents librarians.

Learn more about GODORT on the ALA website.

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GODORT State Database project

  • 1.  GODORT State Database project

    Posted Dec 01, 2022 09:29 AM

    The GODORT State Database project is a great way to learn more about a state and provide others with a tool to access helpful databases of stat information. Volunteers check links four times a year, add new content when available and remove sites that are no longer supported or have retired. There are some orphan states currently up for adoption:

    Wisconsin (after January 2023). The Badger State is the state of fine cheeses, the famous House on the Rock, beautiful coasts, the birthplace of Frank Lloyd Wright and Laura Ingalls Wilder. The official state pastry is the kringle, designated in 2013 this flaky dough pastry can be filled with fruit, nuts, or other filling and baked with icing. Folks there know how to kick up their heels with the state dance- the polka! Designated the state dance by 1993 at the request of a second-grade class from Charles Lindbergh Elementary School in Madison and supported by several groups.

    New Jersey (after January 2023).  The is one of the few states with a state microbe- Streptomyces griseus. In 1943, researchers from Rutgers University used the microbe to create the antibiotic streptomycin. Tuberculosis death rates in the U.S. plummeted. They fell from about 194 deaths per 100,000 people in 1900 to about 9 deaths per 100,000 people in 1955.

    Illinois. The Land of Lincoln is also the land of cycling! In 2018 cycling was named the state exercise. Not to be outdone by New Jersey the state declared Penicillium rubens as the official State Microbe in 2021 to honor Peoria and the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, whose scientists with the help of local residents in the 1940s discovered a method of mass-producing penicillin.

    District of Columbia. A single vertebra of a dinosaur was found in 1898, during sewer work at 1st and F Streets, SE. One hundred years later DC Public School students at Watkins and Smothers Elementary School lobbied the DC Council to dub it the Capitalsaurus and had it declared the official dinosaur of the District of Columbia.

    If you would like to adopt one of these fascinating states please email susanne.caro@ndsu.edu

     



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    Susanne Caro
    Government Information Librarian
    North Dakota State University
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