Business and Government Documents Center

The Business and Government Documents Center invites you to our new exhibit featuring documents and images from Hurricane Katrina. Spanning across various collections at Bobst Library, we have assembled a range of print, video, and online items that help put this disaster into perspective.

From US government documents to Spike Lee's poetic documentary "When The Levees Broke," this exhibit offers a glimpse at the extraordinary response to this disaster.

Here is a sample of the titles with links to either full-text or the item record.

US Government Documents:
The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned

Hurricane Katrina : the roles of U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency leadership : hearing before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Lessons Learned: EPA’s Response to Hurricane Katrina

Books:
Come hell or high water : Hurricane Katrina and the color of disaster by Michael Eric Dyson:
Click here for Bobcat Record
Click here for Google Books

Films:

When the Levees Broke: a requiem in four acts
Click here for Bobcat Record

Hurricane Katrina storm that drowned a city
Click here for Bobcat record
Click here for PBS site

Images:
Select the Accunet/AP Photo Archive from our Databases A to Z list.

Journal articles:

Special issue of The Journal of American History
Special issue of Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

Websites:

Hurricane Katrina Advisory Archive: The National Weather Service compiled this detailed archive of advisories, as well as a graphic display of the Hurricane's path.

The Hurricane Digital Memory Bank: the largest free public archive of Katrina and Rita with over 25,000 items in the collection.

Interested in issues on global warming and climate changes? Check out the EPA website:

http://epa.gov/

The EPA website is a great place to find up-to-date information on climate change and global warming. Interestingly, the EPA no longer updates their global warming page, but maintains the archive for historical purposes.

You can also find iformation on:
US climate policy,
Federal regulations governing environmental issues
Clean Air Act (PDF)
Clean Water Act (PDF)
Grants
Recycling

A Podcast from the NY Times CityRoom recently reflected on the the 1978 law that required New York State (this means New York City as well!) residents to pick up after their dogs. Its an interesting piece and it also provides a great opportunity to show how easy it is to find information on New York State laws, both via the free web and through subscription sites available only to NYU students.

First, lets take a look at how you can use Lexisnexis Academic Universe to find this law.

Once you are in Lexisnexis select "Legal" from the Tabs at the top. The select "Federal and State Codes" from the list. Once in this section, type in "Public Health Law 1310" -- make sure to search using "Natural Language" and select "NY. . ." from the source list. The first hit should bring up the law. Not only does Lexisnexis provide the text of the law, but it also has a history of its existence as well as Case Notes.

For those without access to Lexisnexis, here is another option:

The New York State Legislature

From there, you can search through a variety of New York State bills, resolutions and laws. By selecting "Laws of New York" and then typing in "Public Health Law 1310". The record from this site simply provides the text of the law.

And, this is the big difference between paid and free sites. With Lexisnexis you get a better overall picture of what the law is about, its history and context. The NYS Legislature site provides access to the text, but it definitely does not give the extra details that Lexisnexis offers.

In honor of the start of the 2008 Olympics it seems fitting to post information on the new comic strip published by The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Called "The Case of the "Spoilsports", it's inspired by UNESCO's International Convention against Doping in Sport, and will highlight UNESCO’s role in promoting the elimination of drug use in sports.

It will feature the adventures of two protagonists - detectives Rattus Holmes and Felis Watson - in their quest against drug use. The comic is published weekly in English, French and Spanish.

This week, read Chapter 1: Sport, Glorious Sport [PDF]: The Baker Street Kids are enthralled by a great cycle race. Their hero has a good chance of winning again. There is cause for great excitement and celebrations...

The New York Times reports that the White House website has been revamped.

Of particular interest for students of government are sections for Executive Orders and Proclamations.

The site will also reportedly offer ways for citizens to make comments on legislation proposed by the President as well as a new Office of Public Liaison.

In addition, a complete list of nominations and appointments can be found on the site.

The NYTimes today has an excellent set of interactive maps and data sets outlining immigration trends in the United States since 1880. The maps allow you to compare foreign born population vs. the total population for any state by decennial years; 1880, 1890, 1910 etc. In addition, you can choose from a select group of countries and track that nations immigration to various counties in the United States.

The data set focuses on diversity in nations classrooms and tracks demographic changes across school districts.