October 2007 State Library Update
October 2007
Vol. 5, no. 4
In this issue:
Visit an exhibit by state-employee/artist, Karen White
, at the Ola Babcock Miller Building
State Law Library adds enhancements to Westlaw
Search the Digital Sanborn Fire-Insurance Maps
online
State Library Web site links to caucus and election resources
Check out the new information
on the State Data Center's Web site
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Karen White
is a talented artist and a state employee of Iowa. She enjoys being creative whether the medium is pencil, acrylic, chalk, pastel or oil. She has exhibited her work in a wide variety of places, was commissioned to create a 10'x 10' chalk drawing of Jimi Hendrix at the Kansas City Blues festival, and has received a number of honors and awards.
A variety of Ms. White's art works are on exhibit at the State Library during the month of October. It is said, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and she tries to express that in every unique art piece she creates.
The State Library is open Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. We're located at 1112 E. Grand in the Miller Building.
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On-site State Law Library patrons have quick and easy access to legal information from Westlaw
, including:
• state and federal judicial decisions
• state and federal annotated statutes and regulations
• practice manuals
• law review and journal titles
• KeyCite Service, Key Number System, KeySearch Service
We’ve added West’s ResultsPlus Premium
, which automatically scours authoritative resources for on-point analysis, guidance, and other information to enhance and expand your search results. ResultsPlus Premium suggests articles related to your search, for a broader, deeper understanding of your topic.
We've also added RegulationsPlus
, which provides everything you need to stay fully informed on any regulatory issue, with editorial summaries of caselaw decisions, KeyCite notification of changing and proposed regulations, etc. The service includes Federal Register content, agency opinions and decisions, statutory cross-references and valuable analysis. Easily scan and navigate federal document parts, sections and subsections, thanks to refined linking throughout code documents.
Stop by the Law Library, located on the second floor of the State Capitol Building, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday for a demonstration. Or call the State Law Library at 515-281-5124 or 800-248-4483 to schedule a brief one-on-one Westlaw tutorial so that you can begin taking advantage of these database enhancements!
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The State Library has added another online database for its customers: the Digital Sanborn Maps
. Sanborn fire-insurance maps are a very useful tool for local historians, demographers, city planners, genealogists, and anyone studying the history of an urban area. These fire-insurance maps were developed by the Sanborn Company in the latter part of the 19th century for the purpose of showing fire hazards for each building in a town.
The digital maps cover more than 360 Iowa towns from the 1870's through the 1950's.
Some types of information that can be found on these maps include: building construction details (building materials, number of stories, elevators and stairs, date of construction); building use details (building name, commercial or residential, type of business located on the premises); location details (current address, past addresses, alleyways and prominent natural features); and land use details (parks, railroad tracks, underground pipes, street widths, land elevations).
To search the maps go to the State Library's Web site at www.statelibraryofiowa.org
, click on "Log in to Online Resources" in the left side bar, and select "Sanborn Maps". Use your State Library card number for access.
If you don't yet have a State Library go to www.statelibraryofiowa.org/services/state-library-card
. Anyone who lives in the state of Iowa is eligible.
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For a collection of links to Web pages about the upcoming caucuses and elections go to the State Library's 2008 Caucuses and Elections Web page. Reference staff has selected high quality Web pages with both national and Iowa related information. The variety of pages present a balanced view of history in the making.
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The State Library’s State Data Center program publishes new Iowa data weekly on its Web site at www.iowadatacenter.org
. Recent information includes:
• 2006 income estimates, from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (http://data.iowadatacenter.org/browse/state.html#Income
)
• 2006 detailed demographic profiles for areas with populations of 65,000 or more, from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (http://data.iowadatacenter.org/browse/acs.html
)
• 2005 profile of scientists and engineers, from the Population Reference Bureau (http://www.iowadatacenter.org/Publications/Reports
)
• 2007 listings of current and historical features (including counties, townships, incorporated places, populated places, cemeteries, airports, lakes, schools, post offices, and more) along with their feature ID numbers, latitude, longitude, topographic map locations, and elevations, from the U.S. Board of Geographic Names (http://www.iowadatacenter.org/maps/codes
)
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OTHER SERVICES that the State Library offers free of charge:
*Search the online archives of the Des Moines Register and six other Iowa newspapers by using NewsBank. Go to our Web site at www.statelibraryofiowa.org, click on 'Log on to Online Resources' in the left sidebar and select NewsBank. Use your State Library card number for access. If you don't yet have a State Library card go to www.statelibraryofiowa.org/services/state-library-card
. Anyone who lives in the state of Iowa is eligible.
*The State Library is the official depository for state documents (intended to inform the general public) in any format. To find non-digital state documents go to our online catalog at http://catalog.lib.state.ia.us. To find digital state documents go to Iowa Publications Online at http://publications.iowa.gov
.
Barbara Corson
Program Director for Library Services
State Library of Iowa
1112 E. Grand
Des Moines, Iowa 50319
515-281-4352
800-248-4483
www.statelibraryofiowa.org
