¡Felicitaciones! Science.gov

Wouldn’t it be great to have a feature on your website that could translate your online content into another language with the blink of an eye? Well, that wish has finally been granted. Earlier this month Science.gov released a Spanish version of its website – Ciencia.Science.gov. This initiative is truly amazing and inspiring. Government science information is now available to the 35 million Spanish speaking residents of the United States, which makes the U.S. ranked second in size in terms of the world’s Hispanic populations.

Snapshot of the home page of Ciencia.Science.gov (Oct. 18, 2012)

Ciencia.Science.gov translates Science.gov’s 200 million pages of U.S. government science information into Spanish. The Library of Congress is a member of Science.gov’s interagency initiative of 17 U.S. Government science organizations which form the voluntary Science.gov Alliance.

Science.gov indexes the Library’s Science Reference Service or Servicios de referencia de la ciencia content, which includes the distinguished LC Science Tracer Bullet or Balas Trazadoras series, the popular Everyday Mysteries or Misterios cotidianos website, and our Inside Adams or Interior Adams blog.

Along with the Library’s science information, you can also find its legislative information and images (under multimedia) in Science.gov.

It’s a very proud moment for the Science.gov Alliance and I would like to thank them for their hard work that has resulted in making the U.S.government’s science content accessible to more of its citizens.

Business Research Orientation class turns 5

Back in 2007, my coworker Jan Herd and I decided to develop a class specifically for business researchers.  Our very first class was in October 2007. While we included some general information about doing research at the Library and a detailed overview of the Library’s online catalog, we wanted to feature specific guidance on business …

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Watching Baseball at the Opera House

The following is a guest post by Emmy-Award-winning engineer Mark Schubin. He has been writing about the intersecting histories of opera and media technology since 1972 and currently serves as engineer-in-charge of the Metropolitan Opera’s Media Department. In October 2011, Mark gave a presentation at the Library on the “Fandom of the Opera: How a …

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A Weather-proof Nation

It’s not very often that a reference librarian gets to attend a House Science Committee briefing, but this week I had the wonderful opportunity to attend one. Being the self-proclaimed weather gal at the Library,  I was thrilled when an invitation to attend a committee briefing related to weather was forwarded to me by my …

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Fear the Turtle or Eat the Turtle

Today’s post is by 2012 Junior Fellow Brian Horowitz of the University of Maryland, College Park. The Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) is both the Maryland state reptile and the official mascot of the University of Maryland (UMD).  The bronze statue of Testudo, a gift from the class of 1933, sits with pride on the campus at College …

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Five Questions (Intern Edition): Shayela Hassan

With summer winding down and our interns returning to school, we are featuring a Five Questions post with intern Shayela Hassan. Shayela’s assignment in our division gave her the opportunity to immerse herself in the Library’s collection of cookery and food history books. 1. What is your background? I’m a first-generation American girl born to …

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A Special Kind of Moon

There is something about a full moon that affects us (sometimes literally!) and our admiration of it can be found in art, literature, music, and poetry.  The full moon is revered in many cultures across the globe.  In North America, tribes of Native Americans gave varying names to the full moons according to the season, …

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An Early History of Life Insurance

Today’s guest post is by 2012 Junior Fellow Alec Korte. A life worth living is a life worth insuring. The above quote was the bedrock on which Judge Willard Phillips, a Massachusetts lawyer, founded the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1835. The anchor that held that bedrock firm was the leadership at the top, which …

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