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December 2000: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Museum, and Digital Archives
Since its creation in 1941, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library has grown to encompass a museum and, most recently, an online digital archives. Through its Web site, in particular, the Roosevelt Library goes a long way toward fulfilling Roosevelt's goal of making the records of the past available "for the use of men and women in the future," providing access via the Web to a growing portion of the rich collection of documents, photographs, recordings, and other primary source materials found at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York. Materials currently available online include the German Diplomatic Files, the Vatican Files, the Safe Files (formerly classified materials, mainly from the World War II period, that were kept in Roosevelt's safe), and thousands of copyright-free photos of the Roosevelt family, the Great Depression and the New Deal, and World War II.
November 2000: Geography Awareness Week
November 12-18, 2000 is Geography Awareness Week, which is sponsored by the National Geographic Society. This year, the focus of National Geography Week is conservation - balancing some of the needs of people with the need for a planet that will be healthy for years to come. Information, lesson plans and activities are available online for three different grade levels (K-4, 5-8, and 9-12) in four categories: Biodiversity, Fresh Water, Population, and Oceans.
October 2000: FirstGov
FirstGov is a portal to U.S. government Web sites. Advertised as "Your first click to U.S. Government," FirstGov provides a single, central point of access to the approximately 20,000 Federal government sites. It is designed for users who are not necessarily familiar with the organizational structure of the Federal government. You don't have to know which government agency or department has the information you are looking for, because information is not arranged by agencies, but by general topics. There is also a keyword search engine, hierarchical listings of the three branches of government for browsing, and a section for featured subjects, such as the "Severe Weather Watch."
September 2000: Online Conversions
If you've ever needed to convert from U.S. standard measurements to metrics (or vice versa), or wondered how many seconds there are in a decade, or how many inches in a mile, you can find the answers on Online Conversion. At this site you can perform 8,100 conversions or calculations, involving angles, area, cooking, finance, length/height/depth, metrics, temperature, time, and weight.
August 2000: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has been existence for over 200 years. Throughout this time, its goal, which was laid out in the United States Constitution (Article 1, Section 8), has been "to promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing for limited times to inventors the exclusive right to their respective discoveries." The PTO provides three primary services: examing and issuing patents, examing and registering trademarks, and disseminating patent and trademark information. The Patent and Trademark Office's Web site provides extensive information about patents, trademarks and how to apply for them.
July 2000: Library of Congress - American Memory
The American Memory Historical Collections program is a series of collections that the Library of Congress has made available in digital format. Items in these collections may include photographs, documents, maps, motion pictures, and sound recordings. Users can search the American Memory Historical Collections in two ways. The Collection Finder includes a complete list of all the collections digitized so far, as well as lists organized by subcategories (e.g., Art and Architecture, Geography, or Recreation and Sports). The Collection Search allows users to do a keyword search or to search for items of a particular format (e.g., photos, audio recordings).
June 2000: I Love NY Travel Guide
The I Love NY Web site has information about destinations, accomodations, attractions, and events in New York State. A useful feature is the ability to search specific regions and/or attractions. For example, users can search on as broad a topic as musical events throughout the entire State, or as narrow a one as air-conditioned bed-and-breakfasts in the Finger Lakes region that are within five miles of a golf course. Content and information contained in this site has been compiled by the New York State Department of Economic Development, based on data submitted directly from local tourism promotion agencies and business entities.
May 2000: The People of Colonial Albany: A Community History Project
The Colonial Albany Social History Project is a model community history program of the New York State Museum. Colonial Albany was one of the oldest American communities. The first Europeans came mainly from Dutch provinces, but diverse German, Scandinavian, British, French, and African cultural backgrounds were also represented. The Colonial Albany Social History Project focuses on identifying and creating biographies for all of the approximately 16,000 people who lived in the city of Albany during its preindustrial age (i.e., all city residents born before the end of the year 1800).
April 2000: NYS Department of State: Kids' Room
New York State Facts provides the answers to many commonly asked questions about New York history, State symbols, and more. Fire Safety guides kids through lessons on fire safety and information about arson dogs, fire trucks and Fire Prevention Week. Both sections of the Kids' Room include games and activities to complete on line or print out.
March 2000: New York State Department of Taxation and Finance
Tax forms and complete instructions, including tax tables, are available online, in PDF format. From the Web site, users can also get information about filing electronically or, once forms have been filed, check on the status of their refunds. There is also information about other tax-related issues, such as the new sales tax exemption on clothing and footwear.
February 2000: New York State Department of Labor's CareerZone
CareerZone is a career exploration tool that gives people easy access to information on over 1,100 jobs found in the O*NET database (the nation's primary source of occupational information). Through CareerZone users can find descriptions of many occupations, including potential wages and job outlook, as well as information on skills, abilities, and experience required for them. There are also resources to help users pick a college and/or major, write a résumé, prepare for an interview or find a job using America's Job Bank.
January 2000: Unclaimed Funds: Find out if New York State is holding money for you
State law requires banks, insurance companies, utilities, and other businesses to turn dormant savings accounts, unclaimed insurance and stock dividends, and other inactive holdings over to New York State. The State holds unclaimed funds in trust, with the State Comptroller acting as custodian, until they are claimed by the owner. Find out if New York State is holding money for you by searching the Office of the Comptroller's unclaimed funds database at http://nysosc3.osc.state.ny.us/cgi-bin/db2www/ouffrm.d2w/input.
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