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Made At Library Reference Awards
Reference award is an annual list of books, websites,
and electronic resources selected by a committee of librarians
for their usefulness in local branch collections. Selection criteria
include value and appropriateness for branch collections, organization
of material, style of presentation, and authority of author/editor.
It is my privilege to introduce Gotham Gazette.
GG is an free online Monday through Friday publication about New
York City - a news digest, a news operation, a policy magazine,
and a reference work. It is a product of the Citizens Union Foundation,
the oldest and largest of the city's non-partisan good-government
organizations.
Today's Lead Stories, one of 3 main components,
summarizes the most important news of the day, and links to the
4 local dailies and a variety of weeklies and monthlies.
Likewise, Issue of the Week places a headline story
into context, with background, commentary, and further linkage.
This week has been the City's GOP, while previous issues have
examined community-based planning, garbage, condemned property,
the role Albany plays in the city's affairs, etc.In addition to
reporting news, GG is a policy magazine and news operation, with
monthly original articles by staff and contributors.
These, the Topic Pages, cover 17 municipal subjects,
ranging from Arts, Law, and the Environment, to Demographics,
Education, and Technology. The Transportation site, for example,
written since Dec 99 by Bruce Shaller, of Shaller Consulting and
a Visiting Scholar at NYU, this month features the Lower Manhattan
Development Corporation's "blueprint" for the recovery
of lower Manhattan. Past articles have explored the proposed East
River bridge tolls, Token Booth Closings, New Taxis, and the Second
Avenue Subway. In addition, Mr. Shaller gives 5 sites for beginners
and 7 other
recommended sites, which together supply a working knowledge.
This format is followed by most of the topics pages.
Each major feature -- Today's Lead Stories; Issue
of the Week; Topic Pages - is archived. Furthermore, in a general
index, the Gazette lists most articles by subject and author.
The Gazette also links, with annotations, to media
organizations, governmental bodies (by borough), Business Improvement
Districts, Civic organizations, Foundations, Public/Private and
advocate groups, and Think Tanks.
There is a search mechanism. My only quibble with
this most excellent site, it yields quite a frightening result.
Fortunately, the indexes and the focused organization will provide
what you want.
The Gazette has hatched three related subsites.
Searchlight is a guide to government and politics, and a directory
of neighborhoods and political districts. Rebuilding NYC helps
sort out the efforts to recover from the attacks. The Citizen
is a monthly selection of articles and translations from the immigrant
and ethnic presses.
Yet there is more - an extensive Research Page,
of libraries and other resources, both bricks and mortar and cyber,
an events listing, maps, a bibliography of NYC books, and some
classified ads for non-profit and foundations jobs. But my favorite
is the Eye Opener, a free daily subscription, which summarizes
and links to Today's Lead Stories. I joined about a month ago,
and though to say it changed my life would be rather too grand,
it has certainly enriched it. I think of it as the 3rd cup of
coffee.
GG is written in a clear and direct, witty And good
natured way. A person, one I would like to meet, seems behind
each sentence. It shuns the passive voice and institutional tone.
It is spare with the graphics, has no advertising, no popups,
and I've yet to find a bad link. Rather I found one, but called
them on the telephone, spoke to a person, and it was fixed by
the next day. Outside links open new windows rather than extending
the search path. It loads quickly, even at my semi-luddite home.
I'm honored to have presented this site - as an intelligent summation,
commentary and positive influence on the civic life all around
us, Gotham Gazette can't be beat.
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