May 26, 2012 · www.gothamgazette.com

Gotham Gazette
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Comments 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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