Library Journal has just published their annual list of Notable Government documents, "Notable Government Documents 2011: Past as Prologue". This list of notable Federal, State, Local and International documents -- put together each year by ALA's Government Documents Round Table -- is a collaborative effort by the documents community to promote awareness and acquisition of government publications by libraries and use by library patrons. The list highlights the depth and breadth of the work of our governments. Check them out -- and make sure your library has them in their collections!

Please help out the government documents community. Each year the Notable Documents Panel of the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) selects titles issued by intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and governments at all levels and highlights them in a May Library Journal article -- here's last year's notable documents article.

If you see a government document, web site, database, or other information resource issued since January 2010 that merits attention, please take a few minutes to nominate it. Works in all formats are fair game, as are items published for governments and IGOs by private publishers.

Nominate early, nominate often!

Deadline is January 15, 2011.

Digital Dreams and Dashboards: Notable Government Documents 2009, By David N. Griffths, Library Journal (5/15/2010).

Though budget cuts have squeezed government information services at the local level, major digital initiatives and steps toward open governance at the federal level have compensated for some of these losses.

Yesterday Library Journal published its annual list of notable government documents, "Looking Back, Moving On: 2008 Best Notable Government Documents" written by Jim Church and his team of selectors and judges on the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) Notable Documents Panel. Every year since 1983, the panel has pulled together and highlighted state/local, federal and international government documents in order to "promote awareness and acquisition of government publications by libraries and use by library patrons."

This year's list highlighted such publications as Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports as well as free statistical databases from the United Nations (UNdata), the European Union (Eurostat) and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAOStat). Plus there was a special shout out to Carl Malamud and his Yes We Scan! campaign for Public Printer of the Government Printing Office. Check out this year's list of notable documents. You'll be amazed at the depth and breadth of publications by the various levels of governments. And by all means, if you have a favorite government document that you'd like to highlight, the Panel is always interested in nominations!

(Full disclosure: I'm the chair this year of GODORT's Publications Committee, which oversees the work of the Notable Documents Panel.)