Displaying all posts tagged with:

'Announcements'

Jan 30

Adding 2016 State Agency Periodicals to KGI Online Library

Posted to KGI Online Library Blog on January 30, 2017 at 4:40 PM by Bill Sowers

Every January we start to work on updating all the newsletters, news releases, annual reports and other state agency periodical collections in the KGI Online Library adding the previous year's cumulated issues to the online collection.  This is a huge task involving hundreds of issues.  Most of this work falls on the shoulders of Rita Troxel in Technical Services. Vicky Wolf helps as well. Our hats are off to both for their continued labors in updating/adding these titles.

Here's a sampling of just the news releases issued by a few of the state agencies that we have collected in the KGI Online Library.  Our collections of news releases are not always complete but on the whole they give the viewer a good look at the activities of a Kansas state agency through the years.

The dates under each agency indicate how far back we have the news releases for that particular agency.  Keep in mind that this is just a sample of a handful of Kansas state agency news releases.  You can view the full list of current agencies and their publications held by KGI here:  http://cdm16884.contentdm.oclc.org

Kansas Department of Agriculture news releases
1990-

Kansas Office of the Attorney General news releases
1990-

Kansas Department for Children and Families news releases
(includes Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services news releases)
1995-

Kansas Department of Commerce news releases
2001-

Kansas Corporation Commission news releases
1997-

Kansas Department of Corrections news releases

2006-

Kansas Governor Brownback news releases

2011-

Kansas Department of Health and Environment news releases
1988-

Kansas Highway Patrol news releases
2001-

Dec 18

Governors' News Releases

Posted to KGI Online Library Blog on December 18, 2015 at 2:45 PM by Bill Sowers

News releases by government officials are something akin to a "daily diary" of government agencies and administrators.  They are usually short announcements of activities, programs, memorials, calls to action, appointments, bill signings or vetoes, funding availabilities or opinions on federal, local or international news events.  They can be used to express approval or disapproval of legislation or court rulings.  On a lighter side they can also promote the participation of government in cultural or social events such as book fairs, egg hunts, tree lightings and music festivals.

An avid researcher of political history is well advised to look through these seemingly ephemeral, newsy notices.  They are often helpful in giving a sense of what government is about.

The Kansas Government Information (KGI) Online Library has press releases for three Kansas governors online:
The news releases are collected and added to KGI at the end of each year so we'll be adding Governor Sam Brownback's 2015 News Releases in January, 2016.  The current media releases of Governor Brownback can be found at: 

https://www.governor.ks.gov/media-room/media-releases

Nov 05

Using State Agency News Releases For Basic Research

Posted to KGI Online Library Blog on November 5, 2015 at 12:24 PM by Bill Sowers

Many Kansas state government agencies issue news releases with some frequency promoting new programs, agency employee changes, changes in regulations, etc.  Some agencies publish news releases with great regularity while others send out these newsy announcements as needed.

Having a continuous collection of news releases is something akin to having a "diary" of day to day happenings within state government.  Though most news releases just scratch the surface of events, plans and decisions they often give the researcher an idea of when, where, what, how and who in regards to agency operations.  So these information bits can give direction in narrowing searches for more in depth information.

The KGI Online Library tries to maintain as many agency news release collections as we can.  We normally gather the news releases for a single year into a large searchable document listing article titles within content notes.  Normally we provide the most recent year within our collection.  So right now the news release collections online only go up to 2014.  Then as soon as January 2016 rolls around we'll start entering 2015 collections.

Here's a sampling of news release collections in KGI Online Library:

Kansas Attorney General
(1990-2014)
Kansas Department of Agriculture
(1991-1996, 2004-2014)
Kansas Department for Children and Families
(2012-2014 - as well as Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services 1995-2012)
Kansas Department of Commerce
(2001-2014)
Kansas Department of Corrections
(2006-2014)
Kansas Department of Health and Environment
(1997-2014)
Kansas Department of Revenue
(2010-2014)
Kansas Department of Transportation
(1999-2014)
Kansas Governor's Office
Brownback (2011-2014)
Parkinson (2009-2011)
Sebelius (2003-2009)
Kansas Highway Patrol
(2001-2014)
Kansas Insurance Department
(2000-2014)
Kansas Water Office
(2012-2014)
Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism
(1980-2014 - Includes previous agency names)
Kansas Secretary of State
(2000-2014)

Can't find an agency you're interested in?  Check out the main listing of agencies at
http://kslib.info/KGI