Uncle Sam's Crystal Ball - On Target!

While preparing for a talk on Alaska Statehood Resources, I came across the item:

Rogers, G. W., & Cooley, R. A. (1963). Alaska's population and economy; Regional growth, development, and future outlook. College: University of Alaska.

On page 203, the authors present a chart of population projections done by various forecasters. According to the chart, the US Census Bureau predicted in 1960 that in the year 2000, Alaska would have a population between 600,000 and 700,000.

The actual 2000 population, as reported by the US Census via American Factfinder? 626,932 people. That's more than good enough for government work. It's an especially interesting figure to me since it did not take Alaska's oil boom of the 1960s and 1970s into account.

Governor Palin's Entrance Interview On-Line

Robyn Russell of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks reports that the UAF Oral History Program has put up Governor Palin's entrance interview on-line. This is the oral history interview she did with Paul McCarthy several months after taking office. The URL is: http://uaf-h2007-04.uaf.edu/. People can listen to the MP3 file and/or read the written summary.

Questions about this resource should be directed to the UAF Oral History Program at Oral History Program; Alaska & Polar Regions Dept.; Rasmuson Library; University of Alaska Fairbanks; Fairbanks, AK 99775. Phone: (907) 474-5355. Fax: (907) 474-6365. E-mail: ffwss@uaf.edu.

Local News Blog for Delta Junction

I'm sure Joyce knows about this resource, but other Alaskans might want to know that the Delta News, a local paper in Delta Junction, Alaska runs a blog of news stories. The blog allows comments, although I didn't see any. The blog features local events and carries local photographs. I could see it being useful to visitors or prospective residents.

The main Delta News web site has a good collection of standard news resources and links to blogs written by current and former Delta residents.

If you or your patrons are interested in other Alaska news sources, be sure to check out the News and Weather category on SLED at http://sled.alaska.edu/news.html.

Sealaska Heritage Institute Collection Upgrades

The SHI Archivist announced that the Sealaska Heritage Institute Special Collections in Juneau were receiving some welcome upgrades:

For patrons this new facility will host a more accommodating research area or Reading Room, which consists of a room for patrons to come in and sit down at a workspace, obtain computer access, and conduct research by using our materials. We plan to use the Reading Room to host other small educational events as well. The move to the new facility is especially great for Special Collections because we are getting more storage space for our growing collection holdings.

Congratulations to SHI Special Collections on this new development. I look forward to their educational events.

Seldovia PL Cited at Canadian Library Conference

Amanda over at Blog without a Library shared a presentation she's giving at the Atlantic Provinces Library Association conference in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The presentation is on social software and she cited Alaska's Seldovia Public Library for it's good usage of the social bookmarking site del.icio.us.

Tougher in Alaska premiers on the History Channel

As mentioned on our list, this series on Alaska might be of interest to some of you and your patrons. For more information, see http://www.history.com/minisites/tougher-in-alaska. I'll miss the premiere tonight, since I don't get the History Channel and I have a Juneau Chapter meeting to attend (with a tour of the new Auke Bay Labs NOAA facility!), so I'll be interested to hear what others have to say about it.

Please share in a comment to this post, or in your own!

Doggone Helicopter - CC Photos by Army

Alaska
Originally uploaded by soldiersmediacenter

Here's a good Friday treat -- The US Army has a presence on the photosharing site Flickr at http://flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter. The photos are taken and posted by Army photographers and carry a Creative Commons Attribution license. That means you can use the photos in whatever way you like provided you give the photographer credit.

Doing a search on the word "Alaska" brought up 30 photos, including the one pictured here with the capition:

"Meki, an air Force military working dog, is hoisted up to a medical evacuation helicopter during training held at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Matthew T MacRoberts) (Released)"