Wednesday, November 16, 2016
The Library of the Month is a celebration of Wisconsin libraries compiled by the BadgerLink team.
The November Library of the Month is the wonderful online collection of state government documents available through the Wisconsin Digital Archives.
Access to Wisconsin state documents is provided through the Wisconsin Document Depository Program. It is a statutorily mandated program responsible for making sure state documents are preserved and made widely available. The program is managed by the Dept. of Public Instruction and has been a part of Wisconsin law since 1901.
In response to the decline in documents available in print, the depository program transitioned in 2004 to collecting primarily electronic state documents, making them available through a digital collection called the Wisconsin Digital Archives. The Wisconsin Digital Archives contains documents from executive and judicial agencies, boards, councils, commissions and task forces primarily from 2001 to present. (The Legislative Reference Bureau manages a separate collection for legislative documents.)
State documents play an important role in connecting residents of Wisconsin to the work being done by state agencies and the major state government programs they manage. State documents include statistics, studies, maps, newsletters, and reports that are authoritative and engaging and contribute toward supporting government transparency and civic literacy. Wisconsin Digital Archives proves to be a powerful research tool as state government touches every part of our modern lives.
So what will you find in the Wisconsin Digital Archives? This online library of full-text documents cover current, newsworthy topics about life in Wisconsin.
Looking for reliable information on what fish are safe to eat? Check out Choose wisely: a health guide for eating fish in Wisconsin (2016).
Worried about family members snowmobiling? Get the statistics and facts from the Wisconsin snowmobile safety & enforcement report (2015/2016).
Are you planning your career? Find out what skills you need for the careers that will be doing the most hiring in Wisconsin over the next 6 years in Hot jobs to 2022 (2015).
The Wisconsin Digital Archives is a robust and growing collection built by collaborative partners working together to catalog and archive documents. Collaborators include the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Wisconsin State Law Library.