This Week's Facts:
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Resources Help Identify Fall
Foliage Hotspots
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State, Corporate Sponsors to
Create Green Welcome to Indy
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State Department Wants Your
Foreign Policy Feedback
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Blogs Offer Latest National
Commerce Information
Census Products
Explain American Comm. Survey
Are you new to the American Community Survey? As a part of the
Census Bureau’s
Compass Products, the
series of print and electronic resources that help you learn
about the benefits and uses of the ACS, the Bureau has released
an online tutorial, available
here. It takes about an
hour to complete. By the finish, you will know about Title 13,
how and when data is collected annually, how to access data via
American FactFinder, and more. Check it out!
Indiana Insider
Keeps You on Top of Statewide Events
Indianapolis will be welcoming more visitors this weekend with
the
Circle City Classic Game
and parade. People from many states will be here to enjoy the
sounds, sights, and festivities. You can help your friends,
family, and patrons be informed with the
Indiana Insider blog. This
blog has information on
places to go,
things to do, and
food & drink across
Indiana. Whether you’re here for the Classic or just want to
try something new, there’s something interesting for everyone
and for every budget.
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Friday Facts Editorial Team:
Katharine Springer
State Data
Center Coordinator
Elisabeth
O’Donnell
Federal Documents Librarian
&
Kim Brown-Harden
State
Documents Coordinator
 
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Resources
Help Identify Fall Foliage Hotspots
 It’s
October! With Autumn fully upon us now, it’s time to take a look
at the Fall colors. If you don’t quite know where to go, make
sure to check out the U.S. Forest Service website. Their list of
National Forest Fall Foliage Hotspots
is a great guide to areas around the country that are especially
known for their leaves. Indiana made it on the list, with a
profile of the Hoosier National Forest. However, if you feel
like venturing out to get your Fall foliage fix, there are
opportunities in Georgia, Minnesota, and even New Mexico.
Additionally, the U.S. Forest Service’s
Regional Fall Foliage sites
are profiled. Here, you can look for sites by Region – Indiana
is in the Eastern Region. Be sure to check out some of the
photos from last year or read the latest
Fall Color Report. Of
course, if you’re looking for Fall foliage that isn’t at a
national park, the
Leaf Cam is a great place
to visit! There are cameras located at several parks around the
state, including Brown County and Spring Mill State Park. The
colors haven’t changed too much yet, but we all know it’s
coming! Whether you want to go in-state or out-, or even just
enjoy the foliage from your computer, these government resources
are a great place to start.
State, Corporate Partners to Create Green
Welcome to Indy
 What
happens when the
Indiana Department of Transportation
, Eli Lilly, and other corporate partners join together? You get
a
Greener Welcome. On October
7th, INDOT, Eli Lilly, and Keep Indianapolis
Beautiful will work together to landscape and enhance
interchanges that form the western gateway to urban
Indianapolis. The project hopes to achieve environmental,
economic, and cultural benefits. Their plan is to transform the
open spaces within highway interchanges from trash and weeds to
‘living green spaces’. In addition to clean, green space, be on
the lookout for various
contemporary structures
along some of the highway interchanges such as the ones on the
I-70/ Holt Road Interchange. You can keep track of this project
by viewing the
news and maps and
fact sheets sections of
their website, which will answer most questions about this
project. Enjoy a greener welcome to Indianapolis!
State Department
Wants Your Foreign Policy Feedback
 If
you or your patrons are interested in foreign policy and have
ideas on how it could be better conducted, you may be interested
in
Opinion Space 2.0 from the
U.S.
Department of State. Opinion Space is an
interactive forum that places you on a global opinion map. After
answering a series of questions about topics related to foreign
policy – one question asks about the relationship between
climate change and global security – the site places you on the
“map” based on your answers. People answering similarly to you
are placed near you and those who didn’t are far away. You can
read other people’s responses and rate them. Questions are
divided into different themes such as nuclear proliferation and
a discussion of ideas for Secretary Clinton.
Blogs Offer Latest
National Commerce Information
 What’s
important about the latest American Community Survey (ACS)
estimates released Tuesday? Take a look at
Random
Samplings, the new official blog of the U.S.
Census Bureau, to find out more. For one thing, the blog tells
us that ACS data shows the lowest and highest rents paid in the
U.S. in 2009 – a popular topic in the wake of the recent U.S.
recession. Many people are also asking when data from the 2010
Census will be available. If you read the latest entry of Dr.
Robert Groves’
2010 Census Director’s Blog
on the Census Bureau’s website, he explains the difference
between data that is being released soon via the Census Bureau
which is not 2010 Census data, and data that will be
released that is 2010 Census data. The Census Bureau is
one of many federal government departments under the leadership
of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which has its own series of
blogs. The far-reaching
Commerce Blog is located on the Commerce
Department’s main webpage. On the right sidebar, under “Other
Commerce Blogs,” you’ll find links to the Foreign Trade
Division’s
Global Reach blog, the
Minority Business Development Agency’s
Minority Biz blog,
Tradeology – the official blog of the
International
Trade Administration, and others. You’ll also
find links to separate blog categories to filter your own
reading by certain federal departments and offices.
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