On the 4th of July, President Obama hosted an Independence Day celebration at the White House for members of the U.S. military. In his remarks, he said, “It is, after all, your service — the service of generations of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — that makes our annual celebration of this day possible.”

Read more:

• President Obama’s weekly address celebrates the American spirit
• Vice-President Biden visits Iraq on Independence Day
• Declaration of Independence

Article Alert is a new free aggregation and digest service that links readers to interesting and informative magazine and journal articles on four major topics:  (1) American Life, (2) Economy, (3) Global Challenges, and (4) International Relations.

Editors and reference specialists employed by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Information Programs select from articles available on the Web in full-text format. Article selection does not constitute an endorsement of the authors’ views by the U.S. government.

Did you know the Library of Congress is the largest library in the world? One way to search the Library’s publicly available digital collections (whether digitized or born digital)  is to use the Browse by Topic pages.  Topics you can explore include American history, arts and culture, government, sports and much more.

Indigenous People Today: living in two worlds is the topic of the June 2009 edition of eJournal USA.  This publication explores issues surrounding the languages and culture of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples, their legal status and how they are networking around the world.

Americans know Lincoln from historian accounts and there is a large amount of information for anyone interested in his legacy. Another way to try to experience that crucial period in American history is through theater. This year at Ford’s Theater in Washington DC, a new play on Lincoln – “The Heavens are Hung in Black” – gave audiences a special production for this historic year.

To hear more listen to the production.

Three Australian women basketball players made it through to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament and one, Tegan Cunninghan (Oklahoma State) from Melbourne, will be playing in the final four for the championship against Louisville in St. Louis, Missouri. Gabby Fage (Arizona State) from Melbourne and Alison Lacey (Iowa State) from Canberra were in the top eight teams.  Stanford and UConn face off in the other semi-final game.

The America.gov website has been reorganized into four broad themes: American Life, International Relations, Economy, and Global Challenges. Among the current special features is an interactive map with brief economic information about G-20 countries.

Being Muslim in America is the latest publication produced by the Department of State’s Bureau of International Information Programs. The booklet includes biographical profiles, photo galleries and a timeline, as well as the usual feature articles.

Sports fans, including President Barack Obama, are filling in their brackets for the annual NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament which is underway. The tournament has evolved as the premiere American collegiate sporting event of the year.  The field of 64 teams is whittled down over a three week period to the round of “Sweet Sixteen” followed by the “Elite Eight” and culminates with one weekend of the exciting basketball.  The number of international student players, in particular Australians, at American colleges over the past 10 years has made this spectacular truly international.  The final series can be watched on ESPN throughout the course of the next three weekends ending with the final on 7 April.

• The complete 64-team draw (the bracket) (pdf)
• See President Obama’s predictions 

March is Irish-American Heritage Month. The Census Bureau has compiled a few statistics about Irish Americans. Wonder where they all settled in the United States? Check out the immigration map created by the Library of Congress.