Check your mail closely if you are a resident of northwest Queens County, N.Y. U.S. Postal Service workers today began delivering the U.S. Census Bureau's 2004 Census Test questionnaires to residents who live in the test-site area. The mailings will continue through March 18.

The Census Bureau asks that residents of the test-area complete and mail back the questionnaire, in the postage-paid envelope provided, as soon as possible.

Information supplied by residents is kept confidential. Census workers take an oath to protect the information they collect. They may be fined or sent to jail for breaking this oath.

After April 24, census workers, using hand-held computers, will begin visiting and collecting information from households that fail to return the questionnaire by mail. Also, if the questionnaire is incomplete, a census employee will contact residents to obtain the missing information.

Census tests are critical to ensure a more cost-effective and accurate 2010 Census. For the Census Bureau to do a better job in the next census, it needs to find out now what works best in communities across the nation.