Government Documents

Research Help

• CQ Electronic Library -- provides full text access to the CQ Weekly, known as the pre-eminent resource for Congress-watchers who need nonpartisan information on Capitol Hill, and the CQ Researcher, which provides analysis of current public policy topics.
• GPO Catalog -- indexes all types of U.S. government documents, including Congressional reports, hearings, debates, and records; judiciary materials; and documents issued by executive departments. Coverage from 1976 to the present.
• LEXIS/NEXIS Academic Universe -- a database of full text online news, business, financial, legal, medical, biographical, government and domestic and international newspaper resources. Updated daily.
• LEXIS/NEXIS Congressional Universe -- indexes and abstracts a broad spectrum of Congressional publications, including hearings (testimony), committee prints, reports, documents, and full text of bills and public laws.
• LEXIS/NEXIS State Capital Universe -- provides comprehensive access to state bills and laws, constitutions, proposed and enacted, regulations, newspapers of record articles about legislative issues affecting the states.
• National Journal Group's Policy Central -- provides full text access to news and information about Congress, including bills status reports, an archive of campaign ads, daily analysis and commentary on Congress, campaigns, and the media, and a fully searchable database of the latest national opinion polls on campaigns, national figures, and key issues.

• American FactFinder -- a system for accessing Census Bureau data on the internet. The system offers prepackaged data products and user-selected data tables and maps from Census 2000, the 1990 Census of Population and Housing, the 1997 and 2002 Economic Censuses, the Population Estimates Program, annual economic surveys, and the American Community Survey.
• Bureau of the Census -- official site to the Bureau with numerous links to contemporary, recent and projected census and demographic data.
• Census Atlas of the United States -- provides the complete content, in PDF format, of the Atlas, a large-format publication about 300 pages long and containing almost 800 maps. Data from decennial censuses prior to 2000 support nearly 150 maps and figures, providing context and an historical perspective for many of the topics presented.
• Census of Population and Housing -- data presented here ranges from our most recent census to the historical decennial census conducted throughout the decades. Some of the data were scanned as an effort to make historical census information available to the public.
• Historical Census Publications -- created by the University of Michigan Library, this site provides, among other things, access to the Census Question Data Base which offers the exact wording of Census questions since 1790, arranged by year. The site also include useful links to other sources of historical census data.
• National Historical Geographic Information System -- provides, free of charge, aggregate census data and GIS compatible boundary files for the United States between 1790 and 2000. NHGIS includes state and county statistical data from 1790-2000; census tract statistical data from 1910-2000; historic state and county boundary files (1790-2000) and census tract boundary files (1910-2000); all summary data (at all summary levels, including census blocks) from 1970-2000; and, County Business Patterns data from 1970-2000.
• United States Census Demographic Maps -- made available by Social Explorer, the site provides a free collection of historical census data maps and reports on the United States from 1940 to 2000.

• Foreign Government Resources on the Web -- comprehensive and up-to-date directory of links to international government resources and related foreign information on the web. Links are arranged by world region [e.g., Central and South America and the Caribbean] and also includes a resource guide to Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) collections.
• LSU Libraries Federal Agencies Directory -- a comprehensive and frequently updated web site directory of federal agencies in the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches as well as all independent councils, boards, committeess, and commisions. Links can be browsed hierarchically or alphabetically.
• State and Local Government on the Web -- provides one-stop access to the websites of thousands of state agencies and city and county governments. Drop-down menus can be used to view all the websites in a given state or to view websites of state government constitutional officers, state legislatures, state judiciaries and departments across all states.
• U.S. Government Manual -- the official handbook of the Federal Government, providing comprehensive information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. It also includes information on quasi-official agencies, international organizations in which the United States participates, and boards, commissions, and committees.

• The American Presidency Project -- an online archive that contain more than 75,700 documents related to the study of the Presidency. Maintained by the University of California at Santa Barbara, the searchable database includes the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Washington - Taft (1789-1913); the Public Papers of the Presidents: Hoover to Bush (1929-1993); the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents: Clinton - G.W. Bush (1993-2007). as well as Executive Orders and Proclamations, State of the Union Addresses, Inaugural Addresses, press conferences, and much more.
• Library Of Unified Information Sources (LOUIS) -- a comprehensive, completely indexed and cross-referenced depository of federal documents from the executive and legislative branches of government. Currently contains, in fully searchable format, seven sets of federal documents: Congressional Reports, Congressional Record, Congressional Hearings, the Federal Register, Presidential Documents, GAO Reports, and Bills and Resolutions.
• OpenCongress -- a free, open-source, and non-partisan web resource that brings together official government data with news coverage, blog posts, comments, and more about what's happening in Congress.
• Open CRS Network -- A project of the Center for Democracy and Technology, Open CRS provides access to the full-text of Congressional Research Services Reports that are in the public domain.
• Oyez -- a multimedia archive devoted to the Supreme Court of the United States and its work. It aims to be a complete and authoritative source for all audio recorded in the Court since the installation of a recording system in October 1955. The Project also provides authoritative information on all justices and offers a virtual reality 'tour' of portions of the Supreme Court building, including the chambers of some of the justices.
• United States Congressional Serial Set -- commonly referred to as the Serial Set, this collection contains the House and Senate Documents and the House and Senate Reports. The reports are usually from congressional committees dealing with proposed legislation and issues under investigation. The documents include all other papers ordered printed by the House or Senate. Documents cover a wide variety of topics and may include reports of executive departments and independent organizations, reports of special investigations made for Congress, and annual reports of non-governmental organizations. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, executive-branch materials were also published in the Serial Set.

• FedLaw -- provides references of use to individuals doing Federal legal research and which can be accessed directly through "point and click" hypertext connections. It is a good general legal research site covering federal statutes, regulations, and Executive Orders, the federal judiciary, the legislative branch, state and territorial laws, arbitration and mediation information, general research and reference, professional associations and organizations, and how-to legal-related sites.
• Geospatial One-Stop -- a portal of geospatial information containing thousands of metadata records (information about the data) and links to live maps, features, and catalog services, downloadable data sets, images, clearinghouses, map files, and more. The metadata records were submitted to the portal by government agencies, individuals, and companies, or by harvesting the data from geospatial clearinghouses.
• GPO Access -- a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office that provides free electronic access to a wealth of information produced by the Federal Government. You can search across multiple databases or browse using an A-Z list of online sources or grouped by branch of government.
• International Data Base (IDB) -- maintained by the Bureau of the Census, this database provides demographic data for selected indicators, countries and user-selected regions, and years, population statistics, and summary data, population pyramids and access to more data for a single country.
• The Patent Lens -- this system can be used to search  the full-text of over eight million patents and patent applications. The site  also integrates INPADOC (International Patent Documentation Center) legal status and patent family information from over sixty countries directly into the search results. This data can help to give an idea whether a patent application related to one of interest was filed in other countries, and possibly whether patents are in force or applications are still pending. Updated weekly.
• THOMAS -- provides access to federal legislative information including Bills, Resolutions, floor activity in Congress, Congressional Record, schedules and calendars, links to committee information, Presidential nominations, treaties, and miscellaneous government resources.
• USA.gov -- the U.S. government's official web portal. It is an easy-to-search, free-access website designed to give users a centralized place to find information from U.S. local, state, and federal government agency websites.

Statistics

• FedStats -- provides access to the full range of official statistical information produced by the Federal Government with convenient searching and linking capablilties to more than 100 agencies that provide data and trend information on such topics as economic and population trends, crime, education, health care, aviation safety, energy use, farm production and much more.
• Statistical Abstract of the United States -- published since 1878, this is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Also serves as a guide to sources of more information both in print and on the Web.

• Request-A-Class

Last Updated: 6/6/08