U.S. Government Publications Finding Aids

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Listed below are directories, search engines, and indexes to aid in locating government information and publications. There is a separate Academic Info page listing individual Agencies and documents. See also our U.S. Government Statistics page.

Quick & Dirty

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USA.gov
The U.S. Government's Official Web Portal [was FirstGov].

  • USA.gov en Español
    Es el portal oficial del gobierno de los Estados Unidos.
  • U.S. Government Resources for September 11 Events - (dead link)
  • Indian Ocean Tsunami
    Sections include: How You Can Help ; Dealing with Stress after a Disaster ; Welfare of U.S. Citizens Affected by the Disaster ; General Information and News ; About Earthquakes and Tsunamis.
  • Science.gov
    FirstGov for Science
    "...contains reliable information resources selected by the respective agencies as their best science information. Two major types of information are includedóselected authoritative science Web sites and databases of technical reports, journal articles, conference proceedings, and other published materials."
  • FirstGov for Kids
    "This site was developed and is maintained by the Federal Consumer Information Center. It provides links to Federal kids' sites along with some of the best kids' sites from other organizations all grouped by subject."
  • U.S. Government Graphics and Photos

GPO Access
Official Federal Government Information at Your Fingertips
Superintendent of Documents Home Page
"GPO Access is a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office that provides free electronic access to a wealth of important information products produced by the Federal Government. The information provided on this site is the official, published version and the information retrieved from GPO Access can be used without restriction, unless specifically noted."

Government Information Online - Ask a Librarian
"Government Information Online (GIO) is a free national online information service supported by nearly thirty public, academic, and state libraries throughout the United States. Participating librarians specialize in finding government information sources of all kinds, and will try to answer your questions through chat or email."

FedForms.gov
"FedForms.gov provides 'one-stop-shopping' for the Federal forms most used by the public."

General Accounting Office (GAO)

OurDocuments.gov
100 Milestone Documents from American History
Sections include: Milestone Documents ; Teacher's Toolbox ; News & Events ; Competitions ; Related Resources.

SciTechResources.gov
Locate Government Science and Technology Resources
"...the government site that provides the scientist, engineer, and technologist with easy, one-stop access to key U.S. Government resources. Thousands of web sites are being reviewed to select just those sites that will provide valuable links to government expertise, services, laboratories, information centers, and other important resources.
Managed by National Technical Information Service, U.S. Dept. of Commerce

THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet
U.S. Congress on the Internet
This useful Library of Congress page includes current Floor activities, Bill summaries from the current Congress as well as from previous Congresses, roll call votes, Public Laws and major legislation, text and index to the Congressional Record, Committee information, and historic documents and links to other Congressional Internet services and directories.

White House - see our separate White House page.

www.FoodSafety.gov
Gateway to Government Food Safety Information
Sections include: News & Safety Alerts ; Consumer Advice ; Kids, Teens, & Educators ; Report Illnesses & Product Complaints ; Foodborne Pathogens ; Industry Assistance ; National Food Safety Programs ; Federal & State Gov't Agencies ; Other Topics.

CyberCemetery
Government Documents Dept. University of North Texas Libraries
"...as part of the Federal Depository Library Program, created a partnership to provide permanent public access to the electronic Web sites and publications of defunct U.S. government agencies and commissions."

Citing Government Information Sources - (dead link)
Sample citiations using MLA (Modern Language Association) style.
By Audrey Jean Haight, Patrick Ragains, and Vicky York, University of Nevada, Reno Libraries.

General Guidelines for Citing Government Publications - (dead link)
By Bobby Griffith, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Dept.

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Document Finding Aids

Abbreviations and Acronyms of the U.S. Government
 By Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis University Library.

[Education] AACTE Education Policy Clearinghouse
"This clearinghouse is designed to help people access information on education policy at the national, regional, or state level, and includes links to every state government, department of education and judicial system. In addition, there are links to hundreds of newspapers, policy centers, and associations. News items are added regularly, and individuals at AACTE member institutions can access the legislative tracking and posting aspects of the site. A limited number of policy pieces are also included as well as a user run bulletin board."
- American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education

American Library Association - Government Documents Roundtable

Capitol Spotlight .
A service of C-SPAN and CQ

Catalog of United States Government Publications (MOCAT) - (dead link)
A GPO Access Finding Aid
"This online catalog consists of bibliographic records published in the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications (MOCAT) since January 1994. These records describe Government information products available through the Federal Depository Library Program...The MOCAT database is updated daily with preliminary cataloging records that will be edited and published in future issues of MOCAT."

Census 2000 Data Access and Use
"...augment the information on Census 2000 provided by the Census Bureau by adding other types of information, news, and perspectives focused on data access and use."
By Warren Glimpse

A Chronology of US Historical Documents
- University of Oklahoma College of Law

Congress Online Project - (dead link)
"...to examine the use of Web sites and other forms of online communications by congressional offices. The goal of the project is to improve electronic communication between Members of Congress and the public."
Conducted by George Washington University and the Congressional Management Foundation

  • E-mail Overload in Congress - (dead link) "This is the first in a series of Online Issue Briefs that the Congress Online Project will be presenting to congressional offices

Congressional Hearings on the Web
Documents Center, University of Michigan

Congressional Research Service - (dead link)
WWW Accessible Reports
Compiled and organized by Gary Price, George Washington University

Congressional Reports
"Congressional reports originate from congressional committees and deal with proposed legislation and issues under investigation. There are two types of reports House and Senate Reports and Senate Executive Reports. The database for the current Congress is updated irregularly, as electronic versions of the documents become available."

Digital Governmentorg
Home of the National Science Federation's Digital Government Program
"The NSF's Digital Government Program partners leading-edge computer scientists with forward-thinking government agencies to explore and develop new information technologies that will improve the way government serves the American people."

Documents Administration Page
"The following are a selection of the most useful tools for the administration of Federal and New York State depository collections and public web pages associated with those collections."
Includes Docs Web Sites; Documents Operations; Publishers; Print Resources; Web Site Tools.
Maintained by Jerry Breeze, Documents Service Center, Columbia University Libraries

FDLP Desktop - Federal Depository Library Program

Federal, State and Commercial Bill Tracking Resources - Updated
By Kathy Biehl
LLRX.com ResearchRoundUp Published November 15, 2001

Fedstats
"More than 70 agencies in the United States Federal Government produce statistics of interest to the public. The Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy maintains this site to provide easy access to the full range of statistics and information produced by these agencies for public use."

Finding Government Documents Today
Prepared by Peggy Roebuck Jarrett and Cheryl Nyberg, University of Washington Gallagher Law Library for the 2005 Annual Meeting and Conference of the American Association of Law Libraries.

Global Information Locator Service (GILS) - (dead link)
"The goal of the Global Information Locator Service is to make it easy for people to find information of all kinds, in all media, in all languages, and over time."

GovBot
A searchable database of over 600,000 web pages from U.S. Government and Military sites around the country
The Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval

Government Documents Librarianship
A large listing of resources including starting points (best sites), GovDoc resources, full-text publications, legislation, politics, state and local government, statistics, US government, and voting. His Quick Guide to Essential Govdocs Resources is particularly helpful with direct links to GODORT, GPO Access, Monthly Catalog and other resources.
Maintained by Larry Schankman

GPO Gate - (dead link)
"University of California's gateway to federal information. GPO Gate is a World Wide Web interface to the Government Printing Office's suite of databases known as GPO Access. GPO Access databases contain the full text of selected information published by the United States Government"

GPO Pathway Services - (dead link)
This path of GPO Pathway Services arranges government Internet sites by subject topic. The main list of topics is based upon the current Guide to U.S. Government Information

Guide to Locating Executive Orders and Proclamations
Legal Information Center, Levin College of Law, University of Florida

[Update to] A Guide to the U.S. Federal Legal System: Web-Based Publicly Accessible Sources
By Gretchen Feltes, Reference Librarian, New York University School of Law Library
LLRX.com Feature, November 2001

HiCitizen
"We have identified and compiled the local, state, and federal information and services you need in a format that is intuitive and easy to access. In addition to providing transactions on-line, HiCitizen also provides the relevant forms and contact information necessary to transact with government agencies offline. And, we do it at no cost to the government or to you...HiCitizen also features a series of Spanish-language links that will be routinely expanded as new information sources become available."

INFOMINE - Government Information
"U.S. Federal, state, local, regional and international government resources are collected. U.S. Federal resources are emphasized. Among state level resources, California is currently best represented."
Maintained by librarians from The University of California, Wake Forest University, California State University, The University of Detroit - Mercy.

Internet Law Library - (dead link)
The library's goal is to provide free access to the basic documents of U.S. law as well as to organize links to other law resources on the Internet. Able to search the U.S. Code, and includes U.S. Code Classification Tables, Codification legislation and U.S. Federal laws arranged by both original published source and by agency

LandView
The Federal Geographic Data Viewer
"LandView reflects the collaborative efforts of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to produce a "Federal Geographic Data Viewer" that provides the public ready access to published Federal spatial and related data."

Library of Congress (LC)
U.S. National Library

  • The LOC.GOV Wise Guide
    "This Wise Guide portal was designed to introduce you to the many fascinating, educational and useful resources available from the nation's library and one of the most popular Web sites of the federal government."

Library of Congress' Documents Expediting Project - (dead link)
"A centralized acquisition service for obtaining U.S. Government publications which are not designated as depository items and are not available by purchase either at the Government Printing Office or at the issuing agency. The Project is a joint effort of the Library of Congress and a subscribing membership consisting of university, public, special libraries, and individuals."

LLSDC Legislative Source Book
- Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C. (LLSDC)

LLRX.com

Municipal Codes
Seattle Public Library staff have prepared this list of links to city and county codes available for unrestricted searching on the World Wide Web.

National Library for the Environment (NLE)
"universal, timely, and easy-to-use single-point entry to environmental information and data for the use of all participants in the environmental enterprise.
- National Council for Science and the Environment

National Security Archive
"...an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Northern Light's usgovsearch free edition
"Search our comprehensive collection of millions of web pages from government and military sites for authoritative information by and about the US government."

Official Federal Government Web Sites
A Library of Congress Internet Resource Page. Directory of Internet addresses for the Executive Branch, Independent Agencies, Boards, Commissions and Committees, and Quasi-Official Agencies

OurDocuments.gov
100 Milestone Documents from American History
Sections include: Milestone Documents ; Teacher's Toolbox ; News & Events ; Competitions ; Related Resources.

Resources of Use to Government Documents Librarians - (dead link)
Includes current news and updates, Government Documents Round Tabe (GODORT), Government Printing Office, fact sheets, laws and legislation, listservs, e-journals, professional associations, and state and regional documents groups.
Maintained by Andrea Sevetson, UC Berkeley

Science.gov
FirstGov for Science
"...contains reliable information resources selected by the respective agencies as their best science information. Two major types of information are includedóselected authoritative science Web sites and databases of technical reports, journal articles, conference proceedings, and other published materials."

Search Full-Text U.S. Internet Government Periodicals - (dead link)
From WashLaw Web
Searchable by Subject, Sudoc Number or Title
By Paul A. Arrigo and Dee Barker, Government Documents Librarians, Washburn University Law Library

Search Systems
Free Public Records Database Collection (over 1500 databases)
By Pacific Information Resources

StateNews - (dead link)
"Your Source for Daily State and CSG News"
- The Council of State Governments

students.gov
 Official "student gateway to the U.S. government."
"...brings together all kinds of information and services that students and their families have told us they need. You can come to one place to find what you want, instead of searching the entire web. We've done the legwork, so you save time and have more success finding what you need."

U.S. Congressional Bibliographies
Compiled by John A. McGeachy, North Carolina State University
"Senate Bibliographies: Comprehensive Lists of Hearing, Prints, and Publications Printed by the Senate, 1983 to present ; House Hearings: Lists of House Committee Meetings Recorded in the Congressional Record's Daily Digest, 1985 to present."

U.S. Depository Ready Reference Sources
"This is a subject arrangement of the most frequently used depository document titles at Columbia University Libraries. Each title may be available in different formats: print, microfiche, web, CD-ROM."
Documents Service Center, Columbia University Libraries

U.S. General Accounting Office

U.S. Government: Commonly Used Abbreviations and Acronyms
"The following list reproduces Appendix A: Commonly Used Abbreviations and Acronyms, from the 2000-2001 United States Government Manual...."
From University of Washington School of Law Library.

U.S. Government Information: Affirmative Action and Civil Rights - (dead link)
University Libraries Government Publications, University of Colorado, Boulder
Maintained by Margaret M. Jobe

United States Intelligence Community
"This is a selective guide to resources at Columbia University Libraries and on the Internet, for conducting research on U.S. government agencies involved in intelligence activities, the classification and declassification of government documents related to intelligence activities, and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Some of the items included may also have information about commercial espionage or intelligence activities of foreign governments, but that is not the focus of this guide."
Some resources are available to current Columbia faculty, staff and students only.
Maintained by Jerry Breeze, Documents Service Center, Columbia University Libraries

University of Virginia Library - Government Information Resources
Government Information on the Internet: Reference Sources by Topics & by Agency
Sections include: United States ; Commonwealth of Virginia ; Virginia Local Government ; State & Local Governments ; International Organizations ; Foreign Government ; Government Information Virtual Reference Shelf.

USLinks - U.S. Federal Government Agencies Database - (dead link)
"...is designed to provide access to web sites of and brief descriptive information about the major agencies of the United States Federal Government."
- Public Documents & Maps Dept., Duke University Perkins Library

Who's Who in the Federal Government - (dead link)
Government Publications Dept., University of Memphis

Academic Info. All rights reserved.