Government Documents and Microforms

Frequently Used Web Resources

Major Indexes

• The Catalog of United States Government Publications   (via GPO ACCESS)
  Indexes print and electronic government information products created by federal agencies and Congress. (1994- )
• FedWorld (National Technical Information Service)
  Access point for locating government information by subject (some available only by subscription).
• GPO ACCESS (Government Printing Office)
  Access to the Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA), the Congressional Record, Congressional Bills, Public and Private Laws, the Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, the Unified Agenda, and more than 70 government databases.
• LexisNexis Congressional 
  Search the text of bills, laws, hearings and other Congressional publications, as well as the Congressional Record and Federal Register. (off-campus access)
• LexisNexis Statistical
  Includes the American Statistics Index (ASI), Index to International Statistics (IIS) and Statistical Reference Index (SRI). The focus is on coverage of basic economic, demographic, industrial, and social statistics. (off-campus access)

• THOMAS
  Primary source Congressional documents: bill texts, bill summaries and legislative status, public laws, Congressional Record, explanations of the legislative process, links to other Congressional internet sites.
• U.S. Government Manual
  Comprehensive information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. The Manual also includes information on quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, commissions, and committees. Browse the current edition, or search earlier editions back to 1995.

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Congress

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present

• Senate
• Committees of the Senate

• House of Representatives
• Committees of the House
• Search congressional publications using LexisNexis Congressional.  (off-campus access)

• Search congressional publications using GPO ACCESS or THOMAS
  (see descriptions under Major Indexes)

• Congressional Pictorial Directory
• Congressional Budget Office
  Provides Congress with basic budget data and analyses of budgetary policy issues.  The site includes full text studies and reports, cost estimates, transcripts of testimony and other documents.
• Congressional Research Service Reports
  CRS works exclusively and directly for Members and committees of Congress in support of their legislative, oversight, and representative functions. Locate CRS reports through the following sources:
    LexisNexis Congressional - Full-text, 1916-present (off-campus access)
    National Council for Science and the Environment
    OpenCRS
    Thurgood Marshall Law Library - University of Maryland
    U.S. Department of State
  
• Government Accountability Office
  The investigative arm of Congress. GAO performs audits and evaluations of government programs and activities. Full text of reports and testimony, Comptroller General decisions and special publications available back to the early 1970's. Order single free copies by mail.

• Library of Congress   
  Online catalog, research guides and bibliographies, and digital collections of primary source materials. The American Memory collection includes digitized spoken word, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music.

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State and County Information

• County and City Data Book - 1944-2000
  Made available by the University of Virginia Geospatial and Statistical Data Center. The recent editions have the more detailed level of data. Original CCDB on the Census Bureau site.

• County Business Patterns
  Annual series includes a separate report for each State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and a U.S. summary. The divisions of the economy covered are agricultural services, forestry, and fisheries; mining; contract construction; manufacturing; transportation and other public utilities; wholesale trade; retail trade; finance, insurance, and real estate; and services.
• FirstGOV
  Includes a list of State and Local government resources
• LexisNexis State Capital 
  State government bills, regulations, statutes, members,  issues and policies. (off-campus access)
• National Association of Counties (NACo)
  A national association, founded in 1935, that focuses on federal legislation that affects counties.
• State and County Quick Facts
  Browse profiles at the national, state, county and city level.

• State and Local Government on the Net
  Includes links for state home pages, statewide offices, legislative, judicial and executive branches, boards and commissions, regional sites, and counties and cities.
• State and Metropolitan Area Data Book
  From the U.S. Census Bureau.  Social and economic conditions at the state and metropolitan area level.
• State Data Centers
  Locate state and county level data through this list of contacts from the Census Bureau.
• USA Counties
  "Information is derived from the following general topics: age, agriculture, ancestry, banking, building permits, business patterns, crime, earnings, education, elections, employment, government, health, households, housing, income, labor force, manufactures, population, poverty, retail trade, social programs, veterans, vital statistics, water use, and wholesale trade."

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Foreign Countries

• CIA World Factbook
  Brief country information including geography, people, government, economy, transportation, communications, and defense forces. The Rank Order pages list countries in order of area, population, birth and death rates, GDP, and other subject areas.
• Background Notes
  Reports on individual countries from the State Department. A good source for general background on the geography, people, history, economy, and political relations of foreign countries.

• Country Studies and Area Handbooks
  Extensive descriptions of countries' political, economic, social, and national security systems created at the Library of Congress. The series, published from 1988 to 1998, contains studies of 101 countries. Includes photographs, tables, glossaries, and bibliographies. The Country Profiles are more recently updated sources on individual countries.
• U.S. Embassies, Consulates, and Diplomatic Missions
  Listing of web links to foreign embassies, from the State Department.
• International Organizations
  Llinks to inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations from Northwestern University Library.
• Foreign Governments
  Links to foreign government sites from Northwestern University Library.
• International Statistical Agencies (Census)
• Portals to the World
  Portals to the World links to authoritative information selected by Library of Congress Subject Specialists about nations and other areas of the world. When complete, the project will include all nations.

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Statistics

• FEDSTATS
  A collection of links to more than 100 federal agencies that produce statistics.

• Bureau of Economic Analysis
  The BEA publishes the Survey of Current Business, papers and working papers, methodologies and methodology papers, and has interactive access to national income, product accounts, international transactions, local area personal income, GDP by industry, and other estimates. The Glossary defines the economic terms used.

• Bureau of Justice Statistics
  The Bureau of Justice Statistics web site is a broad-based portal to a range of crime statistics and publications. Find data on crime and victims, criminal offenders, special topics, law enforcement, prosecution, the federal justice system, courts and sentencing, corrections, and criminal record systems.

• Bureau of Labor Statistics
  The Bureau of Labor Statistics site is a comprehensive site for statistics on labor-related issues. One of the most popular publications is the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Find data on inflation and consumer spending, wages and earnings, occupations, demographics, employment and unemployment, industries, and more.

• Bureau of Transportation Statistics
  The Bureau of Transportation Statistics provides data on multiple modes of transportation: airline, maritime, highway, transit, rail, pipeline, bike and pedestrian, and others.

• Census Bureau
  The Census Bureau is the predominant source for demographic and economic statistics.
  >American FactFinder is the portal to multiple statistical sources. The data sets included are from the 2000 Decennial Census, the American Community Survey, the Annual Population Estimates, the Economic Census, and the Annual Survey of Manufactures.
  >The Publications page has links to reports on agriculture, business - trade and services, the census of population and housing including historical decennial censuses from 1790 to 2000, construction and housing publications, the economic census, foreign trade, general and reference sources, governments, manufacturing and mining industries, other population reports and special studies, technical documentation and working papers, and transportation.
  >The Statistical Abstract of the United States is a comprehensive overview of the statistical state of the country. It includes data on population, vital statistics, health, education, law and crime, geography, elections, government at the federal, state and local levels, national security, employment, income, agriculture, natural resources, energy, construction and housing, trade, transportation, banking and finance, arts and entertainment, and some international statistics. Each section is available in Portable Document Format (.pdf) and Excel (.xls).  Copyright restrictions prevent the inclusion of some tables in the electronic versions. Tables include source information for further research.
  >When in doubt, try searching the Census Bureau web site using the Google search tool, or check the A to Z list.
  
• DataFerrett for TheDataWeb
  DataFerrett, a collaboration between the Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control, is a downloadable application that allows for data mining and extraction of multiple data sets. Since DataFerrett is a fairly sophisticated tool, be sure to consult the tutorials and user guide, or contact the DataFerrett team.

• Energy Information Administration
  This Department of Energy site has data on petroleum, natural gas, electricity, coal, nuclear fuel, renewable and alternative fuels, international data, forecasts and analyses, historical data, information on homes and commercial buildings, and environmental resources.
• Interactive Tariff & Trade DataWeb
  A service of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the DataWeb integrates international trade transactions with tariff and customs treatment. The information in Dataweb is freely available, but you must create an account to access the data. Import and export materials are updated monthly. Coverage begins in 1989.
• International Statistical Agencies (Census)
  An alphabetical list to global statistical agencies.
• LexisNexis Statistical
  Includes the American Statistics Index (ASI), Index to International Statistics (IIS) and Statistical Reference Index (SRI). The focus is on coverage of basic economic, demographic, industrial, and social statistics. (off-campus access)

• National Agricultural Statistics Service
  From the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), find data from the Quick Stats Database on the federal, state, and county level. Search for data from the census of agriculture (1992-2002) or find summaries of state and county reports. Or browse statistics by subject, from almonds to wool.

• National Center for Education Statistics
  The Digest of Education Statistics has data on all levels of education, from K-12 to post secondary education. The Condition of Education is a congressionally-mandated report on the current trends and developments nationwide in education, while the Projections of Education Statistics looks ahead to coming developments. Indicators of School Crime and Safety is a joint project with the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The Educational Resources Information Center, or ERIC Database, is an index of citations of journal and non-journal education literature going back to 1966 with some articles available in full-text. Search the Site Index or the Subjects A-Z for more information.

• National Center for Health Statistics
  The NCHS, part of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), is the main source for health statistics. The Faststats A to Z lists statistics alphabetically by keyword or general subject area. The site also includes the full text of Health, United States, an annual publication on national health trends. The National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) contains data on births, deaths, and marriage and divorce statistics.

• NOAA National Climatic Data Center - Annual Climatological Summary
  This data set contains monthly and annual summaries for over 8000 U.S. locations. Login and password required. Ask at the Government Documents Reference desk.
• Population Reference Bureau Country Statistics & Reports
  Comprehensive directory of population-related web sites from the Population Reference Bureau. Browse by organization, by region or country, or by topic within countries, or search the site. The DataFinder allows for selection by a range of variables such as region of the world, country, education, employment, environment, health, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, or all variables.

• STAT-USA/Internet (Access from Lauinger Library network)
  Stat-USA provides a broad range of domestic economic and international trade information, including  National Trade Data Bank and Economic Bulletin Board files.
• Tax Stats (IRS)
  The Tax Statistics site from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has links to data on business taxes, charitable statistics, compliance statistics, individual tax statistics, statistics by form, and products and publications.

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Citation Guides

• Uncle Sam - Brief Guide to Citing Government Publications
  A very useful guide from The University of Memphis.
• Creating a Citation from LexisNexis Congressional Universe
  Information on how to cite electronic, print and microfiche congressional publications.
• Citing Electronic Sources
  From the Learning Page of the Library of Congress' American Memory project, this site includes information on a range of documents found on the site. Find out how to cite an entire website, cartoons and illustrations, films, legal documents and government publications, maps, newspapers, photographs, sound recordings, special presentations, and text.

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Business

• EDGAR
  Searchable archive of SEC electronic filings from 1994 to the present.
• North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS)
  The first data to be available on a NAICS basis is from the 1997 Economic Census and the 1997 Foreign Direct Investment Benchmark Survey.   Includes NAICS to SIC correspondence tables.

• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
  From the U.S. Department of Labor, this OSHA site provides statistics and data on OSHA inspections by establishment, inspections within industry by SIC code, accident investigation searches, Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) searches. See also the OSHA site, Workplace Injury, Illness and Fatality Statistics.
• STAT-USA/Internet (Access from Lauinger Library network)
  STAT-USA provides a broad range of domestic economic and international trade information, including  National Trade Data Bank and Economic Bulletin Board files.
• U.S. Business Advisor - business.gov
  Managed by the Small Business Administration (SBA), Business.gov is a portal to government services and information for businesses, focusing on applicable Federal rules and regulations. It has printable and electronic forms, state and local government web-based resources, and information from non-profit and for-profit organizations.

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Last update 6/29/06