Government Documents

Books

Library Catalog

Search for government documents held at Lane
Library. You may choose to do an advanced search, limiting the collections to “Federal Documents” and/or “State Documents.”

Location of Government Documents

Our physical collection can be found in its very own room on the 1st Floor.

General indexes and catalogs

USA.gov

Major portal to US government information available online.

FedStats

Gateway to statistics from over 100 federal agencies.

FDsys

Online access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government. Eventually to replace GPO Access.

Catalog of U.S. Government Publications

Catalog of U.S. government publications cataloged and distributed (including electronic-only titles) since 1976.

Congress.gov

Library of Congress organized site; provides access to congressional bills, bill tracking and text, conference reports and the Congressional Record from 1989.

Finding Government Information

Useful websites for sorting out government sources.

GODORT/Frequently Used Sites Related to Government Information

Subject Index to government information resources created by government information librarians.

INFOMINE

INFOMINE is a virtual library of Internet resources relevant to faculty, students, and research staff at the university level. It contains useful Internet resources such as databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, mailing lists, online library card catalogs, articles, directories of researchers, and many other types of information.

Cybercemetery (of Former Federal Websites)

The University of North Texas Libraries and the U.S. Government Printing Office, as part of the Federal Depository Library Program, created a partnership to provide permanent public access to the electronic Websites and publications of defunct U.S. government agencies and commissions. This collection was named the “CyberCemetery” by early users of the site. It includes websites from the Executive and Legislative branches and Independent Commissions.

Federal Government Information

Looking for resources about our government? In general, they are divided into three different branches of government: executive, judicial and legislative. Executive branch includes links to the Office of the President and Cabinet Offices. Judicial branch includes the office of the Attorney General, the Supreme Court, and other U.S. courts, including Trade, Claims, and Tax courts. The legislative branch includes the House of Representatives and the Senate, Congressional Directories, the Statutes at Large and the Code of Federal Regulations, information on floor debates and roll call votes, and more.

Executive

The White House

Official site including news from the White House blog and press briefing room, photo and video archives, and live streams of events around the country with President Barack Obama and administration officials. Also includes links to the cabinet offices.

Weekly compilation of presidential documents

The official publication of presidential statements and other materials released by the White House Press Secretary, 1993 – present. Published every Monday.

A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies

Provides information including website link, parent agency and related agencies for various departments and agencies.

American Presidency Project

A digital project of the University of California at Santa Barbara. They have consolidated, coded, and organized into a single searchable database a variety of documents including historical presidential papers, party platforms, candidates’ remarks, Statements of Administration Policy, documents released by the Office of the Press Secretary, and election debates and results.

Judicial

Department of Justice

Includes Reports of the Attorney General, and links to legal reports and publications covering topics such as ADA for Small Businesses to Your Rights Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

RFI

Provides links to all the Federal courts: Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, District Courts, and Bankruptcy Courts.

History of the Federal Judiciary

Includes biographies of Supreme, Circuit, and District Court judges since 1789.

Supreme Court Decisions 1937 – 1975

Full text and searchable.

U.S. Court of Claims

Money claims made against the Federal government, including tax refund claims.

Legislative

United States House of Representatives

Links for finding your representative, house schedule, votes, bills, and reports.

Senate

Provides links to senators, committees, legislation and history.

Congressional directory 1994-present

This is the official directory of the U.S. Congress. Provides short biographies and additional data such as committee memberships and terms of service.

Congress.gov

Library of Congress organized site; provides access to congressional bills, bill tracking and text, conference reports and the Congressional Record from 1989.

GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys)

Provides free online access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.

Basic Sources for Legislation and Regulations

Looking for specific bills or regulations? Below are a few good starting points.

Congressional Bills

1993 to the present, through FDSys.

Code of Federal Regulations

Annual editions from 1996 to the present, through FDSys.

Congressional Documents

1975 to the present, through FDSys.

Congressional Record

Official daily record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress from 1994 to the present through FDSys.

Congressional Reports

These reports originate from congressional committees and deal with proposed legislation and issues under investigation from 1995 to the present through FDSys.

Federal Register

Official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents from 1994 to the present through FDSys. For browsing by subject, especially in current issues, use the FR site itself.

Fedlaw

This all-purpose legal research site is operated by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness.

Public Laws

1987 to the present, through the Library of Congress’ Thomas system.

Fedlaw

Codification of federal laws. FDSys has editions from 1994 to the present.

State Government Links

Looking for information on a certain state? Here are a few great places to start your search:

State Government Websites

USA.gov links to main state web page plus links to state agencies by topic, and state courts, governors, and legislators

State News

Stateline.org, State Policy & Politics; Daily news service of Pew Center on the States.

State Data Center Network

Partnership created in 1978 to make data available locally to the public through a network of state agencies, universities, libraries, and regional and local governments.

Wisconsin Government

State of Wisconsin

State of Wisconsin homepage. From here, you can find information about specific state agencies and offices. For example, you could find the website for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), or you could find the website for the office of the Governor.

Legislative Documents Search (Online)

This is an electronic archive of Wisconsin laws, statutes, and other legislative information. Electronic availability depends on the year.

International Sources

Looking for basic information on a specific country? Start with the CIA World FactBook. This website provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.

International Organizations Databases

United Nations Data (UNdata)

Link to a database with a variety of statistics on various countries in the world.

World DataBank

Link to the World Bank databases; combines the World Development Indicators and Global Development Finance.

International Intergovernmental Organizations

United Nations

Main link to the UN – begins by allowing a choice of language. Links to main UN bodies (organs).

General Assembly of the United Nations Documentation

Search aganda, resolutions, UN journal, and draft proposals from the United Nations.

International Court of Justice

Latest decisions and cases.

World Bank

Research, publications and data available.

International Monetary Fund

Research, publications, data and statistics available.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Research, publications, data and statistics available.

World Health Organization

Shapes the health research agenda, sets norms and standards, articulates evidence-based policy options, provides technical support to countries and monitors and assesses health trends.

European Union

Europa.eu is the official website of the European Union. It provides basic information on how the EU works, the latest EU news and events, and provides links to EU information on the websites of EU institutions and agencies.

International Labour Organization

Research, publications, data and statistics available, such as the global wage report and databases of labor statistics.

Government Data and Statistics

Looking for specific data? Start here.

Data.gov

The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government.

FedStats.gov

Links to more than 100 U.S. Federal agencies that provide statistics for public use.

State and County QuickFacts

Quick, easy access to facts about people, business, and geography.

American Community Survey

Social, economic and housing characteristics, demographic and housing estimates, and Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) data.

American Fact Finder

Your source for population, housing, economic, and geographic data.

DataFerrett from Census.gov

DataFerrett is a unique data analysis and extraction tool-with recoding capabilities-to customize federal, state, and local data to suit your requirements. (FERRETT stands for Federated Electronic Research, Review, Extraction, and Tabulation Tool.)

US Department of Labor Demographics

Several programs at the Bureau of Labor Statistics make significant amounts of data available for specific demographic categories. Demographic categories used by BLS include sex, age, race, and ethnic origin. The data by age generally are limited to persons of working age, defined as 16 years and older. Data on race generally are for blacks and whites. Data on ethnicity are confined chiefly to information on persons of Hispanic origin.

FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)

Download, graph, and track over 45,000 series from over 35 sources.

Government Images

Our Government provides access to a variety of images in many formats.

American Memory

The Library of Congress provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.

FedFlix

Internet Archive of government produced videos, from training films to history, from our national parks to the U.S. Fire Academy and the Postal Inspectors.

NOAA photo library

The collection spans centuries of time and much of the natural world from the center of the Earth to the surface of the Sun.

Smithsonian Digital Image Collection

Images from the Smithsonian Institute collections.

Citing Government Sources

Now that you have found a particular government resource, how do you cite it? Here is some help below:

Brief Guide to Citing Government Publications (U.Memphis)

Extensive guide to citing paper, microform, and electronic government publications. Numerous examples

APA Style – Citing Legal Materials

Online guide that follows the Bluebook: a Uniform System of Citation (from Westfield State Univ.)

Citing Government Information Sources Using MLA (from Univ. of Nevada-Reno)

Online guide with examples using MLA format.