Selected Resources for: Government Information, U.S.

Staff Image

Subject Librarian:

Amy Riegelman

aspringe@umn.edu

This subject covers: Information on the departments, personnel, and activities of the federal government of the United States.


Article Databases and Indexes

Academic or Scholarly Articles Subject Indexes

Indexes articles, news items, and editorials in approximately 80 English language military and aeronautical periodicals.
(See also printed version, for earlier years...WILSON Quarto TL501 .A5571x)

United States and Other Countries: For Education Topics use ERIC CSA for Find It access to U of M e-journals; ERIC is the Education Resources Information Center. It provides access to education-related journal and non-journal literature. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, it provides full citations and abstracts for journal articles, books, curricula, government documents, dissertations, reports, and other educational materials.

This version of the ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) database is freely available on the web and provides access to education-related journal and non-journal literature. Sponsored by the US Department of Education, it provides full citations and abstracts and some full-text for journal articles, books, curricula, government documents, dissertations, reports, and other educational materials.

Humanities & Social Sciences Retrospective searches nearly 1200 of the most important journals in these subject areas. Updated, uniform subject headings facilitate your search, with the original subject headings also provided. Subjects Covered Include: Addiction Studies, Anthropology, Archaeology, Area Studies, Art, Classical Studies, Communications, Community Health & Medical Care, Corrections, Criminal Justice, Criminology, Dance, Economics, Environmental Studies, Ethics, Family Studies, Film, Folklore, Gender Studies, Geography, Gerontology, History, International Relations, Journalism, Law, Linguistics, Literary & Social Criticism Literature, Minority Studies, Music, Performing Arts, Philosophy, Planning & Public Administration, Policy Sciences, Political Science, Psychiatry, Psychology, Public Welfare, Religion and Theology, Social Work, Sociology, Urban Studies.

Since its establishment in 1914, PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) has chronicled issues in the public debate through highly selective coverage of a wide variety of sources, including references to monographs, periodical articles, notes and announcements, government documents, policy reports and analytics. Addition of the Archive to our current PAIS International database extends comprehensive access to public and social policy information.

TRID (Transportation Research International Database) is a newly integrated database that combines the records from TRB's Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) Database and the OECD's Joint Transport Research Centre’s International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD) Database. TRID provides access to over 940,000 records of transportation research worldwide.


General Indexes to Magazine, Journal & Newspaper Articles

LexisNexis Academic is a full text databases of business, legal, news, magazines, and wire services. It includes sources for accounting, environmental studies, health and medical care, government and politics, people, and consumer information. Legal publications include law journals, federal and state statutes, codes, cases, agency rules & regulations, patents and legal reference materials.

Full-text summaries of foreign newspaper articles, conference proceedings, radio and television broadcasts, periodicals, and non-classified technical reports. Formerly published as FBIS and JPRS Reports.


Indexes, Other

ADAMS has the full text of regulatory and technical documents and reports written by NRC, NRC contractors, or NRC licensees. Documents include NRC regulatory guides, NUREG-series reports, correspondence, inspection reports, and others, all searchable and accessible from the NRC Web Site.

Consolidated index of Army publications & blank forms; electronic libraries of publications & forms provide official electronic versions of Army forms & publications. Search by entering key words or publication numbers such as "AR 1-1". Users may also use the Series Title and Proponent Collection pulldown boxes.

Congressional Publications & Executive Branch Documents provides access to full-text, indexing, and abstracts of published and unpublished Hearings, Congressional Committee Prints, and Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports. The full list of searchable congressional publications and date coverages includes:

  • Legislative Histories 1969-Present
  • Bills & Laws 1789-Present
  • Committee Prints & Misc. Publications 1789-Present
  • Congressional Record Bound Edition & Predecessors 1789-Present
  • Congressional Record Daily Edition 1985-Present
  • CRS Reports 1916-Present
  • Hearings 1824-Present
  • House & Senate Documents 1789-Present
  • House & Senate Reports 1789-Present
  • Serial Set 1789-Present
  • Executive Branch Documents 1789-1939

Access primary documents central to United States foreign and military policy since 1945. Material is arranged by topical collection produced by the National Security Archives at George Washington University. Each collection contains a diverse range of policy documents including presidential directives, memos, briefing papers, White House communications, email, confidential letters and more.

Index to selective reports and research generated by local government agencies, civic organizations, academic and research organizations, public libraries, and metropolitan and regional planning agencies in approximately 500 selected cities in the United States and Canada. State documents that deal specifically with an eligible city or county may be included.

Provides citation with abstracts mostly to technical reports relating to aerospace research. Covers NASA documents published since 1962, and NACA documents from 1915-1960. Many of the reports indexed can be found on microfiche in the Science and Engineering Library.

The National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts Database contains summaries of more than 150,000 criminal justice publications, including Federal, State, and local government reports, books, research reports, journal articles, and unpublished research.

Browse and view over 7000 hardcopy EPA publications and more than 35,000 digital titles.

Index to statistical publications from US and state government agencies, international intergovernmental organizations, professional and trade organizations, business organizations, commercial publishers, independent research organizations, and universities.

The Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC®) Technical Reports Collection includes citations to and selected full-text of JPRS reports from 1955 to the present. The DTIC collection supplements the University of Minnesota JPRS collection, which is only selective in the years prior to the commencement of depository distribution of the reports (1978). Try searching for "FBIS Collection", "FBIS", "JPRS", and the Corporate Author "Joint Publications Research Service Arlington VA".

This database serves as a current guide to articles on military and naval art and science, operational warfare, joint planning, national and international politics, and other areas researched by Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) faculty, staff, and students. Library staff members regularly scan the weekly news magazines, monthly and bimonthly journals such as Military Review, Armed Forces Journal, and quarterly publications, including NATO's Nations and Partners for Peace, RUSI Journal, and the Naval War College Review. Miscellaneous reports from RAND and the General Accounting Office are also indexed for SCAMPI. The index is updated quarterly and more records, current and past are being added. The journals included in the database can be found at http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/scampi/list.html.


Catalogs and Bibliographies

Catalogs

1976 to the present, updated daily. Produced by the Government Printing Office, the Catalog of United States Government publications includes print and electronic Government information products created by Federal agencies.

The Checklist is a nearly comprehensive list of US Government publications published during these years.

Energy Citations contains bibliographic records for energy and energy-related scientific and technical information from the Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessor agencies, the Energy Research & Development Administration (ERDA) and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Includes bibliographic records of literature in related disciplines such as chemistry, physics, materials, environmental science, geology, engineering, mathematics, climatology, oceanography, and computer science. Includes links to the full text of some recent publications.

Search with MNCAT to find books, journals, etc. owned by the library. Search by keyword, subject, title, or author for materials on your topic.

The NCJRS Catalog describes new publications distributed by NCJRS or added to the NCJRS library, and includes news about other services.


General Reference Sources

Biographical Sources

A government produced compilation of biographies of all members of Congress, past and present.


Directories

The Congressional Directory contains standard directory information on the current Congress, plus session dates for each house since 1789, statistics on Congress, lists of Governors, a list of the Presidents and which Congresses met during their administrations and much more.

Based on the entries in the US Government Manual, this site includes a very complete listing of federal agency sites.

The Federal Staff Directory provides detailed biographies, contact data, jurisdictional information, and multiple indexes, including a comprehensive subject index that indicates which agencies handle which subjects.

Covers all branches of the federal government. This directory provides overviews of the organizational structure for federal government agencies. Look up contact names, phone numbers, and email addresses.


Handbooks and Manuals

As the official handbook of the Federal Government, The United States Government Manual provides 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.


Internet Resources

Electronic Texts

A rich source of primary source material on all aspects of American history, from the bound, sequentially numbered volumes of all the reports, documents, and journals of the US Senate and House of Representatives. Additional congresses are added each month.


Gateways & Megasites

Access eGovernment is an online guide that explains the content, services, technology, politics and issues specific to e-government.

GPO Access is a service of the US 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.

This page from the University of Memphis is an attempt to track printed government publications that are migrating to the Internet. This list includes those publications in dual format and in electronic(Internet) format only. It is arranged by title and by Superintendent of Documents classification number.

FirstGov is the world wide web information portal for the United States Federal Government. FirstGov is intended to be your first resource to find any government information on the Internet.


Search Engines

In 1992, FedWorld was established by The National Technical Information Service(NTIS), an agency of the U.S Department of Commerce, to serve as the online locator service for a comprehensive inventory of information disseminated by the Federal Government.


Periodical and Newspaper subscriptions

Electronic Journal Collections

CQ Press is a publisher of research about the American government, politics, history, public policy, and current affairs. CQ Researcher includes reports on current affairs, social policy and other controversies back to 1923. CQ Almanac has analysis on the major legislation and actions of congress for each year since 1945. CQ Weekly provides in-depth reporting on public policy, politics, congressional legislation, and elections extending back to 1983. Other content includes Voting and Elections Collection and Politics in America.

The National Journal Online, the leading weekly covering politics, policy and government, and providing non partisan insight into issues, trends and people. Fully searchable archives back to 1977. Also includes online access to: Almanac of American Politics, Hotline, CongressDaily, and Technology Daily.


News Sources

Full-text of documents in the news from the University of Michigan. The database covers 1995 to the present.


Primary Source Materials

Government Documents

The Davis-Bacon Act, as amended, requires that each contract over $2,000 to which the United States or the District of Columbia is a party for the construction, alteration, or repair of public buildings or public works shall contain a clause setting forth the minimum wages to be paid to various classes of laborers and mechanics employed under the contract. Under the provisions of the Act, contractors or their subcontractors are to pay workers employed directly upon the site of the work no less than the locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits paid on projects of a similar character. The Davis-Bacon Act directs the Secretary of Labor to determine such local prevailing wage rates.
Before beginning a search, please refer to the Helpful Hints created by the Government Printing Office. This page includes sample searches and the identifier codes used in the database.

The Foreign Relations of the United States series is the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions that have been declassified and edited for publication. The series is produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian. The years 1863-1958 have been selectively digitized by the University of Wisconsin-Madison (with the intent of eventually creating a complete online edition).
The State Department also makes available the volumes from 1945 - present at Volumes Online.

The annual "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report is submitted in compliance with Title 22 of the United States Code, Section 2656f(a), which requires the Department of State to provide Congress a full and complete annual report on terrorism for those countries and groups meeting the criteria of Section (a)(1) and (2) of the Act.

See MNCAT for the print copies.


Historical Documents

Provides American citizens direct online access to the basic Federal Government documents that define our democratic society - a core group of current and historical Government publications - for free, permanent, public access.


Societies, Agencies, and Organizations

Official Agency & Organization Websites

The official web site of the House of Representatives of the United States.

The Congressional Office of Technology Assessment closed on September 29, 1995. During its 23-year history, OTA provided Congressional members and committees with objective and authoritative analysis of the complex scientific and technical issues of the late 20th century.

The official web site of the Senate of the United States.

The official web site of the executive branch of the United States.


Statistics and Data

Statistical Resources

Agricultural Statistics is published each year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to meet the diverse need for a reliable reference book on agricultural production, supplies, consumption, facilities, costs, and returns. All issues are available in print, and a few are available via CD-ROM and the Internet.

This is a data distribution system from the Bureau of the Census that will be the primary distribution locale for 2000 Census data. American FactFinder offers the capability to browse, search, and map data from many Census Bureau sources: the 1990 Census, the 1997 Economic Census, the American Community Survey, and other sources.

BEA's national, regional, and international economic accounts present basic information on such key issues as U.S. economic growth, regional economic development, and the nation's position in the world economy. Access to their statistics and the data used to derive the statistics comes in multiple forms, from static tables to downloadable data files for statistical analysis.

On this site you can view statistical tables, extract statistics and read reports covering the methodology and meaning of the data collected by the Bureau of Labor.

Statistics and data files for viewing and/or extraction: Annual Survey of Manufactures, Building Permits, Census Tract Street Locator, County Business Patterns, International Trade Data, Detailed Occupation by Race, Hispanic Origin and Sex, USA Counties and ZIP Code Business Patterns.

The official web site of the Census Bureau, which is the primary source of statistical information within the U.S. government.

Hosted by the University of Virginia, the County Business Patterns data base provides county, state, and national level business data from 1977. Statistics include number of establishments, payroll (annual and 1st quarter), number of employees, and number of establishments by size class for 2 digit SIC industry groupings. The data is collected annually by the Bureau of the Census.

The collection of data files includes major surveys from other distributors, U.S. government data, and locally produced archival datasets. The collection is cross-disciplinary, reflecting research interests in the social sciences. Longitudinal surveys, macroeconomic indicators, election studies, population studies, socialization patterns, poverty measures, labor force participation, public opinion polls, education and health data, and local/national/international governmental statistics are among the subjects represented. To obtain the data files, users must fill out the free registration form.

Search or browse the listing of Internet sites of numeric Social Science statistical data, data catalogs, data libraries, social science gateways, addresses and more.

Provides access to statistical publications, including The Condition of Education, Digest of Education Statistics, Youth Indicators, and a variety of other survey data sets.

Quick access to health statistics such as: accidents, outpatient department visits and work loss days from the National Center for Health Statistics. This subject index gives users a summary of the most current figures; links to "Comprehensive Data", typically statistical time-series in PDF format and links to related web sites including other government web sites and occasionally including private, non-profit sources.

Hosted by the General Services Administration, the FPDS contains statistical data about U.S. Government Executive Branch procurement contract transactions awarded since October 1, 1978. Every year, the Federal Executive Branch spends approximately $200 billion to buy goods and services. The FPDS summarizes who bought what, from whom, and where. Access to statistics and some documentation is through the customer support link or the reporting agency link.

More than 70 agencies in the United States Federal Government produce statistics of interest to the public. This site provides easy access to the full range of statistics and information produced by these agencies for public use.

FERRET is a tool developed and supported by the U.S. Bureau of the Census in collaboration with the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other statistical agencies that allows for large scale data extraction over the Internet.

This site offers a wealth of economic data and information, including daily U.S. interest rates, monetary and business indicators, exchange rates, balance of payments regional economic data, and more. The widely used database FRED is updated regularly and allows 24/7 access to regional and national financial and economic data.

Contains extensive international economic data and statistics on energy, minerals and metals, chemicals and manufactured goods, agriculture, and other industrial areas. Consumption, production, imports, and exports are among the categories for which values are given.

Historical Statistics of the United States on CD-ROM

A complete reproduction of the 1975 book of the same title published by the Census Bureau. Includes 57 chapters on topics touching all the social, behavioral, humanistic and natural sciences. Materials available in 3 formats: electronic text; Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet files; and tab-delimited text files.

Published by the Census Bureau, this set contains U.S. Statistics from Colonial times to 1970. Subjects covered are population, vital statistics, migration, labor, prices and price indexes, national income and wealth, consumer income and expenditures, social statistics, land, water, climate, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, minerals, construction and housing, manufacturing, transportation, communications, energy, trade, productivity, financial markets and institutions, government, colonial and pre-federal statistics.

The University of Wisconsin's Data and Program Library Service's Internet Crossroads contains over 650 annotated links to data-related resources on the Internet.

IPUMS consists of twenty-five high-precision samples of the American population drawn from thirteen federal censuses which span 1850 to 1990. As such, IPUMS is not a source of tabulated statistics about the United States. Rather, it is a source of microdata for researchers to use in order to tabulate statistics.

Hosted by the Census Bureau, this web site not only tells users about NAICS, its history and future, but provides handy tools such as the NAICS-SIC Bridge and links to statistics sorted by NAICS code.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the United States and other nations.

Provides surveys, data, vital statistics, state data and news. NCHS data systems include data on vital events as well as information on health status, lifestyle and exposure to unhealthy influences, the onset and diagnosis of illness and disability, and the use of health care.

Current and historical statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation on transportation-related subjects including transportation as it relates to safety, the economy, energy, and the environment.

From the NCES: The Condition of Education; The Digest of Education Statistics; Indicators of School Crime and Safety; Projections of Education Statistics; Education Statistics Quarterly.

Index to statistical publications from US and state government agencies, international intergovernmental organizations, professional and trade organizations, business organizations, commercial publishers, independent research organizations, and universities.

This site from the Treasury Department provides current and historical statistics and data files relating to the U.S. National Debt.

This publication is revised each year, with some statistics being cumulative. Also, new tables are added as needed. The "Welcome" link on the table of contents notes changes from last year to this year.

This browsing tool from the National Center for Education Statistics allows searching of tables by variable, survey and general topic area.

The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Use the Abstract as a convenient volume for statistical reference, and as a guide to sources of more information both in print and on the Web. Sources of data include the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and many other Federal agencies and private organizations. The online version has full text from 1995-, although the series as a whole starts in 1878.

The data presented describes the people and the economy of the US for each state and county. Depending upon the year, contains statistics on such topics as agriculture, churches, education and literacy, population characteristics, manufacturing, race and place of birth, and taxation and property. Users may map the tables that they retrieve.

The Economic Research Service is a primary source of economic information and research in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ERS conducts a research program to inform public and private decision making on economic and policy issues involving food, farming, natural resources, and rural development.


Style Manuals and Writing Guides

Bibliography Software

RefWorks is a web-based citation manager that allows you to create your own databases of citations by importing references from MNCAT and other databases, and then in seconds automatically generate bibliographies in all major styles (MLA, APA, Turabian, Chicago, etc.).


Writing Guides

This guide shows users how use a standard citation format, MLA, to cite government information.

Covers citation forms for federal, state, regional, and local documents as well as those of some international bodies.

Web site prepared by the Government Publications Department of the University of Memphis and based upon the Complete Guide to Citing Government Information Resources: A Manual for Writers & Librarians. Locations for the book are below.


Library Information

Government Publications Library

Basement Level, Wilson Library
West Bank, Minneapolis Campus

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