Government Information

The following list suggests the best sites to find government information available online for federal, state, international, and foreign levels of government:

1. Table of Contents:

• Federal Government: General Information
• Federal Government: Legislative and Regulatory Information
• State Information
• International and Foreign Information
• Statistical Resources
• Additional Resources

Federal Government: General Information

• The American presidency project - 67,000 documents to date, covering all 43 presidencies and including public papers, executive orders, proclamations, addresses, and press conferences from many of the presidencies
• DHS: Department of Homeland Security -  strengthening our Nation – through a partnership with individual citizens, the private sector, state, local, and tribal governments, and our global partners.
• Documents Center (one-stop shopping from the University of Michigan)
• Frequently Used Sites Related to U.S. Federal Government Information (ALA GODORT FDTF)
• Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents (from Washington to Bush 1789-1989)
• The National Archives Experience: Digital Vaults - approximately 1,200 digitized documents, photographs, drawings, maps, and film clips.
• Official US Executive Branch Web Sites (Executive branch only sites)
• Open Secrets (online source for money in politics data; compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics
• POTUS (Presidents of the United States, links to all 42 presidents)
• Scripps Library - The American Presidency from the Miller Center of Public Affairs
• UnitedStates.com (news about America)
• U.S. Federal Government Agencies Directory (via usa.gov)
• US House of Representatives
• US Senate Home Page
• White House Home Page

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Federal Government: Legislative and Regulatory Information

• Biographical Directory of US Congress(includes biographies of each of the more than 13,000 individuals from 1774-2005)
• Congress.Orgsearchable member directories and current awareness
• Federal Digital System (FDsys) -   provides public access to Government information submitted by Congress and Federal agencies and preserved as technology changes.
• GovTrack.us: Track Federal Legislation -
• GPO Access Services - 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.
• GPO Access(search and retrieve congressional information from the US Government Printing Office)
• Law(Government Information Connection, Univ. of North Texas)
• Library of Congress(guide to the U.S. Legislative Branch)
• Project Vote Smart(political information on public officials)
• Regulations.gov - the U.S. government portal for proposed and final regulations of executive branch agencies, to facilitate public participation in the Federal regulatory process.
• Thomas(search & retrieve legislation from the 103^rd to current congresses)

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State Information

• Governing.com- Current information by and about state and local government.
• State Agency Databases - databases of useful information - information on businesses, licensed professionals, plots of land, even dates of fish stocking
• State and County Quick Facts(U.S. Census Bureau quick facts)
• State Constitutions, Statutes and Related Legislative Information(Cornell University)
• State Government Collections -- try one of the following:
  1. American Law Sources On-Line(ALSO!)
  2. FindLaw
• State and Local Governments on the Net
• Stateline.org(professionally edited, journalistically sound, nonpartisan state resources)
• StateList(The Electronic Source for State Publication Lists from UIUC)
• State Tax Forms(tax forms from all 50 states)
• North Carolina Collection
  1. Official North Carolina Webpage
  2. NC State Board of Elections(election results, campaign information)
  3. The North Carolina Court System(Supreme Court, opinions, and etc.)
  4. North Carolina General Assembly(follow the legislative branch of state government)
  5. North Carolina Offender Information(Public information on inmates, probationers or parolees since 1972.
  6. The North Carolina State Publications Collection - digital collection contains current and historical North Carolina state publications.
  7. Office of the Governor
     
• Local Government
  1. Local Government Information(information for U.S. cities and municipalities)
  2. North Carolina Counties, Cities and Towns(from University of North Carolina Chapel Hill)
  3. U.S. Conference of Mayors(find mayors from cities all over the country)

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 International and Foreign Information

• Country Studies(Library of Congress)
• ElectionGuide - the most comprehensive and timely source of verified election information and results available online.
• Embassy.org(a resource of and for the Washington, DC foreign embassy)
• Foreign Governments(links to individual foreign government pages, Northwestern Univ.)
• FedWorld.gov(FedWorld and NTIS offer simple, global access to government and business information)
• Foreign National Governments, International Governmental Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations(ALA GODORT International Documents Task Force)
• International Agencies and Information on the Web- University of Michigan Documents Center
• International Governmental Organizations(Northwestern University)
• Labordoc - produced by the library of the International Labour Organization (ILO)
• UNdata -  a comprehensive array of international and national databases providing the world instant access to a wealth of statistical information.
• US State Department Home Page
• United Nations
• United Nations- Official documents of the UN

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Statistical Resources

• American FactFinder - Census and survey data about the United States, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas
• Bureau of Justice - US primary source for criminal justice statistics
• Bureau of Labor Statistics- labor and demographic statistics
• Data.gov - datasets generated from the Executive Branch of the Federal Government
• Fedstats- Search engine for government statistics and data
• Statistical Abstracts Online- statistics from 1995 forward from the U.S. Census Bureau
• Statistical Information- Government Information Connection, Univ. of North Texas
• United States Historical Census - census data from 1790 to 1960
• US Census Bureau- overall census information, economic census, projections, income, poverty, etc.
• World Development Indicators- statistics from World Bank, can be manipulated
  

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Additional Resources

• "Agency Approach" To Locating Government Information on the Internet (tutorial)
• The American presidency project - 67,000 documents to date, covering all 43 presidencies and including public papers, executive orders, proclamations, addresses, and press conferences from many of the presidencies.
• Consumer Action - a national non-profit education and advocacy organization offering many free services to consumers.
• Consumer Information Center (browse the consumer information catalog)
• Freedom of Information Act Reading Room
• Grants.gov - the primary online destination for government grant seekers.
• GPO Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (no longer updated; archive only)
• The Heritage Foundation: Policy Research and Analysis - the nation’s most broadly supported public policy research institute, with more than 393,000 individual, foundation and corporate donors.
• Internal Revenue Service (news and information from IRS)
• Meta-Subject Access to Government Information (Idaho State University)
• Moving Ideas (news and resources from the policy action network)
• National Park and Conservation Association (voice of the American people in the fight to safeguard the scenic beauty, wildlife, and historical and cultural treasures)
• Office of Victims of Crime - oversees diverse programs that benefit victims of crime.
• ParkNet (information on National Parks)
• Resources of Use to Government Documents Librarians(ALA GODORT)
• Travel Warnings & Consular Information Sheets (presented by the State Department
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (official site for information on patents)
• USA.gov Search engines for government information

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For comments or suggestion concerning this page, please contact Dianne Ford