United States Federal Government Information: How to find Government Information
Featured Resources
- DiscoverGovDiscoverGov provides simple, one-stop searching across multiple U.S. Federal Government databases including GPO's Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) and GovInfo. It will retrieve reports, articles, and citations while providing direct links to selected resources and publications available online.
- Catalog of US Government Publications This link opens in a new windowFinding tool for federal government publications, both electronic and print. More InfoPUBLIC
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new windowA digital repository of online books and other scholarly materials. More InfoPartial Full-Text PUBLIC
- ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new windowLegislative documents (U.S. Congress). More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
- U.S. Serial Set Digital Collection This link opens in a new windowAn ongoing collection of U.S. Government publications compiled under the directive of Congress. More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
For the latest releases and digitization projects of the GPO, visit their News page.
- End of Term Web ArchiveThe End of Term Web Archive captures and saves U.S. Government websites at the end of presidential administrations. The EOT has thus far preserved websites from administration changes in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020, with 2024 currently in progress.
- Government Atticgovernmentattic.org provides electronic copies of thousands of interesting Federal Government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The site includes interesting historical documents, reports on items in the news, oddities and fun stuff and government bloopers.
- National Archives Online Documents"The manuscript archives at the Library contains many documents that are of wide interest and may be useful to students and researchers working on historical papers, exhibit projects, media or dramatic performances. Archivists have digitized some of the most popular items, arranged by topic. All of these items are in the public domain."
- FDLP Basic CollectionThese resources are vital sources of information about the workings and essential activities of the U.S. Government.
- Internet Archives US Government DocumentsThis collection contains digital versions of United States Government documents as well as other government documents.
- Archive-It Federal Depository Library Program Web ArchiveHarvested by Library Services and Content Management, U.S. Government Publishing Office.
- United States Serial Set via HathiTrustThe U.S. Congressional Serial Set, commonly referred to as the Serial Set, contains the House and Senate Documents and the House and Senate Reports bound by session of Congress.
It began publication with the 15th Congress, 1st Session (1817). Documents before 1817 may be found in the American State Papers. In general, it includes: committee reports related to bills and other matters, presidential communications to Congress, treaty materials, certain executive department publications, and certain non-governmental publications. - United States Serial Set via USA.govCurrently available from the 114th Congress (2015-2016) to the 85th Congress (1957-1958).
- MetaLib (U.S. Government Publishing Office)Searches multiple U.S. Federal government databases. The A-Z Resource List cites and links to sources covered.
- The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI)The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) is a research collaborative and network of diverse professionals promoting evidence-based policy-making and public interest science that advances the Environmental Right-to-Know (ERTK).
Search Engines/Indexes/Catalogs
Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications (US Government Publishing Office)
Online from 1895 - 2004
The Monthly Catalog was the official index to US government documents between 1895 and Sept-Dec. 2004. Two supplemental tools are:
- Cumulative Subject Index to the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications, 1900-1971 , 15 volumes(Carrollton Press)
Lockwood Library Z1223 .A182 - United States Government Publications, Monthly Catalog: Quinquennial Cumulative Personal Author Index , 1941-1975 (Pierian Press)
Lockwood Library Z1223 .A1823
Select years of the Monthly Catalog can also be found online via HathiTrust and the University of Illinois Digitized Books project.
Cumulative Title Index to United States Public Documents, 1789-1976 , 16 volumes (United States Historical Documents Institute)
Lockwood Library Z1223 .A115
