Government Documents
United States Government Databases
- Specialized Collections (GPO Access)
One-stop shopping for a list of links to the full text of federal government information at GPO or other official sites. Includes "Core Documents of U.S. Democracy." - Government Databases Available on the Web
Compiled by Kathy Amen, St. Mary's University Academic Library - Government Databases by Subject Compiled by Kelly Smith, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis
Subjects: Business | Criminal Justice | Education | Government | Health | History | Income Tax | Jobs and Wages | Sciences
Business
- County Business Patterns (Census Bureau)
- An annual series that provides subnational economic data by industry. The series is useful for studying the economic activity of small areas; analyzing economic changes over time; and as a benchmark for statistical series, surveys, and databases between economic censuses.
- Businesses use the data for analyzing market potential, measuring the effectiveness of sales and advertising programs, setting sales quotas, and developing budgets.
- Economic Indicators (via GPO Access)
- Monthly compilation is prepared for the Joint Economic Committee by the Council of Economic Advisors and provides economic information on prices, wages, production, business activity, purchasing power, credit, money and Federal finance.
- Search April 1995 forward. Browse 1998 forward.
- EDGAR
(Securities and Exchange Commission)
- EDGAR, the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system, performs automated collection, validation, indexing, acceptance, and forwarding of submissions by companies and others who are required by law to file forms with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- Export Administration Regulations (Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Industry & Security (formerly Bureau of Export Administration)) (via GPO Access)
- Current regulations only
- Regulations available in PDF, ASCII, and WordPerfect formats.
- STAT-USA/Internet (Dept. of Commerce, Economics & Statistics Administration) [For full access to the documents on this database it must be used in the Library. See the Reference Librarian for assistance.]
- Site for the U.S. business, economic and trade community, providing authoritative information from the Federal government.
- State of the Nation
- Current and historical economic and financial releases and economic data
- GLOBUS & NTDB (National Trade Data Bank)
- Current and historical trade-related releases, international market research, trade opportunities, country analysis, and a trade library
- State of the Nation
- Site for the U.S. business, economic and trade community, providing authoritative information from the Federal government.
Criminal Justice
- Crime & Justice Electronic Data Abstracts
- Aggregated data from a wide variety of published sources that are presented in spreadsheets to facilitate use with analytic software
- Files contain thousands of numbers and hundreds of categories, displayed by jurisdiction and over time
- Wherever possible the data are the most recent available
- Federal Justice Statistics Resource Center
- The Center maintains the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP) database, which contains information about suspects and defendants processed in the Federal criminal justice system.
- Using data obtained from Federal agencies, the FJSP compiles comprehensive information describing defendants from each stage of Federal criminal case processing.
- Query the Federal Justice Statistics Database (1994 to the present)
- National Criminal Justice Reference Database (NCJRS)
- Search the Abstracts database
- Contains summaries of more than 180,000 criminal justice publications
- Search the NCJRS Virtual Library - full-text publications
- Search more than 7,000+ full-text publications from this site and from NCJRS partner agencies
Education
- Academic Institutional Profiles (National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Studies)
- Produced annually for those universities and colleges reporting non-zero data for the past three fiscal years in at least one of the following surveys:
- the National Science Foundation (NSF) Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges (academic R&D expenditures survey)
- the NSF-NIH Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (graduate student survey)
- the NSF Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges and Nonprofit Institutions (Federal support survey)
- Produced annually for those universities and colleges reporting non-zero data for the past three fiscal years in at least one of the following surveys:
- Education Statistics as a Glance
- Brings together data from several NCES sources including: Condition of Education, Digest of Education Statistics, Indicators of School Crime and Safety and Projections of Education Statistics.
- ERIC
- "The ERIC online system provides the public with a centralized ERIC Web site for searching the ERIC bibliographic database of more than 1.1 million citations going back to 1966. More than 107,000 full-text non-journal documents (issued 1993-2004), previously available through fee-based services only, are now available for free."
- IPEDS College Opportunities Online (COOL) (National Center for Education Statistics)
- Begin a college search by using the following criteria: Geographic region, State or outlying area, City, Maximum distance from ZIP Code, Type of Institution, Instructional program, Name of institution, and/or Number of students
Government
- Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports
- The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is the public policy research arm of Congress. This legislative branch agency works exclusively for Members of Congress, their committees and their staffs.
- CRS does not provide direct public access to its reports, considered among the most authoritative sources of information on topics of national and international interest. Citizens are required to request the reports from their Member of Congress. Some Members, as well as several non-profit groups, have posted the reports on their Web sites.
- Many CRS Reports are updated on a regular basis.
- Use the following sites to search for those CRS Reports that have been released to the public.
- Congressional Research Service Reports (hosted by the University of North Texas)
- This site aims to provide integrated, searchable access to many of the full-text CRS Reports that have been available at a variety of different Web sites since 1990.
- Users have the ability to search by keyword, title, author, subject, and report number, and browse by subject.
- This site includes all versions of the reports that could be located.
- Please note that this site does not contain a complete collection of CRS Reports.
- Open CRS -- A project of the Center for Democracy & Technology, Open CRS provides citizens access to CRS Reports that are already in the public domain and encourages Congress to provide public access to all CRS Reports. It is a centralized utility that brings together the following collections to search.
- Congressional Research Service Reports at the National Council for Science and the Environment: National Library for the Environment (NLE) -- includes reports primarily on environmental topics. Users may browse by topic, date, or code, or perform a search.
- Federation of American Scientists (FAS) -- provides reports on secrecy, intelligence, security, and space-related issues.
- National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism
- Thurgood Marshall Law Library: CRS Reports (University of Maryland School of Law) -- an online collection in the subject areas of homeland security/terrorism and health law and policy.
- IP Mall at Pierce Law Center -- the full text of intellectual property, cyberlaw and electronic commerce publications
- Center for Democracy & Technology -- includes reports on the subjects of speech, privacy, copyright, and open government
- Bureau of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State -- consists of primarily foreign policy-related reports.
- Congressional Research Service Reports (hosted by the University of North Texas)
- Other resources to use to locate and obtain CRS Reports:
- Your Member of Congress -- request reports from your Senators and your Representative's offices.
- Penny Hill Press - sells individual reports & offers a subscription service.
- Gallery Watch has partnered with Penny Hill Press to provide subscription-based access to numbered CRS documents and electronic briefing books.
- GPO Access
- Access resources by branch of government or by topic.
- GPO-Access: Search Across Multiple Databases
- Search and retrieve governmental information -- bills, directories, documents & reports, the Federal Register, the United States Code, and the Congressional Record, etc. -- from the US Government Printing Office
- Mirror, or Gateway, sites at over 20 universities, each with their own strengths
- GPO Access: GAO Comptroller Decisions: Main Page
- The GAO Comptroller General Decisions database contains decisions made by the Comptroller General in areas of Federal law such as appropriations, bid protests, civilian and military personnel pay and allowances, household goods and freight loss damage, and transportation rates.
- GPO Access contains decisions from October 1995 to the present.
- Updated within two business days after decisions have been released.
- Documents are available as ASCII text and PDF files.
- Search tips provide instructions for searching this database.
- GPO Access: GAO Reports: Main Pages
- Contains all publicly released GAO reports from FY 1995 to the present, as well as approximately 85% of the publicly released reports for FY 1994 and 3% for FY 1993.
- Contains reports on audits, surveys, investigations, and evaluations of Federal programs conducted by the General Accounting Office (GAO) from fiscal year 1995 through the present.
- All published reports, with the exception of correspondence and reports that are restricted or classified, are included. The current year's database is updated within two business days of a report's release.
- Reports are available as ASCII text and PDF files.
- Search tips provide instructions for searching this database.
- Thomas (Library of Congress)
- "Legislative information on the Internet"
- Search for bills and resolutions, documents, hearings, and reports reports. Search the content of the Congressional Record, as well the latest Daily digest, and Roll call votes. Links provided to Committee web sites.
- Includes links to full-text publications available via GPO Access.
Health
- CDC Wonder (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- An easy-to-use system that provides a single point of access to a wide variety of CDC reports, guidelines, and numeric public health data
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Provides patients, family members, and members of the public current information about clinical research studies
- CHID Online (Combined Health Information Database)
- Bibliographic database produced by health-related agencies of the Federal Government
- Provides titles, abstracts, and availability information for health information and health education resources
- Lists a wealth of health promotion and education materials and program descriptions that are not indexed elsewhere
- PubMed Central
- Web-based archive of journal literature for all of the life sciences
- Being developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM)
- Access to PubMed Central is free and unrestricted
History
- National Archeological Database, Reports Module (National Park Service, Archeology & Ethnography Program)
- "[A]n expanded bibliographic inventory of approximately 240,000 reports on archeological investigation and planning, mostly of limited circulation. This 'gray literature' represents a large portion of the primary information available on archeological sites in the U.S. NADB-Reports can be searched by state, county, worktype, cultural affiliation, keyword, material, year of publication, title, and author."
Income Tax
- IRS Tax Forms &
Publications
- Use the "Search for" box and choose "Forms & Publications" in the "within:" box.
- Forms can be searched by number or keyword, then downloaded. Several file formats are available.
Jobs and Wages
- Davis-Bacon Wage Determinations
- Contains wage determinations issued by the U.S. Department of Labor under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts
- The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor determines prevailing wage rates to be paid on federally funded or assisted construction projects.
- Occupational Outlook Handbook (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- O*Net
- Database from the Labor Dept. replaces their Dictionary of Occupational Titles and gives information on job and worker characteristics
- Find occupations, get snapshots and details
- Includes career exploration and assessment tools, and guides to tests and other assessments
- USA Jobs
- U.S. Government's official site for jobs and employment information provided by the United States Office of Personnel Management
Sciences
- AGRICOLA (National Agricultural Library)
- A bibliographic database of citations to the agricultural literature created by the National Agricultural Library (NAL) and its cooperators.
- EnergyFiles (Home)
- From the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (Dept. of Energy)
- At this site you will find over 500 databases and Web sites containing information and resources pertaining to science and technology of interest to the Department of Energy, with an emphasis on the physical sciences.
- EnergyFiles: OSTI Resources -- Searchable Databases
- EnergyFiles Web sites, or Subject Pathways
- Includes subjects such as Biology and Medicine, Chemistry, Environmental Sciences, Health, Geosciences, Mathematics, Physics, and Renewable Energy
- Within each Subject Pathway you will find diverse resources hosted by a variety of agencies and organizations.
- Each Subject Pathway is preceded by a brief explanation of the types of information found under that specific subject category, followed by three distinct sets of resources: Searchable databases, STI resources and tools, and Related resources.
- EnergyFiles: Multidisciplinary Resources
- The multidisciplinary resources area contains collections and resources in which the information encompasses several subject areas.
- DOE Information Bridge
- Provides free, convenient, and quick access to full-text DOE research and development reports in physics, chemistry, materials, biology, environmental sciences, energy technologies, engineering, computer and information science, renewable energy, and other topics.
- DOE R&D Accomplishments
- A central forum for information about the outcomes of past DOE R&D that have had significant economic impact, have improved people's lives, or have been widely recognized as a remarkable advance in science
- Search DOE R&D Accomplishments Database
- DOE R&D Project Summaries
- Summaries of ongoing or recently completed DOE energy, science, and technology research projects
- Energy Citations Database (1948-Present)
- Includes disciplines of interest to DOE such as chemistry, physics, materials, environmental science, geology, engineering, mathematics, climatology, oceanography, computer science and related disciplines
- Includes citations to report literature, conference papers, journal articles, books, dissertations, and patents
- Federal R&D Project Summaries
- Descriptions, awards, and summaries of federally funded research
- GrayLIT Network
- Science portal of technical reports
- Gray literature (or "grey literature") is defined as "foreign or domestic open source material that usually is available through specialized channels and may not enter normal channels or systems of publication, distribution, bibliographic control, or acquisition by booksellers or subscription agents."
- E-print Network: Research Communication for Scientists and Engineers
- E-prints are "scientific or technical documents circulated electronically to facilitate peer exchange and scientific advancement. Included are pre-publication drafts of journal articles (preprints), scholarly papers, technical communications, or similar documents relaying research results among peer groups."
- Searchable gateway to preprint servers that deal with scientific and technical disciplines of concern to DOE
- Includes "E-prints on Web sites" and "E-prints in Databases" (subjects: astrophysics, computer science, high energy physics, math, nonlinear sciences, nuclear physics, physics, and quantum physics).
- Journal Literature
- "Open source literature (articles and citations) published by journal publishers that generally provide peer review of the articles prior to publication; includes publications issued by commercial publishers or professional societies."
- EnergyFiles: OSTI Resources -- Searchable Databases
- Fish & Wildlife Reference Service On-Line Databases
- Includes six databases: FWRS Bibliographic Database, Survey/Inventory Database, Habitat Conservation Plans Database, Black Bass Database, Boating Access Database, Clean Vessel Act Database
- Search Bibliographic, Survey/Inventory, and Black Bass (multiple textbase search)
- National Climatic Data Center Online Document Library
- Free access provided to academic users with a .edu domain name
- See the Online Data Access Policy for more information
- National Environmental Publications Information System (NEPHIS) (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
- Search over 10,000 full text EPA documents online. Search options include simple search, enhanced search, and publication number/title search.
- NTIS (National Technical Information Service)
- NTIS is "the largest, central resource for government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business related information available today."
- Search the NTIS Library for documents published since 1990
- STINET (Scientific and Technical Information Network) [Link to "Quick Search"]
- From the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC)
- Helps the DoD community access pertinent scientific and technical information to meet mission needs more effectively
- "Public STINET" provides access to all unclassified, unlimited citations to documents added into DTIC from late December 1974 to the present.
- Restricting your search to the "DTIC Full-Text Collection" will retrieve all reports available in full-text.
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Compiled: May 2001. Revised: June 2005, Janetta Paschal, Government Documents/Reference Librarian |