24 January 2006. The National Archives and Records Administration makes available almost 500 databases containing mostly older information about people or businesses. Find, for example, databases for conducting genealogy research or for finding records pertaining to labor unions. Technical note: The site requires session cookies and Javascript. It does not function as well in Firefox as it does in Internet Explorer. Revised 10 January 2003. Mountain Data Systems, a Web site development company, offers this database of "common acronyms and abbreviations about computers, technology, telecommunications, and the military...." Enter an acronym and the site provides possible full-word translations (e.g., DIMM is Dual In-line Memory Module or Defense Integrated Material Management), but it does not offer complete definitions. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains this collection of archival content from the Web sites of Arizona state government agencies, boards and commissions. Search it by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the Arizona State Library and the collection to either Arizona Politics or Arizona State Agencies, depending on your interest. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. Revised 7 April 2006. The directory provides biographies of Presidents, Congressmen and other government officials, who have served since 1774. Biographies typically include years of service, party affiliation, personal data, education and occupation(s). Several also contain a bibliography. The site does not appear to enable searching. You may browse biographies alphabetically by last name. The directory is available in PDF only. 2 March 2000. TIPS stands for Tobacco Information and Prevention Source. The Centers for Disease Control offers an extensive library of medical and legal information relating to tobacco and smoking.
Find reports, articles and fact sheets as well as related documents prepared by other groups including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the World Health Organization. The site offers tobacco-related statistics and news, automatic links to newly indexed MEDLINE articles, and a collection of tobacco industry documents.
The Tobacco Industry Documents sub-Web implements the July 17, 1998 executive memorandum that promised to increase public awareness and accessibility to tobacco industry documents. The site offers access to "the Minnesota Tobacco Document Depository, which houses the largest public cache of tobacco industry documents found worldwide." It also provides search access to the 4B Index, an index of tobacco company documents released during the Minnesota litigation, the Minnesota Select Set, key documents used during the trial, and the Guildford – British American Tobacco Documents, key documents from the Guildford, England depository.
14 August 2002. The Social Science Data Analysis Network at the University of Michigan offers this tool for investigating U.S. demographic trends. It provides metropolitan area, state, and county charts that reveal population growth, and population by age, race, or family structure. Other charts measure educational attainment and languages spoken. Maps show the age and race of the population and family structures. Rankings show population growth by state or county. 20 February 2002. Revised 7 February 2003. Formerly 50 States Online, this section of the Web site for The Center for Public Integrity comprises several databases as well as various reports and disclosure forms. Outside Interest Database contains information about state lawmakers' outside economic interests. The data comes from 1999 financial disclosure forms. Browse Outside Interest Disclosure Forms to find state lawmakers' financial disclosure forms for 1999, 2000 and 2001.
Lobbying Entity Database contains the names of entities that lobby state governments on behalf of certain industries. Search by keyword or industry. Public Interest Contact contains information about state public interest groups. However, this database did not work on the day that we reviewed it. 26 June 2002. This portal provides access to a variety of child care materials, including some non-governmental information. It covers sources of current information, as well as information about running child care programs. Find links to clearinghouses, government agencies, government funded projects, legislation, news, and more. Unfortunately, the site does a poor job of indexing the topics it covers. We also experienced some trouble with its search engine (Overture?). We suggest entering single terms with liberal use of the engine's wildcard (*). Beware of unmarked links from the pay-for-positioning engine Overture.
9 October 2001. Revised 26 August 2005. The Web edition of the CIA's World Factbook contains the current printed version plus periodic online updates. Tailored to the needs of U.S. government officials, it provides information about the geography, people, government structure, economy, communications and transportation systems, military and transnational issues of countries around the world. 1 February 2001. Upon the changing of the guard, the White House Web site metamorphosed leaving folks to wonder what happened to the useful content provided during Clinton's administration. The short answer appears to be: It scattered.
While archivists examine and sort the records produced during Clinton's administration, searchers will find copies of all four versions of the Clinton White House web site at the National Archives and Records Administration. Expect the content and navigation of this archival site to change as the experts determine what shall remain in the public domain.
Also, it seems that the new administration is keeping some of the information services introduced during Clinton's term. For example, both the Economic Statistics Briefing Room and the Social Statistics Briefing Room appear available. 17 January 2000. Cornell offers this Code as a folio infobase. It reproduces the 1995-96 edition of the canons with commentary. Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII) provides an interface to the CFR offered by the Government Printing Office. Find relevant sections by citation, by searching individual titles, or by querying the index of subject headings created by LII.
Retrieve sections in HTML or PDF formats.
This is a user-friendly speedy interface to data available at GPO Access. 7 April 2006. This is the official directory of the U.S. Congress, prepared by the Joint Committee on Printing. Find short biographies of each Member of Congress, including personal information, education, military service, employment, committee memberships and more. The directory also lists officials of the courts, military establishments and other Federal departments and agencies, including D.C. government officials, governors of states and territories, foreign diplomats, and members of the press, radio and television galleries. You may search or browse the directory. 25 February 2003. The Government Printing Office makes this directory of the 108th Congress available in PDF. While you cannot search this edition of the directory, you can search another version via this link. Search access, however, is not as up-to-date. The Congressional Record records debate on the floor of Congress. Many times, Congressmen read a company's written remarks into the record. Find debate, select committee reports and bills, and commentary. GPO Access offers this information from 1994. 10 November 2000. A special reprinting ordered by the House of Representatives, this document contains the Constitution, ratified amendments, proposed amendments not ratified, and a topical index. It is annotated throughout. 13 September 2002. Prepared by the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, this publication offers the text of the Constitution, amendments, proposed amendments not ratified by the States, and case annotations. Researchers may perform keyword searches or download relevant portions of the text. Downloading in portable document format (.pdf) is also available.
Consumer Reports offers a good collection of links to assist individuals in obtaining help for problems with products or services. The site links to federal government agencies and consumer advocacy groups as well as state government agencies offering consumer advice. The Bureau of Labor Statistics offers Consumer Price Indexes, news releases, reports and fact sheets. 7 February 2001. The site gives law enforcement agencies access to consumer fraud complaints. It also provides information about various types of fraud including prize promotions, work-at-home schemes, telemarketing scams, and identity theft. Victims of consumer fraud also may file complaints here.
4 December 2001. The U.S. Department of Commerce offers the current edition of Country Commercial Guides. The reports provide an overview of a country's business and investment environment. They also offer economic, political, and market information. For older versions of these Guides, see the U.S. State Department Web site. 30 October 2002. BBC News offers country profiles containing many useful facts for students, journalists, and researchers. Features include sound files for the country's national anthem and important events, a timeline of key events, biographical information about its leaders, and information about the media. 28 September 2000. LLRX.com offers search access to source information for federal and state court rules, forms and dockets. The database includes links to over 700 sources. Search by keyword (e.g., pennsylvania forms to find links to federal and state court forms), or browse by one or more of the following criteria: jurisdiction, document type, or state. The database returns links to credible sources that match your query.
A tremendous improvement over the former court rules guide, this resource is easy to use, uncluttered, and fast.
30 July 2002. The U.S. Customs Service provides this database of selected rulings that span the years 1989 to present. While not all rulings currently reside in the database, the Customs Service plans to include all rulings at some future date. The database supports Boolean, including the NEAR operator. Enter a tariff number or legal citation as a keyword or phrase. Enclose phrases in quotation marks. The database also provides tariff classifications (e.g., search wine to find rulings and the classification under each ruling). 30 August 2004. Penny Hill Press provides free browse-access to Congressional Research Service Reports issued since 1993. Arranged by topic, an abstract of the report is made available for free. If you want the full text, you have to call the company, or purchase an annual subscription. 30 August 2004. Freedom of information advocacy site The Memory Hole maintains an archive of more than 300 Congressional Research Service Reports, which disappeared from their original locations on the Web. Categorized as "long reports," "short reports," "issue briefs" and "appropriations reports," the site provides a PDF copy of those it was able to recover. 30 August 2004. The University of Maryland Thurgood Marshall Law Library maintains an online archive of Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports. Written for Congress, CRS Reports provide non-partisan, in-depth research and analysis on a variety of topics. You can browse the archive alphabetically or by topic. Reports are available for free in full-text PDF format. The archive also references other free subject collections. 20 December 2001. The U.S. Census Bureau publishes monthly, quarterly, and annual measures of industrial activity. "The data are used to satisfy economic policy needs and for market analysis, forecasting, and decision-making in the private sector. These surveys measure manufacturing activity in important commodity areas such as textiles and apparel, chemicals, primary metals, computer and electronic components, industrial equipment, aerospace equipment, and consumer goods." 4 April 2002. The University of North Texas Libraries and the U.S. Government Printing Office join forces to provide access to the Web sites and electronic publications of now defunct government agencies. For example, the United States Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) officially closed its Web site during April 1996. CyberCemetery maintains the site as it appeared when it closed and added information about the agency as well as digital copies of many of its publications. 14 November 2001. Primary Source Media (Gale Group imprint) digitizes formerly classified government documents from various government agencies, including the White House, the CIA, the FBI, the State Department and others. The database covers domestic and international events occurring since the end of World War II. A free search queries the entire online collection, but limits users' ability to display full-text documents.
It is difficult to find subscription information at the site. A Gale Group fact sheet offers a toll free number for subscription information. 25 July 2007. Revised 25 July 2007. A Web applications service company has imported e-mail messages released by the Department of Justice, regarding the U.S. Attorney firings, into a database. Given the domain name of the site, the database could be in development for training purposes, which means searchers should note that it may not be complete. In fact, as of this writing, it isn't.
But the advantage it has over the more authoritative source - the listing at the House Judiciary Committee site - is, you can filter results by name. Thus, you can retrieve messages by the name of the person who sent, received or was copied on the e-mail. 25 July 2007. The House Judiciary Committee makes available the e-mail messages released by the Department of Justice concerning the U.S. Attorney firings. They appear in reverse chronological order by the release date. Unfortunately, you cannot use the site search engine to retrieve them by keyword.
Two alternate search options are available. One is Google, which appears to have indexed many of these PDFs, if not all of them. Using the site command (site:http://judiciary.house.gov) helps focus the results list.
Another option is to use this unofficial site. Note that as of this writing, its collection is incomplete. Nonetheless, you can filter the messages by e-mail sender or recipient. Revised 16 May 2003. Hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Law School library, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws offers drafts and final versions of Uniform and Model Acts. The documents are available in Word, Word Perfect, ascii text, and PDF formats. When relevant, the site also provides meeting agendas, statements, and commentary. 4 December 2001. The U.S. State Department provides Country Reports on Economic Policy and Trade Practices. These offer an analysis of the economic policies and trade practices of countries with which the United States has significant economic or trade relationships. The site maintains an archive back to 1993. 4 October 2001. Find a database of embassies worldwide. Search it to find a country's embassy located within another country. Also find VISA requirements. 5 April 2004. Revised 28 September 2007. EUROPA, the portal site of the European Union, provides useful factual information about European Union member states. Facts provided include the year of entry into the union, the type of political system, capital city, population, currency and official language. There is also a brief description of the country and links to Web sites with additional information. 15 April 2003. The U.S. Census Bureau offers a quick and easy way to access economic and demographic data for the United States, states, counties and congressional districts. Data comes from the 2000 decennial census, the American Community Survey and the economic census. A special feature lets you enter a street address and zip code to find its congressional district. Also find direct access to various statistical sources, including State and County Quick Facts and Statistical Abstract of the United States. 6 October 1999. Revised 25 February 2005. Villanova University School of Law maintains this research guide for finding federal court Web sites and court opinions. It notes whether the Web site is the official source of the information or an alternative source. 25 October 2004. Six federal agencies, including the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, make available summary information about their research and development projects. Search one or more of the databases simultaneously by keyword. Specific databases include DOE R&D Project Summaries Database, EPA Science Inventory, NIH CRISP Database - Current Awards, NSF Awards Database, SBA Technology Resources Network (Tech-Net) and USDA Current Research Information System (CRIS). Results include hyperlinked titles. Click on the hyperlink to go directly to the matching database record. Follow this link to find the government's official site for federal regulations. Coverage includes 1994 to present. 6 October 1999. Revised 27 February 2004. The Center for Information Law and Policy at the Chicago-Kent College of Law maintains this finding tool. Use it to find the Web sites of federal offices in all branches of government. In addition to legislative, judicial and executive Web sites, the index covers federal independent establishments and government corporations, federal government consortium and quasi-official agencies, federal boards, commissions and committees and non-government related sites. 26 March 2001. Find a database of information about federal forms including where you can find them on the Web. Search by keyword or by agency. 29 September 2000. Designed to assist consumers in finding Web-based government information, FirstGov.gov offers a topical index and search engine as well as the ability to browse by branch of government. It further provides finding aids as well as specific resources for state and local information. Most, but not all, links lead to government Web sites. FirstGov.gov does not annotate, or offer any additional information about, sources included in the index. 4 October 2007. The National Institute on Money in State Politics makes available information on campaign finance at the state level. It develops searchable databases and analyzes the information to determine the role campaign money plays in public policy debates in the states. It also publishes studies and provides technical assistance and training to reporters, academic researchers and public interest groups that work on state policy issues.
A search box on the home page lets you display political giving at a glance by choosing a state and election year. You may narrow the query by candidate, contributor or special interest group. 10 August 2007. Revised 1 November 2007. Despite the somewhat facetious name, this is a serious Web site devoted to helping citizens obtain a copy of information about deceased persons on file with the FBI. You fill out a form and the site generates a form FOIA letter, which you mail to the FBI. There is a FAQ that explains why you have to enter personal information when filling out the form. It also explains about fees the agency (but not this Web site) may charge. 1 November 2007. This Web site helps you generate letters to send to the FBI, or other federal agency, to obtain a copy of your file. A FAQ that explains why you have to enter personal information when filling out the form. It also explains about fees the agency (but not this Web site) may charge. Currently, one of the best search tool for finding government data on the Web. 1 March 2002. The Department of Commerce's National Technical Information Service and the National Information Services Corporation join to provide subscription-based, single-point access to multiple government databases, including NTIS (government sponsored research in a variety of industries), AGRICOLA (agricultural and life sciences), Energy Science and Technology (basic and applied scientific and technical research literature), Federal Research in Progress (ongoing federally funded projects in the fields of the physical sciences, engineering, and life sciences), AgroBase (agriculture), Nuclear Science Abstracts (international nuclear science and technology literature), RTECS (toxicological information) and NIOSHTIC (occupational safety and health literature). While some of these databases appear elsewhere on the Web for free, there may differences in date coverage and usability. 17 August 2004. Several federal government agencies team to provide access to information about government assistance programs. Search for benefits by keyword or review a list of all benefits. Information provided consists of a brief description of the program, including eligibility requirements. Follow the "Am I Eligible?" link for an online questionnaire, which indicates your likely eligibility. The results of the questionnaire also refer you to additional programs where you might qualify. 24 October 2002. Revised 28 June 2007. This easy-to-use tool provides access to federal, state and local government information. To begin, click on the applicable state on the map. Or select "federal government" or "federal courts" from the right-hand or page-bottom menu. State listings offer links mostly (but not exclusively) to official government Web sites. You will find constitutions, legislative, judicial and executive branch resources, and an assortment of additional legal research tools. 1 March 2004. A free site by Congressional Quarterly, Inc., Governing.com offers news, special reports, statistics and more relating to public policy issues. Find a complete archive of Governing Magazine, an online supplement to State and Local Source Book 2003, a summary of state legislative issues, government-related news arranged by topic and more. You can also sign up for a free daily email news alert. 7 November 2000. America Online shows FirstGov.gov how to index government information on the Web. Government Guide is a consumer-oriented index to government services. Want to know how to obtain a replacement social security card? How to apply for social security benefits? How to shop safely online? How to select the right life insurance policy? You'll find answers to these questions and more easily by using this guide. 10 April 2003. The University of Michigan Documents Center offers this portal to government information. Available since 1995, it covers Web sites providing information pertaining to federal, state, local, foreign and international government. It arranges many of them by topic and provides brief annotations. 3 March 2004. The National Governors Association provides a database that contains information about past and present governors in the United States. Currently under development, the database completely covers states alphabetically through Iowa. It does, however, provide a lot of information about governors in other states. For example, it covers Pennsylvania from 1963 to present. The information provided includes the governor's birth date, state of birth, marital status, religion, spouse's name, party, dates in office, length of service, military service and biography. It also cites the sources of this information. 17 August 2004. Five U.S. federal agencies--the Department of Agriculture, Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Small Business Administration--join together to create a single point of access for federal loan information. Find basic information about agricultural, business, disaster relief, education, housing and veteran loans. Follow the "Could I qualify?" link for an online questionnaire, which indicates your likely eligibility. 7 February 2001. Carroll Publishing, a long-time publisher of government directories, offers contact, biographical, and other information about federal, state, and local government officials. Researchers may browse or search the databases. The site also offers tools for discovering federal, state, or local representatives based on a street address and current vacancies or acting positions based on city/state criteria. Dig deep within the site to find municipal Web site addresses, state abbreviations, area codes by state, state capitals, and other useful information. 16 February 2001. This portal to government information and services assists researchers in finding contact information and Web pages for federal, state, and local government agencies. A keyword search for "revenue" limited to Pennsylvania, for example, uncovered several documents including the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections' Application for Business Tax (in PDF) and related forms as well as the Web site of the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. I also created a list of contact information for all county courts in Pennsylvania by searching "court" limited to "legal agencies" in Pennsylvania. 31 August 2000. The Office of Scientific and Technical Information of the Department of Energy provides single search access to the contents of five databases: DTIC Report Collection (Defense Technical Information Center), DOE Information Bridge, EPA Reports (National Environmental Publications Internet Site), NASA Jet Propulsion Lab Reports, and NASA Langley Technical Reports. Search by keyword only. Depending on the database(s) selected, the tool returns titles with links 1) to bibliographic information, report abstracts, and full-text in PDF or 2) full-text document images. I was unable to access the NASA databases. 5 September 2001. Congressman Mark Green offers an index to, and the text of, select Congressional Research Reports. These reports "serve Congress throughout the legislative process by providing comprehensive and reliable legislative research and analysis." The index breaks down into four categories -- issue briefs, appropriation reports, short and long reports. The reports themselves appear in portable document format. 7 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains a collection of U.S. government documents. Currently, there are more than 2500 documents available in full-text in various formats. You may browse the collection by subject or keyword or search it by keyword. There is also an RSS feed for monitoring additions to the collection. 3 June 2004. Representative Henry Waxman provides this database and report on the Bush Administration's public statements on Iraq. The database "identifies 237 specific misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq...." You can search it by keyword, speaker, subject or date. The information provided includes the quote, who said it, the source (e.g., interview on CNN) and an explanation about why the statement is believed to be misleading. 14 March 2001. Revised 10 October 2007. The Federal Judicial Center offers a database of biographical information about federal judges serving since 1789. Biographical entries include the judge’s full name, birth year and date of death, place of birth or death, race and gender. They also provide information about a judge's education and professional career. Search or browse by the judge's name. You may limit retrieval with certain criteria -- court, nomination date, commission date, etc. To do so, follow the link for the database, which appears mid-way down the page. (Limiting retrieval to current judges is no longer available.) You may also create lists based on certain criteria; for example, discover all female justices on the U.S. Supreme Court since 1789 (two -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O'Connor). 10 January 2008. Advocating for transparency in government, LegiStorm makes available several potentially useful databases. The Salary Database contains salaries from 2003 to 2007 on congressional staffers. You can't query the database, but you may browse it by the name of the staff person, representative, senator, congressional committee, leadership office, administrative office or state. The site obtains the data "from the official record books: the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House reports."
The Travel Database "provides a unique window into how private organizations are trying to gain influence in Washington." You may browse or query this database. Search fields include the name of the staff person, trip dates, approving party, sponsor, destination, and more. Search results provide this information as well as a PDF copy of the original trip form (registration required for access).
A third feature, labeled, The Score, "allows you to track the latest happenings on the House and Senate floors, as well as upcoming floor debates and committee hearings."
Note: Use of the site is currently free. Some access requires registration. A note in the field by registering the user's email address indicates future fee-based access is planned. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) offers Local Climatological Data, a monthly summary of temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, wind speed and direction observations for several hundred cities in the U.S. and its territories. Summaries are available from July 1996. 18 June 2007. Revised 19 June 2007. LOUIS, which stands for Library Of Unified Information Sources, is a new search engine for finding documents generated by the federal government. Currently, you may query the full-text of 7 categories of documents simultaneously - congressional reports, the Congressional Record, congressional hearings, the Federal Register, presidential documents, GAO Reports, and bills and resolutions. LOUIS updates its database daily from the Government Printing Office (GPO). Date covered is not specified at the site, but it appears to be from 2001 to present. 19 December 2000. Search or browse all 1999 and 2000 mayoral election results nationwide. 19 December 2000. Search by last name, city/state, or population to find brief information about mayors nationwide. Data includes full name, city/state, population, phone, next election date, email address, and city Web site address. The bio also includes a picture of the mayor. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains this collection of archival content from the Web sites of Michigan government agencies as well as from the Web sites of the legislative and judicial branches. Archival coverage begins with January 2007. Search it by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries and the collection to Michigan Government Web Collection. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available.
Please note the cautions about technical issues with this collection as posted on the collection home page. These include "due to technical issues certain links in the Michigan Courts collection may take the user to active web pages. A yellow banner at the top of the page will identify archived pages." Additionally, "[t]he search feature in the Michigan Legislature collection does not function. Links to other pages and documents in the collection do work. Copies of bills are not included in this collection." And, "[t]he keyword search capability for this collection is minimal. Users are encouraged to access information via URL." 10 April 2003. This site by Judgment Day Information Services, Inc. claims to verify military status and provide an affidavit directly from the Department of Defense. Turnaround time is one to two days. Cost depends on the information you have. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains this collection of archival content from the Web sites of Montana state agencies as well as the Web sites of the legislative and judicial branches. Search it by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the Montana State Library and the collection to Archive Montana. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. Revised 12 December 2003. A national organization that represents county governments in the United States, the National Association of Counties (NACO) offers resources for NACO members and the public on its Web site. Find topical legislative bulletins and fact sheets, articles, testimony, research reports and more. Special features include the NACO Code of Ethics for County Officials, a subject index to sample county codes and ordinances and county profiles that include the names and email addresses of elected officials. 8 October 1999. Find a listing of national security policy documents from Truman (1947) to Bush (1993). The listings are in portable document format (.pdf) and therefore require the Adobe Acrobat Reader. A key appearing at the bottom of each listing explains the classification status -- declassified and released in full, declassified and released in part, or not released -- of each document. 18 December 2000. Need an image of, and brief information about, your newly elected representatives? This directory provides such. Note that as of the date of creation (November 10, 2000), the GPO had not received certificates of election for those included in the directory. To verify information in this directory, see the U.S. Electoral College. 6 December 2001. This classification system replaces the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) System. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive with collaboration from The State Library of North Carolina and the North Carolina State Archives maintains archival content from the Web sites of North Carolina State Government Agencies, Occupational Licensing Boards, and Commissions. This collection includes many different types of records, in a variety of file formats (such as text-based information, images, and video and audio files) including meeting minutes, policies, and agency publications.
Search it by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the North Carolina State Archives and the collection to either North Carolina Boards and Commissions, North Carolina Council of State Web, or the North Carolina State Government Web Site, depending on your interest. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. 25 July 2005. A project of the Center for Democracy & Technology, Open CRS provides access to Congressional Research Service reports that are already in the public domain. It also encourages Congress to provide public access to all CRS Reports. It briefly annotates existing collections and informs about available RSS feeds for learning about additions. 24 October 1996. Revised 4 October 2007. The Center for Responsive Politics offers a Web site for discovering lobbyists, campaign financial data, soft money contributions, contribution profiles for presidential candidates, and more. Click the Databases tab to find personal financial disclosures, lobbyists, trips taken by congressmen and their staff, advocacy groups (527 committees) and PACs (political action committees). 28 October 2002. A cooperative effort among National History Day, The National Archives and Records Administration, USA Freedom Corps, and The Corporation for National and Community Service, Our Documents spotlights significant documents in U.S. history. In addition to providing images of historical documents like the Bill of Rights, the site provides commentary about the document, a text transcript, and a PDF download. 21 December 2000. Find interesting facts about politicians. Currently, the site offers two versions. This link takes you to the old, but more stable, version. You can find the link to the new version, which contains facts about 14,000 additional politicians, on the home page. Find politicians by name, city/state, year of birth/death, or jurisdiction/office held. 11 October 1999. This brand new Web site offers to following the current presidential race. It provides news stories from independent sources, information about the candidates including their funding, information about political donors, information from the polls, a searchable directory of political information sites, and more. 3 February 2000. A service of The Polling Report, this site offers public opinion polls on a variety of political, economic and social issues. 18 July 2002. This Internet Public Library Web site offers encyclopedia-like information for U.S. presidents in an easy-to-read format. Information offered includes presidential elections results, members of the cabinet, notable events, links to credible Web-based biographies, links to historical documents, and other relevant information. 7 August 2006. Developed by RAND, in cooperation with the National Science Foundation, RaDiUS is a database of federally-funded research and development activities in the U.S. Search by keyword and year to find descriptions of research grant awards. Details include a description of the award or task, the type of funding, estimated start and end dates, the performing institution and its type and location, contact information and the amount of the award. You may download the information to a spreadsheet or as a Word document. 26 February 2002. The National Library of Medicine offers this digitized collection containing official reports, conference and workshop reports, and proceedings from the Office of the Surgeon General. Search or browse these materials, which include the first official report on the deleterious health consequences of tobacco use, the 1986 report on second-hand smoke as a quantifiable health risk, and others. 8 January 2003. This site serves as a portal to scientific and technical information and databases available from U.S. government agencies. Browse the collection of resources by subject or search multiple databases simultaneously. Topics include agriculture, veterinary medicine, biology, computers, energy, environment, health and medicine, math, and more. 29 May 2003. SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics describes itself as "a nonprofit ... organization ... dedicated to improving the criminal justice system." Its Web site provides news, information and publications pertaining to criminal justice and criminal justice technology. For example, The Automated Index of Criminal Justice Information Systems is a database of criminal justice agencies in the U.S. It provides agency and contact information as well as information about their automated processes and software products. The IT Acquisitions Database contains Requests for Proposals and Requests for Information, which relate to criminal justice issues and information technology acquisition. 2 June 2000. Currently in beta, Washburn University School of Law offers a database of articles and other commentary appearing in journals, newsletters, and other serial publications on government Web sites. Search by subject, title, or SuDoc number (classification). Clicking through on query matches retrieves the entire article. 16 July 2001. Government portal FirstGov offers a federal government search engine via GPO Access. Designed to search federal government Web pages or GPO Access Web pages in the FirstGov index, this specialty engine may assist searchers who want to focus their queries on federal government information.
By the same token, searchers should note that this engine does NOT replace other finding tools available from GPO Access. GPO Access research aids delve into databases maintained by the Government Printing Office. They enable querying the text of bills, statutes, regulations and other congressional and executive documents.
The FirstGov engine helps researchers find related documents. Let's say your question involves Congressional intent with respect to the Patients' Bill of Rights. Querying the FirstGov engine may uncover documents available on Senate and House Committee Web sites, federal agency actions, or letters published in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.
The engine also assists when the searcher is unsure about the type of document s/he seeks. Is it a bill, statute, regulation, etc.? If you do not know, the FirstGov engine may reveal the types of documents in which your search terms appear, particularly if you limit the query to GPO Access.
Overall, this FirstGov/GPO Access tool offers a useful addition to the search engines available for finding federal government information. 11 January 2000. Worldport Online, a Seattle, Washington area Internet service provider, offers a search engine for government information. 6 June 2000. Adobe, the creator of portable document format, illustrates a searching PDF documents in the relatively new ePaper section of its Web site. Search Adobe PDF Online enables the querying of "more than a million summaries of Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF) files on the Web."
Unfortunately, the site offers no instructions for formulating queries, or information about its search technology. I suggested simply entering keywords without connectors or punctuation.
Initial search results provide a Web address for the location of the summary document, which appears on an Adobe server. To retrieve the URL where the document resides in full-text on the Web, click on the Adobe address (it appears in red). This opens the summary document, which contains the document title (sometimes just a filename), author, and number of pages as well as the summary and Web location.
11 January 2000. Worldport Online, a Seattle, Washington area Internet service provider, offers a search engine for information stored on .mil Web servers. It claims to index more than 900,000 military pages. Test searches I ran also yielded .gov results. Created and maintained by The Center for Corporate Law, University of Cincinnati College of Law, the Deskbook offers the text of major securities laws and regulations. 29 March 2004. Revised 25 March 2008. Search this death claims database to find names, addresses and social security numbers. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains 3 collections (This resource is one of them.) of archival content from the Web sites of the South Carolina state government. This collection provides archival access to the Web sites of cabinet agencies.
Search each by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History and the collection to South Carolina State Government Cabinet Agencies and Misc Sites, South Carolina State Government Web Archive (A-L) or South Carolina State Government Web Archive (M-Z), depending on your interest. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains 3 collections (This resource is one of them.) of archival content from the Web sites of the South Carolina state government. This collection provides archival access to the Web sites of state agencies (A-L), but not including cabinet agencies. It appears to contain some legislative and judicial archives as well as some overlap with the M-Z archive.
Search each by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History and the collection to South Carolina State Government Cabinet Agencies and Misc Sites, South Carolina State Government Web Archive (A-L) or South Carolina State Government Web Archive (M-Z), depending on your interest. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains 3 collections (This resource is one of them.) of archival content from the Web sites of the South Carolina state government. This collection provides archival access to the Web sites of state agencies (M-Z), but not including cabinet agencies. It appears to contain some legislative and judicial archives as well as some overlap with the A-L archive.
Search each by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History and the collection to South Carolina State Government Cabinet Agencies and Misc Sites, South Carolina State Government Web Archive (A-L) or South Carolina State Government Web Archive (M-Z), depending on your interest. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains this collection of archival content from the Web sites of South Dakota state government agencies, boards and commissions. Search it by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the South Dakota State Archives and the collection to Higher Education, Legislative Research Council, or State Agencies, depending on your interest. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) offers this search interface to the 1987 edition of the SIC Manual. 6 October 1999. Formerly a service of The Center for Information Law and Policy, this tool assists researchers looking for the opinions of the various state courts. Villanova now maintains this resource. 6 October 1999. Formerly a joint Villanova/Chicago-Kent effort, this resource now resides at Chicago-Kent. Please note the new Web address.
Use the State Web Locator to find Web sites for state agencies. Many of these will link to official state legislative pages.
Tables from 1995 to the current edition are available in portable document format (PDF). The site also offers USA Statistics in Brief, a supplement to Statistical Abstract. 18 April 2000. Revised 27 October 2000. The official U.S. Supreme Court Web site opened Monday, 17 April 2000. Visitors may learn about the court, primarily by reading excerpts from a booklet prepared by the Court. Also available is the Court's calendar (current Term), argument calendars since March 2000, hearing lists since October 1999, and the Court's schedule.
Visitors also will find bar admissions information and a form, court rules and two case handling guides. Interestingly, the site offers SLIP opinions leaving the electronic dissemination of BENCH opinions to continue with Project Hermes (See GPO Access or Cornell).
Researchers concerned about the official status of these opinions should note:
"In case of discrepancies between the print and electronic versions..., the print version controls." See URL http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/info_opinions.html.
The site further warns that it replaces BENCH opinions usually within hours of their issuance. In the event differences appear between BENCH and SLIP opinions, the SLIP opinion rules.
I do not, however, recommend deleting your bookmarks to the Cornell Project Hermes site. The Supreme Court site intends to retain slip opinions online only until the end of the Term or until they appear in preliminary print form, whichever occurs later. Moreover, it fails to provide a way to search them. Researchers may want to depend on it strictly for current awareness and document retrieval.
Government resources note!28 September 2000. The U.S. Supreme Court docket system is now available via the Web site. It covers the current and immediately preceeding Terms.
Case law note!27 October 2000. Beginning with the 2000/2001 Term, the U.S. Supreme Court offers transcripts of oral arguments on a 10 to 15 day delay. 30 January 2003. A political science professor offers this electronic textbook containing basic information, resources and historical documents related to U.S. government and politics. There is a small fee to access the entire online version, but visitors will find much substantive information available for free. Covering topics like the Constitution, the legislative process, voting, and public policy issues, the textbook provides the full-text of related historical documents, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions, commentary, study questions (with answers!), photographs, and more. Find the Department of Justice's U.S. Attorneys' Manual compressed by chapter for quick downloading. The files exist in WordPerfect 5.1 format. 3 June 2004. The General Services Administration provides this directory for finding federal government telephone numbers. Search by state, city and state, area code or keyword. Handy search tips appear beneath the search boxes. These reveal simple Boolean capability (and, or), how to enter multiple area codes and how to browse the database. Search results contain the name of the federal agency, counties covered, phone number and Web site. Cornell Legal Information Institute provides a search interface to U.S. Code data available at the House of Representatives. Locate relevant Code sections by citation, single title search, or by searching the entire Code.
Nice features include internal hyperlinks to referenced sections of the Code, historical notes with links to public laws when available, references to relevant sections of the CFR, links to related information at Cornell LII and an update feature. 24 January 2006. The Washington Post offers a database of votes in the United States Congress since the 102nd Congress (1991). You may browse it by Congress, member or type of vote (e.g., impeachment, nomination). Data comes from several Web-based resources, including the Library of Congress' THOMAS Web site, the Web site of the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Web site of the Senate. You may keep up to date with current votes by subscribing to RSS feeds. 28 January 2003. Want to search the U.S. Government Manual? Then this site is for you! Duke University enables searching for government agencies by name, description, or acronym. Resulting information comes primarily from The United States Government Manual. It includes a brief description and link to the agency Web site. GPO Access offers the U.S. Government Manual from 1995 forward. Researchers may search it here. The U.S. Sentencing Commission offers Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manuals and amendments from 1994. 11 December 2000. Commissioned by the U.K. Office of the e-Envoy for the Cabinet Office, this portal site strives to facilitate access to government information and services in the United Kingdom. Currently, it offers three major paths to information: a keyword search (called "Quick Find"), directories of links (called "Life Episodes"), and a browsing area for discovering information relating to the democratic process and public services (called "CitizenSpace").
Like its counterpart in the U.S. -- FirstGov, UK Online is not particularly easy to use. How should citizens go about finding information about their right to privacy, for example? CitizenSpace (my first guess) offers three categories of information -- finding elected representatives, voting and elections, and complaints about public services. No go.
Life Episodes, which purports to offer "directories of links," provides only four such collections. They deal with traveling, having a baby, crime, and moving. "Quick Find" is the only remaining option. Fortunately, a search for "privacy" without quotations retrieves a couple of links to informative documents. But they're white papers -- not something the average citizen wants to read.
Finding information about your right to privacy involves this process: Enter Quick Find. Locate the button at the bottom of the page labeled "Legal Overviews." Click it to find a page of broad categories. Follow the "sale of goods" link. Note that you have come to another Web site (ukstate.com).
The ukstate.com article pertains to "sale of goods." In the search box, type "privacy." Go to the bottom of the search results page to find a link to an article entitled "What are my rights to privacy?"
Gee, I hope you weren't in a hurry.
22 June 2004. The National Association of Counties (NACO) provides information about county officials, county seats, cities and courthouses. Select a state to display such information as the number of counties within it, contact information for the state's county association, county names, NACO membership status, 2000 population, number of square miles, county seat and year founded. Follow the link for the county name, to find courthouse contact information, names of elected officials and more. Revised 7 May 2007. Cindy Pitchon, co-teacher of Government Resources on the Web, discusses various search services and databases for finding federal government information. 12 March 2008. The Internet Archive maintains this collection of archival content from the Web sites of Virginia state agencies. Search it by keyword or URL, or follow the advanced search link for more options. When using the advanced search feature, be sure to limit the institution to the Library of Virginia and the collection to Virginia State Government Web Sites Collection or one of the executive branch Web sites, the independent agencies collection, the judicial branch collection or the legislative branch collection. A keyword RSS feed for monitoring search results is available. 25 February 2003. Sponsored by the law firm of Robinson & Cole, Voting Rights Law provides commentary and case annotations on congressional redistricting and related issues. It covers, for example, issues under sections 2 (equal access), 5 (redistricting) and 203 (minorities) of the Voting Rights Act. 7 March 2000. The U.S. State Department offers this collection of "official texts, policy statements and interpretive material, features, and byline articles prepared daily by the U.S Department of State, International Information Programs." Locate items of interest by topic or region. The site also provides selected items in four other languages.
To search for older documents and commentary, enter the Archives. Researchers may query the archive in three different languages.
25 July 2005. Hosted and maintained by the Presidential Recordings Program at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs, the site makes available select presidential recordings and related research materials. According to site documentation, "six American presidents from both political parties secretly recorded just under 5,000 hours of conversations" from 1940 to 1973. You will find written transcripts and audio clips on many events or issues, which took place during the Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations. 16 February 2001. This directory by the Government Publications Department of the Library at The University of Memphis links to biographical information about members of Cabinet, Congress, federal agencies, and others. 5 August 2004. Economist Steve Stoft, who runs about a dozen political policy Web sites, provides a Web site for news reporters. The site comments on U.S. government policy by presenting certain policy-oriented facts and interpreting them. While claiming to "[a]void both left- and right-wing dogmas," the site "focuses on key progressive campaign issues" and "caters to the press and Democratic campaigns." Currently, it covers topics such as politics, money, foreign issues, health, education and legal issues. |
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