Government Information

Citing Government Information

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:34:01 -0700

Government documents and web sites are cited very like any other sources, but there are a few special considerations to be aware of. The following will link to information on citing government information in a variety of formats:

University of Michigan Documents Center: Citation Guides

Depository Program

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:19:25 -0700

The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) was established in 1813 by Congress to ensure that the American public has access to its Government's information. Anyone can visit Federal depository libraries and use the depository collections, which are filled with information on careers, business opportunities, consumer information, health and nutrition, legal and regulatory information, demographics, and numerous other subjects.

Find Your Legislators

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:15:17 -0800

U.S. Senate

Senator Ron Wyden (D)
Senator Jeff Merkley (D)

U.S. House of Representatives

District 01 David Wu (D)
District 02 Greg Walden (R)
District 03 Earl Blumenauer (D)
District 04 Peter A. DeFazio (D)
District 05 Kurt Schrader (D)

Oregon Congressional Districts (map from the Oregon Blue Book)

State Senators & Representatives: Find Your Legislator at http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/home.htm

Locators and Finding Aids

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:29:27 -0700

OSU Libraries Catalog search by SuDoc or OrDoc number in the Numbers Search
Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) (official GPO Access version)
USA.gov the U.S. government's official web portal (previously Firstgov.gov)
GPO Access disseminates official information from all three branches of the Federal Government.
THOMAS is the Library of Congress' website that makes federal legislative information freely available to the public. Covers 1989 (101st Congress) onwards.
FedWorld.gov is a gateway to government information, managed by the National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
CyberCemetary http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ is a partnership between the University of North Texas Libraries and GPO to provide permanent public access to the Web sites and publications of defunct U.S. government agencies and commissions.
U.S. Government Manual Official handbook of the Federal Government. Provides comprehensive information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches, as well as quasi-official agencies, boards, commissions, and committees.
Browse Topics the government categorized
Cross-Agency Portals at USA.gov. Gateways that bring together federal information and services from multiple agencies about a particular topic or for a particular customer group.
Checklist of United States Public Documents 1789-1909 Courtesy of Evergreen State College (Olympia, WA), a digitization of a standard reference work. Lists Agency and Congressional documents, including Serial Set.
Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) serves the DoD community as the largest central resource for DoD and government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business related information available (full text available)

Government Information at OSU

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:17:41 -0800

The Valley Library at OSU provides access to United States (Federal) and State of Oregon documents in all formats including print, electronic (internet and CD/DVD), and microform.

We have been a depository library for state and selected Federal agency documents since 1907. To insure that all Oregonians have access to as complete a collection of federal information as possible we entered into a selective housing agreement with the Oregon State Library in Salem in 2008. In it we agree to collect and retain 100% of the documents produced by the following agencies, to keep them available in perpetuity for the citizens of the State of Oregon.

US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) (includes the US Forest Service)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
National Oceanographic Data Center
National Marine Fisheries Service
Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Office
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
US Dept. of the Interior (includes the National Parks Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fish & Wildlife, and US Geological Survey among others)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

While we have many, many items from other departments and agencies of the Federal government besides the ones listed above, other libraries have agreed to create full collections of those. For a summary of holdings in Oregon, and which library is responsible for which agency, see the Oregon Regional Federal Depository Collection Holdings List Summary.

In addition OSU is a 100% depository of State of Oregon documents.

In The News

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:30:57 -0800

Health Care Legislation
Those following the debates on health care legislation may be interested in House Report 111-330, to accompany H. Res. 903 RH. This is the rule providing for consideration of H.R. 3962, Affordable Health Care for America Act, and contains a summary of the amendment, the Common Sense Health Care Reform and Affordability Act.

Here are links to the major health acts being discussed currently in Congress:

HR3200: America's Affordable Health Choices Act

HR3962: Affordable Health Care for America Act

S1679: Affordable Health Choices Act

S1796: America's Healthy Future Act

Federal Digital System (FDsys)

GPO has launched FDsys, GPO's new Federal Digital System, an innovative tool to enable people to search and access the documents of the U.S. government. FDsys is an one-stop site on which to find current, authentic, published information from all three branches of the U.S. government.

One of the highlights of FDsys is the new Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, which includes releases from the White House Press Office and remarks made by the President. FDsys also offers search capabilities to find documents released by Members of Congress and Congressional Committees, using only keyword and date information.

We invite you to take a look at FDsys, which will not only "provide transparency to our government, but forever change how we maintain and manage authentic government information." (Robert C. Tapela , Public Printer of the United States)

Copyright, Patents & Trademarks

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:14:47 -0700

Databases

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:08:21 -0700

Branches of the Federal Government

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 09:21:57 -0800

Executive Resources

White House
Directories:
- Federal Agencies Directory (from Louisiana State University Libraries)
- U.S. Government Manual

Legislative Resources

U.S. House of Representatives
United States Senate
THOMAS (free access to legislative information). Here also are directions for creating "handles" (permanent links) that allow you to directly refer to specific legislation found on the THOMAS website.
GAO: Government Accountability Office
Directories:
- Congressional Directory on GPO Access

Judiciary Resources

U.S. Supreme Court
Directories:
- Administrative Office of the United States Courts --Links to all of the federal courts; also court fees and statistics

User Guides and Tutorials

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:55:35 -0700

Congress

UC Berkeley Library's Congressional Research Tutorials - created by UCB librarians Jesse Silva and Karen Munro, contains tutorials on finding a bill, a hearing, and a Congressional debate, and on How Congress Works.

Federal Government Information Online

USA.gov Tutorials - Finding Government Information Online

The Courts

Understanding the Federal Courts

Congressional Publications at OSU

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:30:04 -0700

OSU has a variety of Congressional publications, both in paper and electronically.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:46:52 -0700

Some of the most reliable and in-depth research into topics relevant to current events is produced by the Congressional Research Service. CRS is a non-partisan public policy research group that works exclusively for the United States Congress, and although taxpayer-funded, does not make its reports available to the public. There has been a movement for many years to change this, and Congress is considering a law to mandate public access.

For now, several organizations (with the approval of Congress) have been collecting CRS Reports and making them available online. Some places you can look for these reports include:

Open CRS http://opencrs.com/ - a project of the Center for Democracy & Technology
CRS Reports at University of North Texas Libraries http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/
CRS Reports from the National Council for Science and the Environment http://ncseonline.org/NLE/CRs/ - primarily environmental and related topics

LLRX.com, a website offering access to law and technology resources for legal professionals, has a Guide to CRS Reports on the Web by Catholic University of America law librarian Stephen Young, with more information and links to further resources for finding CRS Reports.

State Government Guides

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:24:29 -0700

Oregon

Other states' Blue Books

Oregon Cities & Counties

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:40:14 -0700

Oregon cities
With communities profiles and maps.(Oregon Blue Book)

Oregon counties
Links to county webpages, maps, histories, economic indicators, and U.S. Census Bureau's "County Quick Facts." (Oregon Blue Book)

Oregon Community Profiles
Data on incorporated Oregon communites: population, employment, economics, education facilities and infrastructure (Oregon Economic & Community Development Dept.)

City of Corvallis

Links to departments of City Manager, Community Development, Finance, Fire, Parks & Recreation, Police, Public Works and Public Library.

Oregon State Government

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:56:28 -0700

State Government

Oregon.gov --official Oregon Government website
Oregon State Government --A to Z listing of links to Oregon State government web pages.

Legislature

Judicial

Oregon Courts - Oregon Judicial Department

Governor's Office

State Capital

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:39:39 -0700

Oregon's State Capital building at night

International Development

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:08:02 -0700

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

U.S. State Department Background Notes - include facts about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations of independent states, some dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty.

United Nations - Human Development Reports

United Nations Development Programme (works best in IE)

International Statistics

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:17:52 -0700

Country Analysis Briefs	Energy Information Administration
Country Profiles	Central Intelligence Agency
Demographic Indicators for Countries	U.S. Census Bureau
International Comparisons	National Center for Education Statistics
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003	National Center for Education Statistics
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study	National Center for Education Statistics
International Justice Statistics	Bureau of Justice Statistics
International Minerals Information	U.S. Geological Survey
International Tax Statistics	Statistics of Income Division, IRS

For links to statistics sites of national agencies, see the comprehensive website from Vanderbilt University, Statistics - National Agencies and Compendia at http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/romans/natlstats.html

Census and Other Statistical Websites

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:21:53 -0700

National Statistics

U.S. Census Bureau
American FactFinder (1990-present: population, housing, economic, geographic)
Statistical Abstract of the United States
FedStats
Bureau of Labor Statistics
National Center for Education Statistics
National Center for Health Statistics

Database: Data for Local Communities (Oregon)

Data.Gov A new government statistical Web site that makes available machine-readable data sets generated by the executive branch of the federal government. The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access of these high value, machine readable datasets. Still a work in progress, so check back often.

Further information about finding government and other kinds of statistics will be found in the Statistics Guide (coming soon)