Government Resources


All federal, state or international governmental agencies offer great resources of free, reliable and authoritative material. The selected links on this page offer some of the best and most popular government sites.

Gov Search Engines
Historical Documents of the U.S.
International
Massachusetts
Other States & City Info
United States

Most government Websites require Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view the material posted online. You can download the latest version free at the Adobe site.

U.S. Federal Government

• Census Atlas of the United States - with more than 700 full-color maps, this is the first general population and housing statistical atlas published by the Census Bureau since 1925!
• American Fact Finder - provided by the U.S. Census Bureau; includes a population clock
• GPO Access. A service of the Government Printing Office that provides free electronic access to an enormous amount of important information produced by the Federal Government.
• Thomas.   All current legislation searchable by bill number or word/phrase. House and Senate directories; full text of the Congressional Record; public laws by law number; roll call votes. Directory information for members of Congress; all current committee information such as reports, home pages, hearing transcripts and schedules.

Quick Links

Budget of the U.S. Government	Bureau of Labor Statistics	Census
Congressional Directory	Economic Report of the President	Federal Register
Fed Stats	Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications	Occupational Outlook Handbook
Occupational Outlook Quarterly	Statistical Abstract	Supreme Court Reports
U.S. Code	U.S. Government Manual	Who's Who in the Federal Government

• Contacting the Congress - Congress information including committee membership, biographies, fax numbers and email addresses of Senators and Representatives. Search by state and zip code
• County and City Data Books
• State and Metropolitan Area Data Book.
• Federal Tax Forms. It's not too early to start thinking about April 15^th. Requires Adobe Acrobat reader. Provides lots of FAQs and guidance on various tax issues for individuals.
• Government Printing Office main site with links to the U.S. Supreme Court website, Public Papers of the Presidents of the U.S., National Debate Topics for high schools, congressional directories and more.
• Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 - PDF, very large file which takes some time to load
• Students.Gov - gives students easy access to information and services they need from the U. S. Government. You can find a college, learn about military educational benefits, E-file your taxes, find a job, get a replacement social security card, apply to the Peace Corps, buy postage stamps or U.S. Savings bonds online, and more.
• United States House of Representatives -
• United States Senate -
• U S Blue Pages - federal agencies, links and telephone numbers
• Web Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Research - not a government guide, but created by a law librarian. This guide is for both the beginner and hardcore researcher. An acclaimed site.

Government Search Engines

• Fed World - Links to top government sites
• Gov Engine - directory of Federal, State, and Local Government as well as Court links
• Science Gov - gateway to authoritative, selected science information provided by U.S. government agencies
• USA Gov - Whatever you want or need from the U.S. government, it's here; a rich treasure of online information, services, and resources. Overwhelming amount of information. Try the directories - searching these is usually more direct than results from the general search box. Also try the FAQs, a huge number of questions (over 2,000) so someone might already have asked your question. Formerly called First Gov.
• U.S. Government Search - Google search that limits to dot gov domain

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Historical Documents  (U.S. )

• American State Papers - legislative & executive Congressional documents from 1789-1838
• The Bill of Rights -
• Constitution of the United States - with analysis and interpretation

1. Constitution of the United States - from the Emory University Law School historical texts collection
2. Annotated version explains the context and background of different parts of the document. Contains annotations from recent Supreme Court decisions; supplements to the 1992 edition.
3. Annotations and complete text from FindLaw.com covers all the Articles and Amendments. Links to related sites.

• The Declaration of Independence -
• The Federalist Papers - The Avalon Project at Yale Law School
• GPO Access Core documents of U.S. Democracy - From the Articles of Confederation to a Statistical Abstract of the United States, if you're looking for an American historical document, you'll probably find it here.
• Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States - from the Bartleby Project
• The National Archives - "You don't have to go to Washington D.C. to visit the National Archives"

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Massachusetts

• City of Worcester - official city page
• Digital Commonwealth - Portal indexing over 11,000 digital objects, including photographs, documents, and sound files from over 84 separate collections held by 25 separate libraries, museums and historical societies in Massachusetts.
• Worcester Page - arts and cultural info, and an events calendar
• Massachusetts Government  (Mass.Gov) The official state portal. Organized by functional category, but also has a search box. Information for state agencies, branches of government, cities and towns, agency websites, list of all publications (even the Drivers Manual from the Registry of Motor Vehicles.)
• General Court of Massachusetts (Senate and House.) Budget, session laws, list of legislators and elected officials, session calendars, how to register to vote, etc.
• Massachusetts Constitution.
• Massachusetts General Laws.
• Massachusetts History - via InfoTrac Web. Contains full-text articles gathered from almost 50 sources that directly relate to MA history.
• Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs. Investigating consumer problems.

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Other States & City Info

• Guide to State and Local Government Internet Sites - Links to each state, plus D.C., Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and more territories. Also multi-state sites, state agencies, and other links such as job listings, state capital newsletters, think tanks, etc. 
• Cities and Town Info - housing, transportation, crime, commuting, zip codes, etc.
• 50 States and Capitals - large array of information on each state, 5 US territories, & DC.
• County and City Data Books
• State and Metropolitan Area Data Book.
• State Agency Databases - information on businesses, licensed professionals, plots of land, even dates of fish stocking. Some of this content can be found in search engines, but much  of it is buried in the invisible web. A wiki-based project by the ALA Government Documents Roundtable.

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International

• Constitution Finder - pull-down index to over 200 countries ranging from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Offers constitutions, charters, amendments, and other related documents;  constitutions are offered in original languages and English.
• Country Studies - from the Library of Congress. Description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world.  
• Demographic Yearbook - The UN Demographic Yearbook provides statistics for over 230 countries and areas in the world and covers such subjects as: population size and composition, births, deaths, marriage and divorce.
• Elections Around the World - now on a Wkipedia site
• Electronic Embassy. Information on all foreign embassies of Washington, D.C.
• Embassy World - Index of all embassies worldwide, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe
• Europa :The Gateway to the European Union
• Foreign Affairs Online - a top site for researchers interested in International Relations, International Law, and U.S. Foreign Policy.
• International Database - demographic and socioeconomic data for 227 countries and areas
• United Nations - pages available in several languages
• Nations of the World - Part of the Law Library of Congress's Global Legal Information Network. Links to information on all the countries' constitutions, as well as their legislative, executive, and judicial bodies.
• Non Governmental Organizations - NGOs have become increasingly influential in world affairs and many have relationships with intergovernmental organizations such as the UN.
• UNESCO Institute for Statistics - Provides "global and internationally comparable statistics on education, science, technology, culture and communication."
• United Nations Cyberschoolbus - Easy-to-use source for comparitive statistics - You can select up to seven countries and compare them in areas such as population, environment, economy, and social indicators such as education, health, crime etc.
• World Factbook - produced by the CIA; background material for 267 countries; reference maps
  

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