Did you know that the U.S. Government is the largest publisher of written material in the world? So how do you find what you are looking for among the millions of resources out there? Here are some useful links to help you find U.S. Government Information in no particular order.
AMERICAN FACT FINDER
From the U.S. Census, find census-related data including population, business, etc. for your local community or the nation as a whole.
COUNTRY STUDIES
Reports on foreign nations' history, people, politics, religion, etc. prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, sponsored by the Department of the Army. Focus tends to be on lesser-known regions (e.g. North Korea).
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
May seem a given, but many aren't aware of the tremendous online resources available through the Library of Congress, such as their Digital Collections & Services. Also available online are finding aids to the LOC collections. Tons of great information is available on the LOC site. Worth a visit to look for U.S. government information and history. Check out this section on Primary Documents in American History.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
The National Archives and Records Administration serves as our nation's record keeper, and contains information on the military, government and other historical information. Some records are available online, but much are only available at NARA facilities (main branches which are in Washington, DC and College Park, MD). Look to NARA when you are trying to find military service records.
FEDERAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARY
One of the things that makes this country a great democracy is the free and equal access to (ok, most) government information. Each state has at least one Federal Depository Library which receives one copy of everything printed by the U.S. government. Find one near you and what information they have at the FDL website.
FEDSTATS
Just what it says, federal stats of all types and on all types of topics. Also provides links to other government sites which provide stats.
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE (GPO)
The GPO is essentially the U.S. government's bookstore.
INFORMATION BRIDGE (DOE)
Provides access to thousands of Department of Energy (usually scientific) research report literature.
WASHLAW'S FEDERAL INFORMATION
From the Washburn University school of law. Information resources on the federal government.
SCIENCE.GOV
"Authortative" science information from the federal goverment. Searches over 42 databases and 14 federal agencies.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Search Engines & Boolean Searching
Ok - we all know about Google. It's a great resource for looking up information. To take your Google searching to the next level, you are going to want to use Boolean searching or Google-specific shortcuts. Google Guide is a great reference for advanced Google searching. Here is their "Cheat Sheet" - a quick reference of some commonly used advanced Google search techniques. You can also check out this cheat sheet provided by Google, which also includes Boolean operators.
INTERNET LIBRARY/LIBRARIAN'S GUIDE TO THE INTERNET
These two wonderful sites merged, serving as a search engine to quality content. Includes options to search newspapers and magazines; content for kids and teens; lists of resources by subject as well as "special collections"
BOOLEAN SEARCHING
Using operators such as "and" "or" and "not" to narrow search results.
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