The
Digital Research Initiative
The University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill
Online EIS Class Handouts

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Government
The Biggest Resource of Them All
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The United States government is the single largest publisher in the world.
Every year, millions of documents are published by the Federal government, from
transcripts of speeches to how-to manuals to legal records. These government
documents can be of tremendous value to journalists and other information gatherers,
because they provide access to more detailed information on more subjects than
any other source. Although some US documents are classified as "top secret,"
the vast majority are available to the public.
Ways to Get US Government Documents
- Mail order the desired document from the Superintendent of Documents, US
Government Printing Office.
- Buy the document directly from the federal agency that created it.
- For Legislative information, you can use the "Thomas"
WWW Site, which is maintainted by the Library of Congress, and houses
a wealth of public documents.
- Contact your local congressperson and ask them to send the needed document
to you.
- Locate the document using the Freedom of Information Act.
- Go to the nearest government depository, which for us is Davis library.
However, even though this is the easiest way to get quick access to the document
you are looking for, government depositories will not let you keep the document.
Indexes to Government Documents
- Monthly Catalog of US Government Publications: Available both as
a CD-ROM and online database, this index is the only one that attempts (unsuccessfully)
to catalog all of the documents produced by the Federal Government.
- Congressional Information Service Index (CIS/Index): This privately
produced index catalogs most of the documents gathered by the US Congress,
and every document listed by CIS is available from them on microfiche.
- American Statistics Index (ASI): This index, which is available online
and is published by CIS, lists Federal sources for statistical information,
including the Census.
- Index to US Government Periodicals: Even though this index includes
listings of only 200 of the government's thousands of periodicals, it is useful
because of its extremely broad scope. All of the periodicals listed in this
index are either available from government depositories or through the issuing
agency.
- Government Reports, Announcements and Index (GRA&I): Available
as CD-ROM and online database, the GRA&I indexes the reports issued by
the National Technical Information Service, which was established in 1970
to simplify public access to information on physical and social sciences.
- CIS US Serial Set Index: The Serial Set is a collection of Congressional
documents that were created between 1789 and 1969. This time is divided into
12 historical periods and the collection includes more than 325,000 titles.
- Congressional Record Index: This
index, issued every two weeks, catalogs the Congressional Record (CR). (Both
the Congressional Record Index and the CR are found in the Thomas
WWW Site.) The CR contains information submitted by the members of Congress,
such as articles, editorials, tributes and assorted trivia. The CR also contains
a good deal of information about the proceedings of the two houses of Congress
and their schedules.
- CIS Federal Register Index: This index catalogs the Federal Register,
which is published every working day and contains information about Federal
regulatory activities and programs. This source provides information on rules,
proposed rules, meetings and reports from many Federal agencies.
- Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents and Public Papers of the
President of the United States: Since 1965, the Weekly Compilation has
included the texts of proclamations, executive orders, addresses, remarks,
letters, messages, transcripts of news conferences, and communication with
Congress. The Public Papers is a bound publication of these documents.
Some Helpful Governmental Links
Federal Government
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Executive Branch
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Legislative Branch
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Judicial Branch
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State Government
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- The NASCIO Homepage -- The
National Association of State Information Officers maintains StateSearch,
a topical clearinghouse of state information on the Internet.
- State and Local Government
on the Net -- A huge repository of online information about
states, including governmental information and links to pages
for counties, cities, and towns within your state of choice.
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Federal Government Databases and Search Engines
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- Fedworld Homepage -- Your
source for locating government information. Hosts FirstGov, a
governmental database that contains more than 30 million documents.
Also points you to listings of government jobs.
- The National Technical Information
Service -- Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce, this
site is the central source for scientific, technical, and business
information.
- FedStats Homepage -- This
site is a gateway to statistics from more than 100 U.S. Federal
agencies.
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Government Beyond the United States
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This site was created especially for students of the UNC
School of Journalism
and Mass Communication and anyone else who may be interested.
For more information, please contact daikat@email.unc.edu
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