Government Information on the Internet What kind of government information is available via the Internet? Government and related information is becoming more available electronically. The Federal Depository Library Program will focus on primarily electronic means of distribution in the future. Many major government agencies have already designed Internet sites to disseminate information and advertise products and services. Types of government information available include statistics, full-text documents, press releases, and current news items. What are the benefits of accessing government information through the Internet as opposed to print sources? Some materials are made available or are updated on the Internet before their print counterparts can be printed, mailed to libraries, and processed. Some Internet sources contain a greater depth of information than their print counterparts. Many government sites are keyword searchable, which may save you time. You will have access to a broader range of materials, including those which your library did not receive, and those which are presented exclusively on the Internet, such as some Census Bureau reports. A benefit of any government publication is that works published by the U.S. government are usually not protected by copyright. What are the drawbacks of accessing government information through the Internet? You should treat information found on Internet sites with at least as much caution as you treat printed materials. Since almost any person or business can create a "home page," try to determine the producer of the information and use your judgment. Some of the popular government sites may be slow or difficult to access during midday. Remember also that site addresses and the content and organization of information may change at any time. How do I know if a site is a government site? In addition to government agencies, some universities, community freenets, watchdog groups, and businesses mount government information on their sites, too. A good indication that the site is produced by a division of the government is ".gov" in the site's address. Also pay attention to the very top or bottom of the introductory page in a World Wide Web site, and the "about this gopher" type of file in a gopher site. What search tools are available to help locate government sites? The first section of this handout lists starting points, whereas the second section lists specific government sites. The Reinert/Alumni Library also owns the following books: REF TK 5105.875 I57 F43 1995, The Federal Internet Source: A Directory of Nearly 500 Federal, State and Political Internet Sites, and How to Find and Use Them, edited by Jayne Levin, and REF TK 5105.875 I57 R93 1995, Guide to Government Information Available on the Internet by Joe Ryan. If you need further help, call the Government Publications Librarian at (402) 280-2978 or e-mail her at dhammel@creighton.edu. Some Popular Starting Points for Government Information Most of these starting points arrange information by branch of government (executive, legislative, judicial), by subject categories, and/or by geographic level (municipal, state, U.S., international, intergovernmental). Many of these sites provide links to other government information starting points. Extra distinguishing features are noted below. Site Special Features Site Address American Politics Gopher Elections, campaigns, historical docs, world constitutions, political parties gopher://www.polisci.nwu.edu:70 Askew School of Public Administration and Policy, FSU List of popular info sources http://mailer.fsu.edu/~spap/research/govern.html Bartunek Law Library, Cleveland State Univ. Reference sources, hot items http://govtdoc.law.csuohio.edu/usgov.html Clearinghouse for Subject-Oriented Internet Resource Guides http://www.lib.umich.edu/chouse/tree/govlaw.html (Adrian) Dorn's Page Archives, politics of social change http://metro.turnpike.net/adorn/gov.html Duke (Univ) Public Documents Documents "hotlist," European Union, U.N., maps http://www.lib.duke.edu/pubdocs.html EINET's Galaxy Laws and regulations, public affairs http://www.einet.net/galaxy/Government.html Enterprise Integration Technologies (EIT) http://www.eit.com/web/www.servers/government.html Federal Information Exchange, Inc. http://www.fie.com/www/us_gov.htm Federal Web Locator Federal "quick jumps," non-governmental related sites http://www.law.vill.edu/Fed-Agency/fedwebloc.html FedWorld http://www.fedworld.gov/#usgovt OR telnet fedworld.gov GILS (Government Info Locator Service) http://info.er.usgs.gov/public/gils/ Global Network Navigator Law, crime, war and peace, election '96 http://www.gnn.com/wic/govt.toc.html Government Information Exchange http://www.info.gov InfoLib Great government gophers gopher://infolib.berkeley.edu:70/11/resdbs/gove OR gopher infolib.berkeley.edu INFOMINE "What's new" http://lib-www.ucr.edu/govpub/ Keele University Constitutions, treaties, electoral systems, political parties http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/po/psr.htm KSG Online Political Information Network Campaign info, think tanks, advocacy and nonprofit organizations http://ksgwww.harvard.edu/~ksgpress/opinhome.htm LC Marvel Independent federal commissions/institutes gopher://marvel.loc.gov:70/11/federal OR gopher marvel.loc.gov (path = government info) MCI Government Systems http://www.gov.mci.net/fed/fed.html The Obscure Organization Independent agencies and commissions http://www.obscure.org/~jaws/government.html (Maggie) Parhamovich's List http://www.wcs-online.com/usgovdoc/ Political Scientist's Guide to the Internet Political research, issues and people, international affairs http://www.trincoll.edu/pols/home.html Rice University gopher://riceinfo.rice.edu:70/11/Subject/Government (Larry) Schankman's List Congressional bills, area studies, Census and demographics, law http://www.clark.net/pub/lschank/web/gov.html OR ftp ftp.clark.net/pub/lschank SunSite Supreme Court decisions, political science archive gopher://sunsite.unc.edu:70/11/sunsite.d/politics.d Univ of California-Irvine gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/11/gopher.welcome/peg/GOPHERS/gov Univ of California-Irvine Libraries Current topics, law http://www.lib.uci.edu/govt_law/intro.html Univ of Idaho Library http://drseuss.lib.uidaho.edu/govdoc/WWWga.html Univ of Michigan Historical documents, U.S. Government Manual gopher://una.hh.lib.umich.edu:70/11/socsci/poliscilaw OR gopher una.hh.lib.umich.edu (path = socsci/poliscilaw Univ of Michigan Documents Center Current docs in the news, poli sci and statistical sources http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center Univ of Missouri-St. Louis Docs in the news gopher://umslvma.umsl.edu/11/library/govdocs Univ of Southern California Monthly Catalog of Government Publications http://www.usc.edu/Library/GovDocs/index.html Virtual Library http://www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/fedgov.html Wiretap Historical docs, world constitutions gopher://wiretap.spies.com:70/11/Gov World-Wide Web Virtual Library Independent agencies, procurement and funding, technology transfer info http://www.nttc.edu/gov_res.html Yahoo Commissions, conferences, documents, embassies, institutes, law, military, news, research labs, U.S. budget http://www.yahoo.com/Government/ Yale University http://www.library.yale.edu/govdocs/govdoc2.html Some Useful Government Sites Site Contents Site Address C-Span Congressional info, historic docs, Supreme Court decisions, Contract with America gopher://c-span.org Census Bureau Population, housing, and economic data; County and City Data Book, Statistical Abstract, County Business Patterns http://www.census.gov Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook, Handbook of International Economic Statistics, chiefs of state and cabinet members of foreign governments http://www.odci.gov/cia Congressional Quarterly News, reports, and analysis from CQ publications gopher://gopher.cqalert.com gopher gopher.cqalert.com Copyright Office Copyright basics, registration info, federal regulations http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ Cornell Law School Supreme Court decisions from 1990 to present http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/ DOSFAN (Dept of State Foreign Affairs Network) Foreign policy info, including speeches, treaties, press briefings, reports to Congress, Dispatch, Background Notes http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu Economic Bulletin Board Foreign trade, international market reports by industry, monetary stats, U.S. budget, economic indicators, employment and industry stats, GDP and CPI data, and regional economic stats gopher://una.hh.lib.umich.edu:70/11/ebb EDGAR Corporate filings with the SEC, including 10-K, 10-KSB, and some annual reports http://www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm Education Dept Legislation, budget, educational stats, money matters, national education goals, Goals 2000, press releases http://www.ed.gov gopher://gopher.ed.gov gopher gopher.ed.gov Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) News, press releases, databases, legislation http://www.epa.gov gopher://gopher.epa.gov gopher gopher.epa.gov Health and Human Services Dept Policy articles, speeches, testimony, press releases; info on AIDS, cancer, social security, morbidity and mortality; new laws http://www.os.dhhs.gov gopher://gopher.os.dhhs.gov gopher gopher.os.dhhs.gov Health Care Finance Administration Press releases, speeches, testimony, statistical databases, regulations, laws, overview of Medicare and Medicaid http://www.ssa.gov/hcfa/hcfahp2.html Intellectual Property Information Mall Extensive list of links to sites on all forms of intellectual property http://www.fplc.edu/ipmall.html Kerrey's (Bob) Home Page Biography, press releases, Medicare info http://www.senate.gov/~kerrey Labor Dept Links to Bureau of Labor Statistics databases, laws and regulations http://www.dol.gov Library of Congress THOMAS, POW/MIA database, federal and state government info http://www.loc.gov NAFTA (via CYFERNet) Full text and related info gopher://cyfer.esusda.gov:70/11/ace/policy gopher cyfer.esusda.gov National Environmental Scorecard Voting records of members of Congress http://www.igc.apc.org/lcv Nebrask@ Online Fee-based: NE motor vehicle records, NE business names search, NE Supreme Court and Court of Appeals releases http://www.nol.org Nebraska State Government State agencies, universities, Office of the Governor http://www.state.ne.us Omaha Free-Net City of Omaha, city department addresses, city charter, Mayor's office, Omaha Schools, UNO, UNMC http://lisa.unomaha.edu/ips/ips.html The Senate Directory, biographies, committee assignments, e-mail addresses http://www.senate.gov gopher://gopher.senate.gov:70/1 gopher gopher.senate.gov Small Business Administration Local info, financial assistance info, business development, government contracting gopher://www.sbaonline.sba.gov StateSearch Clearinghouse of state government info in 20+ subject categories http://www.state.ky.us/nasire/ NASIREhome.html Third Millennium America's debt clock; guess the % of 1995 federal budget for 9 expenditure categories http://www.debt.org THOMAS Congressional bills, Congressional Record, bill summary and status, hot legislation, full text of U.S. Constitution http://thomas.loc.gov telnet://thomas.loc.gov telnet thomas.loc.gov United Nations UN charter, text of resolutions, daily news and press releases, documents, info on conferences http://www.un.org U.S. House of Representatives Info about members, committees, legislative schedules, summary of House votes, full text and status of bills, http://www.house.gov U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library State laws, GATT, federal budget, searchable version of Code of Federal Regulations http://www.pls.com:8001 Vietnam Veterans Home Page "Wall on the Web" (allows search of 58,000+ names on the Memorial Wall) http://grunt.space.swri.edu Vote Smart Web 1996 Presidential campaign, campaign contributions to members of Congress http://www.vote-smart.org White House Press releases, executive orders, proclamations, speeches, first family http://www.whitehouse.gov Contributed by Dawn M. Hammel, Creighton University