Subject and Course Guides: Government Information: Key Tools for Locating Gov Docs

Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. The site provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public.
govinfo.gov
govinfo provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.
USA.gov
We create and organize timely, needed government information and services and make them accessible to the public anytime, anywhere, via their channel of choice.
MetaLib
A service of the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP)! MetaLib is a federated search engine that searches multiple U.S. Federal government databases, retrieving reports, articles, and citations while providing direct links to selected resources available online.
US Government Manual
A regularly updated special edition of the Federal Register, it includes leadership tables and describes agency activities and programs of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of Government, as well as activities and programs of quasi-official agencies and international organizations in which the United States participates as a member.
GovSpeak: A Guide to U.S. Government Acronyms & Abbreviations
Lists acronyms and abbreviations commonly used by the United States federal government. Each is defined and links to the home page (or best alternative) of the identified entity. Created by Kelly Smith at UCSD.
Google
Use Google efficiently -- add site:.gov (site colon dot gov) to your keywords to limit searching to government websites.

Databases

WorldCat First Search
Catalog of books and other materials in libraries worldwide
Books and other materials in libraries worldwide. WorldCat contains more than 32 million records describing items owned by libraries around the world (including UTA).
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Created by experts in CRS, the reports present a legislative perspective on topics such as agriculture policy, counterterrorism operations, banking regulation, veteran’s issues and much more.
Founded over a century ago, CRS provides authoritative and confidential research and analysis for Congress’ deliberative use.
Homeland Security Digital Library
The Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL) is the nation’s premier collection of documents related to homeland security policy, strategy, and organizational management.

NOTE: Access is not available to off-campus users.
Historical Statistical Abstracts of the United States, 1970-2012 (ProQuest)
In print, the Statistical Abstract of the United States is a one-volume, comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Online it is 1400+ individually indexed tables (with attached spreadsheets), both searchable and browsable. Use the Abstract as a convenient volume for statistical reference, and as a guide to sources of more information both in print and on the Web.
Immigration: Records of the INS, 1880-1930 (ProQuest)
Covers the investigations made by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) during the massive immigration wave of 1880-1930. The files cover Asian immigration, especially Japanese and Chinese migration, to California, Hawaii, and other states; Mexican immigration to the U.S. from 1906-1930, and European immigration. There are also extensive files on the INS’s regulation of prostitution and white slavery and on suppression of radical aliens.

Collections of Digitized Documents

The vast majority of government publications are now published directly to the web, ensuring widespread availability. However, access to most older government documents remains somewhat limited. Many libraries and other organizations, such as those noted below, are working to increase availability by creating digitized copies of these older documents.

FDLP Web Archive
HathiTrust
This large-scale digital repository includes many government documents.
Internet Archive - FEDLINK
Collection of federal government documents hosted by the Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library.
LLMC Digital
Collection of legal titles and government documents. Includes the Statutes at Large and US federal, US state, and foreign legislative, executive and judicial materials.
TRAIL: Technical Report Archive & Image Library
The mission of TRAIL is to ensure preservation, discoverability, and persistent open access to government technical publications regardless of form or format.
UNT Libraries
Access to a large number of digitized documents, arranged in several distinct collections.