Useful Overview Sources
- USA.gov As the U.S. government's official web portal, it provides links to information from federal government websites. The portal also provides some information from quasi-government agencies, state and local governments, and recognized Indian tribes.
- GovInfoGovInfo is a service of the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO), which provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.
- Catalog of U.S. Government PublicationsThe CGP is a finding tool for publications from all three branches of the U.S. government. Updated daily, it contains descriptive records for current and historical publications and provides direct links to those online.
Guide to the Guide
This guide is laid out a little differently than others, so here's a guide to the things you can find here.
Find By Subject- Government information sorted according to subject or discipline, as well as the FDLP basic collections (all the documents the US Government requires FDLP libraries to provide to citizens)
Executive, Judicial, and Legislative Branch tabs- Contain information about the three branches of the Federal Government, including major publications and helpful websites
Departmental Pages- Links to many different government departments across different branches.
Data Sources- Government and government related sites that include statistical data of various sorts.
Laws- Various sites on laws, including the legislative process, legal codes and judicial decisions.
History- Content about the history of the US Government, as well as historical information available for the government.
Budget- Material on the Federal budget and economic issues.
FOIA Requests- How to obtain information from the US Government
Illinois State Information- Information from the state government of Illinois.
Chicago Information- Information from the city government of Chicago, including the city's Data Portal.
General Guides to the U.S. Government- Reference works about the functions of the US Government.
General Information Sources
- CIA World FactbookProvides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. Our Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, a World Oceans map, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.
- GovTrackGovTrack is the only website that provides free research, tracking, and analytics on the daily activities of the United States Congress.
- National Archives and Records AdministrationThe National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. They retain government records of enduring legal or historical value.
- Statistical Abstract of the United States This link opens in a new windowData sets and statistical sources from the United States government covering American history, demographics, and census data.
FDLP Membership
“This library is a congressionally designated depository for U.S. Government documents. Public access to the government documents collection is guaranteed by public law. (Title 44 United States Code)”