Guides: Political Science: Government Information

Robbie Sittel

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Sycamore Library
Sycamore Hall 105C

940-565-4150

Subjects: Data, Genealogy, Geography, Geology, Government Information, Political Science

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How to Find Government Documents

If you need to search for a government document by its call number, we recommend that you go to the Numbers tab and start with the OCLC Call Number option in the drop-down menu.

Contrary to popular belief (and the catalog help screen), this recommendation applies to both U.S. federal and Texas state government documents.

If you are unable to locate a U.S. federal document using the Other Call Number search, then try a SuDoc Number search. But in most cases, the “Other” search is more dependable.

Additional tips

Make sure you enter the proper punctuation in a call number search. The online catalog is very “picky” about punctuation in call numbers.
Don’t rely on OCLC or WorldCat call numbers. They are often incorrect or different. If you find something in a WorldCat record, it’s best to search for the UNT copy by title rather than call number.
Speaking of WorldCat, please be aware that UNT government documents holdings are not listed in WorldCat. It’s necessary to search the UNT catalog to see if we have an item in our collection.

Online Versions of Government Documents

Did you know that a large percentage of government publications are available online? And it’s not just the new stuff, either.

Unfortunately, though, you can’t just limit your search to “electronic resources” if you’re looking for online government documents. Nor can you limit your material type to “ebooks” or “ejournals”.

To find an online version of a government document, you must do a regular catalog search as if you are looking for a paper book.

Look for the “related content” button on the browse screen for your title. This signifies that there is a hyperlink of some sort in the record.

You’ll probably also notice that the paper book, paper map, and online versions of this title are all together on one record. Due to the way government documents are issued, we’ve found that it’s easier for patrons to find all the parts and formats of a title if they are all included on the same record. Unfortunately, this also means that limiting searches to a particular format is not always productive.

So remember, if you’re looking for an online government document, don’t limit your search by format or material type.

How-tos

Federal Legislative Histories
A basic outline of steps and resources for locating federal legislative histories from the Library of Congress
Understanding Federal Statutes
A guide for understanding and finding federal statutes.
Federal Register and CFR
Information about U.S. regulations and related publications.

US Federal Government Resources

Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official website for federal legislative information. Access coverage of legislative information available at Congress.gov here: https://www.congress.gov/about/coverage-dates
FDSys: Federal Digital System
FDSys provides free access to publications from all three branches of government. Publications available at FDSys are official and authentic.
The Lugar Center: Bipartisan Governance & Oversight
The performance of the United States Government and the security and economic well-being of the American people have suffered because of the intensifying partisanship that has afflicted political processes and societal debates in recent years. This partisanship frequently has had the effect of subordinating good governance to political combat and locking leaders into inflexible positions. We have seen innumerable examples of both parties failing the most basic tests of governance, including the 2013 government shutdown, the inability to enact a long-term deficit reduction program, reliance on the fiscal cliff sequester, the near abandonment of a bill-by-bill appropriations process, and repeated failures to pass an annual budget resolution. Faced with reflexive partisan roadblocks, Congress also has frequently retreated from legislating on foreign policy, with negative consequences for national security. Treaty ratification during the Obama Administration has come to a near standstill. For many years, comprehensive Foreign Affairs Authorization bills have received low priority for floor time and leadership attention. Congress is largely failing to pursue systematic and timely reviews of the most strategically important questions in foreign policy. In the process, it is weakening its capacity to function as either a partner or as a constructive critic of the Executive Branch in foreign affairs. Thus, "the Lugar Center is dedicated to incentivizing public officials to put governance first, fostering more meaningful policy debates, encouraging civility in political speech, and promoting structural reforms that can reduce partisanship."

ProQuest Congressional
ProQuest Congressional Includes information on bills, laws, regulations, Congressional publications, current and previous Members of Congress, campaign finance information, financial disclosures, voting records, and committee membership. Also includes the full text of some Congressional reports, documents, and testimonies. Dates of Coverage: 1789 - present

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is the public policy research arm of Congress. This legislative branch agency works exclusively for Members of Congress, their committees and their staff. This collection includes CRS reports from the mid-1970's through the present.
The information on this site is compiled and made available as a public service by the Government Documents Department at the UNT Libraries.

CQ Press
CQ Press includes databases, online reference books, CQ Researcher Plus Archive, a source for basic information on a variety of topics, and CQ Weekly, which provides up-to-date information on the U.S. Congress and its activities. Dates of Coverage: 1929 - present (varies by source)
HeinOnline
HeinOnline, sometimes known as Hein Online, serves as a source of legal information with over 100 million pages of legal history and comprehensive coverage of more than 2,000 law and law-related periodicals. HeinOnline hosts a number of collections, with descriptions of contents available to users who click the question mark next to the collection title.
LegiScan API
LegiScan API is the data service providing structured JSON information for legislation in all 50 states and Congress that is the heart of the turnkey OneVote / GAITS tracking platform. Giving access to raw bill detail information, status, sponsors, full bill texts, roll call records and more to both public and private entities.
United States Office of Government Ethics
Forms, Publications and Other Ethics Documents Includes public and confidential financial disclosure forms, model trust documents, a review of agency programs, and more. The U.S. Office of Government Ethics provides access to many full-text publications in their Ethics Resource Library. Included are Reference Publications, Booklets, Pamphlets, OGE Ethics Newsgram, Reports and Plans, Surveys and Questionnaires, and Proposed Legislation. Dates of Coverage: 1978 - present
ProQuest History Vault
ProQuest History Vault unlocks the wealth of key archival materials with a single search. Researchers can access digitized letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, diaries, and many more primary source materials taken from the University Publications of America (UPA) Collections. The collections are organized into modules within these popular subject areas. UNT is subscribed select modules and collections, and not the entire platform.
State Papers Online, 1509-1714
State Papers Online, 1509-1714, published in four parts, offers researchers an online resource for understanding two hundred years of British and European history, from the reign of Henry VIII to the end of the reign of Queen Anne. This archive consists of facsimile images of almost three million British State Papers which are linked to calendar entries.
SHAFR Guide Online
The SHAFR Guide is an annotated bibliography of U.S. Foreign Relations since 1600. It provides an annotated bibliography of historical work covering the entire span of U.S. foreign relations. It aims to jump-start the research of both students and advanced scholars.
Race Relations in America
Race Relations in American provides records of speeches, reports, surveys, and analyses produced by Fisk University's Race Relations Department from 1943-1970. This information documents the civil rights fight with concentrations on desegregation, migration of African Americans from the rural South to urban centers, the role of the Church in the Civil Rights Movement, race riots and tensions, and the activists of the Civil Rights movement.
Records of the Children's Bureau, 1912-1969
Records of the Children's Bureau, 1912-1969 consists of reports, speeches, correspondence, and research materials from the Children's Bureau, the first federal agency dedicated entirely to protecting the welfare of children and families. The documents in this collection span the years from its creation in 1912 through 1969 and originate from the administrative files of the bureau staff members.
Immigration Records of the INS 1880-1930
Immigration Records of the INS 1880-1930 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 sex work, human trafficking, and on suppression of radicalized immigrants.
govinfo
govinfo provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.
Budget of the U.S. Government
Budget of the U.S. Government Issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Budget of the United States Government is a collection of documents that contains the budget message of the President, information about the President's budget proposals for a given fiscal year, and other budgetary publications that have been issued throughout the fiscal year. Also included are historical tables, appendices, and analytical perspectives. Dates of Coverage: 1996 – current
Digital National Security Archive
Digital National Security Archive gives access to classified U.S. government documents, providing vital primary source material to advance research in twentieth and twenty-first century history, politics, and international relations. With coverage from 1945 to the present, more than 875,000 pages and approximately 140,000 documents respectively are included, with many gathered through extensive use of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act by The Archive.
American Indian Movement and Native American Radicalism
This digitized collection of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) documents chronicles the evolution of the American Indian Movement (AIM) as an organization of social protest. There is additional documentation on the 1973 Wounded Knee Stand-off. Informant reports and materials collected by the Extremist Intelligence Section of the FBI provide insight into the motives, actions, and leadership of AIM and the development of Native American radicalism. Documents are full-text searchable and can be downloaded as a PDF.
American Indian Histories and Cultures
The wide range of material included in American Indian Histories and Cultures presents a unique insight into interactions between American Indians and Europeans from their earliest contact, continuing through the turbulence of the American Civil War, the on-going repercussions of government legislation, right up to the civil rights movement of the mid- to late-twentieth century. This resource contains material from the Newberry Library’s extensive Edward E. Ayer Collection one of the strongest archival collections on American Indian history in the world.
America, history and life
America: History and Life provides access to abstracts of journal articles and citations to book/media reviews and dissertations gleaned from over 1700 journal titles dealing with the history of the United States and Canada. Writings in over 40 languages are included. All abstracts, are written in English. Dates of Coverage: 1954 - Current

International Government Resources

Countrywatch
Countrywatch provides critical country-specific profiles and intelligence briefing. Dates of Coverage: Current.
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences
The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) is a database that includes over 3 million bibliographic references to journal articles, books, reviews, and selected chapters dating back to 1951. It provides broad coverage of international material and incorporates over 100 languages and countries. Subjects covered include anthropology, archaeology, cultural studies, demography, economics, education, ethnology and ethnography, political science, religious studies, and sociology.
International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center
International Security & Counter-Terrorism Reference Center (ISCTRC) provides an open source intelligence resource for analysts, risk management professionals, and students. ISCTRC combines deep background from scholarly writings with expert commentary from a variety of organizations, agencies and publishers and timely reviews of recent developments across the international political, military, economic, social and technical spectrum. Content includes nearly 3,000 full-text items from a variety of sources, including reports from Stratfor Analysis, Stratfor Forecasts, and Stratfor Geopolitical Diary and over 10,500 images.
Keesing's record of world events
Keesing's Record of World Events Monthly digest of worldwide political, diplomatic, and economic affairs from all regions of the world. An archive of original, accurate, and objective articles on the world's political, social, and economic events. Includes articles in Economics, History, Journalism, Multidisciplinary, and Political Science. Dates of Coverage: 1931 - 1987: Keesing's Contemporary Archives 1987 - present:
Political database of the Americas
Political Database of the Americas Contains information about institutions and political processes, national constitutions, branches of government, elections, political constitutional studies, and other subjects related to the strengthening of democracy in the Americas. Dates of Coverage: 1995 - current varies by country
Hansard (the official report)
Parliamentary Debates. House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard (the Official Report) is the edited verbatim report of proceedings of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Daily debates are published the next working day by 6am. Commons debates back to November 1988. Lords debates back to 1995-96. Live and archived coverage of all UK Parliament proceedings taking place in public, including debates and committee meetings of both Houses. Historic Hansard includes debates from 1803-2005. Dates of Coverage: 1803 – current. NOTE: The content of the Archive site has been moved to a new provider in October 2012 but the search function has not yet been restored.
Archive Finder
ArchivesUSA Archive Finder, a directory of over 5,400 repositories and over 220,000 collections of primary source materials across the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland. Included are the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (1959 to current), the contents from National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States, and collection descriptions submitted directly from repositories as well as links to online finding aids. Dates of Coverage: varies by title.

Political Science