Tips for Locating Government Information

Since the advent of the web many government publications have become easy to find online. Others remain elusive because of format changes, important content layers deep in a web page, title irregularities, and so forth. All researchers should feel welcome to consult Ginny Hopcroft, Government Documents Librarian at Bowdoin College Library, at ghopcrof@bowdoin.edu or 207-725-3298.

For searching on your own, the combination of Bowdoin's library catalog and the official catalog of government publications on the first page of this web site is a good starting place for a keyword or subject search. MaineCat, a union catalog for Maine Libraries’ holdings, is good for locating either Maine or U.S. documents.

Google U. S. Government Search (A subsection of the popular search engine, limited to sites with .gov or .mil for their domain) can also be a good beginning, especially for recent reports, news briefings, and specific titles.

The web sites below are useful places to browse for government information from specific agencies--NASA, the Census Bureau, CIA, etc.

University of Michigan Documents Center
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/index.html

FirstGov
http://firstgov.gov

U.S.A. Services
http://www.info.gov/

Ben's Guide is especially appropriate for young students with homework, as are American Memory’s digitized historical photographs and the photo libraries.

Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/

 ben's guide

American Memory
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

The Best Copyright-Free Photo Libraries (from Government Sources)
http://www.dotgovwatch.com/?/archives/8-The-Best-Copyright
-Free-Photo-Libraries.html