Government Information Portal

A collection of sites provided by both federal agencies for popular or frequent-use topics. Where appropriate, non-governmental links are also provided.

• Census
• Elections
• Environment
• Legislation
• Maps
• Statistics

Broad Subject Sources

GovInfo
Primarily legislative and judicial sources and still in development, this is meant to be the 'one-stop shop' for government information. Additional and more focused-resources are listed below.

Library of Congress Includes historical documents, copyright information, reference and interlibrary loan information as well as access to the LC catalog. An important part of this site is American Memory a collection of digitized documents, images and sound files on American history from US government collections.

Census

Explore Census Data Preset tables with demographic and geographic limiters for quick access to Census data. NOTE: This replaces American Fact Finder and is still under development content is still being added as of May 2020. Additional related census information is included such as the Missouri Census Data Center's Rx: A Cure for the Common Codes page.

Census Briefs and Special Reports Summaries of some of the more popular topics, drawn from the Diennial Census. Many other topics are covered, here is a sampling of 2010 briefs:

• The Hispanic Population
• The White Population
• The Black Population
• The Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Population
• The American Indian and Alaska Native Population

Census Bureau Home Page
Includes the latest census information, publications announcements, searching instructions, and links to electronic census publications.

Census of Agriculture
Now conducted by the Department of Agriculture. Conducted every 5 years (years ending with 2 or 7).

Economic Census
Conducted every 5 years (years ending with 2 or 7.)

Historical Census Tables (selective list)
Information in table or PDF format for the Decennial Census starting with 1790. More tables are being added all the time with the more recent censuses being the most complete.The Historical Census Browser at University of Virginia offers an alternate site with some different ways to manipulate the data for 1790-1960.

1990 CENSUS SUMMARY TAPE FILE 3 (STF3)
Sample count - all socioeconomic and demographic variables

1990 CENSUS SUMMARY TAPE FILE 1 (STF1)
100% count - basic demographic variables

2000 CENSUS SUMMARY FILE 3 (SF3)
Sample count - all socioeconomic and demographic variables

2000 CENSUS SUMMARY FILE 1 (SF1)
100% count - basic demographic variables

2010 CENSUS SUMMARY FILE 3 (SF3)
Sample count - preliminary document

2010 CENSUS SUMMARY FILE 1 (SF1)
100% count - state by state release

Election Information

California State Election Information
Information on the California State voting process, registration, district information and more from the California Secretary of State.

Federal Election Commission
Information on federal-level elections (past and current), financing, calendars, voter registration, and recent election results.

Smart Voter(from the League of Women Voters, a non-government organization) presenting non-biased information on issues and elections by district.

Project Vote Smart
(Non-government site) The providers work to furnish non-biased information on all candidates running for, and officials in, public office. This site provides information on their stands on issues, campaign finances, voting records, and more. There is a link to 'interest group ratings' which reflect the biases of the interest groups providing the information.

Environment

• Endangered Species Home Page
  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's page includes information on threatened and endangered species of plants and animals at the federal and state level.
• National Climatic Data Center
  The "Online Document Library" includes monthly climatic data of the world, storm data, and local climatological data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). (NOTE: Access may be limited to educational accounts). Additional weather data is available from NOAA.
• California Earthquake Information
  United States Geologic Survey, including historical and "latest earthquake" links.

Law, Legislation and Regulations

• American Memory
  Digitized documents, images and sound files, collected by the Library of Congress, including items from the "Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention" and "Century of Lawmaking, 1774-1875" collections.
• GovInfo (used to be FDSYS)
  Online catalog to digital and cataloged information. This collection covers mostly late 20th century materials.
• Congress.gov
  Information gathered by the Library of Congress on congressional legislation, committees, appropriations, treaties and more. Dates of coverage vary, but much is available from the mid-1970's in full text.
• Congressional Research Service Reports
  Research by staff to inform Congressional membership on a wide variety of issues. This information was not made public until legislation passed in 2018 authorized its release but not all previous content has been loaded. Also includes Appropriations Status Table from 1999-present.
• Historical Legislative Code & Regulations (free access provided by HeinOnline, printing up to 20 pages allowed) See also: Finding Federal Legislative Histories
  • United States Code 1925-1988 (some content to 1993)
  • United States Reports v.1-542 (1754-2004)
  • Code of Federal Regulations (1938-1995)
  • Federal Register v.1-58 (1936-1993)

Judicial

• SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States)
  Dockets, briefs and more for arguments heard before the Supreme Court.
• Oyez
  Links and discussion assembled by IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law (non-government group)

Statistics

• Bureau of Justice Statistics
  A variety of crime and legal system statistics on topics such as drug-related, juvenile justice and prisons.
• FedStats
  Provides access to statistical data from over 70 federal agencies and the latest White House press briefings.
• Statistical Abstract of the United States
  Compiled from Census data, online versions of the yearly publication are available from colonial times through 2012 . NOTE: 2012 is the last government-issued edition. New editions will be produced by commercial publishers for sale.