Research Guides: Government Information: Home

Introduction

The Government Information Library is your gateway to information from all levels of government. The library collects documents from the United States federal government, Colorado state government, the United Nations, the European Union, foreign governments, other states, and many international organizations.

The United States federal government is divided into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. Ben's Guide is a great resource for all ages who wish to learn more about its structure. The United States Government Manual provides authoritative descriptions of the programs and activities of the federal government.

As government information is large and complex, it can be difficult to figure out where to begin. If you ever feel stuck, please contact us!

We Recommend

American Memory
Materials from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, which chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas from the span of American history.

CQ Press Library
Non-partisan. Includes CQ Press Almanac, Congress Collection, Researcher Plus Archive, CQ Press Magazine, Politics in America, Supreme Court Yearbook, Voting and Elections Collection, and interactive tools to retrieve data.

GovInfo.gov
Free online access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government from the GPO (Government Publishing Office).

ProQuest Congressional Legislative & Executive Publications
Detailed information about Congress and domestic and foreign policy issues.Hearings are good primary sources for almost any issue. Includes Hearings 1824-Present, CRS Reports 1916-Present, House and Senate Documents 1817-Present, Legislative Histories 1969-Present, Bills and Laws 1776-Present, Bills and Resolutions, Miscellaneous Publications 1789-Present, Vote Reports 1987-Present, Mapes 1789-2007, Congressional Record 1789-Present, Executive Branch 1789-1952, Presidential Materials 1789-Present.

OneSearch

Additional Resources

Congress.gov
A free resource containing the text of congressional bills (1989-present), committee reports (1995-present), international treaties (1967-present) and more...

CQ Press Library
Non-partisan. Includes CQ Press Almanac, Congress Collection, Researcher Plus Archive, CQ Press Magazine, Politics in America, Supreme Court Yearbook, Voting and Elections Collection, and interactive tools to retrieve data.

House of Representatives
Representatives, committees, and the legislative calendar of the lower chamber of the legislature.

Legislative Insight (ProQuest)
Legislative histories bring together all versions of a bill, from its introduction through its passing into law, as well as many related documents produced by Congress during its consideration.
ProQuest Congressional Legislative & Executive Publications
Search citations, topics, and policies before Congress, through the Congressional Record and the history of bills and laws. Additional resources available here include: Congressional hearings and testimony, CRS reports, presidential proclamations, Executive Branch Documents, and profiles of members of Congress.

Senate
Committees, floor activity, art, and history of the legislature's upper chamber.

American Presidency Project
Over 100,000 primary source documents are available here, including party platforms, executive orders, radio, State of the Union, and inaugural addresses.

Digital National Security Archive (DNSA) (ProQuest)
Comprehensive collection of significant primary documents central to U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945. Includes the following collections:
ProQuest Congressional Legislative & Executive Publications
Use "Advanced Search" to limit results to Executive Branch Documents and Executive Orders & Presidential Proclamations.

White House
Descriptions of issues of concern, profiles of executive branch offices, statements, and nominations put forth by the President.

Hein Online
Comprehensive law library, with coverage of most sources from their date of first publication.
Includes law reviews, constitutions, treaties, laws, regulations, court reports, agency decisions, legal reference materials.
Historic Supreme Court Decisions (By Topic)

Nexis Uni
Comprehensive source for local, regional and national newspapers in the United States, plus some international sources. Strong source for legal, company (including private), and country research.

Supreme Court
Transcripts, audio recordings, briefs, and docket search available for the Court.

Europa: Gateway to the European Union
Portal site for information from the European Union.

IMF E-Library
IMF publications from its founding in 1945 to the present.
OECD iLibrary
Economic, social, and government policy and statistics for the 30 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

UN Agencies
Description and links for all United Nations-related agencies.

World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
The official open access repository for research outputs and publications of the World Bank.

Data resources

IMF eLibrary Data
Time series data from 200 countries that are members of the International Monetary Fund.
UN Data
Comparative data by country from the United Nations and affiliate organizations on many topics.

World DataBank
Analysis and visualization tool with time-series statistics from the World Bank on economic, environmental,and social topics. Includes World Development Indicators.

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
State election results and analysis from a bipartisan advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
National Governor's Association
"The National Governors Association (NGA) is the bipartisan organization of the nation’s governors. Through NGA, governors share best practices, speak with a collective voice on national policy and... identify priority issues and deal collectively with matters of public policy and governance at the state and national levels."
State Agency Databases Project (from ALA's Government Document Round Table)
With information available by broad subject categories (business, education, voting, etc.) and by specific states, "librarians and other government information specialists have... chased across fifty state web sites so you don't have to!"

Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) is the finding tool for electronic and print publications from the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government.

Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, 1895-1976 (C19)
Finding aid for information distributed to depository libraries by the U.S. government.
National Technical Reports Library (NTRL)
One of the world's largest repositories of U.S. Government-sponsored research results, with unclassified and publicly available materials from federal sources, Canada, Japan, the former Soviet Union, and both Western and Eastern European countries.
Access note: Must use VPN to access this database from off campus.

Related Guides

Subjects

Laws and Regulations
by Government Information Last Updated Apr 10, 2024 860 views this year

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Government Information

Government Information is a regional library of the Federal Depository Library Program as well as a depository of Colorado state, United Nations, and European Union information. It consists of over five million items from the United States government, Colorado and other state governments, foreign governments, and international governmental organizations like the UN. As a federal depository, the Library also offers assistance and its collections to members of the public. This includes providing public computers for unrestricted access to government information on the Internet.

We offer a wide array of services to support students, staff, and faculty, including online guides for research, one-on-one consultations, class instruction, phone, email, and walk-in reference.

Ask Government Information

Chat with a Librarian

Email rad@colorado.edu

Tips & Tools for Searching Gov Info

Information is arranged by government entity or agency. The agency is the best place to start.

Identify the agency by conducting a site search in Google or using one of the tools below
Scan the results to identify relevant agencies.
Go to the agency homepage to browse or search

Tools

Site Search - to site search in Google type site:.gov and your search term. For example, site:.gov environmental statistics
USA.gov
Govinfo.gov
Custom Google Search for IGO's or NGO's

Need some more help?

Make an appointment with a Government Information librarian!

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Image Credits

White House, Washington, D.C., 1861-1865 from the National Archives Series: Matthew Brady Photographs of Civil War-Era Personalities and Scenes, 1921-1940 (Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860-1985).