U.S. Federal Government Information: A Basic Guide: General & Specialized Indexes

Catalog of government documents and information distributed by the Government Printing Office since 1976 and selected older documents. Includes links to online documents. Documents not available from the MSU Libraries are usually available from the Library of Michigan or ILL.

WorldCat contains more than 35 million records describing items owned by MSU Libraries and libraries around the world; each record indicates library holdings.

Lists government serials and series publications. Provides agency chronologies and traces changes in government and agency organization and publications over time.
Z1223.Z7 G82 MSU Main Library, Center Reference

Search across over 50 U.S. federal government agency databases from Data.gov to Index to Military Periodicals to TreeSearch.

Searches the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) for catalog descriptions, histories and biographies; Access to Archival Databases (AAD) for electronic records; Archives.gov; one million electronic records currently in the Electronic Records Archives, which are not available elsewhere online.

This guide lists acronyms and abbreviations commonly used by the United States federal government. Each acronym is defined and links to the home page (or best alternative) of the identified department, agency, office, program or publication.

While Appendix A of the U.S. Government Manual provided the foundation of GovSpeak, this expanded list includes hundreds of acronyms not included in that publication; most have been discovered by manual reviews of department websites. Links are checked and updated monthly.

Please note: as of June 2011, GovSpeak no longer includes military acronyms. Please see instead the DoD Dictionary of Military Terms.

Since many government publications become known by short titles that appear nowhere on the piece, and since libraries catalog them under institutional titles, a device for
tying the two together is needed. The present catalog is the fourth edition of a work the Library of Congress first issued in 1966.”
…. From the Foreword. Donald F. Wisdom, Chief, Serial and Government Publications Division.

Includes congressional committee hearings, prints, documents and reports, the Serial Set, CRS reports and the Congressional Record full text online. Searching tips

Indexes and abstracts statistical publications from the US government, state governments, international organizations, and professional associations. Links to full-text materials are provided, some in spreadsheet format. Indexed publications are also available in the Documents department (3West) in paper or fiche.

This growing collection, including millions of publications and technical materials from U.S. federal agencies, industry and university contractors with the federal government. Full text for many of the reports is available online after users create a free personal account. You may also use ILL to access reports that are not available electronically..

FDsys (formerly known as GPO Access) is a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office that provides free electronic access to a wealth of important information products produced by the Federal Government, including Presidential Documents, the Congressional Record, Congressional bills and laws and regulations. The information provided on this site is the official, published version and the information retrieved from FDsys can be used without restriction, unless specifically noted.