I usually don’t tell too many people that my official title is Government Documents Librarian, for the obvious reason that it’s just too exciting for most people to handle.  I am often asked, “What, no cape?”  “Do you have a secret handshake with other Government Documents librarians?” “Is it a law that you have to wear your hair in a bun?”

All joking aside, providing access to our government’s information is both an honor and a job I take very seriously.   Every election, I am reminded how important it is for us to keep tabs on our elected officials.  As a Government Depository Library, we receive  federal documents for free and have access to databases other libraries don’t have. These topics can span every academic area, and with over 97% of these documents in digital a format, they are very accessible if you know where to find them.  Unfortunately, sometimes the best government documents aren’t retrieved by Google. Below are highlighted some of my favorites and I hope you like them too!

USA.gov: An easy search engine for government documents federal and state. This does not search all governmental databases.

Homeland Security Digital Library: (NMC login required). Includes many hard to find government reports and non-released reports.  Topics include: Climate Change, Domestic Terrorism, Electronic Surveillance, Immigration, Maritime Domain, Pandemic Influenza, Sea Piracy, Unmanned Systems and many more.

National Geologic Map Database: Who doesn’t love maps?

Science.gov Your Gateway to Federal Science: searches over 60 databases and over 2200 selected websites from 15 federal agencies, offering 200 million pages of authoritative U.S. government science information including research and development results.

Learn more at the NMC Government Documents Research Guide.