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Government Information: Government publications (documents) & databases - comprehensive sources

Millions of government publications can be found on the Internet. But not all publications are online and results from a Google search may not find what you really need: either you may not retrieve the proper reports OR there may be far too many to sort through them properly.

For a more controlled searching experience or for finding documents that have been gathered together based on a subject or jurisdiction (place) theme, try the following:

CANADA

Canada (all levels of government)

  • Omni Use Advanced Search to find government documents from across all levels of government; include geographic location (e.g. Canada or Ontario) as an "Author/Creator".
  • Canadian Research Index (1982 to present) Federal, provincial & municipal government documents available on microfiche; check Omni or the internet to find publications in print and/or online.
  • PAIS International (1915 to present) Select "Government & Official Document" as a "Document type"; include geographic location (e.g. Canada or Ontario) as an "Author/Creator".

Canada (federal, specifically)

​​​​Find publications by department or agency

Advanced Search

Canada (provincial & territorial, specifically)

Canada (municipal, specifically)

FCM (Federation of Canadian Municipalities) A directory of close to 2,000 municipalities & their links, organized by province and territory.

AMCTO Municipal Google Search A basic search engine crawl across 420 of Ontario's municipalities, as set up by the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO)

United States

GovInfo  "Free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government."

USAGov Publication collections, as issued by individual departments.

PAIS International (1915 to present)  Select "Government & Official Document" as a "Document type". Omni  Use Advanced Search to find government documents; include geographic location (e.g. "United States" or Hawaii) as an "Author/Creator".

United Kingdom

UK national government publications From the British Library, links to key government document collections.

U.K. Parliamentary Papers  Digitally scanned Sessional Papers from the 18th century (1701-) through to the 2009/10 parliamentary session & supplementary material from Great Britain's House of Commons. (Some House of Lords papers, if presented to the House of Commons.)  

Hansard Online  Full text of UK members’ debates, 1803 to the present. Includes both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. View Full Description Omni  Use Advanced Search to find government documents; include geographic location (e.g. "United Kingdom" or "Great Britain" or Scotland) as an "Author/Creator".

International

Omni  Use Advanced Search to find government documents; include geographic location (e.g. Australia or "United Nations") as an "Author/Creator".

International Organizations: Selected Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs), as listed by the United States Library of Congress.

OECD iLibrary  Access to books, journals, reports, papers and other resources from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Publications Office of the European Union "The official provider of publishing services to all EU institutions, bodies, and agencies." 

UN-iLibrary: Freely available United Nations "publications", from 1945 to present.

UNITED STATES

Omni

* use Advanced Search;
* include desired geographic location (e.g. "United States", Vermont, Miami, etc.) as an Author.

PAIS International 1915 to present

(limit search by "Document type" = "Government & Official Document")

CQ Weekly (Congressional Quarterly) 1983 to present

Search.gov: the U.S. Government's Official Web Search

Omni

* use Advanced Search;
* include desired geographic location (e.g. Canada, Alberta, Moncton, etc.) as an Author.

OTHER COUNTRIES

Omni

* use Advanced Search;
* include desired geographic location (e.g. "Great Britain", Japan, Kenya, etc.) as an Author.

PAIS International 1915 to present

(limit search by "Document type" = "Government & Official Document")

INTERGOVERNMENTAL (INTERNATIONAL GOVERNMENTAL) ORGANIZATIONS (IGOS)

Omni

* use Advanced Search;
* include desired international government organization as an Author, but provide both acronym and the spelled out name (e.g. OECD OR "Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development"; UN OR "United Nations";  G7 OR "Group of Seven", etc.).

PAIS International 1915 to present

(limit search by "Document type" = "Government & Official Document")