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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 (choose this on the left-hand side of the search box).
  • 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 (sporadic; often, citations only, to older documents from 2005 back to early 1990s)
    • Select "Government & Official Document" as a Document Type (choose this from the box below your search);
      • 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

United States (all levels of government)

  • Omni
    • Use Advanced Search to find government documents from across all levels of government;
      • include geographic location (e.g. "United States" or Michigan) as an Author/Creator (choose this on the left-hand side of the search box).
  • PAIS International (sporadic; often, citations only, to older documents from 2015 back to early 1970s)
    • Select "Government & Official Document" as a Document Type (choose this from the box below your search);
      • include geographic location (e.g. United States or Michigan) as an Author/Creator

United States (federal, specifically)

  • GovInfo  "Free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government."
  • USAGov Publication collections, as issued by individual departments.
    • Search.gov: the U.S. Government's Official Web Search
  • GovInfo (GPO - U.S. Government Printing Office) "Provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government."
    • MetaLib (GPO - U.S. Government Printing Office)
      "A federated search engine that searches (simultaneously, across) multiple U.S. Federal government databases, retrieving reports, articles, and citations while providing direct links to selected resources available online."

  • Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) (GPO - U.S. Government Printing Office) "The finding tool for federal publications that includes descriptive information for historical and current publications as well as direct links to the full document, when available. Users can search by authoring agency, title, subject, and general keywords, or click on "Advanced Search" for more options."

  • DiscoverGov "Provides simple, one-stop searching across multiple U.S. Federal Government databases including GPO's Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) and GovInfo."
     
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  • CQ Weekly (Congressional Quarterly) 1983 to present
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")

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".

INTERGOVERNMENTAL (INTERNATIONAL GOVERNMENTAL) ORGANIZATIONS (IGOS)
  • Omni:
    • use the Advanced Search to find government publications;
    • include the name of the international government organization as an Author/Creator, 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)  Select "Government & Official Document" as a "Document type".

Comprehensive databases & portals, by selected IGO:

European Union (EU)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

  • OECD iLibrary: Freely available books, journals, reports, papers and other resources from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

United Nations (UN) (& its subsidiaries) 

In the United Nations, there is a distinction between "publications" (those items produced for the public, either freely available or for a price) and "documents" (parliamentary or internal records types of materials, produced to help both member states and UN organizations operate and govern themselves). 

  • Index to Proceedings: Annual bibliographic guides to the proceedings & documentation of the major UN organizations, produced by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at the end of each session/year.
  • Official Documentation System (ODS): Provides access to official United Nations documentation, beginning in 1993, including the resolutions of the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and the Trusteeship Council starting from 1946. Does not include press releases, UN sales publications, the UN Treaty Series, information brochures issued by the Department of Public Information, and documents without an assigned symbol.
  • UN-iLibrary (1945, on): Freely available United Nations publications.
  • United Nations Digital Library: Produced by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, this database includes UN documents, voting data, speeches, maps, and open access publications, including bibliographic records for print UN documents, from 1979, on.  
  • United Nations Treaty Collection:  Databases providing access to the latest information on the status of over 500 major multilateral instruments deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations (including the texts of reservations, declarations and objections).
  • Yearbook of the United Nations (1946/47, up to 7 years ago): Provides analysis on the year's activities along with coverage of the top "political and security matters, human rights issues, economic and social questions, legal issues, and institutional, administrative and budgetary matters" of the year. Includes the full text of all major General Assembly, Security Council and Economic and Social Council resolutions and decisions, and voting results.  
    • N.B. Due to the quantity of work and the time needed to research and write a Yearbook, a volume tends to be released only 10 years after any given year.  "Pre-press" volumes may exist for 7 to 9 years ago, but are unofficial or incomplete for those years.
  • UN Member States: On the Record: Information available for each Member State includes: key documents related to its membership in the UN, statements made before the principal organs, draft resolutions sponsored, periodic reports submitted on Human Rights conventions, and more.

Help Guides:

  • About UN Documents: Produced by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, an overview of United Nations documents, publications, databases and websites.
  • Dag Hammarskjöld Library: The central library at the UN Headquarters in New York and the main library for UN depository libraries around the world; their website contains a wealth of guidance on how to find & understand United Nations information.

World Bank

World Health Organization (WHO)

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.

Page Owner: Hélène LeBlanc

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