Module 2:
Searching
Government Web Sites (Part 2)
GPO Access
The other major U.S.
Government information portal is GPO Access (http://www.gpoaccess.gov).
This is the Web site
of the Government Printing Office, which publishes most
of the government information produced by federal agencies. Like USA.gov, GPO
Access allows you to search by topic and provides a comprehensive
A-Z list of resources. An important feature of GPO Access is
the ability to search the U.S. Government Catalog. This
catalog contains a listing of all government information produced
since 1994 and works much like the library catalog.
If you are looking
for information on Internet Fraud in the U.S. Government
Catalog, from the GPO Access home page, click on the
link for the A-Z Resource List.
 |
This will take
you to an alphabetical index. |
Click on the letter "C" and
find the listing for Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.
Clicking on the link
will take you directly to the catalog.
Enter the search terms
"Internet Fraud" into the catalog and click on
Go (you can also search by subject, title or author by
changing the words in the drop down box). You will retrieve
a list of records that looks like this:
If the document is
available online in full text, a link will be provided. If the
document is not available online in full text, click on the article
title.
Then click on the link for Locate in a Library.
Do a search for a library near you.
If it is listed as
being available at a USMAI library, you can request it through
the library catalog.
If it is not available
in a USMAI library, you can request the document through DocumentExpress.
Searches
by Legislative, Executive, and Judicial sections of GPO Access easily
let you find information such as the text of a particular bill,
the Code of Federal Regulations, or a court opinion.
Thomas
A Library of Congress
Web site called Thomas (http://thomas.loc.gov)
is an information portal that enables you to quickly find legislation
and public laws.
Simply enter your search
terms and hit submit and bills relevant to your search term will
be listed and can be viewed in full text.
Laws and legislation
from the 93rd Congress (1973-1974) to the present are available
online in full text.
For government Web
sites on specific subjects, use the link to Find government
Web sites by subject found at the bottom of this page. If
you are not finding what you need, like the UMUC databases, most
government Web sites have a Help or FAQ section.
You can also contact the UMUC
library 24/7 for
assistance.
Module
2