Research Guides: U.S. Government: Home

Welcome

The Federal Depository Library Program (44 U.S.C. § 19) administered by the U.S. Government Publishing Office was established by Congress in 1813 to ensure that the American public has access to government information in depository libraries throughout the U.S. and its territories. As a federally mandated depository library, FSU provides free, public access to all tangible and online publications distributed by the Government Publishing Office. These can be bills and statutes, the U.S. budget, presidential materials, congressional documents, judicial publications (court opinions and independent counsel investigations), executive agency publications, regulations, and many more. Our collection at FSU includes information on health, the military, science, technology, maps, microfiche, journals, and historical publications dating back to the early days of the United States.

DiscoverGov
DiscoverGov searches multiple federal databases at once, including GovInfo and GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.
U.S. Government Information: Weekly Roundup
This resource from UC San Diego compiles weekly updates that aim to "provide current awareness of federal government reports and activities"

Finding Government Resources

FDLP Collection: Core U.S. Government Resources
Core U.S. Government resources made available at all Federal depository libraries.
Structure of the U.S. Government
This guide shows the structure of the U.S. Government, including the three branches: executive, judicial, and legislative.
U.S. Congress
General information and extensive details exist about the U.S. Congress. As of July 2025, this guide highlights some information by or about the legislative branch, including select publications that are available in GovInfo. In addition, there are some featured guides by Federal Depository Libraries that show additional U.S. Government information about the U.S. Congress. Currently, the 119th Congress, 1st Session, is in session.
U.S. Presidency
This guide provides historic and current information about the U.S. Presidency, as of July 2025.

Library of Congress
"The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office."
National Archives and Records Administration
The mission of NARA is to serve American democracy by safeguarding and preserving the records of our Government, ensuring that the people can discover, use, and learn from this documentary heritage.
Presidential Library Explorer
Permanent records from presidential administrations held by the National Archives and Records Administration at their respective Presidential Libraries. This visualization presents the holdings of Presidential Libraries in descending order from the library with the largest number of textual records to the smallest.
Center for Research Libraries - Government Documents
The CRL Library catalog contains over 50,000 government documents in its collection, which you may be able to access through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) or a digitization request.

With the recent activity of government websites being taken down and related information becoming inaccessible, it may be more difficult to locate certain resources. If you are having difficulty finding something, the independent sites below may be helpful.

Internet Archive
The Internet Archive provides access to many documents that may no longer be available on government websites. Their Wayback Machine also allows you to track changes to government websites over time.
Data Rescue Project
The Data Rescue Project compiles government datasets that have been or may be removed. They also track existing data rescue efforts and provide information on how to access their catalogs.
End of Term Archive
End of Term Archive collects online materials that may change or be deleted during administration transitions, but they are now expanding work beyond their usual scope to preserve at-risk sites.

A SuDoc (Superintendent of Documents) number is a classification system that the Government Publishing Office (GPO) uses to organize Federal Government publications. Publications are grouped together by issuing agency and therefore it is important to understand the structure of the Federal Government in order to find Federal publications. Most SuDoc numbers follow the format below.

Sudoc description image