Guide purpose
This guide is intended to help users discover and access publications, data, and statistical programs produced by governments. It is divided into three parts:
- State of California
- The United States Federal Government
- International Governments and Organizations.
For additional data sources, see the Social Science Data and Heath Statistics subject guides.
A note about Government Information
Governments, and the U.S. government in particular, produce vast amounts of information and data that can be used freely by the public, and are key sources for researchers and students working in in a multitude of fields. As part of UC Davis's commitment to research, transparency, and accountability, the UC Davis Library serves as an access point for government information, whether distributed online directly from government agencies or in our print collections. The University of California Davis has been a member of the U.S. Federal Depository Library Program since 1953.
Many governments offer search engines and portals that search widely across their departments and agencies. In the United States, examples include:
- California Open Data at https://data.ca.gov/
- Science.gov at https://www.science.gov/
- Data.gov at https://data.gov/
- and USA.gov at https://www.usa.gov/, which encompasses both state and federal information.
Learning about the departments and agencies that are, often legally, responsible for producing and distributing data and statistics can be helpful, as can understanding their methods and required publication schedules. This knowledge can help the researcher better understand data sources, and better evaluate the results found when searching comprehensive government data search engines or portals.
Need Help?
If you need assistance with the discovery or evaluation of government information or data, contact one of the librarians listed at the right of this guide. If they are unable to assist you, they will route you to individuals in the library who can.