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Urban affairs & planning: Government, nonprofits, think tanks
Urban Affairs & Planning at Virginia Tech conducts basic and applied research on national and international development patterns, focusing on key forces shaping metropolitan growth such as demographics, environment, technology, design, and transportation.
What's on this page
This page highlights key access points to US federal and state government information; intergovernmental, nongovermental, and nonprofit organizations; and portals to policy writing, think tanks, and other "gray literature."
US federal government information sources
By law, the US Government Publishing Office is the "official, digital, and secure source for producing, protecting, preserving, and distributing the official publications and information products of the federal government," making it the world's largest publisher. Government "documents" range from tourist brochures to long books, speeches to astronomical data, gardening advice to technical reports, budget reports to the laws of the land.
Most GPO publications have been published online since the late 1990s and are listed in our library's Discovery Search (Primo) catalog: GPO has had an online-only publication policy since the early 2020s.
Extensive digitization of older documents (including many outside GPO's mandate) has been done by government agencies, by commercial database vendors (Voxgov, HeinOnline, ProQuest, Readex), and by nonprofits (LLMC-Digital, HathiTrust, Internet Archive); see entries for their collections elsewhere in this guide or in the libraries Databases A-Z directory.
The library's physical "Docs" collection is in a special section on the 5th floor of Newman library, identified and stored according to GPO's unique "SuDoc" call number system; you can find them in our <em>Discovery Search</em> catalog. Many printed government publications, dating to the early 20th century, are in offsite storage. (Plus some federal publication series are cataloged using the more familiar Library of Congress call numbers and shelved in the main collection.) Don't be reluctant to ask a librarian for help.
Understanding the SuDoc number is crucial for getting your hands on physical government publications in the library. William & Mary has a good guide to How to read a SuDoc number
Accurate SuDuc numbers are necessary for requesting delivery from library storage or from other libraries via ILLiad. You can find SuDoc numbers in:
For earlier SuDoc numbers, it is often faster and easier to use the print indexes to the Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, 1895-2004, shelved near the Docs stacks (start at call no Z1223 .A183) than to fight with the online PDF indexes of US government documents from GPO.
- United States Government Manual, 1935 to Present
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"The United States Government Manual, the official handbook of the Federal Government, provides information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. It also includes information on quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, commissions, and committees." Searchable and browseable.
- VoxGovVoxGov is an interesting application of “big data” to tracking the outputs – traditional documents and also official social media -- of persons and agencies of the US government. Coverage of some official print outputs extends back to the late 1970s. The content is updated every 15 minutes. Visualizations are simple but effective. The advanced search interface gives a sense of the scope of coverage and the many dimensions for filtering and comparing the data. You can also browse by policy categories, compare members of Congress, and track outputs from the last presidential, gubernatorial, and congressional elections.
- UK Government Web Archive has a similar function to "capture, preserve, and make accessible UK central government information published on the web. The web archive includes videos, tweets, images and websites dating from 1996 to present.." From the UK National Archives.
- DiscoverGovDiscoverGov provides simple, one-stop searching across multiple U.S. Federal Government databases, including GPO’s GovInfo.gov and Catalog of US Government Publications (CGP).
The user experience is familiar: DiscoverGov is built on the same Primo platform as Tech's Discovery Search catalog. - U.S. Government Information: Weekly Roundup (UC San Diego) This attempt to provide current awareness of federal government reports and activities" is part of a very extensive, carefully curated portal to information resources by and about the federal government. Useful complement to the fast, powerful VoxGov database.
- GovInfo.Gov: Discover US Government Information Govinfo provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the US federal government. When you search the content available on Govinfo, you will be able to download the full text of publications. But you won’t see records for documents that are not stored on Govinfo -- use GPO's official Catalog of US Government Publications (CGP; formerly Monthly Catalog, MoCat) for persistent links and "SuDoc" call numbers of physical documents. GovInfo has an extensive set of how-to video tutorials.
- HathiTrust The HathiTrust Digital Library contains over 17 million scanned items and over six billion pages of scanned books, government documents, and other materials from academic and research libraries. Nearly 40% of Hathi content is in the public domain and accessible to you. Read onscreen or download book scans (use the yellow Log In button and select Virginia Tech as your "partner institution.") Most of the book scans were made available by Internet Archive and Google Book, with regular library cataloging added. Content is available in several image formats, text, and PDF. Covers 1200s-present. Affiliated HathiTrust Research Center enables computational analysis of works in the HathiTrust Digital Library (HTDL) to facilitate nonprofit research and educational uses of the collection. .
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- How to Make a FOIA Request (from National Security Archive) Landing page includes links to "The National Security Archive User's Guide to the FOIA," tips and tricks, and sample letters for requesting documents from US federal agencies.
- HeinOnline U.S. Congressional Documents Library This collection features documents spanning the legislative and oversight functions of the Congress: Congressional Record (including its predecessors, Annals of Congress [1789-1824], Register of Debates [1824-1837] Congressional Globe [1833-1873]), Congressional Budget Office, selected CRS Reports [Congressional Research Service],Congressional Hearings, Committee Prints, Rules & Precedents, and additional primary sources, bibliographies, and manuals. Many Hein topical collections include these document types. The HeinOnline Portal offers a large and wide-ranging collection of historical and contemporary legal materials, including codes, treaties, constitutions, topical collections of historical documents, law reviews, and legal treatises from the US, Canada, and the UK.
- Congress.gov The official website for U.S. federal legislative information. The site provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public. Replaced the THOMAS congressional portal, which was shut down in summer 2016. Congressional documents from the first 100 years of the U.S. Congress (1774-1875) can be accessed through A Century of Lawmaking.
- Congressional Serial Set (from ProQuest) Don’t be misled by the title: as the official historical record of the U.S. government, these resources are essential for any historical, political, or cultural research of the United States. The US Congressional Serial Set(incorporating American State Papers,1789-1838, and maps,1789-1969) includes documents on virtually every topic the US Congress has taken an interest in – which can be just about anything anywhere in the world -- since 1789 both for law-making and for oversight of executive-branch agencies: congressional reports on public and private legislation considered during each Congress (example); reports of investigations commissioned or conducted by Congress or its parts (example); reports from federal executive agencies (including land surveys, research and statistical publications, and reports of scientific investigations and explorations) submitted to Congress (example); budgets of the United States (since 1923) (example); treaties presented to the Senate (since 1979) (example); and reports and other documents of select nongovernmental organizations (example), from the Red Cross to the Smithsonian and the American Legion to the American Historical Association. Comprising only documents Congress has declared to be particularly important, the Serial Set does not (usually) include text of bills and resolutions, hearings, nor committee prints. See ProQuest's Serial Set guide. Alternative access to the Serials Set: HeinOnline. Our existing Hein databases have always contained substantial portions of the Serial Set, including the American State Papers, comprehensive coverage of Foreign Relations of the United States, and thousands of House and Senate reports and documents inside compiled federal legislative histories.
- SAM.gov (from US General Services Administration) US government system for discovering "contract opportunities" (formerly FBO.gov); "assistance" ( formerly CFDA.gov: descriptions of federal grants/awards/loans of all sorts, not only social welfare); reports and data about grants and contracts awarded and also about "entities" seeking or receiving them; wage determinations (was WDOL.gov); and more. Portions require registration to access.
US state governance information sources
- Council of State Governments: Our Work ('Book of the States' etc)Portal to products and services from CSG’s policy group: data and analyses from the Book of the States, documents of national and regional meetings, fact sheets, interactive websites, interstate compact legislation, policy projects assisting states in the creation of policy, and numerous educational efforts tied to key issues.
- HeinOnlineThe library's principal provider of public-law information, HeinOnline includes collections directly bearing on state laws:
- National Survey of State Laws
- Session Laws Library
- State Statutes: A Historical Archive.
- State Agencies' Databases Portal to searchable, publicly accessible state-level information. Browse either by state or by agency/policy categories. Maintained as a volunteer project by GODORT, an organization of government-information librarians. Here are shortcuts for Virginia and adjacent jurisdictions: Virginia Maryland District of Columbia North Carolina Tennessee Kentucky West Virginia
- OpenStates "Open States strives to improve civic engagement at the state level by providing data and tools regarding state legislatures" by aggregating legislative information from official sources in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. In addition to state-by-state searching through the website, researchers can acquire legislative data through an API and bulk download.
- Policy Commons The "cities" module in Policy Commons preserves the full text of over five million pages of surveys, budgets, statistical records, case studies, planning documents, training manuals, policy guidelines, reports, and news from the 500 largest cities in North America. It also includes select materials from hundreds of related agencies and non-governmental organizations.
- County Explorer (National Association of Counties)NACo County Explorer is an online interactive tool that aggregates more than 800 data points for profiling and comparing US counties (excluding Virginia independent cities): governance, economics, housing, education, and more.
Acquiring records under state open records/open meetings laws
State laws vary from one another and from the federal Freedom of Information Act. The following guides have different strengths; compare their coverage before requesting a state or local record.
- Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Open Government Guide provides detailed descriptions of the coverage of each state's law.
- National Freedom of Information Coalition (University of Missouri) State Freedom of Information Laws includes sample request letters and summarizes resources for all US states.
Official numerical and geospatial data portals for Virginia and nearby states
- Virginia Open Data Portal
- Virginia Geographic Information Network (VGIN)
- Virginia View: Geospatial framework data for Virginia and beyond (VT)
- Maryland's Open Data Portal
- Maryland's Mapping and GIS Data Portal
- Open Data DC
- DC Map Data
- Map West Virginia
- WV State GIS Data Clearinghouse
- [Kentucky] KyGovMaps Open Data Portal
- Tennessee Open Data Portal
- Transparent Tennessee OpenMaps
- TNMap Open Data Portal
- LINC: Log Into North Carolina
- NC OneMap
- Library of Virginia Digital Collections The Library of Virginia provides digitized Virginia and local government publications and records, along with many other primary-source materials. Collection of particular interest for politics/policy research: State Government Publications State Archives Collections County & City Records. Use the advanced search function, as the individual collections can only be browsed.
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Think tanks, policy papers, "gray literature"
Professors and other people with advanced academic degrees present their expertise in other settings beside peer-reviewed journals and scholarly books. They may produce reports and analyses for governments, non-profit organizations, corporations, and all sorts of research institutes; they also distribute research for comment at academic conferences. While these sources are often created with academic rigor, they commonly do not go through full peer review before publication. Nonetheless, especially regarding recent events and hot topics in politics and policy, such "gray literature" can be important bridges between journalism and traditional academic publications.
- Policy CommonsPolicy Commons is a global portal to "gray literature" -- research publications such as reports, briefs, analyses, working papers, and datasets done to academic standards but not peer-reviewed -- produced by university research centers, "think tanks," consultancies, governments from national to local, inter- and non-governmental agencies, interest groups, and more. Often problem-centered and solution-oriented, these publications can fill the gap between journalism and traditional scholarly publications.
- OvertonOverton tracks documents from white papers, policy briefs, and hearing transcripts to national clinical guidelines from government agencies, think tanks and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have cited scholarly articles and other policies from all over the world. The documents may be a website, PDF or other document.
- Think Tank Search (Harvard)Think Tank Search is a custom Google search of over 670 institutions that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. These sites are affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, and non-governmental organizations that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. Inclusion is based upon the relevancy of subject area to research and teaching at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, the availability of the think tank’s research in full-text on the website, and the think tank’s reputation and influence upon policy making. The list represents a mixture of partisan and non-partisan think tanks. Site includes browseable directory of the think tanks, US and non-US as well as guidance on evaluating think tank research.
- American Policy DirectoryInterest- and advocacy groups often issue reports and and position papers on public policies. This list of links to such groups is organized by broad theme, then by names of organizations addressing that domain. From the University of Oregon Libraries.
- Social Systems Evidence SSE is a "comprehensive, continuously updated repository of syntheses of research evidence about the programs, services and products available in a broad range of government sectors and program areas... as well as the governance, financial and delivery arrangements within which these programs, services and products are provided, and the implementation strategies that can help to ensure that these programs, services and products get to those who need them. " Joint initiative of McMaster University in Canada and the Monash University in Australia.
- IssueLab Free access to thousands of case studies, evaluations, white papers, issue briefs, and other kinds of "gray literature" research into social problems, primarily in the US. Provided by Candid, a service of the Foundation Center, to "gather, index, and share the collective intelligence of the social sector," IssueLab emphasizes research funded by philanthropic institutions.
- Find Policy Organized into broad topical areas, Find Policy is a specialized search engine specifically for outputs of selected, leading policy research organizations that work in each area. More Search option allows searching regarding particular countries and global regions.
- Security Studies from JSTOR Security Studies is a topical collection that “looks at security studies through a broad lens, encompassing research on international security and peace and conflict studies from all corners of the globe “ It includes content drawn from journals and ebooks already in JSTOR and adds research reports and periodicals added specifically for this collection. Browseable by topic and searchable (including image searching). Bookmark this link. JSTOR's topical collections like this can be difficult to find in the regular JSTOR interface. For more about this collection, including basic JSTOR tips and tricks, see JSTOR’s Security Studies libguide.
- Homeland Security Digital Library HSDL is a collection of documents related to homeland security policy, strategy, and disaster management from a wide variety of sources. These include documents from federal, state, tribal, and local government agencies, professional organizations, think tanks, academic institutions, and international governing bodies. 1941-present. HSDL is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Directorate, FEMA and the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security. Create an individual account with your VT email address if you wish to access additional HSDL researcher content. See also Essays in HSDL's On the Homefront blog and Greta's Gouge weekly current-awareness posting of papers and articles pertaining to conflict, national security, and defense; arranged by source. Compiled by Greta Marlatt, HSDL content manager at US Naval Postgraduate School.
- Open Think Tank Directory A global collection of more than 3,000 think tanks and related organizations. Menus help you focus by region, country, and/or topic; also searchable.
Preprints, conference proceedings
- OSF PreprintsSearch across more than 25 open access preprint repositories containing more than 2 million articles and conference papers. Strong STEM coverage, but fields also include social sciences, law, business, architecture, arts and humanities.
- Social Science Research NetworkSocial Science Research Network indexes citation, abstracts, and some full text of pre-prints and other scholarly research papers.
- APSA Preprints APSA Preprints is a free-to-access prepublication platform dedicated to working papers, posters, and other early research outputs in political science and related disciplines. Preprints had not undergone peer review when submitted to APSA Preprints, though versions may subsequently have been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals. It was developed through a collaboration of the American Political Science Association and Cambridge University Press and built on the "Cambridge Open Engage" platform.
Intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations
Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and private, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) often partner to address social, environmental, economic, technical, and human rights issues. For research on topics on transnational and international concern, it is often appropriate to search both kinds of entities, using the same search terms.
IGO Custom Search Engine
The IGO Custom Search Engine searches across hundreds of IGO websites, including the United Nations, World Bank, UN Development Program (UNDP), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), European Union, the Asian Development Bank, and many others.
NGO Custom Search Engine
Like its IGO counterpart, use the NGO Custom Search Engine search across hundreds of NGO websites worldwide.
These Google Custom Search Engines (CSE) are a project of the International Documents Taskforce (IDTF) of the American Library Association (ALA). For more background on this project, including links to the IGo and NGO lists included in these searches, please see the IDTF wiki.
- List of Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)Comprehensive directory to the websites of intergovernmental organizations, including units of the United Nations and the European Union, from the library at Northwestern University
- UIA Open YearbookProfiles of non-profit organizations working worldwide in all fields of activity, often partnered with intergovernmental organizations. The information contained in the profiles and search functionality of this free service are limited. From the Union of International Associations.
- UNESCO Database of Non-Governmental Organizations, organizes the UIA directory profiles according to the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Find out about nonprofits
- Foundation Directory OnlineSearch for information about over 100,000 foundations, corporate giving programs, and grantmaking public charities, or for information about nearly half a million grants. Parent organization, Foundation Center, also provides extensive free, online information about funding and managing nonprofit organizations. 2001-present.
- National Center for Charitable StatisticsThis Urban Institute project aims to develop and disseminate high quality data on nonprofit organizations and their activities for use in research on the relationships between the nonprofit sector, government, the commercial sector, and the broader civil society.
- Guidestar.org Freely accessible version of "the world's largest source of information on nonprofit organizations" including tax filings and other financials and self-reported information about programs and key personnel. Requires creating a personal account.
- Nonprofit Explorer from ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer provides data from organizations declared exempt from US federal taxation. Searchable by state, nonprofit category, and organization type under IRS classifications. Use this database to view summaries of 3 million tax returns from tax-exempt organizations and see financial details such as their executive compensation and revenue and expenses. You can browse IRS data released since 2013 and access more than 14 million tax filing documents that may go back as far as 2001.
- Charities Bureau (New York State Attorney General) CharitiesNYS contains searchable registry of financial reports of foundations and other charities active in New York State, guidance for those who manage charities and solicit charitable contributions, tips for those considering donating to charity, and a directory to websites relevant to operating and researching nonprofit organizations.
- Charity NavigatorCharity Navigator's rating system examines each charity's financial health, accountability & transparency and results reporting. Charity Navigator says it is the US's largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities, but it is not well-suited for historical information.