Having trouble accessing government information? See the Libraries’ guide to Alternative Sources for Federal Information and Data.

Finding Primary Source Materials: Government

Government Information

UNC holds over two million Federal, international, and state documents, but not all of these are in the catalog. Still, the catalog is a great place to start your research, particularly for documents published after 1976.

A few other useful sources for finding government information are below. For more information, contact our GovDocs librarian, Angela Bardeen

Government and Legal Documents - US

Social Explorer
Provides web-based access to United States Census data from 1790 to the present, and to other U.S. and international data, with the ability to make tables and interactive maps easily or export data for analysis. Data include the most commonly used variables and geographies.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
ProQuest Congressional
Comprehensive source of current and historical U.S. Congressional material, including bills, testimony, reports, documents, selected prints, the Congressional Record, the U.S. Code, Federal Register, and the Code of Federal Regulations.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
Coverage: 1789-
govinfo
Government Printing Office govinfo service provides free online access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government. It links to the U.S. Code, the Federal Register, Federal bills, the Constitution, Congressional documents and more.
Access: No restrictions.
U.S. Declassified Documents Online
Contains declassified material originating from many U.S. government bodies and agencies, including CIA, FBI, Justice Department, National Security Agency, State Department, and the White House. Covers major domestic and international events since the end of World War II. Note: a more complete version of this collection is available in microfiche at Davis Library.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
Coverage: 1940s-
Digital National Security Archive
Contains a comprehensive set of declassified government documents and is a strong complement to the Declassified Documents Reference System. Includes collections of important primary source materials relative to U.S. foreign policy since 1945, accompanied by reference and secondary material.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
Coverage: 1945 -
HeinOnline
An ever-expanding database that specializes in offering original PDF copies of full-runs of legal collections. It includes: most major legal periodicals, federal and state statutes, court decisions, attorney general reports and opinions, federal legislative history materials, treaties, foreign & international law material, and numerous specialized legal collections. The text of collections are fully searchable and there are tools to browse or find items by citation.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
Coverage: Varies.
LLMC-Digital
LLMC is a non-profit cooperative of libraries dedicated to preserving legal titles and government documents, and making copies inexpensively available digitally. It provides an archive of scanned copies of a variety of documents published by federal and state governments, donated by member libraries. Coverage varies. Some foreign and international jurisdiction documents are included.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
Coverage: Varies.

American Presidency Project
Contains documents related to the Presidency, dating from 1789 to the present. Includes State of the Union and inaugural addresses, presidential debates, national party platforms, Executive Orders, and more.

Government and Legal Documents - Other

Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy
A collection of mostly American and European documents "relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government," from 4000 BCE to the present. Browsable by time period or subject.

Includes links to Project DIANA, an online archive of human rights cases, and The International Military Tribunal for Germany, a collection of documents from the Nuremberg Trials. From Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School.

British Parliamentary Debates 1803-2005
Transcripts from the British House of Commons and House of Lords, 1803-2005. Search by speaker, Member of Parliament or topic. For the working documents of the British government, see House of Commons Parliamentary Papers.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers
Working documents of the British government for all areas of social, political, economic and foreign policy, showing how issues were explored and legislation was formed. With all collections available, HCPP includes over 200,000 House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to the present, with supplementary material back to 1688. HCPP delivers page images and searchable full text for each paper, along with detailed indexing.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
Official Document System of the United Nations
Electronic repository for official documents published by the UN, including those of the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and their subsidiaries.
Access: No restrictions.
Coverage: 1946- for resolutions, Security Council documents, and the General Assembly Official Records. 1993- for everything else.
Language: English, French, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic