• Congress.org ~ This site is a comprehensive source of information; scroll down until you see the area labeled Issues and Action, scroll to select a topic, and click the "GO" button (Note: This site takes a long time to load--be patient!)
  
• Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet ~You can search for bills with keywords, by state, by representative or by bill number (if you have one). For older legislation, find and click the Search Multiple, Previous Congresses button.
  

Researching the Legislation:Impacts and History

You can search databases to see if there has been news coverage, scholarly or popular articles about the legislation and its impact on your city--also the history of the problem

Finding Journal Articles

• Academic Search Complete ~ contains articles from both popular and scholarly sources on a wide range of topics, many in full text.

• CQ Researcher ~ published by Congressional Quarterly, this resource weekly focuses on a particular topic, such as campaign finance reform or abortion; good for finding out background information or learning more about the topic at hand
• Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe ~ this database accesses a wealth of legal news and information.

Is this a scholarly journal or a popular magazine?

Finding Newspaper Articles

• Chicago Tribune
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers Chicago Tribune (1849 - 1985) ~ use for information on legislation before 1985
• Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe ~ also provides access to newspapers from all over the world
• New York Times
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2002) ~ use for information before 2002
• Newspaper Source ~ another database providing access to newspapers both large and small

Use Webfeat to search several databases at once~ This link accesses our Webfeat federated search engine. This tool allows you to perform keyword searches in groupings of databases (such as legislation and gun control) or our entire database, all at once.

 

The article isn't available full-text online! Now what? Don't fret. Look for these buttons: , or , or this line of text: (Find this resource with SFX) next to the article citation on the search screen. Clicking on this will take you to a list of our full-text sources that carry the journal, if we have it.

 

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Sources for Information on Cities

• FirstGov.gov ~ The US Government's Official Web Portal. Click on Local Government (on the lower right) for links to resources about all sorts of local government issues.
  
• International City/County Management Association ~ "ICMA is the professional and educational organization for chief appointed managers, administrators, and assistants in cities, towns, counties, and regional entities throughout the world". There is some information here on the Council-Manager form of government. Be aware this website has only limited free information. You must join the organization to gain access to many of the resources.
  
• The U.S. Conference of Mayors ~ This group is the official organization for all of the nation's mayors. There is a lot of information here, some about grants and funding. There is an archive of reports, including a pdf file here on unfunded mandates and costs to cities.
  
• U.S. Census Bureau ~ Comprehensive source for statistical data on the US--everything from income, to population, to quick facts. Some information here is downloadable.You can use American FactFinder to get data from the 200 Census down to the city block level.
  
• Governing Magazine Online ~ current news and issues in government at all levels. Lots of interesting things here
  
• The Municipal Year Book (2005) Published by the International City/County Management Association, this book contains reports, data and contact information for local governments. In the Reference section: R352 M925 2005.
  

Finding & Using Municipal Websites

Google with care

It is possible to find the websites for most major metropolitan areas using Google. Remember these general "Good Google Practices":

• Use quotation marks around your terms to limit results: "City of Chicago" is better than: City -- of -- Chicago.
  
• Look for the ".gov" or ".us" domain at the end of the website's address. Example: http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us
  
• Search for "city of ______", rather than just "_____" to avoid tourism sites, newspaper sites, etc. Example: "City of Denver" not "Denver".

Navigate with care

Most municipal websites serve several purposes: tourism information, business development information, public relations information, as well as citizen information. Take a moment to look carefully at a website to see if you can efficiently determine where the information you need is mostly likely going to be located.

• City of Chicago ~ this is the main page, but information about the City Departments is here, and the Mayor's Office is here
  
• City of Cleveland is here. This website has a simpler navigation menu at the side that more directly links you to information.
  
• City of Denver ~ This wesite is different than the other two. Here are some of Denver's online resources.

Citing Your Sources

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Revised February 5, 2007 by Peg Cook, Librarian
A.C. Buehler Library, Elmhurst College