Pondering the word “money” right now inevitably leads one to consider all that is happening with the current financial crisis and the efforts made by the federal government to right the ship. This then leads to the broader question of the federal government and financial issues, and ultimately to the question of finding federal government information.
Whether you have a question about the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the spending of a particular agency or department or the federal budget as whole, a good place to begin your search is FedWorld – http://www.fedworld.gov.
FedWorld was established in 1992 as an online gateway to U.S. federal government information. It is maintained by the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) — http://www.ntis.gov — an agency of the Department of Commerce. NTIS currently advertises that FedWorld provides access to more than 30 million federal government web pages.
In many cases, the information FedWorld leads you to is viewable immediately online. However, since not everything the federal government produces is available electronically, there are instances when you will only be provided with contact information and will have to follow up directly with the agency or department that creates or maintains the data you are seeking.
It is always an “Internet Best Practice” to review the help information provided by the website you are visiting. Thus, your first visit to FedWorld should include a review of its online help information. From the FedWorld main page, select either the link called Search USA.gov or the link called USASearch.gov. Both point to a second portal maintained by the Office of Citizen Services and Communications called USASearch.gov.
The USASearch.gov portal has links to search tips and online tutorials that will make using the portal easier and more efficient. Once you understand how the search interface works, the USASearch.gov portal is also where you will enter the terms or subjects that best describe the data you need.
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