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by Prof. Jane Devine
For the last several years, the Federal Government has been loading its publications and informational materials on the Web in order to increase access and reduce paper costs. Web access is successfully making government information readily available. While access has improved, it is still sometimes difficult to find published government information when you need it. It may be hard to pinpoint which agency has published something useful and government agency Web sites vary in the degree of access to materials. Also, since the Federal Government is the largest publisher in the world, it is easy to be overwhelmed with choices.
Browsing of topics is also possible for those who like to explore. There are links to agency and state and local government sites. FirstGov represents the most comprehensive tool yet developed for accessing government publications. It can be found at http://www.firstgov.gov. FirstGov and other searching tools for government documents can be found on the Library Web site at http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/library/govpub.htm.