Research Tools

Government Resources

19th Century Masterfile
Contains full-text historical periodicals, books, newspapers and government documents from the 13th century through the 1930s.

American Legal Publishing (municipal codes and local ordinances)
Database contains local ordinances and municipal codes for several localities, including Indiana.

CQ Press Political Reference Suite
This is a reference resource for research in American government, politics, history, public policy, and current affairs. Includes the following databases: CQ Researcher; CQ Congress Collection; CQ Voting and Elections Collection; CQ Historic Document Series; and CQ Weekly.

CQ.com
Full-service legislative tracking website from Congressional Quarterly. The Law Library subscription includes CQ Weekly, CQ BillTrack, CRS Bill Digest, CQ BillWatch, Bill Text, CQ Bill Comparison Reports, and Homeland Security.

Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS)
Provides searching and fulltext access to declassified U.S. government documents. Covering major international events from the Cold War to the Vietnam War and beyond, this single source enables users to locate key information underpinning studies in international relations, American studies, United States foreign and domestic policy studies, journalism, and more.

FDsys
GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) provides public access to Government information submitted by Congress and Federal agencies.  Government information includes Congressional and Executive documents.

Government Information Online
Website of the Government Documents Department of the IUB Law Library, which includes access to federal, state, and municipal websites, FDLP administrative materials, departmental information, and finding tools.

HathiTrust Digital Library
HathiTrust Digital Library is a digital preservation repository, which provides long-term preservation and access services for public domain and in copyright content from a variety of sources, including Google, the Internet Archive, Microsoft, and in-house partner institution initiatives.

HeinOnline
Provides full-text access to a large collection of legal periodicals and The Federal Register. 

Historical Statistics of the United States
The online version of the five-volume reference work includes topics ranging from migration and health to crime and the Confederate States of America.

LexisNexis State Capital
Legislative, regulatory and related information from the fifty states of the U.S. and the District of Columbia.

Library of Congress: Documents from the Continental Congress & the Constitutional Convention (1774-1789)
The Continental Congress Broadside Collection (256 titles) and the Constitutional Convention Broadside Collection (21 titles) contain 277 documents relating to the work of Congress and the drafting and ratification of the Constitution. Items include extracts of the journals of Congress, resolutions, proclamations, committee reports, treaties, and early printed versions of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Library of Congress: U.S. Congressional Documents & Debates (1774-1875)
Records of the proceedings of America's national legislative bodies beginning with the Continental Congress in 1774. Includes: the Annals of Congress; Register of Debates; Congressional Globe; and the Congressional Record.

LLMC Digital
LLMC Digital contains government documents from all periods of the United States. Many of these documents are not likely to be held by our library in paper.

Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Briefs (1832 - 1978)
Containing nearly 11 million pages of records and briefs brought before the U.S. Supreme Court in the period 1832-1978, this product provides an essential primary source tool for the study of all aspects of American history as well as the U.S. judicial system.

Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, 1895-1976
Comprehensive index to historical information published by the United States federal government. Describes over 1.2 million items published between January 1895 and June 1976.

Municode
Database contains municipal codes from a variety of jurisdictions nationwide.

Oxford Handbooks Online: Law, Political Science, and Philosophy
Database containing a collection of Oxford's handbooks in the area of law, political science, and philosophy.

Pacer
This government database provides access to federal court docketing information. The database contains images of some filed documents available for download. Please see a Reference Librarian for assistance with this database.

ProQuest Congressional
A comprehensive resource for U.S. Congressional publications providing indexing, abstracts, and full text (PDFs and html) for legislative documents from 1789 forward.  Documents include committee reports, House and Senate documents, committee prints, bills, hearings, Public Laws, Statutes at Large, the Congressional Record, and more.

ProQuest Legislative Insight
This database is a Federal legislative history service that makes available compilations of digital full text publicationscreated by Congress during the process leading up to the enactment of U.S. Public Laws.

Proquest Statistical Insight
Electronic access to tables and citations to statistics produced by the U.S. federal, state and local governments, international governmental organizations, and non-governmental organizations.

Public Documents Masterfile

Thomas
Library of Congress website about the United States Congress containing the full-text of Congressional publications (bills, hearings, reports, debates, and statutes). It also contains committee information and information on the legislative process.