In its over two hundred thirty years of existence, the U.S. Government has grown from an entity covering the Atlantic Ocean seaboard to a global superpower having economic and geopolitical interests in all corners of the world. Consequently, a number of government agencies have been created for temporary or long-term purposes to carry out public policy requirements and inform the public of the successes, failures, and ambiguities of its programs. A large percentage of these publications are freely available online covering topics from accounting to zoology. These resources include reports, maps, photographs, data sets, and other resources documenting government activities. These materials are produced by executive, independent, judicial, and legislative branch agencies to inform and influence public knowledge and debate on historic, contemporary, and emerging public policy issues. The Purdue Libraries Government Documents Dept. presents these resources from the U.S. Government, U.S. state governments, Indiana local governments, foreign national governments, and international government organizations to expand user awareness of government policymaking on a global scale and how such policymaking can impact us as individuals, communities, states, countries, and the world.
This section features notable government information resources from multiple areas which may be in the news or the source of current political debate.
