This video is designed to introduce you to some of the resources provided by governments: federal, state, and local.
To begin, click on the “Research Subject Guides” icon on the library homepage and choose the guides “by subject” option to go down and select the area called “Government and Law.” Here you are going to find resources from the federal government as well as materials on Massachusetts state, local, and regional information.
If you select the “federal government” guide, you have a number of different options. For example, on the “Environment/Sustainability” tab, you will find links to important agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and so forth.
On the “Congressional/Legislative” tab, you will find a variety of policy materials. This is a place where you’re going to find all of the hearings produced by Congress, both contemporary hearings and historical hearings. It will also introduce you to the Congressional Research Service, which can be very important source of research material. The scholars in the CRS do research for individual congressmen, senators, and their staff and often times these papers are available to the general public.
Switching back out to the broader list of subject guides, we are going down to the Massachusetts state government guide, and here you will also find a tab for “Public Policy/State and Local Issues.” On this guide you will notice that we have listed a number of public policy institutes here in the area, and we have also listed places where you can get information not just about Massachusetts but other state governments; for example, The National Conference of State Legislators, the National Governors Association and so on.