LibGuides: Government Capstone Project: Open Web Sources

Artifact and Image Finder

Library of Congress: Digital Collections
Smithsonian Libraries
The Smithsonian Libraries span the range of scientific and cultural pursuits of humanity from aerospace, anthropology, and art history to business history and botany, cultural history, design, philately, zoology, and much, much more.
Smithsonian Museums
The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, with 19 museums and the National Zoo—shaping the future by preserving our heritage, discovering new knowledge, and sharing our resources with the world.
National Museum of American History
National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of African American History and Culture
US Government Images and Photos
This website provides links to many government image collections. Some of the photos are in the public domain or U.S. government works and may be used without permission or fee. However, some images may be protected by license or copyright. You should read the disclaimers on each site before using these images.
National Archives Online Exhibits

Think Tanks

Think tanks are groups of researchers, scholars who study particular issues (environment, economy, poverty, etc). Think tanks share their research to inform other researchers, policymakers, interested readers. Think tanks can be ideological or independent and non-partisian. The Think tanks on this list fall into various categories.

On Think Tank Directory
The Open Think Tank Directory captures information about more than 2600 think tanks and related organisations from around the globe. You can filter think tanks by country and topic.
The American Enterprise Institute
With its eminent scholars and world-renowned Library and Archives, the Hoover Institution seeks to improve the human condition by advancing ideas that promote economic opportunity and prosperity, while securing and safeguarding peace for America and all mankind.
Brookings Institute
Brookings brings together more than 300 leading experts in government and academia from all over the world who provide the highest quality research, policy recommendations, and analysis on a full range of public policy issues.
The Heritage Foundation
The mission of The Heritage Foundation is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
Hoover Institute at Stanford
With its eminent scholars and world-renowned Library and Archives, the Hoover Institution seeks to improve the human condition by advancing ideas that promote economic opportunity and prosperity, while securing and safeguarding peace for America and all mankind.
Kaiser Family Foundation on Health
A leader in health policy analysis, health journalism and communication, the Kaiser Family Foundation is dedicated to filling the need for trusted, independent information on the major health issues facing our nation and its people. Kaiser is a non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the U.S., as well as the U.S. role in global health policy.
The Progressive Policy Institute
The Progressive Policy Institute is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock.
RAND
RAND's mission is both simple and incredibly complex: We exist to help policymakers make decisions that are based on the best available information. This may not sound much different from the goals of other policy research institutions. But the difference is in the details. At RAND, our results are fueled by the best data, the strongest methods, and the brightest minds.
Rockefeller Institute of Government
The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government is a public policy think tank founded in 1981 that conducts cutting-edge research and analysis to inform lasting solutions to the problems facing New York State and the nation.
Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
Based at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Journalist’s Resource examines news topics through a research lens. We curate and summarize public policy research relevant to media practitioners, bloggers, educators, students and general readers.
Urban Institute
Urban Institute was founded in 1968 by the Lyndon B. Johnson administration in order to study the nation's urban problems and evaluate initiatives set in motion through LBJ's “Great Society” laws. Today, Urban conducts nearly 200 individual projects at any given time, the subjects of which range from the cost-effectiveness of crime prevention to the success of immigrant children in US schools. Most of Urban's researchers are economists, social scientists, or public policy researchers.
Pew Research Center: U.S. State Policy
State lawmakers play a major role in advancing the quality of Americans’ lives, from helping to protect the air we breathe and water we drink, to educating our children.
By researching emerging topics and developing 50-state comparisons, Pew identifies innovative approaches states are using to help solve complex challenges.

Statistics

Federal Statistics

FedStats A trusted source for federal statistical information since 1997. FedStats supports a community of practice for over 100 agencies engaged in the production and dissemination of official federal statistics, and provides the public with a showcase of information, tools and news related to official federal statistics.
United States Census Bureau The Census Bureau's mission is to serve as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy.
American FactFinder American FactFinder provides access to data about the United States, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas. The data in American FactFinder come from several censuses and surveys. For more information see Using FactFinder and What We Provide.
Data.gov As a priority Open Government Initiative for President Obama's administration, Data.gov increases the ability of the public to easily find, download, and use datasets that are generated and held by the Federal Government. Data.gov provides descriptions of the Federal datasets (metadata), information about how to access the datasets, and tools that leverage government datasets. The data catalogs will continue to grow as datasets are added. Federal, Executive Branch data are included in the first version of Data.gov.
Quick Facts US QuickFacts provides statistics for all states and counties, and for cities and towns with a population of 5,000 or more.
Agricultural Statistics Data Base - Quick Stats USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service "Quick Stats" statistics database. Select U.S., state, or county data for crops, livestock and other agricultural commodities. Query database by geographic area, search by commodity, or view data in charts or maps. Data sets include Census of Agriculture.
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Provides access to statistics for a variety of U.S. Department of Justice reports and documents as well as some international statistics on crime and criminal justice. Link to data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports and download data series. Includes surveys of DNA Crime Laboratories.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Data U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data access point. Labor statistics include prices, inflation, employment, consumer price indices data and tables.
EPA Data Finder
The site is a single place to find a vast selection of EPA data sources, organized into topics such as air and water that are in easily downloadable formats.
Envirofacts
A one-stop source for environmental information from EPA.
Immigration Statistics - Data and Statistics from the Department of Homeland Security Statistical data from the Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, profiles on legal permanent residents, and on naturalized citizens, mapping information available in pdf as well as downloadable data formats. Statistics include numbers of immigratants, status, country of origin, etc. Data available from 2004, with archived information from the Yearbook of Immigration Statistics back to 1996.

California Statistics

California Department of Education Data
Data and statistics collected from California schools and learning support resources to identify trends and educational needs and to measure performance.
DataQuest has Reports for accountability (e.g. API, AYP), test data, enrollment, graduates, dropouts, course enrollments, staffing, and data regarding English learners.
Ed-Data has State, county, district, and school level reports covering topics such as students, staffing, finances, and performance rankings.
Data.CA.GOV - State of California Data Includes links to numeric and geographic data covering a variety of topics including demography, health statistics, state contracts, traffic records. Statistics and data sets are available from state agencies and links are provided to other data sources - local, federal and other sources
California Department of Water Resources Data Links to DWR data and publications include water quality, state water plans, climate data and more.
California Quick Facts From the Census Bureau

Organizations

Statistical Atlas
StatisticalAtlas.com is a website dedicated to satisfying all your cravings for in-depth statistical data and analysis for all of the US. Get high-level overviews for the entire country, then drill down through 10+ map levels, all the way down to the individual block.
Diversitydata.org online tool for exploring quality of life data across metropolitan areas for people of different racial/ethnic groups in the United States. It provides values and rankings for the largest U.S. metropolitan areas on different indicators in 8 areas of life (domains), including demographics, education, economic opportunity, housing, neighborhoods, and health. It also provides a simple mapping utility, showing the range of indicator values for metros across the U.S.
diversitydatakids.org diversitydatakids.org is a state-of-the-art research project designed to meet the urgent need for a national, integrated information source that helps us understand: Who our children are, by documenting and tracking the rapidly changing demographics of children and families in the U.S.; What our children need, by establishing a system for monitoring not only child outcomes, but also key factors (including opportunities, conditions, and resources) that drive child outcomes; How to improve opportunities for all children, especially those that may need the most help, by focusing explicitly and rigorously on issues of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic equity in child health and wellbeing.

Britannica Pro Con

Britannica Pro Con
Mission is to promote critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting the pro and con arguments to controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, freely accessible way.

Government Capstone Project: Open Web Sources

U.S. Government Sources

Artifact and Image Finder

Think Tanks

Statistics

Britannica Pro Con

MLA for Open Web Sources