Cataloging Toolbox for U.S. Federal Government Information

U.S. Federal Government Portals

• USA.gov, the official portal of the U.S. government. It provides an  A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies
• govinfo provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government. It is a free service of the U.S. Government Publishing Office and serves as a advanced, metadata-powered search experience, a content management system, and a digital repository.
• Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. For older materials, use govinfo. 

Federated Search Portals

Federated Search Portals search many catalogs and databases with a single query.  Real-time search results are updated as databases return results; some databases respond more slowly than others. Be aware that not all databases include same search services, which can broaden search results..

• ​MetaLib is GPO's federated search engine which simultaneously searches across multiple U.S. Federal Government databases and retrieves reports, articles and citations. It provides direct links to selected resources available online either as full-text or abstracts. The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications links to MetaLib.

• Science.gov is a portal to official U.S. federal government scientific information, online publications, abstracts, and articles. It is a federated search in real time; some databases respond more slowly than others and users see results updated.
• OSTI.gov is the primary search tool for DOE science, technology, and engineering research and development results and the organizational hub for information about the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information.  It consolidates OSTI’s home page and their now retired primary search tool SciTech Connect.
• National Technical Reports Library (NTRL), U.S. Department of Commerce, provides access to a large collection of historical and current government technical reports that exists in many academic, public, government, and corporate libraries. It provides some free online access as well as a subscription database with added full-text for libraries and technical information users.