Finding Government Statistics

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Finding Government Statistics

• Cass Hartnett
• U.S. Documents Librarian
• Government Publications, Suzzallo Library
• cass_at_u.washington.edu

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Visit Government Publications

• Located on the Ground Floor, Suzzallo Library
• Professional reference service available until
  800PM weekdays 500PM weekends
• Can make an appointment with a librarian
• http//www.lib.washington.edu/govpubs/

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Good reasons to use government stats

• Reliable, timely sources (many exceptions to
  this, however!)
• Data tends to be free well-documented
• .gov, .mil sites are free of advertising, tend to
  be better archived, more committed to public
  access

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Why do government agencies collect statistics?

• To support an agencys mission
• To satisfy legislative/legal requirements
• To continue a tradition of reliable, consistent,
  and comparable data
• To provide historical, descriptive information
  for future generations
• Many other reasons (some political!)

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Statistical Abstract of the United States

• A great starting place if you want to know
  whether the U.S. collects statistics on a certain
  topic
• Use footnotes at bottom of table to direct you to
  more detailed information
• On the web at http//www.census.gov/prod/www/stati
  stical-abstract-us.html (need full Adobe Acrobat
  to convert .PDF files to Excel)
• Also on LexisNexis Statistical as Excel files
  (Power Tables feature)

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Looking for statistical data to import into a GIS
program?

• Data in the UW Libraries (CD-ROMs/DVDs)
• GeoData.gov http//www.geodata.gov/
• LexisNexis Statistical
• FedStats http//www.fedstats.gov
• Google Unclesam http//www.google.com/unclesam
• Local favorites http//www.psrc.org,
  http//www.ofm.wa.gov
• Expert level CSSCR, ICPSR

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Statistical data sets in the UW Libraries

• http//catalog.lib.washington.edu/search/
• Try this keyword search
• databases AND statistics (limit to publication
  type computer files)
• This allows you to browse descriptions of our
  CD-ROMs and DVDs. Try adding another element
• AND environment

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GeoData.gov

• http//www.geodata.gov
• New resource provided by a consortium of
  government agencies
• Excellent for browsing data by topic.
• Keyword searching possible
• Example pollution

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Statistical Universe

• http//web.lexis-nexis.com/statuniv (UW only)
• For this exercise, stay with Power Tables
  (default opening screen).
• Limit to documents with Excel spreadsheets.
• Limit by geography.
• Example environment! --by City
• statistic! OR rate --by Metro Area

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Google Unclesam (wild, wild west)

• http//www.google.com/unclesam restricts your
  search to .gov .mil extensions
• "download data" statistics
• "download data" statistics health

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FedStats.gov

• http//www.fedstats.gov
• Browse
• Statistics by Geography from U.S. Agencies
• Also
• MapStats