Research Guide for PAFF 521:
Public Management/Public Administration
Professor David Campbell Librarian Janet Hogan, Bartle Library, LN2305, jhogan@binghamton.edu
Spring 2006
Library Catalogs | Government Information | Periodical Literature | Policy Sources
Evaluating Internet Sources | Citing Sources
Library Catalogs
infoLINK – Binghamton University’s online catalog contains books, periodicals, journals, videos, government documents, and other materials purchased by the Libraries Book Locations in the University Libraries by call number.
Other Libraries from the Libraries' Home Page - connect to other local, regional, state, and national academic and public libraries.
- WorldCat is a union catalog of books and other materials from academic and large public library systems worldwide. Items not owned by Binghamton University can be requested online using ILLiad.
- RLIN is a union catalog of the major research universities in the U.S. and abroad. It contains a large collection of non-print materials that include conventional archives, manuscripts, sound and visual recordings. Items not owned by Binghamton University can be requested online using ILLiad.
Periodical Literature (journals, news, public opinion)
metaLINK is the Libraries' gateway to all our databases. If accessing from off-campus you will be asked to provide a username and password. This is your BU email ID and your PODs password.
All Political Science databases in metaLINK..
PAIS - covers political science and public policy journals, books, government documents, grey literature.
JSTOR - can search for only political science and/or sociology journals
Annual Reviews - summarizes the current state of research on a subject by organizing, synthesizing, and critically evaluating the relevant literature. Search the Political Science and Sociology subsets.
Use the main database in Sociology, Business, Management, Economics, Social Work, Health Sciences, Education depending upon the disciplinary focus of your policy.
Google Scholar
Searches peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. It is only a subset of the scholarly literature. Strongest in science, medicine, and technology topics; has some social science topics; weakest in humanities.
Government Information (Laws, Regulations, and Others)
Locating Government Information in BU Libraries and on the Internet
See Also:
Google Uncle Sam
Searches .gov, .mil sites from the U.S. government and many official state and local government web sites.
Federal Government Resources on the Web
Fantastic gateway to U.S. government sites from the Documents Center at UMichigan.
Government Information
BU Libraries Main Gateway to federal, state, local, and international government information
Policy Sources
Public Administration and Policy
Links to non-partisan organizations that research public policy issues. Good background information for your topics.
Health Policy Organizations, Research Centers, Think Tanks
Links from PAFF541 class web page.
Congressional Budget Office
CBO provides Congress with analyses they need for economic and budget decisions. Inlcudes full-text online documents such as briefs, letter, reports, technical reports. And testimony.
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
This is a non-partisan public policy research unit of the U.S. Congress that produces thousands of public policy reports. Most are accessible only to members of Congress, Congressional committees and other government agencies. You can also acquire these reports by contacting your Congressional representative or by purchasing them through another private party. Some public reports are available at:
Open CRS - search engine for CRS reports.
Memory Hole
CRS Reports from the University of North Texas
Government Accountability Office (GAO) Reports
"Congressional watchdog" agency that advises Congress and Executive departments and agencies; evaluates federal programs, audits federal expenditures, issues legal opinions, and recommends actions to Congress.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
OMB assists in in the development and resolution of all budget, policy, legislative, regulatory, procurement, e-gov, and management issues on behalf of the President.OMB Locator Service finds public documents.
TRIS Online (Transportation Research Information Services)
Database from the U.S. Department of Transportation that contains 500,000 records in transportation related fields. Includes books, articles, full-text research studies, technical reports, and conference papers.