![University of
Michigan Documents Center](images/docsheader.GIF)
Local Governments and
Politics
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LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
City and County Directories and Web Sites
Associations of Local Officials |
Laws and Municipal Codes
Local Government Reports |
Michigan
PUBLIC POLICY
Books |
Journals |
Newspapers |
Think Tanks
SPECIAL SUBJECTS
Elections |
Statistics
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Last updated on September 6,
2007
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
Web Sources
- CityTownInfo
- Detailed entries for 20,000 U.S. cities provide everything from area
codes, time zones, latitude and longitude to ancestry of the population
- Compares population, income, housing and crime to the state
- Includes political contributions, lists of high schools, travel
highlights, mortgage rates
- Separate section for many of the cities with their most popular
professions and corresponding annual salary ranges
- Includes links to local governments
- Community
Networking Resources (UMich)
- Lists city government, freenet, and public library web sites
- Focus is on community development
- International Local Government Home
Page
- Links to national, regional, and local governments through the world
- Depends on Public Technology,
Inc. for U.S. links
- Public service links arranged by service and then geographic area
- Policy information
- Mayors of Major
Cities
- Chronological list of mayors arranged by name of city
- Dates back to the 19th Century
- Michigan
Local Government
- Most comprehensive links to main Michigan city and county web
sites
- National
Association
of Counties Information System
- Links to counties and cities through the U.S. arranged by state
- Unique information includes school districts, federal and state
legislators, cities and towns, names of law enforcement agencies, county
officials, and county web pages
- Links to federal sources of data
- Official City Web Sites
- Extensive list arranged by state
- Foreign cities arranged by region and country with some annotations
- Sister Cities
International
- List of sister cities by U.S. state and city and by foreign
government
- State
and Local Government via Piper Resources
- Comprehensive link for state government web sites, updated daily
- Links to federal and non-government national organizations serving
state and local governments
- USA
City Link Project
- Web sites and freenets in individual cities
- Information varies but often includes travel, business, and
government information
Printed Directories
- Municipal Yearbook
- GRADUATE LIBRARY--Call No: JS 342 .A2 M96 with latest in Documents Center
- Directory of cities over 10,000
- Type of government, names of mayors, police and fire chiefs
- Some salary information
- Municipal Yellow Book
- GRADUATE LIBRARY--Call No: JS 141 .M861 with latest in Documents Center
- Detailed telephone directory of large cities and counties
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Local public libraries often maintain the official documents of their community and may have newspaper clipping files.
- Index to current urban documents, 1972+
- Indexes municipal, county and regional documents by subject and place
- Call number for index: Documents Center Z 7165 .U5 I38
- Microfiche for Michigan in Documents Center (MICRO-F DoX20)
- Microfiche of other reports available on Inter-Library Loan from the
Center for Research Libraries
- Index
to Current Urban Documents, 1999+ (UMich Only)
- Indexes municipal, county and regional documents in the U.S. and
Canada since 1999
- Searchable by keyword, broad subject (recommended), city and/or state
- Reference to microfiche copy of publication (inter-library loan may be
required)
- You can also use the general city web link under the entry to search
for a copy of the document on the web
- MIRLYN-Web
- Search for local government as author
- EXAMPLE:
Detroit Dept of Public Welfare
- OCLC
World Cat
- Search for government as author
- Material not located at University of Michigan should be borrowed on Inter-Library Loan
- Public
Affairs
Information Service Bulletin (UMich Only)
- Subject index to books, articles, and government documents on
politics and economics since 1972 in Western European languages
- Government documents include United States and States
- Articles include large city politics
- Note: this does not have the full text
- There are also paper versions (English, 1915+, Z 7163 .P98 and
foreign, 1968+, Z 7164 .E2 P96)
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Association publications usually outline the policy issues facing local governments.
- American
Planning Association
- The APA's standpoint and policy guidelines on planning issues
- Abstracts of its publications and research projects
- Land-Based Classification System
- Downloadable version of its Legislative
Guidebook for the reform of planning laws
- Survey of planners' salaries
- American
Public Transit Association
- Legislative and organizational information
- Extracts from the National Transit Data Base, including data on the
top 30 municipal transit systems, their finances and ridership
- National data by subject on bus and light rail vehicles, mileage,
fares, injuries, and finances
- International City/County
Management Association
- Selected publications on the environment, solid waste disposal, risk
assessment and business
- Salary survey for 15 city government positions with mean salaries
given by state
- International
Government Management Information Services
- Primarily information about the organization
- Includes urban planning links
- National Association of
Counties
- News stories affecting county government
- Association's position on national legislative issues affecting counties
- Directory of affiliated state county organizations
- National
Association of Government Records Administrators
- Organizational information
- Two periodicals, including one on electronic records management
- National
Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals
- Description of the organization, its conferences, projects and
publications
- Links to web sites of related environmental web sites
- National
Association of Regional Councils
- Analysis of federal regulations affecting regional councils, such as
air quality standards
- Links to regional councils arranged by state
- National
Association of Towns and Townships(NATaT)
- Abstracts of books assisting small towns: grassroots financing,
underground storage tanks, complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act
- Rural development and organizational information
- National
Civic League
- Describes programs in urban renewal and health initiatives
- All-America Cities Award includes brief descriptions of the winners
- National
League of Cities
- Organizational information and links to state affiliates
- Local government organizations and information on the Internet
- Issue papers on items affecting local government
- Public
Housing Authorities Directors Association
- Federal regulations on housing issues
- Considerable section on welfare reform, background information, state
plans, and examples of local implementation
- Issue briefs and testimony on federal legislation
- Public Works
Online
- Newsletter and magazine on national public works policies affecting
local governments
- Bid requests (primarily for Missouri)
- Job opportunities for public works professionals
- United States Conference of
Mayors
- Directory of mayors searchable by name or location
- Newsletter on mayoral issues and summary of recent news on
individual cities
- A suite of web pages for Michigan
- Includes state and local associations, web sites
- Elections, environment, statistics
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PUBLIC POLICY
See also Local Government Associations and Local Government Web Sites
- MCAT lists books in library system
- ELEC indexes electronic journals available free on the web and
through campus licenses, such as JSTOR
- Connect to MIRLYN
- SAMPLE SEARCHES
Detroit Dept of Public Welfare (as author)
Elections--Michigan--Detroit (as subject)
Philadelphia (Pa.)--Politics and government (as subject)
- Political Information
- Search engine to politics on the web
- Includes political party, think tank, and advocacy web sites
- ProQuest
(UMich Only)
- Indexes some 2300 journal articles in all fields since the 1980s and
provides the full text of many since the late 1990s
- Includes popular and scholarly titles, such as Governing (1983+),
and political periodicals of large cities
- Journals indexed by author, title, keyword, periodical, and date
- Articles may be marked for downloading
- Text in HTML and image formats
- Public
Affairs
Information Service Bulletin (UMich Only)
- Subject index to books, articles, and government documents on
politics and economics since 1972 in Western European languages
- Government documents include United States and States
- Articles include large city politics
- Note: this does not have the full text
- There are also paper versions (English, 1915+, Z 7163 .P98 and
foreign, 1968+, Z 7164 .E2 P96)
Full Text
- AllPolitics (Time/CNN)
- Major political news stories since 1997
- Focused on national news but includes political events in large cities
- Use search engine, a small gray box about 70% to the right at the top of the page
- Academic
Universe/Lexis (UMich Only)
SAMPLE SEARCH
- Access News/U.S. News
- Choose More Options
- orange county [in full text]
[w/paragraph] election! [in full text]
[and not] congress! [in full text]
From: 1/1/99 To: [blank]
In: Western Regional Sources
- Search results may be SORTED BY RELEVANCE
- EXPANDED LIST will give keywords
- Search may be Edited (includes publication name) or FOCUSED (narrowed)
- INDIVIDUAL articles may be printed or downloaded
- The LIST of search results may be printed, downloaded or e-mail
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- Special Problems
- Chicago Tribune
- Not covered in Academic Universe due to a decision of the Tribune
- Chicago Sun-Times covered in Academic Universe since January 1992
- Full text on Newsbank's Newspapers on CD-ROM in the Microform/Serials Room since 1992
- ProQuest has citations and abstracts for Chicago Tribune beginning 1985
- Full text available in File 632 of DIALOG beginning 1988
- Philadelphia Inquirer
- Abstracts only since 1989 with a one-month delay
- Full text available in File 633 of DIALOG since 1983
- Philadelphia Online has seven-day archive free of charge
- Wall Street Journal
- Abstracts only since 1973
- Midwest paper edition kept in Serials/Microforms until microfilm of the Eastern edition received (Film X1496)
- DIALOG(Requires Librarian to Search for You)
- Numerous newspapers available on-line
- Best source for Philadelphia Inquirer and can be used for the Chicago Tribune prior to 1992
- Make appointment with librarian to search
Directories on the Web
- Newslink
- Lists online newspapers by state and foreign country
- Includes foreign language papers
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- Bureau of Governmental Research
- Non-profit research institute analyzing public administration in New
Orleans but affecting all metropolitan areas
- Bibliography of publications and links to university public policy
institutes
- Morrison
Institute for Public Policy (Arizona State University)
- Research projects on state and local governance with emphasis on Arizona
- Economics, education, environment, government, effect of tax cuts
- Full text of Arizona Policy Choices and
selected other publications available online
- Pioneer
Institute
- Public policy think tank for Massachusetts issues
- Includes policy briefs and white papers
- Focus on charter schools, deregulation and contracting
- Urban Institute
- Non-profit policy research organization on U.S. social and economic
problems
- Hot Topics includes position papers and
testimony on such subjects as block grants, civil rights, education,
health, medicare, and taxes
- See Political Science Think Tanks for an additional list.
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SPECIAL SUBJECTS
- Almanac
of American Politics (UMich Only)
- Biennial biographical directory of Members of Congress
- Lengthy information about the politics of the Congressional District
- Includes municipal politics tangentially related to Congressional election
- Documents Center JK 1012 .A44 with older editions in Graduate Library
Stacks
- League of Women
Voters' Elections Online
- Links to state and local LWV web sites
- Local sites often provide information about the issues
- Mayoral
Elections Data Base (US Conference of Mayors)
- Lists current year's elections by name of city
- Identifies state, winner, if incumbent, percentage of vote, and month
of election
- Identifies forthcoming election months
- Political
Resources Online
- Searchable list of over 3000 political products and services (e.g.
pollsters, posters)
- Approach by specialty, geography, party, and
name
- Calendar of upcoming events, including conventions, state primaries
- Web sites of federal, state, and local candidates searchable by a combination of national/local, party, state, and month of election
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- Best
Places to Live (Money Magazine)
- Ranks 300 cities to live by economy, health, crime,
housing, education, weather,leisure, transit, arts
- Arranged by ranking and alphabetically by city
- City pages include a description and relocation information as well
as statistical data on the quality of life and the cost of living
- Interactive interface permits the user to create own
rankings
- County and City Data
Book, 1988, 1994, and 2000 (UVa)
- Summary demographic and vital statistics; employment, education,
government, housing, production and weather data
- For states, counties, and all cities of 25,000+
- Statistics are a compilation from various sources, including the Census
- To choose multiple geographic areas, click on the first area with a
mouse; press the control key and click on the next area
- The output may be sorted geographically or by value of the
variable
- State
and Metropolitan Area Data Book (Census Bureau)
- Updates 1990 Census on state and metropolitan area with data on
various population and housing characteristics.
- Includes data from non-Census sources, including medicaid, crime,
energy, schools, motor vehicles
- Entire file is approximately 3 MB in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format
- HTML files provide state and metropolitan area rankings on
population, births and deaths, housing starts, crime, energy, and
government grants
- Statistical
Universe (UMich Only)
- Indexes and abstracts federal government statistics since 1974;
business, association and state government data since 1980; international
agency since 1983
- Begin with Power Tables, which provides data
directly
- You can also access through the Statistical
Sources
menu
- Delimiters include Boolean operators and numerous proximity
indicators, frequency, and comparative data (by city, by foreign
country, by age, by disease)
- Sample Search: gdp w/10 quarterly and by foreign
country
- About 15% of the abstracts link to full text
- For items not hot-linked:
- Write down abstract number (e.g. SRI 1998 R4105-6) and bring to
the Documents Center for the microfiche version
- Consult Statistical Universe
Guide for various web searching alternatives
- Uniform Crime
Reports, 1995+ (FBI)
- Full text of national, state, and place (10,000+ population) in Adobe
Acrobat format
- Preliminary data for the nation and places of 100,000 or more in text
(ASCII) format
- See Statistical Resources on the
Web for many more data sources.
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Grace York, Coordinator, Documents Center
Jennifer Weiss, Documents Assistant, May 2004
The University of Michigan Library
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