Statistical Universe Quick Look: How to Locate Sources

Statistical Universe (http://web.lexis-nexis.com/statuniv) is a unique bibliographic tool that indexes statistics published by the U.S. Government, state governments, international and intergovernmental agencies as well many statistics that are privately published. The indexing is at the level of the table. For approximately 15% of the U.S. Government publications, including tables in the Statistical Abstract, the full text of the table is included.

This Quick Look provides tips on finding statistics that are indexed by Statistical Universe but are not available in full-text versions.

Find publications in the University of Michigan Library

Microfiche: The Documents Center, 203 Hatcher North has all publications, except those few listed as not filmed, on microfiche. Take the Record Number (e.g. ASI 1997 4144-11) to Documents Center staff for assistance.

Find Federal Government Web Versions

GPO Access (http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/btitles.html ), search by agency or title

Uncle Sam's Migrating Government Publications (http://www.lib.memphis.edu/gpo/mig.htm),search by title or SUDOCS number

Federal Web Locator (http://www.law.vill.edu/Fed-Agency/fedwebloc.html) can help identify an agency web site

Louisiana State University (http://www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/fedgov.html) maintains a web site that can help identify an agency web site

Find State Government Web Versions

Piper Resources (http://www.piperinfo.com/state/states.html) provides the most comprehensive listing of state government web sites.

Find Business and Professional Web Versions

Search AltaVista (http://altavista.digital.com/) or Excite (http://www.excite.com) under the name of the organization.

Find Web Sites for International Agencies

International Agencies (http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/intl.html) maintained by the Documents Center can help locate international or intergovernmental agencies..

Find Data Not Indexed

In Mirlyn, try a keyword search using statistics as one of the words, eg, births and statistics.

For data on the web, try Statistical Resources on the Web (http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stats.html)

It can be helpful to identify what kind of agency or organization might collect the data that you are seeking. Once a type of organization is identified, the following web sites might point to such an organization.

FedStats (http://www.fedstats.gov/), indexes data from 70 federal agencies

Identify a likely federal agency web site using Federal Web Locator (http://www.law.vill.edu/Fed-Agency/fedwebloc.html) or the list maintained by Louisiana State University (http://www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/fedgov.html)

Piper State Government Resources (http://www.piperinfo.com/state/states.html) provides access to state government information.

Official City Sites (http://OfficialCitySites.org/) provides links to cities on the web.

International Agencies (http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/intl.html)

Foreign Governments on the Web (http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/foreign.html)

AltaVista (http://altavista.digital.com/) or Excite (http://www.excite.com) by subject

 Ask a reference librarian.

For more information consult the extensive help available with Statistical Universe or the Guide prepared by Grace York (http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/statuniv.html ). This Quick Look is adapted from that Guide.

J.Dionne

3-25-99