Just like the federal government, state agencies publish information for the citizens of Illinois. Most of the publications are related to law and legislation, statistics, public policy, scientific research, and consumer information. Where you start depends upon whether you are looking for fairly recent government information, or whether you need historical information.
Recent Government Information | Our Print & Online Collection | Beyond Our Collection
Recent Government Information
State agencies have been publishing many of their reports and statistics on their websites, usually starting about 1997.
Search Engines
- Illinois Government Information -- is a search engine specifically for state of Illinois websites.
- Or you can use the search box on virtually any of the State of Illinois pages. (This is a separate search engine from the Illinois Government Information one.)
Useful Websites
State of Illinois Website -- Official homepage for the state. Offers news from the Governor's Office, along with information by categories:
General Assembly - Official website for the state legislature. Find full text pending legislation and enacted laws, bill status, list of legislators, etc., back to the 90th General Assembly (1997-1998). See State Laws & Legislation for more detailed information.
Judiciary - Homepage for Illinois Courts. You can search for opinions, find out about the judges, etc.
Office of the Governor - Official website for the Governor, with news, press releases, biographical information, etc.
Our Print Collection
Brookens Library is a depository for publications disseminated
by the State of Illinois. We collect everything that is distributed
to libraries. State publications start with DOC.IL, and they are located on Level 2. Rather than by subject, state publications are arranged by issuing agency. All of our government publications are cataloged,
and can be found when doing a search in:
- PrairieCat, the Library Catalog -- All of the UIS Library's government publications are cataloged and can be found when doing a subject search in the online catalog, and most of the titles can be checked out. There is a way of limiting your search in the to just searching government publications, if you click on the button More Limits. It's under the Location limit. However, this is for both federal and Illinois documents, so if you want strictly an Illinois document, try adding the keyword illinois to your search.
Beyond Our Collection
There is no comprehensive index to State of Illinois publications.
You may search other Illinois libraries' holdings to see if another
library received an item or items that UIS did not. However, not
all the participating libraries have fully cataloged their government
publications. So another library may have an item, but it may not
appear in the book catalog.
If you can't find what you need in our collection, try:
- I-Share Catalog -- Most of the state depositories are part of the I-Share Catalog (except for Northwestern University and four public libraries). Again, add the keyword illinois to your query. Once you find a particular document, click on the Request button to have it sent to the UIS Library, or whichever one is convenient.
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