Local Governments and
Politics
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
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
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)
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
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
|
- 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
- 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.
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
- 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.
Grace York, Coordinator, Documents Center
Jennifer Weiss, Documents Assistant, May 2004
The University of Michigan Library
USA Map from the Census Bureau
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/pslocal.html
Since September 25, 1999 this page has been accessed 
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City and County Directories and Web Sites