Tammie Nelson of the Library of Congress is the IT manager of Congress.gov, the source for U.S. legislative information.
As part of my job, I read all of the comments that come to the Library about our online legislative information. My favorite comment is this one, submitted on February 25, 2011:
“I am in 8th grade and I went and saw the House of Rep. in action and looked it up online afterwards and it was amazing to see that *every word* was online!!! AMAZING!!!”
Online legislative information inspired this 8th grader to use the word “AMAZING” about a social studies field trip. Not to mention all of those exclamation points! And who knows? Perhaps the experience will inspire her to become a Representative and speak on the Floor herself one day.
United States Legislative Information
The Library’s original Web site for public access to legislative data, THOMAS.gov, was launched in 1995, making it almost 19 years old! Your students may find it hard to believe that the Internet even existed that long ago. To update, and soon replace, this aging system, the Library of Congress launched beta.Congress.gov in the fall of 2012.
Congress.gov, a great resource for inspiring that kind of excitement about the legislative branch of our government, includes many powerful new features:
- A single search box that can be used across all data sources provides facets that describe the result set and allow the user to narrow the results.
- A bill tracker that helps to demystify the complex process by which a bill can become law.
- Informative short videos about the legislative process, created by the Library’s legislative experts and including links to a legislative glossary.
- Responsive design ensures the site will work well on any size screen, from a phone to a tablet to a full computer screen.
- The Congressional Record is much easier to navigate than ever before.
- Links between different types of legislative data