PHOTO BY CHRIS DLUGOSZ
We’re entering the second week of the federal government shutdown that’s a result of the lack of a federal budget. While critical services such as Social Security benefits, the Postal Service, the military, and air traffic control continue functioning, many other government services deemed non-essential have ceased. Media coverage is full of stories about ruined National Park family vacations and the National Zoo’s now dark Panda Cam, but scores of less visible federal agencies have been had to reduce or eliminate their services and furlough employees (see their contingency plans).
The impact of the shutdown can be felt at Puget Sound. In particular, many federal statistical and data sources that are relied upon by economics, sociology, business, and other social science students are currently unavailable.
Here are just a few examples of currently unavailable resources:
- Bureau of Economic Analysis
- Bureau of Justice Statistics
- Census Bureau and its American Factfinder website
- National Center for Education Statistics
- National Center for Health Statistics
- International Trade Administration
Finance students are fortunate that the Securities & Exchange Commission continues to support Next-Generation EDGAR, which provides access to public companies’ recent financial filings.
While federal sites are down, Collins isn’t completely bereft of statistical and data sources. Data-Planet Statistical Ready Reference, a subscription service, provides access to thousands of datasets including many federal sources like the census, in addition to international and proprietary data. ICPSR (Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research), a social science data repository, also provides a large swath of data including some federal datasets.
By Ben Tucker, Social Sciences Liaison Librarian