Congress.gov Adds New Features
Contact: Gayle Osterberg (202) 707-2905 Website: Visit the Congress.gov website.
Congress.gov Adds New Features
Saved Searches, Nominees Among New Information Resources
Congress.gov, the official source for federal legislative information online, this week added new features including an option to save searches and search Congressional Record proceedings by speaker.
The new features include:
- User Accounts Saved Searches: Users have the option of creating a private account that lets them save their personal searches. The feature gives users a quick and easy index from which to re-run their searches for new and updated information.
- Congressional Record Search-by-Speaker: New metadata has been added to the Congressional Record that enables searching the daily transcript of congressional floor action by member name from 2009 – present. The member profile pages now also feature a link that returns a list of all Congressional Record articles in which that member was speaking.
- Nominations: Users can track presidential nominees from appointment to hearing to floor votes with the new nominations function. The data goes back to 1981 and features faceted search, like the rest of Congress.gov, so users can narrow their searches by congressional session, type of nomination and status.
Other updates include expanded "About" and "Frequently Asked Questions" sections and the addition of committee referral and committee reports to bill-search results.
Webinar trainings are available for users new to Congress.gov. The next opportunity is July 17 at 2 p.m. Sign up here: www.loc.gov/law/opportunities/congress-form.php
Congress.gov is the official source for federal legislative information. A collaboration among the Library of Congress, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Government Printing Office, Congress.gov is a free resource that provides searchable access to bill status and summary, bill text, member profiles, the Congressional Record, committee reports, direct links from bills to cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, legislative process videos, committee profile pages and historic access reaching back to the 103rd Congress.
The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, holds more than 158 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs, publications and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov.
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PR 14-109 06/19/14 ISSN 0731-3527
