Tag Archives: Congress.gov

Say Goodbye to THOMAS.

15 Sunday May 2016

Posted by in Congress.gov, Government, Research, THOMAS

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Time to Turn off THOMAS: July 5, 2016, by Andrew Weber, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress

http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2016/04/time-to-turn-off-thomas-july-5-2016/?loclr=ealln

THOMAS appeared online on January 5, 1995: http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/1995/95-002.html?loclr=bloglaw. 

THOMAS will be retired on July 5, 2016, and replaced by Congress.gov, which was always the intent when Congress.gov came online in September, 2012.  Congress.gov was designed to replace THOMAS, and it has features that THOMAS did not, and never could, have.

You can find all posts at www.researchingparalegal.com about the additions and improvements made to Congress.gov since its inception here:

https://researchingparalegal.com//?s=congress.gov&search=Go.

Please take a NEW long look at Congress.gov here: https://www.congress.gov/.  There is much, much more to see.  -CCE

Congress.gov – With New Features and Improvements.

01 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by in Federal Law, Library of Congress, Research, U.S. Government

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New Features Added to Congress.gov Based On Your Feedback, by Robert Brammer, Law Librarians of Congress, In Custodia Legis

http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2015/07/new-features-added-to-congress-gov-based-on-your-feedback/

The website describes the enhancements, such as email alerts, in detail with instructions on how to use them. The website requests your continued feedback for future ways to improve the website. -CCE

Since the unveiling of Congress.gov in September of 2012, we have been constantly adding new features with each release, and many of the features in this release are based directly on your feedback. . . .

Continue reading →

There’s New Stuff at Congress.gov.

28 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by in Legislation, Library of Congress, Research, THOMAS, U.S. Government

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Treaties, Text, and Timely Updates – Congress.gov Spring Cleaning, by Sabrina I. Pacifici via Andrew Weber, BeSpacific Blog

http://www.bespacific.com/library-of-congress-treaties-text-and-timely-updates/

‘Since introducing Congress.gov in September 2012, we have continued to add the databases from THOMAS to the new system.  We launched with legislation, followed soon thereafter by the Congressional Record, Committee Reports, and nominations.  Today, we are releasing treaty documents.  You can select “All Sources” and search across all of these data sets at once, something that was not possible on THOMAS.  With this, all of the data sets in the left hand navigation of THOMAS are included in Congress.gov.  We have one more data set that was on the legacy system to add, Senate Executive Communications….’

New and Improved Congress.gov – Resource Section.

27 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by in Government

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Congress.gov: Removing the Beta Label and New Enhancements, by Andrew Weber, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress

http://tinyurl.com/otfqt3s

The Library of Congress launched Congress.gov in beta two years ago. Today, I’m happy to announce we officially removed the beta label. That’s roughly three years quicker than Gmail took to remove its beta label, but we won’t give you the option of putting it back on Congress.gov. URLs that include beta. Congress.gov will be redirected to Congress.gov.

There are a range of new enhancements in this release. One of the exciting additions is a new Resources section. This section provides an A-to-Z list of hundreds of links related to Congress. If you are not sure where something is located, try looking through this list. I quickly jump through the list using Ctrl+F and searching. You can find the new Resources page in the navigation on the top right or in the footer on every page. . . .

Cool Developments at Congress.gov, including THOMAS. Check It Out.

22 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Government, Legislation, Legislative History, References, Research, Statistics, THOMAS

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Nominations, Accounts, Saved Searches – Congress.gov Continues to Grow, by Andrew Weber, In Custodia Lexis: Law Librarians of Congress

http://tinyurl.com/o3zc7lt

There’s a lot of information here. Take your time, and give it a good look. I think you’ll find it worth it. -CCE

I have been looking forward to this Congress.gov release for several months.  There is now nomination information, accounts, the ability to save searches, an expanded About section, an FAQ section, easy access to Member remarks in the Congressional Record, and more.

With the new updates, you can locate nominations dating back to 1981.  The nominations section allows you to retrieve information via faceted navigation, just as you do throughout the rest of the site.

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On THOMAS, individual accounts were a feature that the system could not support.  Now you will have the option to save your search so you can quickly run it again later.  This is especially useful for those highly complex customized queries.  Adding accounts will enable us to do new things with the system in the future.

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The About section has been expanded with the aim of making Congress.gov more user friendly.  Also with this release, you can now access a Frequently Asked Questions section, which covers:

•Congress.gov Overview

•Learn Congress.gov and the Legislative Process

•Features, Updates and Technology (which includes a link to a page on how to embed the Congress.gov search box on your website)

•Congressional Record

•Committees

•Legislation

•THOMAS Retirement

I highlighted some of these Congress.gov enhancements during my presentation at the 2014 Legislative Data Transparency Conference.  Grant Vergottini, in his write up of the conference, stated that although it was ‘still in beta, this site has now essentially replaced the older Thomas site.’  I would have to agree.

These improvements build upon those added in February: Advanced Search, Browse, and the Appropriations Table. . . .

THOMAS transitions to Congress.gov.

15 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by in Research

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THOMAS will now redirect to congress.gov,by Sabrina I. Pacifici, beSpacific Blog

http://perma.cc/0Y21STraNie

Ms. Pacifici assures us that permanent links to THOMAS will still work and remain operational until 2014. At that time, the transition to congress.gov will be finished, and THOMAS will be retired. CCE