Tracking Government Information Changes

Posted February 18, 2025 in JMU Libraries News

As reported by the New York Times, various United States government websites are being modified to comply with President Trump’s recent Executive Orders. Faculty and students regularly use government information sources for teaching, grant writing, and research purposes. Modifications to these resources may impact access to information by creating broken links, incorrect citations, or gaps in information and making it harder to compare information over time. 

Critical thinking, access to reliable information, and information literacy are core to the work of the Libraries and the expertise of our employees. To support our campus community in thinking critically about government information in the context of these changes, we are providing a Tracking Government Data & Access Guide. Visit the guide to learn more about archives of past government websites and data, alternative access points for data sources, and how to keep up with changes at the federal level. We have also added an “Announcement” icon to relevant entries in our list of databases, which links to a context note on our Database Notices & Alerts page. 

The academic community is still in the process of understanding the extent and impact of these modifications. Therefore, we expect this guide to be a dynamic and evolving information resource for our community.