Hi there! My name is Audrey, and I am a librarian who is passionate about helping people access information. When I worked as a reference librarian in a public library, I received questions nearly every day about how to use government websites.
In this newsletter, I show you how to navigate online government resources because I believe understanding how to access government information and services is essential to life in the United States (think: see how tax dollars are spent, find the voting records of your representatives, or view images from the James Webb Space Telescope). 1
Thank you for reading!
Subscription overview:
What you receive with a free subscription:
A post on the third Sunday of each month that all subscribers receive regardless of subscription status
Access to the full archive of free content
The resources I feature are always free to use and concern public information. I don’t want to gatekeep them. At the end of each free post, I will let you know what the topic of the paid content was for that month and link to the resource I featured. However, you will not be able to access the Substack posts about that content unless you have a paid subscription
Paid subscriptions: You can sign up for a $5/pay-per-month subscription or an annual subscription of $50/year.
Here are the perks that you will receive if you are a paid subscriber:
An additional, paid-only post on the first Sunday of each month. Different topic/resource than the free content for that month
Access to the full archive of free and paid content
The ability to comment publicly on my posts (all subscribers can still contact me by replying to my newsletters or sending me an email)
The free post on the third Sunday of every month that all subscribers receive regardless of subscription status
Substack also gives the option to become a “founding member” and commit an annual amount of your choosing that is higher than the annual subscription cost of $50/year. Founding members will not receive any more content than other paid subscribers, but I will send you a personalized note each year around the anniversary of your subscription to thank you for your support.
A disclaimer: Information published by the government, just like any information regardless of origin, is presented with a perspective. It is always valuable to use a variety of sources to evaluate issues, reach conclusions, and develop your opinions. I believe that government information presents significant civic value to us in our everyday lives and thus, it is important to know how to access and understand it. My presentation of government information is not an endorsement of a particular policy, agency, or administration, but rather an invitation to add to your civic toolkit and knowledge.
If you want to learn more about what government information is and the laws that protect our access to it, check out the website for the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA - one of the better-known public access laws).
