Your Tax Dollars at Work in the Public Domain

Every year, the United States spends billions of taxpayer dollars to produce all types of information products that are meant to inform, improve and enhance the lives of Americans. But did you realize that content produced by Federal employees in the course of their work duties is in the Public Domain? Yep! This government content includes books, reports, audios, photographs, videos, manuals, language tools and about every other type of media available. What this means for you is that you have access to yet another amazing source for content for your next information product.

In this post, I thought I would share some of my personal favorite government websites for finding great content. Of course, as with any product creation strategy, you need to have an idea of the niche(s) you need content for. One note of caution here…not EVERYTHING on Federal websites is in the Public Domain. Make sure you read the copyright statements on the websites you visit. Occasionally, the U.S. Government will sub-contract or joint venture with an outside vendor to produce the content. In some of those cases, the content may be copyrighted.

Here are some of my favorite U.S. Government Sites:

USA Gov Search Portal
http://www.usa.gov

Google’s U.S. Government Search
http://www.google.com/ig/usgov

Fed World
http://www.fedworld.gov/

Federal Reserve Consumer Info
http://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerinfo/default.htm

Consumer Action
http://www.consumeraction.gov/

Federal Citizen Information Center
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/

My Money
http://www.mymoney.gov/

Kids
http://www.kids.gov/

Business
http://www.business.gov/

Nutrition
http://www.nutrition.gov

Academic Info
http://www.academicinfo.net/gdocsus.html

Technical Reports
http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/godc/resguide/techrpt.htm

Photos and Graphics
http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml