There’s nothing like a government shutdown to make me realize how important the US federal government is to academic research. I expected economists to have a hard time since timely reports on the economy aren’t available now. But many sites that I, my library colleagues, and JHU researchers use frequently are also affected. (Even PhD Comics!)
- PubMed and Pubmed Central, from the National Library of Medicine, are still available but aren’t being updated as quickly as usual.
- ERIC, the version from the Department of Education is down. JHU researchers still have access through the library’s subscription via EBSCO.
- The Library of Congress catalog is now accessible, though it was down for much of last week.
- Data.gov is down, but you might be able to get some information and statistics from agency sites like the EPA, CDC, DoE, DoD, HHS, FDA, Labor, and NSA. Some of these sites aren’t being updated during the shut down; you should carefully read any information describing the shutdown’s effects on the information they provide.
- Other government sites are totally offline. These include NASA, the National Park Service, FCC, and others.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but you get the idea. If the shutdown continues, the status of any of these sites may change. Please contact your librarian for help – we’ll do what we can!
Good luck to us all!