ANN ARBOR—Want to know what federal agencies are scheduled for elimination by the 104th Congress? Curious about the future of the Commerce Department? Want to see which of First Lady Hillary Clinton’s 320 hairstyles is most flattering? Want the latest on the country’s political races? Such inquiring minds can find satisfaction through the University of Michigan Documents Center’s “Documents in the News” on the World Wide Web.

This page is devoted to links to government documents that relate to events currently in the news, including Bosnia, Taiwan, press releases from the Defense Department, and the Cuban government’s justification for downing two aircraft.

Grace York, coordinator of U-M’s Documents Center scans newspapers and television searching for “public documents in the news.” York then locates the material on the Web and links it to the Center’s home page. The Center’s Page is updated daily, even on weekends.

“Continuing budget resolutions meant to avoid a government shutdown are usually passed on Friday night and posted by noon on Saturday,” York said.

More than an avenue to the curious, the Center’s Web page, “Government Resources on the Web” is the route of choice for serious academic research and the winner of a number of awards granted to home pages on the Web. You can find links to everything from foreign politics, statistics, think tanks, federal grants, lobby groups, and the legislative process to “What Every Driver Must Know,” the Michigan Secretary of State pamphlet for renewing a driver’s license.

“While most of the references are to Web pages,” York said, “I include paper, microfiche, or CD-ROMS if they are a better source of information.”

York actually has a leg up on the federal government which would like to convert to an all-electronic depository library program as a cost-saving effort. “In fact,” York said, “some of the Census and longstanding series such as Current Industrial Reports and Current Housing Reports are now only available on the Web.”

The Documents Center itself is a regular customer of its own home page, clicking in at least once an hour to find the answer to a patron’s reference question.

What Every Driver Must Know