What is GILS?
Congress and the Office of Management and Budget directed all
U.S. Federal agencies to create,
and to make available to the public, electronic records on their
information holdings. These
mandates also directed that agency efforts were to be based on
internationally accepted standards
for information search and retrieval. GILS efforts are also being
implemented at the individual
State level, by other nations, and by international
organizations.
Why is GILS important?
GILS can help you find public information resources throughout
the U.S. Federal Government.
GILS records identify these resources, describe the information
available from these resources,
and provide assistance in obtaining the actual information from
these resources.
Who can benefit from using GILS?
GILS can benefit anyone who is searching for information from the
Federal government, or
anyone who helps others search for such information. Searches can
be performed directly from
your workstation using the Internet and other electronic means to
visit any of the dozens of U.S.
Federal GILS sites.
What will you find in a GILS record?
GILS records provide you with descriptions of publicly available
information on your topic of
interest. Each GILS record presents a thorough description of the
information resource,
including:
- What information is available and why it was created.
- How the information is made available for your use.
- Who to contact for further information.
In some cases, a direct electronic link to the information itself
is provided.
How do you access GILS?
One good starting point is the GILS site on GPO Access, at the
following Internet World Wide
Web address:
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gils/index.html
This site contains the GILS records for more than 40 Federal agencies,
additional records designed to serve
as pathways to information sources in all Cabinet-level and major
independent Federal agencies,
and pointer records with links to other U.S. Federal GILS
sites.
For those without WWW access, this site can also be utilized
through:
WAIS client software. Host: wais.access.gpo.gov Port: 210
Database: GILS
It can also be reached by telneting to swais.access.gpo.gov or
dialing in to (202) 512-1661 (log in
as "guest").
How can you get more information about GILS?
To learn more about the U.S. Federal GILS and other GILS efforts,
go to the GILS home page
on the World Wide Web. It can be reached at:
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gils/index.html
Specific information regarding individual agency GILS sites
should be addressed to the
developers of the site.
For information on the GPO Access GILS site, contact the GPO
Access User Support Team via
E-mail gpoaccess@gpo.gov
or telephone
(202) 512-1530.
Internet Citation:
Government Information Locator Service (GILS). Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov//news/gilsinfo.htm