New Database: CQ Almanac Online

If you have ever researched national legislative matters, there's a good chance that you have encountered and consulted a set of massive green books called, at various times, Congressional Quarterly Almanac, CQ Almanac, and CQ ... Almanac Plus. These annuals provide "Year-by-year analysis on politics and policy in the U.S. Congress" and are a treasure trove of "Legislative Analysis, Policy Tracking, Data, and Primary Sources." CQ Press says of this resource: "Building on the reporting and analysis done throughout the year by CQ's award-winning news staff, the Almanac offers original narrative accounts of every major piece of legislation that lawmakers considered during a Congressional session. Arranged thematically, CQ Almanac organizes, distills, and cross-indexes for permanent reference the full year in Congress and in national politics. Its clear and concise language makes the Almanac an essential resource."

Unfortunately, the books are unwieldy and not a lot of fun to deal with if you need to use several volumes to track a particular issue or legislative path.

To add flexibility and ease to this valuable resource, we have added CQ Almanac Online as a new Library database. You can access the database through the direct link above, through a link in the online catalog, or as part of the CQ Political Reference Suite, which includes other valuable governmental research tools including Historic Documents, the Political Handbook of the World, Vital Statistics on American Politics, and Congress and the Nation.

CQ Press is still loading some years, but upon completion, coverage will include the contents of all volumes from 1945 to date. And an additional tool called the "Policy Tracker" is also still in planning stages.

For now, you can do keyword searches from the search bar, or you can browse by topic or by the number of the Congress. Series appendices include CQ Key Votes Tables, Conservative Coalition Tables, Floor Votes Tables, a Glossary of Congressional Terms, Interest Group Ratings, Party Unity Tables, Presidential Messages, Presidential Support Tables, Public Laws, and Voting Participation Tables.

We hope that you find this resource useful!


[FIND CQ Almanac Online as part of our CQ Political Reference Suite on our "Databases by Subject" List in the "Social Sciences" category.]