The following electronic research guide has been designed to make researching for materials at the Emory General Libraries on community affairs, urban studies, and public policy in the Atlanta metropolitan area and Georgia easier and more efficient. The focus in this guide is on more contemporary, rather than historical information. If you are interested in general research on issues of public policy (welfare, healthcare, education, etc.), it is highly suggested that you visit the Public Policy Research Guide. There you can find a large set of governmental and non-governmental resources, including legislative documents and reports, policy institutes/think tanks and statistical reports.

For one-on-one consulations or further research help, please contact Chris Palazzolo , Political Science Liaison/Librarian at the Woodruff Library.

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To find materials located at any of Emory's libraries, search EUCLID, Emory's online library catalog. The contents of books and articles are not searchable in EUCLID. Read Finding a Journal Article in the Woodruff Library, for further guidance on locating journals. The eJournals database is now powered by SFX. Go to eJournals at http://ejournals.emory.edu/ for more information. You can also link to full-text articles directly in a number of databases. Just look for the button

Suggestions for Subject Searching

Unfortunately, resources on Atlanta and Georgia public policy and community affairs are spread throughout Emory's collection. The following are subject classifications that may be of use to finding materials on various urban studies, community affairs, and public policy issues as they relate to the Atlanta metropolitan area and the state of Georgia. For specific issues affecting Atlanta or the state of Georgia, it is usually best to combine one's search term (i.e., selected issue) with the words "Atlanta," "Atlanta Metropolitan Area," or "Georgia." The links below are performed using the "browse" function in EUCLID. You may also wish to perform simple keyword searches on "subject" using the headings below.

*This first set of links here are for reports that are specific to the Atlanta Metropolitan Area:

• Atlanta Metropolitan Area--Economic Conditions
• Homelessness--Atlanta
• Urban Renewal--Atlanta
• Atlanta (Metropolitan Area)--Politics and Government
• Atlanta (Metropolitan Area)--Social Conditions
• Community Development--Atlanta

Some other useful topics might be:

• City planning--Atlanta
• Urban Policy--Atlanta
• Transportation--Atlanta
• Public Housing--Georgia--Atlanta

*Here are some subject search terms for searching for public policy and governmental resources for the entire state of Georgia

• Georgia--Statistics
• Georgia--Economic Conditions
• Georgia--Politics and Government
• Georgia--Social Conditions
• Georgia--Population

**Additionally, there may be articles in anthologies or other volumes on urban affairs, state government, public policy, etc. Oftentimes, EUCLID will have a listing of included articles/chapters. To search for such titles, it may be best to search by "keyword" and choose to "search everything." Remember, searching everything addresses entries in all fields (author, title, series, subject, description, etc.)

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Basics

The official state and Atlanta city websites are as follows:

Georgia: http://www.georgia.gov

City of Atlanta: http://www.atlantaga.gov/

Principal Sources:

Public Policy Information in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area and Georgia

• Atlanta Regional Comission
  One of the best online resources for Atlanta regional and community affairs is the Atlanta Regional Comission. Here you can find significant amounts of information on various public issues, in particular, transportation, community development, land use, regional data (census, economics, etc.), aging, labor, and water. The ARC also has a good number of free (and not so free) publications available for purchase. Many reports, such as the 2003 Population and Housing Report, are available here for download along with statistical tables. There is a clickable map of the counties composing the Atlanta metropolitan area (Fulton, Dekalb, Gwinnett, Douglas, Fayette, Cobb, Rockdale, Clayton and Henry) with a directory of important municipal and county officials. Contact information and links are provided in each of the aforementioned issue areas.
• Carl Vinson Insitute of Government Public Policy Series

The Carl Vinson Insitute is located at the University of Georgia and provdes research and analysis of important Georgia issues. Of particular interest are the public policy and policy notes series. Go to "Georgia info" and click on "contents" for maps and other background information. You may also find the Peach State Poll of interest (under current polls).
• Research Atlanta
  Research Atlanta is a nonpartisan and non-profit research agency housed at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State that puts together reports on numerous different relevant public policy issues for the Atlanta metropolitan area. Also houses the Metro Atlanta Statistical Profile, which has data on public safety, transportation, real estate, housing, environment, etc. The most recent of the reports (2000-present) are available in PDFs on the center's site. Emory has many of the older reports available in print format. Simply type in "Research Atlanta" and click "author." These reports include excellent bibliographies for further research.
• Atlanta Business Chronicle

Leading weekly publication of the Atlanta business community.
ABI/Inform electronic access for issues from 1999-present.
• Cityscapes
  The Georgia Department of Community Affairs puts together this resource, which provides profiles of the history, people, government, and economy of Georgia cities with populations over 10,000 (save for Athens, Augusta, and Colombus, which are covered in County Snapshots). Older copies of the resource are available in the stacks (F284.3 C57).
• Georgia Government Publications Search Engine

Available from Galileo, this is an invaluable site for searching for Georgia government documents. Over 18, 000 documents, including annual reports, budgetary documents, periodicals, and maps are included here and are readable in PDF format.
• Georgia Legislative Documents

Also available via Galileo, this searchable database includes both historic and contemporary legislative documents. The full text of many of these documents are available.
• GeorgiaNet
  A directory with links to principal state agencies, authorities, commissions, and councils. Specific links are as follows:
• Administrative Rules and Regulations
• Secretary of State Documents
• State Agencies, Councils and Commissions
• Attorney General's Office

A complete list of Georgia state agencies is available at the Georgia.gov website.

• One should note that the University of Georgia is an official depository for state government documents. Please visit the State Documents electronic guide for more information on their holdings and access to such holdings.

• State of Georgia Government Information
  In particular, There are useful shortcuts to different categories of information on the navigation sidebar (e.g. State Agencies, Agriculture, Education and Employment & Labor)
• Georgia Research: A Handbook for Genealogists, Historians, Archivists, Lawyers, Librarians, and other Researchers
  Reference F285.D253
  Great guide for beginning your research on Georgia.

General Urban Affairs Databases Include

• Index to Current Urban Documents (available online)
  Also available in paper (Reference Z7164 .L8 I5)
  The Index is a key online resource for local government publications in the US and Canada. Emory currently owns only the online index for Current Urban Documents, not the full-text documents. URLs are provided for issuing agencies/metropolitan governments, but some searching may be necessary within the site to locate the indexed document. However, one can usually find the full-text versions of the indexed documents by performing a Google search on the document.
• Sage Urban Studies Abstracts (available electronically)
  Older volumes are available in the stacks (HT51 .S24). Good overview of recent developments in the literature on urban affairs, politics, and management.

Statistical Resources for Atlanta and Georgia

• Legislative Budget Office

General Approproations for 2002-2005 are available here.
• Governor's Office of Planning and Budget
• Georgia Statistical Abstract

Reference HA321.G41 and CD-ROM
This is a central place for searching for various indicators on business, finance, employment, population, development, etc. All tables are available in PDF format and are downloadable as well in Excel spreadsheets. Available on CD-Rom. Ask at the Reference Desk for access.
• Georgia Quick Census and Data Sets

(broken down by county)
Basic socio-demographic and economic information for most Georgia counties. Of particular interest are the People Quicklinks, Business QuickLinks, and Geography Quicklinks. There is significant data here on the 1990 and 2000 census (including social, housing, economic, etc. characteristics, broken down by county). There are also links here to the 1997 economic census as well as state and local government finances. Much of the data is only available in a text format. However, such data can be easily exported into an excel document. For help with such exporting, you can consult the Data Center's guide at http://einstein.library.emory.edu/csvtext.html
• University of Georgia State Data Center

Numerous data files of downloadable raw census data (usually in .zip format) from 1970 to the present are available here.
• University of Georgia Survey Research Center

Home for Georgia Poll survey results. The Georgia Poll samples 400 Georgians on various state, regional, and local topics and issues. These datafiles are downloadable on the center's website.
• Georgia GIS Clearinghouse

Provides access to a number of downloadable GIS files for mapping and analysis. You must create a user account to access the library and other portions of the website. However, such registration is free.
• Georgia 2000

Georgia 2000, housed at the University of Georgia, provides data from the 2000 Census, county vital statistics, economic development agencies, school districts and many more sources for Georgia and the Southeast. You must first register (free) to use this data source.
• County and City Databook
  Reference Desk
  The 1988, 1994, and 2000 electronic editions are available here. These data books contain a substantial amount of information on a variety of state-level and lower socio-economic and demographic indicators.
• Book of Lists (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
  CAREER-REF HF5068 .A85 B6
  The Atlanta Book of Lists is a great guide for economic and social rankings in Atlanta. There are a number of other such publications covering many major metropolitan areas in the US.
• Georgia County Guide
  Reference F284.3 B3
  Annual statistical guide to all 150 Georgia counties. Includes a large number of economic and social indicators. Provides a detailed overview of all data sources used in the compilation.
• Georgia State Data and Research Center
  Research center located at Georgia Tech which houses a significant amount of census information (demographic, economic, and agricultural). Also has a good number of links to other resources.

General Statistical Resources

• County Business Patterns (CBP)
  The CPB is a Census Bureau publication with detailed business data down to the county level. The homepage allows users to access data from recent editions of the CBP. Other datafiles are available here. The Geostat Center at UVa also hosts a very accessible site for CBP datafiles here.
• American Factfinder
  Significant source of state, county, metropolitan area, and census tract/block data for 1990 and 2000.
• National League of Cities
  The oldest and largest organization uniting US municipalities. Offers numerous publications for sale--although a number of the publications are somewhat outdated (http://www.nlc.org/nlc_org/site/inside_nlc/catalog/inventory.cfm)
• Statistical Abstract of the United States
  Electronic version of the popular resource. The Statistical Abstract contains a wealth of information on numerous socio-economic and demographic indicators for the US. There is also a CD version of the Statistical Abstract available in the Data Center.
• County and City Databook

Reference Desk C 3.134/2:C 83/2/2000
The 1988, 1994, and 2000 electronic editions are available as well. These data books contain a substantial amount of information on a variety of state-level and lower socio-economic and demographic indicators.

 

Legal Materials

The Law Library (http://www.law.emory.edu/library/index.html) has an excellent collection of Georgia statutes and regulations, including the following:

• Daily Reports from Fulton County
• Georgia Digests
• City and County Codes for Clayton, Cobb, Decatur, Dekalb, Gwinnett, Marietta, Atlanta (City of), and Fulton
• Encyclopedia of Georgia Law
• Georgia Blue and White Book

All of these materials are available on the 3rd floor "Georgia Room."