{
  "id": "1997-decemberjanuary-from-the-nicar-library",
  "slug": "1997-decemberjanuary-from-the-nicar-library",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1997-decemberjanuary-from-the-nicar-library.html",
  "year": 1997,
  "month": "December/January",
  "monthNum": 12,
  "headline": "From the NICAR library",
  "kicker": "Growing collection of federal databases",
  "author_name": "",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "NICAR",
  "summary": "NICAR provides access to a comprehensive collection of federal government databases covering topics from safety and health to finance and crime, enabling journalists to investigate government programs, corporate records, and public safety issues.",
  "keywords": [
    "databases",
    "government",
    "investigation"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Data & Databases",
    "Investigative Methods"
  ],
  "technologies": [],
  "full_text": "From the NICAR library\n\nNICAR offers a number of federal government databases. Here is a list of our growing collection:\nNEW National Endowment for the Arts, 1987-1996, includes information on individual or organization receiving money.\nNEW Immigration and Naturalization Service legal residency, 1980-1995, includes information on the characteristics of aliens who were admitted as immigrants.\nNEW National Highway Traffic Safety Administration vehicle recalls and complaints, 1966-1997, includes information about vehicles that have been recalled by certain manufacturers.\nU.S. Food and Drug Administration's Medical Devices Reports, detailing complaints about drugs, pacemakers and other medical products, 1978-1996.\nU.S. Centers For Disease Control's AIDS database, providing case-by-case demographic information about those with the HIV virus, 1995-96.\nU.S. Census Bureau's Consolidated Federal Funds Reports, showing which communities get how much under various federal programs, 1983-1995.\nFederal Aviation Administration's accidents and incidents, including major plane crashes since 1974.\nNASA's air safety reporting system, including anonymous complaints by pilots and air traffic controllers. Useful for finding near misses and problems at local airports, 1988-1997.\nFederal Election Commission campaign contributions by individuals and political action committees, 1990-1997.\nThe Health Care Financing Administration's 1995 database of all Medicare-funded in-patient work in U.S. hospitals.\nFederal Railroad Administration data for accidents, casualties, and highway crossings, 1991-1996.\nCoast Guard boating accidents, 1969-1996.\nFederal Aviation Administration data, including airplane maintenance work documented in the service difficulty report, pilot licenses and grades, and aircraft registration, 1974-1997.\nHome Mortgage Disclosure Act records, for tracking who gets loans and who gets turned down, and finding redlining patterns, 1992-1996.\nFederal procurement data, 1992-1996, includes breakdowns by agency.\nAlcohol, Tobacco and Firearms gun dealer records, 1993-1996.\nNational Bridge Inventory System data, includes inspection grades, 1994-1996.\nFBI Uniform Crime Reports, a detailed compilation of crime data that includes statistical breakdowns of individual murders. This includes the 1995 final report.\nSocial Security death records, by name and social security number, going back to 1937.\nOccupational Safety and Health Administration violation data includes worker accidents and exposures to hazardous chemicals by companies, 1974-1996.\nU.S. Department of Transportation truck accident and census data. It includes accidents by company and road.\nU.S. Small Business Administration loan guarantees, 1980-1997. This includes the name of the business, address, amount covered by the SBA, and status, including whether the loan went bad.\nU.S. Small Business Administration disaster loan guarantees, 1989-1995. This includes individuals and businesses, the amount covered by the SBA, and the status, including whether the loan went bad.\nU.S. Small Business Administration's list of minority companies certified for SBA assistance in seeking federal contracts. It includes the name of the company, its address, the owner, type of business and phone number.\nThe National Inventory of Dams, 1991-1995.\nU.S. Department of Transportation hazardous materials accidents database, a collection of roadway, rail, air and waterway accidents from 1971-1996.\nU.S. Department of Transportation fatal accident reporting system. It includes all roadway accidents from 1975-1995.\nU.S. Coast Guard directory of U.S. merchant vessels. It includes the name of the ship, the managing owner, home port and various descriptive information.\nHandouts describing how to use these databases and others are available online at www.ire.org. Also, check out the job postings recently put on this page.\nFor up-to-date prices and more information, call (573) 882-0684, or send e-mail to info@nicar.org",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
  "similar": [
    {
      "slug": "1997-august-from-the-nicar-library",
      "score": 0.73
    },
    {
      "slug": "1996-september-from-the-nicar-library",
      "score": 0.679
    },
    {
      "slug": "1997-july-from-the-nicar-library",
      "score": 0.647
    },
    {
      "slug": "1997-january-from-the-nicar-library",
      "score": 0.639
    },
    {
      "slug": "1996-october-from-the-nicar-library",
      "score": 0.622
    }
  ],
  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1997-decemberjanuary-from-the-nicar-library.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1997-decemberjanuary-from-the-nicar-library.json"
}