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SEPTEMBER 28, 2000

Last Friday, the White House proudly announced the launch of FirstGov, billed as the one-stop shop for information about the federal government.

Almost a week later, the site is still up and running, so it appears to be a success. Although Vice-President Al Gore did not personally take credit for inventing this site, he was just one of many government leaders who have praised this information resource.

For Internet users familiar with sites like Yahoo, FirstGov will look familiar. Along with the standard search mechanism, one can browse government web sites which have been arranged by topic.

As a result, finding information is easy. The search engine is fast and unlike the Federal Register website, it doesn't appear to go offline during parts of the day for indexing.

To test the site out, Indianz.Com considered a query that is on the minds of many in Indian Country. How do I get an eagle feather?

Not sure if the answer would be found at the Bureau of Indian Affairs website or some Department of Eagle Feathers, we typed in a simple query of eagle feather into the search box and voila, we found the answer just three links down in the list of 805 returned by FirstGov:

3. Eagle Feather FAQ
98% http://www.fws.gov/r9extaff/pafaq/featherfaq.html
This page provides information on a Frequently Asked Question regarding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 5756 bytes, 2000/08/11

Not only that, FirstGov also returned President Bill Clinton's 1994 Executive Memorandum concerning eagle feathers, a copy of which is located at the BIA website. We were pleasantly satisfied.

FirstGov not only keeps track of resources available from the federal government, but from state and local government as well. So if you're looking for information about tribes in California or another state, you might be able to find it through FirstGov.

The one major drawback to FirstGov is its lack of a restricted search. As it stands now, you cannot limit your search to all sites within a particular branch of government, say the Executive. Nor can you direct your search to a specific topic area.

Adding this feature would help users find Health and Human Services sites about funding for bilingual education as opposed to legislation.

So try it out today. Visit FirstGov (www.firstgov.gov) or test out your search below.

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