Site offers government abbreviations and acronyms

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Library websites are often times a gold mine. I admire my colleagues’ efforts to bring quality information to the public. One such find is the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Library’s Abbreviations & Acronyms of the U.S. Government. It is an extensive listing of Federal Government abbreviations and acronyms, including even the most obscure entities. In most cases, the site includes a link directly to the official website of the agency or program referenced. A quick example demonstrates the benefit of this site. Let’s say there is a reference to “the BPD” in a document without clearly identifying what it is. You try a general search. The first few pages of results when searching just “BPD” in Google are not relevant because they all pertain to Bipolar Disorder. Same problem if you utilize Ask.com. However, the Abbreviations & Acronyms page immediately shows that BPD is the Bureau of Public Debt and provides a direct link to the site. (Note: Google does list the Bureau as a possible “related search” at the bottom of the screen). Starting with the best online resource can clearly save valuable time. It can also eliminate the frustration of weeding through pages of false hits.