Appropriate for college geography students and researchers, this paper briefly introduces basic federal statistical publications and corresponding finding aids. General references include "Statistical Abstract of the United States," and three complementary publications: "County and City Data Book,""State and Metropolitan Area Data Book," and "Historical Statistics of the United States," (published at 10 to 15 year intervals). The Central Intelligence Agency's "World Factbook" is also described. Thematic sources, published every week, month, quarter, or year by a variety of government agencies, include "Agricultural Statistics,""Vital Statistics of the United States,""Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,""Handbook of Economic Statistics,""Employment and Earnings,""Climatological Data," and "Current Population Reports." In addition to the decennial Census of Population and Housing, thematic quinquennial censuses are briefly described. Indexes annotated are "American Statistical Index,""Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications,""Bureau of the Census Catalog of Publications,""Directory of Federal Statistics for Local Areas,""Directory of Data Files," and a user's guide to the 1980 Census of Population and Housing. The user is reminded that the government publishes over 800 statistical periodicals and that reports are involved in continual trade-offs among currency, geographic detail, and subject detail. (KC)