“The Congress.gov legislative database now has the ability to download search results. Anytime you do a search, anywhere in Congress.gov, you will see a “Download Results” link next to “Save this Search” link in the upper left corner. This will produce a .csv file that can be opened by a spreadsheet application.”  For more information see the FAQ: https://www.congress.gov/help/downloads [via Jennifer Manning]

Andrew Weber – The big new item in this release is the ability to download your search results to a CSV (comma separated values) file.  You can then open and manipulate the data in a spreadsheet.  Soon, I will write a post to demonstrate this feature in more detail. There have been a few changes on the homepage.  One nice addition is highlighting Search Tips. Above that, in the News from the Law Library section, there will now be a contextual photo from the blog post. Several improvements and features have been added to the Advanced Search, Query Builder, and Quick Search forms.  One nice addition to many of the Quick Search forms is a related Browse link next to the About link.  It gives you a fast, direct way to switch from searching to browsing. Also, when using the Quick Search “Words and Phrases” box, it now defaults to a presumed AND between the words rather than OR.  This change is a direct result of user testing.  What does it mean? If you typed Library of Congress, the search previously would have been looking for Library OR of OR Congress.  With the current updates, it is looking for Library AND of AND Congress.  This will generate fewer items in your search results.  For now, this feature is only available in Quick Search. The Congress.gov Enhancements page provides a complete list of these and the enhancements from prior releases..”