Please, Just Give Me a Phone Number!

posted by Josh Goodman

A couple of months ago, I had a very simple question for a state that will remain nameless.

I found the division that would have the information I needed, but couldn't find any phone number on their Web site. No worries, I thought, I'll just call the department that the division is within and then ask to be transferred to the right people.

But when I called the department, I was instead sent to the state operator. The operator transferred me, but not to the division I was looking for. The next person I spoke with told me the division I needed, which of course I already knew, and thankfully transferred me there. The first person in the division sent me to a second person in the division and finally I had my answer: "You need to talk to the public affairs office."

This story is a long way of saying I appreciate it when governments have contact information readily available on their Web sites.

After the jump, check out my list of which states' directories are good, which ones are frustrating, and which ones need to be overhauled.

I really think it's in the best interest of governments to make this information obvious. If I can reach the right person immediately, I won't waste the time of five wrong people first.

What I LOVE is when states (and the occasional city or county) have searchable phone directories for state employees. At least 39 states have these directories (see the full list below), bless their hearts. Some, though, are better than others. Here are a few observations:

*By my count, twenty-one states allow you to find e-mail addresses in addition to phone numbers. Only North Dakota seems to have an e-mail search with no phone search.

*Florida's directory is my favorite. That's because the Sunshine State provides lots of options: You can search by employee, but also by agency, city, county, subject, university, phone number, etc. In addition to Florida, a few other states also have "reverse" searches which allow you to put in a phone number and find out whose it is, rather than the other way around.

*Massachusetts does something completely wacky. As far as I can tell, they don't have a state employee directory, but the state Web site does include an excellent directory of local government officials. Perhaps it isn't the most helpful thing in the world, but it is a wonderful way to redirect complaints.

*A couple of states, including Arizona, have a separate phone directory that only state employees can access. Who knows what these folks might be hiding.

You might be wondering what happened when I called that public affairs office. I never did. One of the many people I spoke with had mentioned a specific name of a person who would have the right information. I looked him up on the state employee phone directory, gave him a call and that was that.

Here's the complete list, corrections are welcome:

Phone and e-mail directories: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin

Phone, but no e-mail: Alabama, Arizona, California, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia

E-mail, but no phone: North Dakota

Neither: Maine*, Louisiana*, New Mexico*, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Wyoming

* = PDF of state phone book available

Comments

[Doug]

Happy to help. Hawaii info is online.
http://www.hawaii.gov/lrb/capitoli/dirguide/

It's the first hit on Google "Hawaii government phone book," dude!

[Josh]

Thanks!

[Ginny]

I'm not sure what on-line directory you accessed for WV to determine if we had e-mail addresses included, but if you use the link below, most agencies list their employees e-mail addresses:
http://www.state.wv.us/scripts/phone/default.cfm

[Josh]

Thanks very much. I had been using this one: http://www.wv.gov/sec.aspx?pgID=72 which, in retrospect, lists e-mail addresses too.

[Mike Doherty]

The state of Rhode Island's web site (http://www.ri.gov/) has an index of all major state agencies and municipal governments. Clicking the first letter of the name of the agency or town you need will take you to their web site.

In addition, the RI Secretary of State web site has a searchable database of people and agencies at: http://www.state.ri.us/govtracker/index.php?page=IdxDeptAgency

Mike

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[Cell Phone Trace]

One good site that I am aware of that allows reverse phone lookups is
http://www.trace-a-phone-number.com

[Reverse Phone Trace]

Another site I like to use is http://www.phone-number-trace.com

[Reverse Phone Trace]

Reverse phone trace systems are now quite abundant.