The Knowledge Network’s collection of thousands of documents, including reports, case studies, and sample government documents, offer local leaders a wealth of useful information. Many of the requests for proposals, job descriptions, policies, and other resources come straight from the source—the local governments who have created and used them. Use these tips to find the documents that will help you apply the experience and expertise of others in your own jurisdiction.

On this Page

• Getting to the document search page
• Searching for a document
  • Using topic and type filters
  • Documents on topic pages
  • Your document results
• Submitting a document

Getting to the Document Search Page

You can find documents by clicking “Documents” on the Knowledge Network menu bar, or by typing icma.org/docs or transformgov.org/docs into your browser.

Searching for a Document

If you know what you’re looking for, the easiest way to find a document with the Search bar.

You can also use the site search, which you'll see in the top right corner of every page. As you type your search term, the drop down will show you the best results from across the site. Click Search Documents for … to go to the document search page, or if you see what you’re looking for right away, just select a title from the Documents list to go straight to that page.

Using Topic and Type Filters

To browse documents tagged to a certain Knowledge Network topic, use the topic filter options in the left column.

Or, to browse by the type of document you're interested in, use the document type filter.  

The Knowledge Network document types are:

Filtering Tips

• You can combine topic and document type filters with a search term, and you can select as many filters as you like.
• The gray number in parentheses next to the topic or type is the number of documents available in that group, based on all of the criteria you have selected.
• To broaden your search by removing a filter or search term, click the × in the box at the top or click Clear in the filter colum on the left.

Documents on Topic Pages

In addition to the main document search page, each of the 200 topic pages features its own document tab. These pages have searching and filtering capabilities identical to the main document page, except they show results from that particular topic exclusively.

Your Document Results

Documents are displayed chronologically, with the most recent documents first. Results include the document title, type, author, publication  date, and the cover image.

The small stars   indicate the average user rating of the document, from one to five stars. You can add your own review and rating on the document page.

The large star icon   indicates Premium Content. Premium documents are only available for download by certain users, most often members of the Alliance for Innovation or members of ICMA. Access to this content is one of the many benefits of membership in the Knowledge Network partner oganizations . Depending on the document, members of one organization may not necessarily have access to Premium Content from the other organization. Documents can also be restricted to the members of certain Knowledge Network groups. However, the vast majority of documents are publicly available.

Submitting a Document

If your jurisdiction has a document of any kind that may be useful to others in the profession, or if your organization or company has a report, article, or white paper to share with local government leaders, submit it to the Knowledge Network. The best resources are those that users contribute, because you know best what works. From the document page, click the Submit a Document button  . Once you upload your document and complete the short form, and a your submission will go to a Knowledge Network moderator for approval.

Return to Knowledge Network help page.