GUIDE TO U.S. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION
Cecily A. H. Giardina
The Dickinson School of Law
The Pennsylvania State University
Carlisle, PA

www.dsl.psu.edu/library/lrr/govdocs/govdocs.htm

Introduction
Law Library Access to Government Publications
Internet Starting Points
Search Tips

INTRODUCTION

The United States government publishes an enormous amount of social, scientific, legislative, and statistical information on a vast array of topics. This information is available in a variety of physical formats and is becoming increasingly available electronically through the Internet. Locating current and historical government information often requires consulting an assortment of resources, either print or electronic. This guide provides basic information to get started.

WHAT IS A GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT?

Government documents are works written, published, and distributed by the government rather than by commercial publishers. A government document or publication is defined by the U.S. Code as any informational matter printed by the U.S. government, at government expense or as required by law, 44 USC 1901.

PUBLICATION FORMAT

TYPES OF PUBLICATIONS

FEDERAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARY PROGRAM

The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) began in 1813 when Congress started regular distribution of government documents to libraries. Today the FDLP, administered by the Government Printing Office, is a network of more than 1300 public, academic, law, Federal, and other libraries in almost every congressional district.

Documents produced by the government, with certain exceptions, are made available to the public through the libraries of the depository library program, whose mission as a designated depository, is to provide free use of documents to the general public. The documents are distributed at no cost to the libraries. The libraries must comply with Title 44 of the U.S. Code and other guidelines issued by the Government Printing Office (GPO). Information considered to be of "public interest" is that which would be used for scholarship, administration, legislation, instructional activities, research, or compliance purposes. Information which is required for "official use only" or is restricted for reasons of national security is not included.

TYPES OF DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES

  • Regional - the library is required to retain at least one copy of all government publications distributed through the FDLP. The State Library of Pennsylvania is a regional depository library.

  • Selective - the library selects a certain percentage of documents based on the needs of the library and the surrounding community. Sheely-Lee Law Library of the Dickinson School of Law is a selective depository.

LAW LIBRARY

The Law Library, a federally designated depository library since 1978, currently selects about 18% of the print and electronic publications available through the FDLP. The law library collects government information that supports the curricular offerings and research needs of the law school. In exchange for receiving this material, the law library provides free public access to government information to the law school community as well as the general public.

Government publications in the U. S. Documents Collection use a classification system created especially for federal documents called the Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) classification system. The SuDoc classification system is based on the government agency creating the information rather than on the subject matter of the publication. (The Library of Congress classification system used for other material in the law library is based on the subject matter of the publication.) Titles are shelved based on the issuing agency, not the subject matter. Keep in mind that due to agency reorganization, some agency material may be classified under different numbers. For example, the Social Security Administration was part of Health & Human Services, the SuDoc number began with HE. Now the Social Security Administration stands by itself, its SuDoc number begins with SSA.

TYPICAL SUDOC CLASSIFICATION NUMBER:
SuDoc: J 1.2:H 28
Title: Responding to hate crimes and bias-motivated incidents on college/university campuses.

There are three basic parts to the SuDoc number:

  • the first letter(s) to indicate the issuing agency followed by a number indicating the agency as a whole or a subordinate agency or office. This part is followed by a period.

    J 1 Justice Department

  • the number indicating the series or category of publication. This part is followed by a colon.

    .2 general publications

    Examples of types of series:
    .1 annual report
    .2 general publications
    .3 bulletins
    .4 circulars
    .5 laws
    .6 regulations, rules, and instructions

    The letters and numbers up to the colon make up the class stem.

  • letters and/or numbers after the colon identify the specific publication
    :H 28 Responding to hate crimes and bias-motivated incidents on college/university campuses.

    Some of the major document producing agencies are:

    A - Agriculture Department
    C - Commerce Department
    D - Defense Department
    E - Energy Department
    ED - Education Department
    EP - Environmental Protection Agency
    GA - General Accounting Office
    GS - General Services Administration
    HE - Health and Human Services Department
    HH - Housing and Urban Development
    HS - Homeland Security
    I - Interior Department
    J - Justice Department
    JU - Judiciary
    L - Labor Department
    LC - Library of Congress
    LR - National Labor Relations Board
    NAS - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    NS - National Science Foundation
    PREX - Executive Office of the President
    S - State Department
    SI - Smithsonian Institution
    SSA - Social Security Administration
    T - Treasury Department
    TD - Transportation Department
    X, Y - Congress

    ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS IS AVAILABLE IN THE LAW LIBRARY THROUGH VARIOUS SOURCES:     (Back to Top)

    INDEXES

    Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (Monthly Catalog) GP 3.8/8:
    http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cgp/index.html An index which provides access by either, title, subject, or keyword to most government documents published since 1976. It is available in print, cd-rom, or on the Web with each providing different dates of coverage.

    GPO Access provides the Web version, which indexes documents from 1994 to the present.

    WESTLAW includes the Monthly Catalog (GPO-CTLG) which indexes documents published since 1976.

    The print version is located in the U.S. government documents collection of the Law Library.

    LEGISLATIVE RESOURCES

    CIS Index to the Publications of the United States Congress
    Washington, DC : Congressional Research Service
    Provides subject access primarily to legislative documents such as bills, reports, hearings, etc.

    The print version is located in the Law Library Collection.

    LexisNexis Congressional is an electronic counterpart to CIS Indexand is available through the University Libraries Databases by Title (A-Z List).

    Congressional Index
    Chicago, IL : CCH,
    This looseleaf service provides current information on Congressional activities.

    Major Studies and Issue Briefs of the Congressional Research Service
    The Congressional Research Service conducts intensive research at the request of Congress.

    Their reports are published as CRS Major Studies and Issue Briefs and contain extremely valuable information due to the expertise of the CRS researchers.

    The library regularly receives these reports as part of a microfiche collection of CRS documents. The reports are indexed by subject and author in pamphlets that accompany that set.

    The reports are not directly available online through the Congressional Research Service. However, LexisNexis Congressional does provide online access. Several Congressmen have made full-text of selected reports available through their own websites.

    Congressman Christopher Shays http://www.house.gov/shays/resources/leginfo/crs.htm has links to selected CRS reports.

    Several other websites provide access to CRS reports:

    The National Council for Science and the Environment has posted CRS reports on environmental and related topics http://www.cnie.org/NLE/CRS/.

    Federation of American Scientists http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/index.html has selected full-text reports on intelligence and related issues.

    SELECTIVE LIST OF INTERNET STARTING POINTS     (Back to Top)

    SEARCH TIPS FOR FINDING GOVERNMENT INFORMATION     (Back to Top)

    OTHER AREA LIBRARIES

    (Back to Top)

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    Please send questions, comments, and requests for additional information to Cecily Giardina, chg3@psu.edu

    Revised 10/12/07