CHAPTER 11:

GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS AND INDEXES

This chapter discusses government publications, the role they can play in your research,
and how to find government publications in the Library.

 

Unless your research question is obviously related to politics or government, you might not think to look for a government publication related to your topic. Big mistake!  The U. S. government is the largest publisher in the world. Its publications include books, periodicals, pamphlets, films, video and audiocassettes, newsletters, CD-ROMs, DVDs, kits and maps. These publications contain statistics, "how to" instructions, research reports, technical manuals, handbooks, geographical information, educational and teaching materials, and studies on virtually every topic imaginable. 

Moreover, much of this material is readily available. Boise State University has been officially designated a Selective depository since 1966 as part of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). This designation means that the Library can pick and choose among a wide range of documents and publications, selecting documents that will support the courses being taught at the University, while not having to receive all depository publications. In recent years the Government Printing Office (GPO) and various agencies have chosen to make a growing list of items available directly to the public on the Internet or through specialized databases. This trend will continue and accelerate. In fact, the government hopes that within five years the public will have direct electronic access to 90 % of its publications. 

Unfortunately, finding what you need in this particular haystack can be very difficult. Why? Because various agencies publish so much material in so many different formats with so little central supervision that indexing is partial and tends to lag behind production. In fact, the government indexes only about half of what it publishes every year, mostly through the FDLP. 

The most important printed index to government publications is the MONTHLY CATALOG OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS, which began publication in 1912. Though tedious and awkward to use, this printed catalog remains indispensable for finding older government publications. The Internet version of this publication is called the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications and it indexes documents from 1976.  Approximately 50% of published federal government documents are indexed in Catalog of U.S. Government Publications. Documents not indexed include security-classified documents and administrative documents and reports. 

The government also publishes many periodicals. The printed guide to this material is the U.S. GOVERNMENT PERIODICALS INDEX. It indexes the contents of over 180 magazines, journals, and newsletters. This index also has an Internet version called LexisNexis Government Periodicals Index, which indexes material published since the late 1980's. 

You probably will not be surprised  that the United States Congress is the most prolific producer of publications. Since 1970, the best guide to this material has been a publication entitled THE CONGRESSIONAL INFORMATION SERVICE (CIS) that has been indexing Congressional documents since 1970. Recently an Internet version of CIS entitled LexisNexis Congressional has been added to the Library’s list of indexes. This database not only indexes Congressional hearings and reports, it makes much of this information available directly in the database itself. 

Locating government publications in the Library also has become easier in recent years. Recent issues of some government periodicals, for example, now are shelved in the Current Periodicals section on the first floor of the Library. Other government publications have been given Library of Congress call numbers and are shelved in the general collection on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors. 

The Government Documents Department is on the first floor of the Library. Government publications in this area are organized according to a classification system called the Superintendent of Documents Classification System. Each document published by the Government and included in the FDLP is given a Superintendent of Documents (or SuDocs) number, called the GovDoc number In the GPO Monthly Catalog.

A Superintendent of Documents classification number begins with a capital letter or letters representing a Government department or agency, followed by a number representing a sub agency, then a serial title, and lastly a report/class stem.  These coded series of letters, numbers, and punctuation marks symbolizes the government agency and sub agency that issued the document and the type of publication.  For example, a publication for the Transportation Department, Federal Aviation Administration's FAA airworthiness directive biweekly listing, issue 91-19, would look like this:

Internet access to many government documents and services is now also available from the Library website.  Click on Government Information in the "Books, Articles, Journals & Other Resources" section or use this direct link: http://library.boisestate.edu/Reference/govdocs/

When searching for a government publication, it is a good idea to follow these steps:

1. First search in the Library catalog
2. If the publication is not found in the library catalog, then do a search in the GPO Monthly Catalog, a database in the Library’s Article Indexes and     Databases page.
3. If you find the document, make note of the GPO number and then go to the card catalog for U.S. Government Documents located on the st floor of the library (across from the reference desk) to see if the document is located in our Government Documents collection.
4. Also check the GPO Access website: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/  This portal has links to all Government Agencies, where many documents can be obtained directly online. 

Click on link to go to the Assignments page and print Assignment ELEVEN

http://library.boisestate.edu/skills/locate/assignments.htm