Government Publications Mary Luebbe

1
Government PublicationsMary Luebbe

• LIBR 539A
• January 23-24 2009

2
Canadian Ministries and Legislative Offices

• Finding Canadian government information
• Identify the responsible agency
• Internet search engines
• Government home pages such as Government of
  Canada Site
• Identify specific titles
• Government catalogues
• Library catalogues
• Find a context for government information
• Newspapers
• News releases

3
Canadian Government Publications Catalogue

• The print catalogue covers 1927-1992
• 1992- see the Catalogue on the website of
  Publishing and Depository Services
• The Catalogue covers both free online government
  reports and sales publications it acts as the
  Government of Canada online bookstore

4
Other Canadian Internet sites

• Parliamentary Internet website
• Information about parliamentary procedures and
  history, MPs, elections, bills, committees,
  debates, and more from 1994
• A very helpful section covering everything
  related to bills is called LEGISinfo
• Officers of Parliament report directly to
  Parliament, not to government ministries
• Library of Parliament research publications

5
Library and Archives Canada

• The Electronic collection contains thousands of
  electronic titles from the Government of Canada
• ArchiviaNet searches Government of Canada
  archival records and electronic material
• Indian Affairs Department records
• Orders-in-Council 1867-1900
• Indian Affairs Annual Reports 1864-1990

6
Library and Archives Canada

• The Index to Federal Royal Commissions is a
  historical bibliography of federal royal
  commissions, 1867- with links to some recent
  online reports and websites
• Government of Canada Web Archive (GC WA)
• Privy Council Office
• Orders in Council Database contains current
  Orders in Council indexed from 1990, full text
  from November 2002
• Guide to Canadian Ministries since
  Confederation lists all prime ministers and
  their cabinet members 1867-2006

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Early Canadiana Online (ECO)

• Early Official Publications, ending in1900
• Parliamentary bills and acts
• Parliamentary debates, journals and committee
  reports
• Royal Commission reports
• Reports of departments
• Sessional Papers
• Treaties
• Censuses

8
Depository Programs

• Depository programs were established to ensure
  free public access to government publications.
  Depository libraries must organize and maintain
  the depository materials, ensure public access,
  and provide reference services
• Depository Services Program (DSP) Canada 1927-
• Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) United
  States 1895-
• Depository libraries are making the switch to
  electronic delivery

9
Statistics Selected Canadian Resources

• BC Stats for British Columbia statistical
  products and services
• Statistics Canada for all Canadian statistics
• E-Stat for students CANSIM time series and
  census data
• Departmental reports Citizenship and
  Immigration Canada Facts and Figures
• Data Liberation Initiative data for
  post-secondary students

10
Statistics Selected U.S. resources

• Fedstats portal to U.S. government statistical
  resources
• USA.gov another portal see Reference, Data and
  Statistics
• LexisNexis Statistical subscription database
  designed to identify statistical resources. It
  also contains thousands of tables digitized from
  the indexed resources
• Census Bureau for population statistics, business
  and economic data, international trade, and the
  Statistical Abstract of the United States
• Bureau of Labor Statistics for labour and
  economic statistics and news

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United States

• USA.gov Government made easy, the U.S.
  government portal
• GPO Access the Government Printing Offices home
  page.
• Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
• Federal Depository Library Program
• U.S. Government Online Bookstore
• Full-text information from the three branches of
  government
• The White House all new content this week
• Thomas legislative information from the Library
  of Congress

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Intergovernmental/International Organizations

• Why are they important information sources?
• World wide or regional coverage for topical
  reports, statistics, economic and social
  information reports on the political situation
  in member countries
• English-language material for many countries
• Reliable and trusted resources
• Information is presented in a comparable manner
  for many countries (e.g. standardization of
  statistical methods)

13
United Nations

• United Nations website
• Information on the UN itself UN bodies, UN
  system
• Documents, Maps key to research help!
• UN Documentation Research Guide
• UNBISnet and ODS (Official Document System)

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Other Important International Organizations

• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
  Development (OECD) concentration on
  industrialized countries
• SourceOECD comprehensive OECD subscription
  package
• World Bank concentration on developing countries
• European Union 27 member countries check the EU
  Bookshop and Central Library links for online
  reports and publications
• Asian Development Bank extensive coverage of all
  Asian countries