Government Documents

1
Government Documents

• Lecture 10
• p.92-94 of text

2
Government Documents

• Material published by
• Local (city, county)
• State (California, etc.)
• Federal (U.S. Govt. depts. and branches)
• International governments (UN, NATO, specific
  countries, etc.)

3
Government Documents

• FORMATS
• Can be in any format
• Print
• Electronic (CD, Web)
• Microform (microfiche, microfilm)

4
Government Documents

• EXAMPLES
• Congressional reports
• Hearings
• Debates

5
Government Documents

• U.S. FEDERAL DOCUMENTS IN LIBRARIES
• Federal Depository Libraries
• UCR, Riverside Public Library
• Libraries may or may not have a gov. docs.
  section. ASK the librarian if in doubt.

6
Government Documents

• U.S. FEDERAL DOCUMENTS IN LIBRARIES
• Docs. may be reference or circulating.
• Docs. may be in the online library catalog
• Libraries may not have ALL docs. (partial
  depository)
• Libraries required to keep docs. a certain number
  of years.

7
Government Documents

• Identifying Federal Docs. (citations)
• GPO Monthly Catalog (Catalog of United States
  govt. publications
• Available through OCLC FirstSearch (1976-present)
• Available on the Web for free!
• http//www.access.gpo.gov/
• (1994-present)

8
Government Documents

• GPO Acccess (Web)
• Is also a gateway to Federal Govt. information
• http//www.access.gpo.gov/
• Identifying Federal Docs. (citations)
• Use print indexes for docs. before 1976.
• After you identify a doc. determine if a library
  owns it. (WorldCat, Melvyl) or is it is
  available online?

9
Government Documents

• Many gateways exist on the Internet for access
  to government information, agencies, etc.)
• See MVC Library Website - Internet Resources -
  Government