Government Information—Basic Guide
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Government Information—Basic Guide |
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This guide provides a general description of the Federal Documents collection
of the St. Mary's University Blume Library, including its organization, locations
and basic methods of access. A second section of the guide describes electronic
government information, giving annotations of major government internet sites
and a detailed description of the links available on the Library's Government
Information web pages. Within the text of this guide,
indicates a printed
(or microfiche) resource;
indicates a web
resource. Other Guides in this series cover
specialized access methods and individual sections of the Collection, and
specialized subject areas.
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St. Mary's University Blume Library has been a selective depository for U.S. government publications (or documents) since 1964, one of over 1000 such libraries nationwide. We select various categories of publications which are "deposited" here by the Government Printing Office. The printed output of almost every Federal agency is represented in the collection but we have concentrated on publications from the Departments of Commerce, Labor, Justice, and the Congressional Committees, as well as non-medical items from HEW/HHS (Health, Education and Welfare/Health and Human Services). Although most material in the Collection was published in the 1960s or later, we do have some older items.
Unless a document is specifically marked for reference use only, it may be checked out by St. Mary's students, faculty or staff at the Circulation Counter. See Library Circulation Policies.
| Classification
The Federal Documents Collection is arranged by Superintendent of Documents classification numbers. These numbers are assigned in Washington and are used by most depository libraries. Each number consists of a letter identifying the issuing agency, followed by numbers and more letters to identify the specific publication. (See a detailed explanation of this classification system.) Because of this arrangement, all publications from an agency (or Congressional Committee) will be found together on the shelf or in the microfiche drawer. Unfortunately, however, this system does not guarantee that all documents dealing with a particular subject will be found together. In order to find documents on a subject of interest, you must use the Online Catalog or one of the indexes described below. In addition, reorganizations within government agencies are reflected in changes of Superintendent of Documents numbers, thereby occasionally scattering publications of a particular office or bureau over time. Browsing can indeed turn up useful publications through serendipity. But it is not a reliable method of comprehensive research, especially in the Documents Collection.
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Locations
Most of the Federal documents are shelved next to the Reference Collection on the main floor of the Library. A number of titles are received in microfiche, and these documents are filed (by Superintendent of Documents classification number) in cabinets on the west side of the Library's main floor. Microfiche documents are weeded fairly often, so we do not have a large collection of older material in that format. In addition, selected government periodicals are shelved on the first floor with the regular Periodicals Collection. These periodicals are inter-filed with the non-government titles, in alphabetical order. Beginning in the early 1990s, the Government Printing Office began distributing some publications on Compact Disk (CD-ROM). Many of the CDs selected by the Blume Library contain Census information, but other agencies are also represented. These CDs are kept on Reserve and can be checked out for seven days. If printed documentation is available, it is kept with the CD on Reserve. A few heavily-used print titles are also kept on Reserve. One last location for tangible documents is storage, where a few little-used, mostly older publications are kept. They may be retrieved by a librarian and checked out upon request. Contact the Documents Librarian if you need to use material from storage. |
Because it is possible that a document may by located in the microfiche cabinet, in the Periodical Collection, on Reserve, or in storage, it is a good idea to check the Superintendent of Documents classification number obtained through the Indexes (see under Access below) in the Online Catalog or the Documents Received List, which is in Superintendent of Documents classification order. Although some rudimentary word searching is possible in the List, it is not really designed as a finding tool for documents by subject or title, but rather by Superintendent of Documents classification number only. Use one of the Indexes in the section on Access below for subject, title or keyword searching. Documents received before 1991 are noted in the card file near the Reference Desk.
Fewer and fewer government "publications," however are being received in a tangible format. Except for Congressional publications, most current items are electronic only. Consult the Online Catalog for specific titles and you will find links directly to the electronic documents, or to agency web pages with links to them. For more general searches of online material, see below.
Beginning in the fall of 1999, records for virtually all government publications are placed in the Library's Online Catalog, with their special locations noted. During the 2000-2001 school year, records for over 30,000 older publications were also added to the catalog (including records for all ERIC microfiche). We can begin to say, as a result of this work, that most of the important publications in the collection are now represented in the catalog. But for comprehensive searches, it is still necessary to look in both the Online Catalog and the Government Publications Catalog.
If electronic versions of print publications are available, there will be links to the electronic versions in the Catalog. There are also hot-linked records for electronic-only publications in the Catalog. The "Location" for these items (given in the column next to the call number in the detailed display) is "Blume Online Service," and the call number is given as "ONLINE."
Comprehensive searches, especially for older documents, require the
use of one the Documents Indexes listed below. Remember to check the
Superintendent of Documents classification numbers
found in these Indexes in the Documents Received
List or Online Catalog to determine the availability (as we do not have every title listed
in these indexes), and location, of the publications in the Blume Library.
The graphic
indicates an
Internet source for the index.
indicates the index
is available in paper format in the Library.
Catalog of Government Publications
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| Documents not held at St. Mary's may be borrowed from other libraries through the usual inter-library loan procedure. If you have found a Superintendent of Documents classification number for a document you need to borrow, please include it on the inter-library loan form. There are several other depository libraries in San Antonio. Staff at these libraries can tell you if they have a particular document if you give them the Superintendent of Documents classification number. | If you are using
MarciveWeb DOCS
(the restricted version of the Catalog), you can get a good idea of which
library might have the document you need by clicking on the "Holdings" button.
If you are using the
Government Printing Office
version, click on the "Locate in a Library" link. It is still a good idea,
however, to call the other library to confirm that they have the publication
before traveling there to use it. |
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| American
Statistics Index (ASI). (1974-98) This commercially produced index is
a comprehensive guide to all Federal publications which contain statistics.
And this subset of government documents is a large one. |
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| Each volume of ASI consists of two separate parts: the index and the abstract sections. The index section has two distinct subject listings. One is by subjects similar to those found in the Online Catalog. The second section is by category of statistical information and permits the identification of documents which contain lists of statistics grouped by such categories as cities, industries, age ranges, etc. For example, to find documents containing statistics on income levels in San Antonio, one should look both in the regular subject index under San Antonio and Income, and also in the geography category index, under "By Cities," and Income. Consult a reference librarian if you have trouble using ASI's special indexes. | The abstract section of ASI gives not only
the usual bibliographic information and the Superintendent
of Documents classification number, but also a brief descriptive abstract.
ASI, like the Monthly Catalog, includes some documents which our Library does not have. And it also includes some documents not available for depository selection at all. The only place these latter documents are available is at UTSA, in a collection supplied by the publishers of ASI. These publications are on microfiche and can be borrowed on inter-library loan. They can be identified in ASI's abstract section because their citations do not contain Superintendent of Documents classification numbers. |
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| Congressional
Information Service (CIS) Index (1970-92). This index is published
in the same format as ASI, but it covers only publications of
Congressional committees. Its index volume consists largely of a regular
alphabetical index of subjects and names. Some potentially useful supplementary
indexes include bill numbers, report and document numbers and committee and
subcommittee chairmen. (CIS is available electronically ONLY AT THE LAW LIBRARY as part of
Congressional Universe.) |
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| The Blume Library's holdings of CIS end
with the 1992 volumes, but the Law Library continues to receive it. Prior to 1984, each annual abstract cumulation of CIS contains Legislative Histories. These listings are arranged by Public Law (P.L.) number and include CIS references for all publications dealing with the legislation as it wound its way through Congress. In 1984, CIS began publishing separate annual volumes of these Legislative Histories. Consult the Government Information Guide—Congress, Laws and Regulations for more information on legislative histories. |
Current publications listed in CIS without a Superintendent of Documents classification number can be found locally only at UTSA. The St. Mary's Law Library has a microfiche collection of these non-depository titles for some past years. If you need to borrow any of these titles, use the regular inter-libary loan procedure and include the CIS abstract number on the inter-library loan form. You may need to use UTSA's CIS microfiche onsite at their library. | |
Internet Resources (Major Sites)
Thomas (from the Library of Congress). For a detailed description of what is included, click on "About Thomas" on the main page. The site includes:
Browse Topics. This meta-site, maintained by the Government Printing Office and government information librarians around the country, provides subject access to electronic U.S. government information. If you are looking for a very recent electronic publication that might not yet be added to the subject listing, try GPO's "New Electronic Titles," a weekly list of newly produced (or discovered) government web sites and electronic publications.
| Congressional Universe (1789-- ) This database is available for on-campus use AT THE LAW LIBRARY ONLY.
Congressional Universe offers many ways of searching their comprehensive database of Congressional information. All of the information contained in the printed CIS Indexes (see above) is available, including its Legislative Histories; dates covered are 1970 to the present. A separate file, "Congressional Indexes," contains indexing information for hearings, prints, bills, laws, etc., from 1789-1969. Full text of many of these publications is available from the late 1980's to the present. New bills, laws and regulations are posted quickly; some other sections are updated less frequently. The database also includes information on members of Congress, including financial disclosure information and voting records. |
GPO Access. Bills, Congressional Record, Federal Register, Government Accountability Office Reports, Catalog of Government Publications, and many other kinds of government publications are available in electronic format through GPO Access. Generally speaking, dates of coverage begin in the early to mid-1990's, but for some types of publications, older material is available. (New publications and databases are being added continually.) A special section, "Core Documents of U.S. Democracy," contains the full text of basic historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and the Federalist Papers; basic documents generated by the three branches of government (bills, laws, court decisions, regulations, budget); and basic statistical information.
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The Library's Web Site
The Blume Library maintains a Government Information web site which is intended to be a portal to government information on the web, as well as a source of information about our on-site collections. This basic division — Web/Library — is reflected in the major categories linked from the main page.
The page also has quick links to major sections of the website:
| There are some other links to sites of general interest on this page: | ||
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| Clicking on the main page link "Government Information on the Web" presents a user with choices of different categories of government links, primarily: U.S. government, Texas state government, and local (San Antonio) government. Other categories of links not previously mentioned include: | ||
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Under "The Library's Collections and Services," you will find:
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