PB1200: Information Resources in Public Justice
Government Information

Arrangement of Government Documents

Finding Documents in the Academic Library

Indexes to Government Publications

Government Documents and the Law

State and Local Government Documents

In any study of public policy, government documents are at least as important, often more important, than any other resource. The U.S. Government is the largest publisher in the world. The Government Printing Office (GPO) prints thousands of items and the Superintendent of Documents sends free copies of these items to about 1400 depository libraries throughout the country. These documents are also for sale direct from GPO and through GPO bookstores in many cities (though not San Antonio). However, we do have a number of depository libraries in the area including the Academic Library and the Law Library on campus.

Federal Depository Libraries

Arrangement of Government Documents

So many of the items you will find of interest in public justice will be found in the "J" class (from the Department of Justice) or in the "Ju" class (from the Judiciary). However, other classes do contain important information, for instance, many statistics are collected by the Commerce Department and found in class "C" while the Congressional hearings are found in class "Y." Refer back to Chapter One for further explanation of the SuDoc classification schedule.

Finding Documents in the Academic Library

However, the main index for federal documents is the Monthly Catalog which is called the Government Documents Index on the library computer network. After looking up an item on the Government Documents Index (i.e., the Monthly Catalog) and getting the SuDocs number, how do you determine whether the Academic Library has a copy of the document? First, go to the online catalog and look up the item there. If you find it, you know that we have a copy. (Or perhaps you will find the Law Library has a copy.)

However, all federal documents are not cataloged in the online catalog yet so even if you did not find it, that doesn't mean we don't have it. Next, check in the list of U.S. Documents Received. This is a list of documents received in the library since 1991. For older documents you need to check the government documents shelflist which is located against the wall next to the reference desk.

Indexes to Government Publications

CIS Annual Index to Publications of the United States Congress
Law Library

From the Congressional Information Service, this index offers brief abstracts of Congressional publications: committee hearings and prints, House and Senate documents, House and Senate reports, House and Senate special publications, Senate executive reports, Senate treaty documents. Detailed indexes. Recently a volume of legislative history been added to facilitate following the course of particular bills from introduction into law.

Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
Library Network

Indexes U.S. Government publications issued by all branches of the government. Several types of searches are available: subject, title, author, etc. Most searches are keyword searches but a browse mode is available. Listed on the library network as Government Documents Index.

More Documents Indexes

The Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS) also indexes selected government documents. It covers subjects such as public administration, business, economics, social conditions, and international relations. ERIC, the education index, indexes ERIC reports, many (but not all) of which are federally funded and are distributed to depository libraries.

NCJRS and Criminal Justice Abstracts also index some government documents. For further information on indexes, read the Indexes and Electronic Databases section.

Government Documents and the Law

Bills are the usual form in which legislation is proposed. Though thousands of bills are introduced each session of Congress, only a few become law. Joint resolutions are basically the same as bills but are usually used only for constitutional amendments and money matters. To become law, both bills and joint resolutions must pass both the House and Senate and be approved by the President (except for constitutional amendments). If vetoed by the President, a two-thirds majority of each chamber is needed to override.

Bills can be either public or private. Private bills become private laws which affect only certain citizens or organizations and are printed separately in Statutes at Large from public laws which affect the general public. Statutes at Large is a record of laws passed arranged in the order of their passage for each Congress.

Later the laws are organized by subject into the U.S. Code. Since some laws cover a number of subjects, they are often broken up into different sections of the Code. If you need to know about all the laws that cover a particular subject, the U.S. Code is a good place to look.If you need to see a complete law as it was passed, the Statutes at Large is a good place to do that.

Concurrent resolutions are used to express facts, opinions, principles or purposes shared by the both the House and Senate. Examples include fixing the time for adjournment of Congress and appointing joint committees. Concurrent resolutions must be passed by both chambers and, if approved, are published in the Statutes at Large. A simple resolution is considered only by the body in which it was introduced and is used mainly for procedural matters and rules.

The Congressional Record is a record of what occurred on the floor of the House and Senate chambers. It is not a verbatim transcript of proceedings since members can make changes and corrections as well as insert material not actually spoken. In fact, on Oct. 18, 1972 (according to the Congressional Record) Hale Boggs of Louisiana praised his colleagues in a speech on the floor of the House. Actually at this time, Mr. Boggs had already been dead for two days, the victim of a plane crash. So, as you see, the Congressional Record is often a record of what the members wish they had said rather than what they actually said.

Recently, we have begun to have live radio and television broadcasts from the House and Senate chambers on C-Span and audiotapes and videotapes of chamber actions are kept permanently in the Library of Congress as well as the National Archives. They can also be purchased from C-Span. You can access the most recent years of the Congressional Record online via GPO Access. Remember that the Congressional Record does not contain laws. It can be used, however, to determine the intent of Congress when they were passing the laws. This can be important information when the courts are interpreting the laws in particular cases.

The Congress is not the only source of laws in the U.S. There are others. A second kind of law is the judicial opinions of judges about particular laws. This is called case law. You will learn more about case law in the discussion on legal materials.

A third kind of law is administrative law and these are actually regulations from executive agencies created by Congress. An example of these agencies would be the Food & Drug Administration which regulates the safety of food and drugs distributed in the U.S. Another example is the Occupations Safety and Health Administration which regulates health and safety in the workplace. These agencies have been given the authority by Congress to make regulations which have the force of law. Executive orders of the President are also a source of administrative law.

Regulations are first publicized in the Federal Register. This item solicits public input into the rule-making process but about half of all regulations get no public comment at all. One interesting request for comments came in 1981 when the Department of Agriculture suggested that catsup qualify as a vegetable in the school lunch program. The resulting public reaction convinced the USDA to leave catsup in its former state as a condiment. Presidential Executive Orders are publicized in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.

When proposed rules evolve into final rules they are published in the Federal Register again and this time they have the force of law. Next, these rules and Presidential Executive Orders are incorporated into the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) which is organized by subject. This organization makes it easier to find regulations pertaining to a certain topic. Both titles are also available in the Academic Library on microfiche as well as online.

State and Local Government Documents

Dynix shows the correct location for these items, wherever they have been placed. The Monthly Checklist of State Publications is a document produced by the Library of Congress which lists documents received by LC from state agencies. There is an annual subject index to this which is quite useful for locating state documents. The Index to Current Urban Documents is located on the Index Tables in the Academic Library and includes local government documents from about 300 cities or counties. The library owns city documents from San Antonio but not from other cities in the index, however, they are available via interlibrary loan.