UNT School of Library and Information Science
Government Information and Access Service
SLIS 5660 Syllabus and Course Objectives
COURSE DESCRIPTION: United States Government Information is a
valuable resource for citizens and information professionals alike. Learn
about the nature, use, acquisitions and organization of federal information
in a variety of formats including print and electronic - historical and
current. Prerequisite: SLIS 5600 or consent of school.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:
GOALS:
To establish government bodies as major and unique publishers and to
prepare students to select, use, organize, and administer government
publications in depository and non-depository libraries. To establish
government bodies as major and unique publishers and to prepare
students to select, use, organize, and administer government publications
in depository and non-depository libraries.
OBJECTIVES:
On completing SLIS 5660, students should know:
1. The history and current issues determining public access to federal
information, e.g. federal information policy.
2. The background and present responsibility of the Government Printing
Office and the Superintendent of Documents in government publishing, in
sale and distribution of public information, and the compilation of
print/electronic catalogs and indexes of public government information.
3. The functions and relationships between selective and regional
depositories.
4. The historic and current role of federal depository libraries in federal
information policy.
5. The mechanics of administering separate or integrated physical/digital
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public document collections in depository libraries.
6. The mechanics of administering both a print collection and an online
Federal Depository Library Program.
7. The principal tools and procedures for use in selecting federal
documents for the depository library.
8. The importance of federally sponsored technical support literature, the
agencies responsible for public access to this literature, and their
relationship to the depository library program.
9. The general and specialized government and commercial catalogs,
indexes, and checklists to public documents, including print and
electronic.
10. The retrospective and current publications which are produced by the
Legislative Branch of the federal government, print and electronic.
11. The various publications generated by the Presidency, print and
electronic.
12. Significant publications and types of publications which emerge from
the departments and agencies in the Executive Branch with emphasis on
reference and statistical information.
13. The publications of the judiciary and the most important reference
and research aids which assist legal research.
On Completion of SLIS 5660, students should be able to:
1. Have an awareness of the major public access issues involved in
federal information policy.
2. Recognize the Government Printing Office as a major publisher/source
of federal information, with full awareness of government publications, i.e.
information from other sources such as the National Technical
Information Service and other government agencies; utilize the
distribution services of the Superintendent of Documents and other
government agencies.
3. Understand the responsibilities and functions of depositories as a
service to the parent institution, to the public and to society generally.
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4. Administer document collections in depository libraries.
5. Select and acquire public documents for a depository library, print and
electronic.
6. Select and obtain federally sponsored technical report literature, print
and electronic.
7. Use the current and retrospective bibliographic apparatus which offers
access to U.S. public documents, print and electronic.
8. Recognize the informational values of and access to the several types
of publications from Congress, its committees and commissions, and the
agencies whose officers are charged with specific duties and functions
under the direction of the Congress.
9. Recognize the informational values of and access the publications
generated by the White House office, the Executive Office of the
President, the Office of the Federal Register, and the Department of
State.
10. Recognize the informational value of and access the publications
which emerge from the departments and agencies of the executive
branch.
11. Utilized the publications of the judiciary and perform basic legal
research.
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