Documents
Reference
Bibliography at
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/
feder03.xls
Grace York, University of
Michigan,
August 2004
How Does Government Affect
YOUR Life?
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Family
Health
Income
Housing
Community
Recreation
Students
Business
Family
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Marriage license
Birth certificate
Divorce decree
Child support
Death certificate
Funeral home regulations
Estate taxes
Health
• Vaccines (funding for
development and regulations)
• Nutritional guidelines
• Bioterrorism intervention
• Drug approval
• Regulation of nursing homes
• Medicare payment schedules for
hospitals
Income
• TAXES
• Equal employment opportunity
guidelines
• Consumer price index
• Civil service salaries
• Mediation in labor disputes
• Social security and food stamps
Community
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Roads
Zoning ordinances
Water supplies
Waste disposal
Regulating power and cable
industries
• Requires toxic waste cleanup
• Weather alerts
• Disaster assistance
Housing
• Certifies home repair contractors and
prosecutes ripoffs
• Building inspectors
• Enforces disclosure rules when getting
a mortgage
• Consumer pamphlets on renting,
buying homes, and moving companies
Recreation
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National park system
Passports
Airport security
Grant funding for the arts and
humanities
• Genealogy
• Fishing and hunting licenses
• State park camping reservations
Student World
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Student loans
Work study scholarships
College admission court decisions
Research grants for faculty and
academic departments
• Federal depository libraries
• Originally sponsored the internet
• Copyright protections
Business
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Regulates stock market (sometimes)
Technical research
Patents
Trade regulations and statistics
Employment regulations
Safety standards
Loans to start a small business
Document
Formats
Paper
CD-ROM or DVD
Database
Internet
Microfiche
A-V Tapes
Photographs
Maps
Types of
Documents
1. Laws and Regulations
2. Proposed Laws (Bills)
3. Legislative Debates
4. Executive Speeches
and Directives
5. Court Decisions
Types of
Documents
6. Research/Investigations
7. Statistics
8. Copyright and Patents
9. Maps
10. Consumer Information
Typical Documents
Questions
•Are interlocking corporate directors legal?
•How many Russians live in Ann Arbor?
•Text of the President’s State of the Union
message?
•Copy of the Starr Report
•Safety of a baby crib at a yard sale?
•Information on environmental warming
•Analysis of Frodo’s character in Lord of the
Rings?
Subjects Covered by
Documents Questions
•Almost all subjects
•Exceptions
•Literature
•Arts (except for funding and
museum exhibits)
•Music (except for copyright)
•ERGO, the only question you can
safely exclude
Analysis of Frodo’s character in
Lord of the Rings
Documents Question
Clues
•Legal Materials
•Statistics
•Government Official or Agency
Mentioned in Question
•Obvious government publication
• Expert on the subject is a
government employee
Legal Questions
•Laws, regulations, bills, rules
•Court decisions
•Patent or copyright
•Taxes
Statistics
•75% of all statistical questions
start with the government
•Answers can be in databases
rather than printed in a table
•Business organizations and
associations provide data about
their own operations
Government Agency
Mentioned
•Congressman Knollenberg,
President Bush, NASA, Social
Security Administration, etc. are
pretty obvious clues
Specific Government
Document
•Starr Report
•Foreign Relations of the United
States
•Highway Statistics
•EPA 600/2-89-143
•PL 97-25
Expert on Subject?
Some are obvious
State Dept. for passports
INS for naturalization
Census Bureau for Census
Some are unclear, e.g. baby cribs
Consumer Reports (commercial)
Consumer Product Safety
Commission (government)
Three Information Needs
Fact
Interlocking corporate directors
Russians in Ann Arbor
Specific Publication
Starr Report
State of the Union
Subject Background
Baby crib safety
Environmental warming
Strategy for Facts
•Standard reference sources for
•Laws and regulations and court
decisions
•Congressional documents
•Directories of officials
•Statistics
Strategy for Known
Publications
•Search Google’s UncleSam or
FirstGov
•Search GPO or NTIS bibliographies
for publications not on web
•Ask a depository librarian
Strategy for Subject
Searches
•Search Google’s UncleSam or
FirstGov
•Identify agency and browse by
subject on the web
•Search GPO or NTIS bibliographies
for publications not on web
Reference Interview
OBJECTIVE
Rework original question within the context
of what you know is possible to develop a
search strategy
Key Reference Interview
Questions
•WHO (sponsored a bill, did the research, wrote report)
•WHAT (bill, report, Russian ancestry or Russian-born)
•WHEN (within past year, every year since 1970, 1/6/03)
•WHERE (Ann Arbor Area, Ann Arbor City, Iraq, U.S.)
•WHY (writing dissertation, 2-page paper, cut budget)
•HOW (filibuster, resigned, lobbied)
WHO - WHAT - WHEN - WHERE
are relevant to most questions
DIRECTORIES
•United States Government Manual
(Docs JK
421 .A3 - http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gmanual/index.html)
•Federal Yellow Book (Docs. JK 6 .F2931,
http://ldi.bvdep.com/
•Official Congressional Directory
(JK 1011 http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cdirectory/index.html)
•Contacting the Congress
(http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/)
•Locate a Federal Depository Library
(http://www.gpoaccess.gov/libraries.html)
STATISTICS
Government Sources
•Federal Government produces 75% of all
statistics
•Key Statistical Agencies
•Census Bureau
•Bureau of Economic Analysis
•Bureau of Labor Statistics
•Bureau of Tranportation Statistics
•National Center for Education Statistics
•National Center for Health Statistics
STATISTICS
Non-Government Sources
•Non-government organizations produce
about 25%
•Public opinion pollsters
•Academic institutes
•Business organizations
•Professional associations
•State governments
Main Statistical Sources
•Statistical Abstract of the United States
(Ref. And Docs. HA 202;
http://www.census.gov/statab/www/)
•FedStats
(http://www.fedstats.gov/)
•Statistical Resources on the Web
(http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stats.html)
•Statistical Universe
nexis.com/statuniv/)
(http://web.lexis-
Legislative Process
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/legchart.html
•Bills - Hearings - Reports - Debates - Slip
Laws
•Session Laws (Statutes at Large) - Codified
Laws
•New Regulations (Federal Register) Codified Regulations
•Supreme Court Decisions
Bills
•H.R., HJ Res, H Res, H. Con. Res
•S., SJ Res, S. Res, S. Con. Res
•May be 30 bills on one subject
•Use Congressional Quarterly (Docs. JK 1
.C12, http://library.cqpress.com/cqweekly/) to
identify when possible
•Use Thomas (http://thomas.loc.gov/) for bill
summaries, text, status, and roll call votes)
Floor Debates
•Congressional Record and Predecessors,
1774+ (J 11.A - J 11.R)
•No perfect source for indexing
•Thomas is best free source
(http://thomas.loc.gov/)
Congressional Hearings
•Testimony by experts, lobbyists, members
of Executive Branch
•On bills, oversight, nominations,
appropriations, and investigations
•Prepared statements, question and answer
testimony, appendices
Congressional Hearing
Sources
•Committee web sites and Academic
Universe only have prepared testimony
•Printed hearings the most complete and
indexed in
•Catalog of Government Publications
•Congressional Universe
Congressional Universe
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp/
•CIS Index (indexes printed hearings by committee,
subject, person testifying, bill)
•Testimony
(selected prepared statements; best for
hearings under six months old)
•Retrospective
(hearings, prints, reports and
documents, 1789-1969)
•Laws (Slip laws, Statutes at Large, United States Code)
•Regulations (Federal Register, 1980+; Code of Federal
Regulations)
Commercial source - not all libraries own
Laws and Regulations
LAWS - PASSED BY CONGRESS
•Slip Laws (in Thomas, http://thomas.loc.gov/)
•Statutes at Large (Docs. K .U565 and Congressional
Universe, http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp/)
•United States Code (Docs. KF 62 .A2,
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/index.html)
REGULATIONS - EXECUTIVE BRANCH
•Federal Register (Docs.J 83 .A2,
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html, http://web.lexisnexis.com/congcomp)
•Code of Federal Regulations (Docs.
http://cfr.law.cornell.edu/cfr/
JK 416 .A5,
President
•Weekly Compilation of Presidential
Documents (1965+ as J 80 .A1 W38, 1993+ as
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/wcomp/index.html)
•Public Papers of the Presidents (1929+ as J 80
.A25; 1993+ as
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/pubpaps/srchpaps.html)
•White House Web Site - current president
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/)
•Presidential Libraries
(http://www.archives.gov/presidential_libraries/addresses/ad
dresses.html)
Treaties
•Treaties in Force (Docs. JX 236,
http://www.state.gov/s/l/c8455.htm)
•Bilateral Treaties by country
•Multilateral treaties by subject
•Refers to Treaties and International Acts Series (Docs JKX
235.9 .A33), United States Treaties (JX 231.A3), and UN
Treaty Series (JX 170 .U54)
•Look to United Nations and other web sites
for treaties which the U.S. has not signed
•Delay in publishing treaties can make them
more difficult to find
Court Decisions
•Supreme Court rules on constitutionality of
federal and state laws
•Constitution of the U.S. Annotated (Docs. JK 14,
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/browse.html)
•Supreme Court web site, 2000+
(http://www.supremecourtus.gov/) has decisions and oral
arguments
•Academic Universe (http://web.lexis-
nexis.com/universe) has largest number of district, circuit, and
Supreme Court decisions
Challenges in Verifying
Known Titles
•Titles may be distributed to depositories in
paper, microfiche, CD, DVD, internet
•Not all formats, especially microfiche and
pamphlets, may be cataloged
•Monographic series may not be analyzed by
title
•Technical reports may be issued by NTIS
rather than GPO, requiring individual
purchase
Strategies Verifying
Known Titles
•Check your own on-line catalog
•Check Catalog of Government Publications
(http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cgp/index.html, for publication,
format)
•Check NTIS (http://www.ntis.gov, for availability and
purchase)
•Check Google’s Uncle Sam
(http://www.google.com/unclesam) or FirstGov
(http://www.firstgov.gov/) for on-line availability
Subject Searches
•Check Google’s Uncle Sam
(http://www.google.com/unclesam) or FirstGov
(http://www.firstgov.gov/) for on-line availability
•Check Catalog of Government Publications
(http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/locators/cgp/index.html,
for publication, format)
•Browse web sites by agency using LSU’s
guide (http://www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/fedgov.html)