Government Documents

Librarianship

Starr Hoffman ~ Head, Government Documents Department

A little about what we do…

Reference

Bibliographic instruction

Web archiving

Professional presentations

Design web-pages

Training

Consulting with local documents librarians

Collection development

Goals for this Lecture

What are government documents?

What kinds of things can you find in documents?

How do you access the collection?

What is it like to be a documents librarian?

What is a government publication? Government Information Products

Created or compiled by government employees, at government expense, or as required by law

Published or unpublished Restricted or publicly available Print or electronic

Acronyms Galore GPO — Government Printing Office FDLP — Federal Depository Library Program SuDoc — Superintendent of Documents

List of Government Acronyms University of Colorado at Boulder http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/a-z/alpha.htm

Abbreviations and Acronyms of the U.S. Government Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/subjectareas/gov/docs_abbrev.html

SuDoc Classification—Class Stem Alphabetical identifier of agency Number to distinguish subordinate

offices and bureaus Period Number to distinguish type of

publication

GP 3.2:

GP 3.2: C56/8/990 GP = Government Printing Office 3 = Superintendent of Documents 2 = General Publication C56/8 = Cutter based on principle

subject word of the title 990 = Year of publication (1990)

Tips for Using Documents

DON’T PANIC

Determine if it’s: Federal, State, or Local Government

Determine agency or agencies that might be involved “What group would gather or need this information?”

Indexes (places to search for docs) Catalog of Government Publications (CGP)

http://catalog.gpo.gov/ Library Catalog for a depository library

Look for URLS in the record OCLC’s WorldCat via FirstSearch

Wealth of Information

Subject Access

U.S. Government Bookstore Browse by Subject http://bookstore.gpo.gov/subjects/index.jsp

Browse Topics http://www.browsetopics.gov/

U.S. Government Portals Business.gov; Cancer.gov; Nutrition.gov; Export.gov;

Regulations.gov; Grants.gov; etc. Can find some of these on USA.gov “By Audience”

Depository Libraries http://catalog.gpo.gov/fdlpdir/FDLPdir.jsp

Favorite Series

Public Papers of the President

Digest of Educational Statistics

Country Studies

National Park Handbooks (similar data online)

CIA Maps

Foreign Relations

Statistical Abstract of the United States

Office of Technology Assessment Publications

Holocaust Commission Publications (some publications online)

Quirky Titles

Roswell Report

Roswell Report: Case Closed (executive summary online)

The Pentagon: The First Fifty Years

Managing Death Investigation

Drugs of Abuse (similar data online)

The FBI Laboratory

At Cold War’s End

Cloning Human Beings

What are some reference questions you can answer with government documents?

I need to find the number of students graduating from public universities in Texas.

I am looking for a report from the Securities and Exchange commission on the October 1987 market crash.

My doctor wants me to eat more protein. What foods are high in protein?

What industry employs the most people in my county?

I want to see section 23-37 of the traffic law. (Ask to determine: local, state, federal?)

Where can I find a form to get my name changed?

Help for New Docs Librarians

Top 10 List for New Documents Librarianshttp://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/mgt/top10.html

21 Things to Do as a New Depository Coordinatorhttp://www.library.unt.edu/govinfo/21things

Join the GovDoc-L listserv

Go to the FDLP.gov website

Got questions? Ask us!

Starr Hoffman Starr.Hoffman@unt.edu 940-565-4150

http://www.library.unt.edu/govinfo/ Dept. email: govinfo@unt.edu