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The purpose of this guide is to provide access to
government agencies and publications of use to CSUSM
researchers.
Getting Started
The most important things to know about
government-created resources are:
- Any number of departments, bureaus, agencies and
sub-agencies can issue documents on a subject or topic of
interest.
- Federal government documents are classified and shelved by agency,
not by subject, so you might find useful materials in a
number of locations in the Government Publications
area.
- The SuDoc (Superintendent of Documents) classification
system looks much like Library of Congress, but shelves
in a different order, so do not hesitate to ask for help in
locating print materials in the CSUSM Library.
-
Access to materials is changing, with an increasing number
of materials not available in print format, but only in
electronic or are no longer being released by at all.
-
Existing federal administrations and agencies can restrict or remove
materials at will. Very little which is posted on the
Internet is permanent (this is true for anything!)
CSUSM provides information on all government-created
publications received, regardless of format, in our catalog.
This includes State of California and some regional (San
Diego County) and international (United Nations) materials
and materials in electronic, microform, paper, and CD-ROM
format as well as
maps.
The usual
search is to use keywords known to be in the document's
title or by the issuing agency name. Other searches are by SuDoc
classification or by subject heading. CSUSM applies the
Library of Congress subject heading terms to all materials
included in our catalog. To limit your search results only
to Federal government publications, use the catalog's ADVANCED SEARCH
and limit the location to US GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS.
Print
CSUSM is a smaller depository (collects approximately 15%
of all government documents issued) and has been collecting since 1994. We
select materials that support our courses, so may refer users to
larger regional depositories (SDSU and UCSD) for older
materials and those areas we do not collect. Many agencies
still issue material in print format, sometimes with an
electronic version available as well. The electronic is
considered an authorized version as long as it is hosted at the
issuing agency's web site. CSUSM provides a link to the
electronic version when
available.
Note: Older documents (pre-1970's) are frequently not
included in many libraries' catalogs as they were manually processed
prior to the introduction of electronic library catalogs.
This is where being a determined researcher (and asking the
librarian for help) is important. Knowing the following will
help you quickly access the resources you need:
- What agencies addressed your topic (e.g., the
Smithsonian Institution published a great many materials on
Native Americans.) Also be aware that some agencies have
changed names or moved into different departments over time
(e.g., the United States Coast Guard moved from the Treasury
Department to Deparment of Transportation to the Department
of Homeland Security.) This can change their SuDoc
classification and location both in print and on the web.
Some offices have been closed (e.g., the Office of
Technology Assessment).
Resources for helping you track the agency's existence and
publications are:
- Guide to U.S. Government Publications (REF
Z1223 .Z7 A574 formerly known as "Androit's")
-
A
Historical Guide to the U.S. Government (REF JK9 .H57
1998)
- The Oxford Guide to the U.S.
Government
(REF JK9 .P384 2001)
- What terminology was used to
identify your topic (the current term 'Native American' is not a term in
use
prior to the 1970's and the Library of Congress
classification system still uses
"Indians of North America" as their subject heading.) Be aware
spelling can change over time as well. A useful resource is
Subject Guide to U.S. Government
Reference
Sources (REF Z1223 .Z7 R63 1996)
-
What indexes are
available prior to electronic cataloging? There is the Monthly Catalog of
Government Publications (title changed from US
Government Publications Monthly Catalog in 1951 and is
commonly referred to as MoCat.) The print version is found
in US GOVERNMENT DOCS GP 3.8/8 and comes out with yearly
accumulations by agency, author and subject. Materials
since 1964 are indexed in the electronic version of called
Catalog of
U.S. Government Publications.
Useful Subject Terms
If you
haven't used the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
to locate materials in a library catalog, you should try it!
Libraries use specific subject headings to consistently
identify the content of works in the collection. All
materials about a particular topic, regardless of the
wording used in the document or issuing agency, will get the same subject
heading.
Using the proper subject heading focuses your
search and saves you having to think of every variation that
a topic could be known by. As you search the catalog, note
the blue Subject
hyperlinks for appropriate subject headings or refer to the
print LCSH volumes at the Research Help Desk.
Searching Congressional Materials
Congress,
as the legislative (rule-making) branch of government, is separate from
the judicial (rule-enforcing) and Executive (the President and government
departments and bureaus). While many Congressional materials are indexed in the
electronic resources below, it is important to note that
Congress holds hearings and creates laws on all topics.
THOMAS
(free on the internet)
and LexisNexis Congressional
(CSUSM users access through our
Research
Databases) will be especially useful in searching this
body of information. For older materials, you may
wish to refer to the CIS US Serial Set Index at REF
Z1223 .Z9 C65 1975 as this covers materials from 1789-1969.
We also own a limited amount of the Serial Set (full
text of House and Senate reports and documents) at call
number Y 1.1/2 (some is in the microfiche collection and
some is located in the paper GovDocs collection.)
Electronic
The Clinton Administration made the decision
to use the Internet to increase the public's access to
federal information. Because of this move to electronic,
many agencies have stopped publishing paper documents, but
there has been some delay in developing access tools or even
guidelines as to what should be provided on a site or where sites should be hosted.
Searching becomes more difficult as some agencies publish on their own
servers (.org) rather than government servers (.gov is in
the domain name) and the military branches use .mil domains.
Materials can be in HTML, PDF or DOC formats and sometimes
require special software. A few
government sources are password-protected, such as
STAT-USA. Please see the librarian for help.
Search Engines
-
Select the appropriate search engine. If you are looking for
materials published pre-1970, be aware very few materials
have been digitized prior to this date and frequently are not
held in government web sites, but at selective or regional
depositories
in print.
-
Use the correct terminology for the time period. An example
of
terminology change is that used for Americans of African descent.
The original term was Negroes which changed to Afro-Americans,
African-Americans and Blacks over time.
GPO
Access
The GPO (Government Printing Office) has the responsibility
to publish and distribute all Federal government
publications. This is not always the reality, as agencies do
not always choose to publish through GPO, but this search
engine provides fairly extensive access to print records and
is now adding web sites. There are different 'libraries' and
information may be in several of them, so be sure to search
all possibilities.
Firstgov.gov
Search engine for US government sites, including .mil sites,
but does not include print resource records.
Google/unclesam
A more focused version of Google, this search engine indexes
sites created by Federal through city-level agencies.
Materials indexed by FindLaw.com are included in the results
due to this commercial services' extensive coverage of laws
and regulations.
THOMAS
Search engine provided by the Library of Congress to bills, laws,
Congressional hearings, and more published since 1976. You need to
know in which Congress your material is likely to have
occurred to start your search. The law's identification number is coded with
that information.
Lexis Nexis Academic (CSUSM)
Click on the LEGAL RESEARCH link to search for
Federal and State law and legislative histories.
Lexis
Nexis
Congressional (CSUSM)
Research database for searching laws, regulations
and rulings from the Supreme Court and a number of lower
courts.
Agencies
As stated earlier, any agency may publish material on a
topic and the material will be listed under the agency,
rather than by subject as is done with non-governmental
publications. The pages accessed from the
links below will provide you with lists by disciplines of
which agencies may have publications of use to your
research.
Agencies by CSUSM Discipline
Lists of departments, agencies and bureaus that are likely
to have materials of interest to the CSUSM researcher.
Agencies by Hierarchy
This link shows where Federal agencies are placed within
the judicial, administrative and legislative branches of
government.
California and
San Diego Agencies
Links to State and regional government websites for
California and smaller regional agencies.
International and NGOs
Search engines for non-US governments and
agencies such as the United Nations which are
extra-governmental bodies.
Citing Your Sources
As you write your paper, you'll need to cite passages and
ideas from the sources you've found. Government materials
require special formats, especially the legal materials.
Refer to the appropriate manual (APA, MLA, Chicago) or ask
at the Reference Help Desk to see
The Complete
Guide
to Citing Government Information Resources: A Manual for
Social Science & Business Research.
CSUSM Government Information Home
Page
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California State University San Marcos Library