GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

Information is the Currency of Democracy – Thomas Jefferson

What is a Government Document?  Anything published by a government agency Can be extended to include NGOs Can be extended to include NGOs  “Informational matter which is published as an individual document at government expense, individual document at government expense, or as required by law” or as required by law” –U.S. Code Title 44, Ch. 19, Sec  Types: laws, reports, documents, maps…  Topics: Congressional, economic, health, research, demographic, informative…  Formats: moving toward web-based

How Much? U.S. government is the largest publisher in the world 30.5 million printed publications distributed in fiscal year million printed publications distributed in fiscal year million documents were downloaded from GPO Access in FY million documents were downloaded from GPO Access in FY ,000 federal government document titles are available to the public via the Internet at GPO Access 300,000 federal government document titles are available to the public via the Internet at GPO Access

Two Main Divisions 1. Government Printing Office (GPO) 2. Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP)

Some History  July 17, 1895 First Depository shipment  1895: There were 420 Depository Libraries  1895: All depository libraries received 100% of publications and could only weed superseded items.  1895: Monthly Catalog appeared

Some History  : SuDocs classification developed  1907: Land Grant colleges added to system.  1923: Libraries could select materials, not just receive 100%.  1923: 418 depositories.

The SuDoc Call Number System  Based on the issuing agency.  Titles are arranged by agency not subject matter: not subject matter: A = AgricultureA = Agriculture C = CommerceC = Commerce D = DefenseD = Defense E = EnergyE = Energy ED = EducationED = Education EPA = EnvironmentalEPA = Environmental Protection Agency Protection Agency etc…etc… A 1.1: 975 A 1.2: 43 A 1.3: 6/1 A 1.3: 6/2 A 1.3: 6/4200 A 1.4: AM 52 A 1.4: AM 64 A 1.4/2: AM 77 A 1.4/2: 1 A 1.5: B/3 A 1.5/A: B/3

 1988: First CD-ROM distributed to depository libraries.  1993 GPO Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act  Amended Title 44 to require online dissemination of information. Some History

GPO Now  Created primarily to satisfy the printing needs of Congress,  GPO today is the focal point for printing, binding, and information dissemination for the entire Federal community.  In addition to Congress and the White House approximately 130 Federal departments and agencies rely on GPO’s services.

GPO  Located in Washington, D.C.  Title 44, United States Code defines the laws enforcing the GPO’s role. Title 44, United States Code Title 44, United States Code  In FY 2000, GPO distributed 12.2 million copies of approximately million copies of approximately 29,000 tangible products in print, 29,000 tangible products in print, microform, and CD-ROM formats microform, and CD-ROM formats to depository libraries. to depository libraries.

Federal Depository Library Program  Administered by U.S. Code Title 44, Ch. 19 Administered by U.S. Code Title 44, Ch. 19 Administered by U.S. Code Title 44, Ch. 19  The FDLP is based upon three principles: 1. With certain specified exceptions, all Federal Government information products shall be made available to Federal depository libraries. 2. Federal depository libraries shall be located in each State and U.S. Congressional District in order to make Government information products widely available. 3. That Federal Government information in all media shall be available for the free use of the general public

Depository Libraries  53 Regional Libraries  Selective libraries libraries  Depositories are: -50% Academic -50% Academic -20% Public -20% Public -11% Law -11% Law -19% Other -19% Other  Federal depository libraries serve an libraries serve an estimated 9.5 million estimated 9.5 million people each year. people each year.

Depository Libraries in Connecticut  Connecticut State Library Regional  Bridgeport Public Library  Hartford Public Library  Wesleyan University  Yale University  University of Connecticut

Locating Federal Government Information on the WWW  USA.gov  GPO Access  Google Uncle Sam

What Is USA.gov?  E-government: Front Door to Administration’s citizen-centric eGovernment citizens can do business with government online citizens can do business with government online  Interagency initiative administered by the U.S. General Services Administration  US Government’s “official Web portal” to all government information”  Search engine that reaches 51 million federal, state, and territorial Web pages

Helpful Features of USA.gov  Easy to use  A-Z Agency Index  Reference Center  Online Services for: Citizens Citizens Business Business

A-Z Agency Index

What is GPO Access?   A service of the U.S. Government Printing Office  Free public access to electronic information products produced by the Federal Government  A collection of searchable databases containing full-text publications of the executive, legislative and judicial branches  Committed to permanent public access of government information in electronic format

Facts about GPO Access 1. Contains over 147,000 electronic titles 2. Points/links to 93,000 other titles 3. Contains almost 2,800 databases 4. Since 1994, retrievals have exceeded 1.6 billion 5. Average size of document retrieved from GPO Access is 49Kb (24.5 typewritten pages)

Go to GPO ACCESS to locate the full-text of:  Congressional Bills  Congressional Documents and Reports  Congressional Hearings (limited)  Public Laws  Congressional Record  US Code  State of the Union Speech  Federal Register  Code of Federal Regulations  Public Papers of the Presidents  Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents  Supreme Court Decisions

Helpful Features of GPO Access  A–Z Resource List  Resources grouped by branch of government  Alphabetical database list  Advanced and field searching by database  Ben’s Guide to US Government

What is Google Uncle Sam?  Subset of Google, a leading search engine  Search engine for government sites  Only searches domains ending with.gov or.mil  Tops for speed and accuracy!

Uncle Sam

Demographics and Statistics  Statistics: A Pollak Library Research Guide Statistics: A Pollak Library Research Guide Statistics: A Pollak Library Research Guide  American FactFinder (Census Bureau)  Statistical Abstract  FedStats  City and County Databook

 Consumer Price Index Consumer Price Index Consumer Price Index  Uniform Crime Reports/Crime in the United States Uniform Crime Reports/Crime in the United States Uniform Crime Reports/Crime in the United States  Popular NCES Reports National Center for Educational Statistics Popular NCES Reports Popular NCES Reports More Statistics

Government and Law  White House  Presidential Libraries Presidential Libraries Presidential Libraries  Thomas  Budget of the U.S. Government Budget of the U.S. Government Budget of the U.S. Government  Core Documents of U.S. Democracy Core Documents of U.S. Democracy Core Documents of U.S. Democracy

More Government & Law  Supreme Court of the United States Supreme Court of the United States Supreme Court of the United States  Congressional Directory Congressional Directory Congressional Directory  Department of Homeland Security Department of Homeland Security Department of Homeland Security

Portals  students.gov  science.gov

Careers & Occupations  Occupational Outlook Handbook

Everything Else  American Memory  National Atlas  Forms from the Feds

More Stuff  seniors.gov  Write your Representative  Find your Senators  FedBizOpps  Fair Market Rents – FMRs

Still More…  U.S. Life Tables les.htm les.htm les.htm  Where to Write for Vital Records    healthfinder®  Federal Citizen Information Center

More Stuff  Citizens Against Government Waste: Citizens Against Government Waste: Citizens Against Government Waste:  U.S. Population Clock

Selected Reference Sites for Government Information  U.S. Depository Ready Reference Collection from Columbia University U.S. Depository Ready Reference Collection U.S. Depository Ready Reference Collection  Yale University Library Government Documents  Yale University Library Government Documents Yale University Library Government Documents Yale University Library Government Documents  Govdocs from Brooklyn College Govdocs from Brooklyn College Govdocs from Brooklyn College  U.S. Government Documents Reference Shelf from Indiana University U.S. Government Documents Reference Shelf U.S. Government Documents Reference Shelf Best Document Resources Best Document Resources Best Document Resources Best Document Resources

Selected Reference Sites for Government Information  FDTF Government Information Vanderbilt U FDTF Government Information FDTF Government Information  U.S. Depository Ready Reference Collection U.S. Depository Ready Reference Collection U.S. Depository Ready Reference Collection  UMichigan Documents Center UMichigan Documents Center UMichigan Documents Center a central reference and referral point for government information, whether local, state, federal, foreign or international. Its web pages are a reference and instructional tool for government, political science, statistical data, and news.

Maps, maps, maps!  Map Collections Map Collections Map Collections What do you see? What do you see? What do you see? What do you see?  Places in the News Places in the News Places in the News  Earth as Art Earth as Art Earth as Art  Language of the Land Language of the Land Language of the Land  Geographical Fun Atlas Geographical Fun Atlas Geographical Fun Atlas  National Atlases: Presenting the Nation's Cultural Geography National Atlases: Presenting the Nation's Cultural Geography National Atlases: Presenting the Nation's Cultural Geography  Zoom into Maps Zoom into Maps Zoom into Maps  Mapping My Spot in History Mapping My Spot in History Mapping My Spot in History