1. Government Documents Made Easy? Or Just Easier?

2. 90% since 2000 90% since 2000 Retrospective conversion projects Retrospective conversion projects Search engines often DO work Search engines often DO work Federal Documents on the Internet

3. Limitations to Search Engines Too Many Hits No subject headings or thesaurus terms Overuse of common words Antiquated terms in state law

4. Is it?  Economic recovery act?  Economic stimulus package?  Economic stimulus bill?  American Recovery and Assistance Act

5. Documents Question Clues Legal Material Statistics Government Official or Agency Mentioned in Question Obvious government publication (e.g. Duelfer or 9/11 Commission report) Expert on the subject is a government employee (not always obvious)

6. 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)

7. Secret Techniques  Browse Agency likely to publish the information  Use specialized indexes for that level of government (e.g. USA.gov)  Specialized free databases for each level of government  Documents Center web site  Many places for help

8. Handouts Key Government Document Reference Tools Key Government Document Reference Tools Key Government Document Reference Tools Key Government Document Reference Tools Statistical Reference Tools Statistical Reference Tools Statistical Reference Tools Statistical Reference Tools

9. UMich Documents Site http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs

10. Federal Web Pages http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/federal.html http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/federal.html

11. Google’s Uncle Sam http://www.google.com/unclesam http://www.google.com/unclesam Results ranked with most important at top Advanced search link from main screen – can change domain

12. USA.gov http://www.usa.gov/ http://www.usa.gov/ Must do simple search before advanced search Narrow search down by topics and agencies

13. USA.gov http://www.usa.gov/ http://www.usa.gov/ Use for browsing agency names

14. Federal Web Pages http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/federal.html http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/federal.html Several Docs web portals consist of several pages Cumulative frames index for section

15. Hathi Trust http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/federal.html http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/federal.html First source for retrospective digitized documents

16. Hathi Trust http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/federal.html http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/federal.html Use pdf version to download 10 pages at a time

17. Legislative Branch http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/fedlegis.html http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/fedlegis.html

18. Thomas for Bills http://thomas.loc.gov/ http://thomas.loc.gov/

19. Thomas for Bills http://thomas.loc.gov/ http://thomas.loc.gov/

20. Hearings via GPO’s FDSys http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/advanced/advsearchpage.action http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/advanced/advsearchpage.action

21. Hearings via GPO’s FDSys http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/advanced/advsearchpage.action http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/advanced/advsearchpage.action

22. Laws and Regulations

23. Michigan Pages http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/mich.html http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/mich.html Includes specialized Google index and links to local governments

24. Other States http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/state.html http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/state.html Links to state laws and regulations, comparative state laws, tax forms, governors

25. International Agencies http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/intl.html http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/intl.html Special IGO and NGO indexes across agencies Large number of United Nations documents are free

26. Foreign Governments http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/foreign.html http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/foreign.html

27. Individual Foreign Countries http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/for/foreigngo vt.htm http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/for/foreigngo vt.htm http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/for/foreigngo vt.htm

28. Statistics http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stats.html http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stats.html

29. Historic Census Publications http://guides.lib.umich.edu/content.php?pid=37625&sid=276640 http://guides.lib.umich.edu/content.php?pid=37625&sid=276640

30. News Items America’s War Against Terrorism http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/usterror.html Iraq War Debate http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/iraqwar.html Elections 2008 http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/elec2008.html

31. Getting Help University of Michigan Documents Center (734) 764-0410 (M-F, 1-4) govdocs@umich.edu (most of the time)govdocs@umich.edu Library of Michigan (517) 373-1300 (517) 373-1300 http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160- 17445_19270---,00.html http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160- 17445_19270---,00.html Government Information Online http://131.193.153.128/ Federal Depository Library for the Area http://catalog.gpo.gov/fdlpdir/FDLPdir.jsp

32. Problems with Current Site Known better outside the University Old-fashioned graphics Labor intensive – hard to keep updated Future after Grace retires

33. Future Plans Content management system and database by August 3, 2009 Advantages: search results integrated with main library web page and easier to update URLs Possible disadvantages: difficulty browsing and loss of incompatible formats (e.g. tables) Hedge: backup DVD of current site and old/new URL equivalent tables

34. Grace York, Coordinator, Documents Center, University of Michigan Library graceyor@umich.edu (734) 936-2378 Michigan Library Association I-Trends Seminar June 26 2009 http://www-personal.umich.edu/~graceyor/doctemp/mladocs.ppt