Introduction to Government Documents

INTRODUCTION TO GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTSKate Dougherty, Electronic Resources and Government Documents Librarian, Southern University at New OrleansJune

2011

Overview

Government Documents: What

and Why? FDsys Federal Register Regulations.gov U.S. Code

Court Decisions Government

Reports Library Catalog SuDoc Shelving

System Citing Government

Documents Exercises

Objectives

Identify when you might want to use government documents

Identify a source for locating federal laws & regulations

Locate a federal law or regulation on a specific topic

Describe the Federal Register and know when to use it

Describe the U.S. Code and know when to use it

Describe Regulations and know when to use it

Identify a source for finding court decisions

Locate a court decision Locate a government

report in the library catalog and find it on the shelf

Locate guidelines for citing a government document

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

Where do government documents come from?

All branches of government:

Legislative (Congress) Makes laws

Executive (President & federal agencies – FDA, EPA, CDC, etc.) Experts that make regulations to implement

laws

Judicial (court decisions) 

Some Types of Government Documents

Laws Regulations Reports Statistics Websites Databases Brochures Forms (FAFSA, tax forms, etc.)

Why Use Government Documents? Primary sources (first-hand information) Current and historical Reliable Usually free Great for statistics and information on

current/social issues

Laws, Regulations, & Congressional Documents

FDsys free online access to official Federal

Government publications Stands for “Federal Digital System” Mostly laws, regulations and Congressional

debates and documents Not currently good for reports Still adding more collections See “Featured Collections” for most popular

(browse only – use search box on homepage to search)

Federal Register Notice

Federal Register (FR)

Daily “newspaper” telling you what federal agencies (EPA, CDC, FEMA, etc.) are up to

Required to notify the public through the Federal Register before finalizing regulations

Tells you what’s being planned & how to comment

Also used to announce grants Advocacy groups monitor FR for issues to

comment on and new grant opportunities

Regulations.gov

Submit comments on proposed federal agency actions/regulations online

www.regulations.gov

Bad idea!I think this

is great!

United States Code

Contains the permanent laws of the United States

Legislative branch of government Divided by broad subjects into 50 “titles” Titles are arranged by topic Access through FDsys

Court Decisions

Available in LexisNexis U.S. and state supreme courts LN only includes cases involving the

entire population of the state or country (i.e., cases about state laws, etc. - NOT ones like the Michael Jackson murder case)

Court Decisions

Court Decisions

Can look up a case:• by citation, if you have it• By party

• You only need to know one party

• Can enter a party in either box, the order doesn’t matter

• By topic/keyword (e.g., “intellectual property”)

Government Reports

Education, health, environment, etc. Use library catalog to find these

Both print and online Use power search Select “Federal Documents” or “Louisiana

Documents” under “Type” Mostly links to electronic versions; some in

print in the SUNO library

Power Search

SuDocs Number System

Paper copies in the library are shelved according to SuDocs system

Different from other library call number systems

Typical call numbers look like this:L 2.3/4:998-99

Beginning letter(s) treated alphabetically Abbreviation for government agency that

published it 3 points to remember…

SuDocs Shelving System

1. The dot “.”is not a decimal point! All numbers are whole numbers. Example: L 2.3/4:998-99

“3” is the whole number 3, not 3 tenths

Decimal Order SuDoc Order

D 1.1: D 1.1:

D 1.12: D 1.3:

D 1.122: D 1.12:

D 1.3: D 1.33:

D 1.33: D 1.122:

SuDocs Shelving System

2. Nothing comes before something D 1.1: comes before D 1.1:2000

SuDoc Shelving System

3. If the call number is the same to a certain point, then varies, the order is: Years, Letters, Numbers. Years/Letters/Numbers Order

Example 1 Example 2

A 1.35:993 EP 1.23:998

A 1.35:R 42 EP 1.23:A 62

A 1.35:R 42/995 EP 1.23:91-44

A 1.35:R 42/2 EP 1.23:600/998-103

A 1.35:321 EP 1.23:600/R-98-23

Citing Government Documents In most cases, the issuing agency is the

author (rather than an individual) See the University of Memphis Brief

Guide to Citing Government Publications

Exercises

1. Go to FDsys and locate a resource of interest to your advocacy group

2. Use the SUNO eLibrary catalog to find a federal document on your topic. If it’s a paper copy, find it on the shelf (with help if needed).

Questions?

Kate Dougherty, Electronic Resources & Government Documents Librarian

[email protected] 504.286.5222