Accidental Gov Info Lib: The Basics

Accidental Government Documents
Librarian:
The Basics
North Carolina Library Association
Government Resources Section
Spring 2011

I need to know more about government information!
We are doing more with less (i.e. reassigning staff)
We do not have a gov docs expert on staff, or always available
More government information is available/visible than previously

What We’ll Cover
The reference process and how
government information fits into it
Where government information comes
from
Freely-available tools to access government information
Learning more/Getting Help

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this presentation you should have a better grasp of:
The structure of the Federal Government
The main types of publications produced
Some strategies for finding government information
How to learn more/get help

Reference is a process… govt info is just another set of resources
Reference interview
Remain approachable
Clarify the question
Follow up
Strategies for locating information
Learning about the resources available to you is an ongoing activity
You will never remember them all
Topical or known item?

“ Topical” vs. “Known Item”
“ Topical”
Queries that may benefit
from using government
information but you
have no specific items in
mind
Example:
Elder abuse
“ Known Item”
Query is for a known item of government info
Example:
Can I see the Senate hearings on the future of Guantanamo Bay?

Where does government information come from?
The three branches of government , plus some additional independent agencies, commissions, and government corporations
For many years, government info was largely organized and distributed through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP)

What to expect when working with government information
Broken links and re-directs
are fairly common…
Freely-available government web sites rarely provide a deep archive (at this time)

Organization of the Federal Government Legislative Executive Judicial Senate & House President & VP Supreme Court AGENCIES (Departments) Agriculture * Commerce * Defense * Education * Energy * Health * Homeland Security * Housing * Interior * Justice * Labor * State * Transportation * Treasury * Veterans INDEPENDENT AGENCIES CIA, EPA, Federal Election Commission, General Services, Small Business Administration, Social Security, etc. Constitution

“ Don’t Miss” #1
The U.S. Government Manual
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=GOVMAN
Official handbook of the Federal Govt.
Comprehensive information on the
3 branches, agencies, commissions, etc.
Includes contacts, statement of purpose,
description of activities, brief history

Created in 1861, the Government Printing Office (GPO) publishes information produced by (and for) the federal government
GPO -- the largest publisher in the world
Government Printing Office (GPO)

Superintendent of Documents
The Head of GPO (also called the Public Printer ) selects the Superintendent of Documents, whose job it is to disseminate the information GPO has produced.

Organized by SuDocs Number Government information, whether in print or electronically, is organized by the governmental body/agency that produces it. In our Dewey classification or LC classifications you can browse for items by call number and expect to find similar items grouped together within those numbers. Not so in the world of government information… The Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) number is the government information “call number.”

Example of a SuDocs Number and how it works
SuDoc numbers beginning with the letters
A - T usually identify the executive dept. or
agency that published the document.
So, A 93.11/2:2009 is a pub by the Dept. of Agriculture.
S 1.40/2:C 76/2/2010 is from the State Department

The exception to the rule…
The letters X and Y, however, identify documents pertaining to Congress, such as hearings and reports. An example is:
Y 4 .J 89/2:S.HRG.110-900
Y4 denotes a Congressional hearing, in this case one on the legal rights of Guantanamo detainees

Because it is available electronically, it also has a PURL:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-110shrg53355/pdf/CHRG-110shrg53355.pdf

Congressional Hearings
Testimony before committees and subcommittees in the U.S.Congress
Can cover:
Proposed legislation
Research for future legislation
Oversight of the Executive Branch
Nominations to high office
Appropriations

Congressional Hearings
Who testifies?
Experts on a subject
Lobbyists
Members of the Executive Branch
Members of the public
(…including movie stars)
Other Members of Congress

Three Branches of U.S. Government
Legislative (Congress) Laws are made…
Judicial (Courts) Laws are broken…
Executive (The President, Agencies)
Laws are implemented and enforced…

Legislative Branch -- Congressional
Senate http://www.senate.gov
House
http://www.house.gov

Best (free) Search Site for Congressional Material:
Thomas (Library of Congress) http:// thomas.loc.gov
Text of bills, resolutions, bill summary and status, and roll call votes.

Numbering of Bills & Laws
Bills
What happens when passed?
Once passed, a bill is assigned a Public Law number, P.L. 109 -358
( 109 th Congress)
Then published in the Statutes at Large in order of the date it was enacted into law: 120 Stat.2047
Both numbers remain unique for that law
Bill are numbered sequentially, as they are introduced: H.R.1, H.R.2, S.1, S.2, etc.
The sequence begins again with the next Congress
The bill number is unique only through the sessions of the Congress in which it was introduced

Numbering of Bills & Laws, summarized
Bill numbers (H.R.1, H.R.2, S.1, S.2) are unique only to their Congress
Each bill that becomes a law gets a Public Law number and a Statutes-at-Large number
Both Public Law and Statutes-at-Large numbers are unique to that law, and remain so, in perpetuity

U.S. Code
Is a “compilation and codification of the federal law of the United States”
“ Title 18”
Example: 18 USC Sec. 2251
“ Sexual exploitation of children”

“ Don’t Miss” # 3
Many sites have the U.S. Code . Here’s two:
U.S. Code on FDsys
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionUScode.action?collectionCode=USCODE
U.S. Code on Thomas:
http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml

ACTS BY POPULAR NAME
Available from numerous sites. Here’s three of them:
Thomas
http://thomas.loc.gov / (under “Bills & Resolutions)
From the House of Representatives
http://uscode.house.gov/popularnames/popularnames.htm
From Cornell Law School
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/topn/

Congressional Record
Official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. Published daily when Congress is in session.
FDsys
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CREC
Thomas
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/LegislativeData.php?&n=Record

Very useful reports created for Congress .
Congress does not readily distribute.
So……………
Congressional Research Service

http://opencrs.com/
http://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/CRSR/browse/
Congressional Research Service

Alternative Fuels and Advanced Technology Vehicles: Issues in Congress CRS: R40168 Date: 2010-09-22 Creator: Yacobucci, Brent D. Description: This report provides an overview of current issues surrounding alternative fuels and advanced technology vehicles

Judicial
Our judicial system rests upon the notion of stare decisis -- “to stand by decisions”
Judges are generally obliged to respect the precedents established by prior decisions

Judicial
Supreme Court – highest court in the Federal Judicial System
http:// www.supremecourt.gov/Default.aspx
Biographies of current justices
Opinions for the last 5
years or so

Supreme Court Cases
Cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court are collected in the U.S. Reports:
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/opinions.aspx
A typical cite:
Baze v. Rees , 553 U.S. 35 (2008)
Volume of the U.S. Reports Page on which case begins

For freely available legal materials, at this time, some private sources can be easier to use than government pages:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/federal/
http://www. nolo .com/

Executive Branch
The President produces information in a variety of ways:
Executive Orders
(Weekly) Compilation of Presidential Documents
Public Papers of the Presidents

Executive Orders
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/disposition.html

(Weekly) Compilation of Presidential Documents http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CPD

Papers of the Presidents
FDsys
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=PPP
American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara)
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/index.php

The Departments/Agencies
Agency web sites are helpful for contacts and current services of the agency
But sometimes do not lead to the publications of the agency, beyond those of a consumer nature

Department of Education

Many agencies do provide excellent standard titles electronically …

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
https://www.cfda.gov/
Occupational Outlook Handbook
http://www.bls.gov/oco /
For hundreds of different types of jobs:
the training and education needed
earnings
expected job prospects
what workers do on the job
working conditions

CIA World Fact Book
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
History, people, government, economy, geography, communications, time zones, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities.
FBI Uniform Crime Reports
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr
Annual crime stats, law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, hate crimes

SEC EDGAR
http ://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
Information about publicly-traded companies, foreign and domestic
Economic Report of the President

http://www.science.gov/browse/topiclist.htm
Gateway to government science information
Accessing over 45 databases and 200 million pages of science information
The National Map
http://nationalmap.gov/index.html
One of the cornerstones of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Science.gov

Statistics
Statistical Abstract of the U.S.
U.S. Bureau of the Census
( American FactFinder )
For NC folks, NC LINC is a ‘don’t miss.’
http://linc.state.nc.us/

FedStats http://www.fedstats.gov/

Don’t Miss #9
Statistical Abstract of the United States http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/

The ‘Regulatory’ Environment
Regulations are not law, but they have the force of law.
Federal Register - official daily
publication for rules,
proposed rules, and notices
The Federal Register grows up to be…..

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
The codification of the
general and permanent
rules from the Federal
Register

Don’t let the word “Code” throw you
Yes, the U.S. Code is the law of the land, created by Congress
The Code of Federal Regulations are the codified regulations of agencies (under the Executive Branch)
In North Carolina agency regulations are codified into the N.C. Administrative Code

FDsys http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ formerly GPO Access
What was…….
Is now………

Tools – What to Use and When
GPO Access, now FDsys
USA.gov (formerly FirstGov.gov)
Google U.S. Government Search
(formerly Google UncleSam)
World Cat - OCLC Database
FedStats

Tools – GPO Access, now FDsys
Excellent for known items of relatively recent vintage (Congressional hearings go back only to 1985/86, for example, and most other series only to the early 1990’s)
FDsys provides free online access to official Federal Government publications

Tools USA.gov or Google U.S. Government Search?
Which to use? It’s a bit of a wash. But let’s take a closer look.
Originally Google’s government search didn’t pick up government-related sites with .mil, .com, etc. (there are some important ones that are not .gov) but this is no longer the case

Tools, cont.: USA.gov or Google U.S. Govt. Search
Both are helpful when you are doing a topical search
Both have an advanced search page available
Doing most topic searches produces similar results in each

Tools, cont.– topic is elder abuse
USA.gov
Google U.S. Government

Tools, cont. – given a choice……..
USA.gov (at this time) has a cleaner interface, especially for ‘consumer’ -- rather than academic – information searches.

Worldcat.org Helps us get stuff we don’t have -- especially specific, older items not available electronically
Example:
Hearing before a subcommittee, Eighty-first Congress, second session, on H.R. 5210, a bill to amend the Act entitled "An act to establish a department of medicine and surgery in the Veterans" Administration," approved January 3, 1946, to provide for the use of qualified optometrists for out-patient eye care. July 19, 1950. United States. Congress. House. Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Veterans' Affairs. 1950
English Book iii, 1819-1835. p. 24 cm. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off.,
Libraries worldwide that own item : a library that has cataloged this hearing as a book
GovDoc: Y 4.V 64/3:OP 7 -- a large library with a deep archive of uncataloged printed hearings can still locate this in their collection using just the SuDocs number

Pulling It All Together
I want to see the hearings and reports associated with the Challenger accident
Who is my Senator and how has he/she been voting on major issues facing our country?
We hear a lot of about Roe v. Wade . I’d like to read the actual opinion of the Justices of the Supreme Court for this case.
How many Hispanics live in the U.S. and how many live in my state?
My neighbor’s husband passed away suddenly, leaving her with two young children. I’ve heard she can get help from Social Security. Is that true?

Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP)
There are more than 1,200 depository libraries in the United States and its territories.
In NC many of our large university and public libraries are ‘selective’ depositories. UNC-Chapel Hill is our ‘regional’ depository library.
Here you’ll find people who can help.

Learning More/Getting Help
1. Examine the “Don’t Miss” examples
2. Examine quality library guides:
“ Browse Topics”
http ://www.browsetopics.gov /
Federal websites organized by subject by Oklahoma State University.
“ Government Information on the Web’
St. Mary's University’s Blume Library
http://library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/doc/us/subjects/submain.htm#libs
3. FDLP libraries can help

Contact info:
Bryna Coonin
Joyner Library
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858
Ph. (252) 328-0431
E-mail: cooninb@ecu.edu

Tell Us What You Think
Please use the link below to let us know what you thought of today’s presentation. It will help us as we prepare future sessions.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NCLAGRSTHEBASICS

Title: Genealogy Using Government Information
Date: May 11, 12:00-1:00
Presenter: Jane Johnson
Jane Johnson is a Librarian in the special collections area for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. The Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room houses genealogical materials, state and local government documents, maps and images. She began her library employment in 1996 and received her MLIS from the University of South Carolina in 1998.
Upcoming Accidental Librarian Webinars

Upcoming Accidental Librarian Webinars
May 11: Genealogy and Gov Info (Jane Johnson
June:
The Economic Census (Mary Scanlon)
The New American FactFinder (TBD)
July:
State Agency Databases (Daniel Cornwall)
Military and Dept of Defense Documents (David Durant)
August: Legal research basics (Jennifer Behrens)
Brought to you by the North Carolina Library Association’s Government Resources Section. Join us! http://www.nclaonline.org/government-resources

Accidental Gov Info Lib: The Basics

by Lynda Kellam

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