Government Publications

Location: 6th Floor, University Library, Accessible by Southwest Stairwell and/or Elevator

Phone: 346-3726                                               

Hours | Staff | Circulation Policies

As an officially designated federal depository library, the department houses over a million publications, both historic and current.  The collection includes the official documents of the U.S. Government from 1789 to the present.  This area is a library in itself, with a unique method of acquiring, cataloging, shelving, and circulating materials.

Documents . . .a rather dry and unappealing term for some of the most convenient, informative, and well-researched material in the library.  As the largest publishing firm in the world, the Federal Government issues publications from the introductory to the detailed, on almost every conceivable subject from A to Z.  This wealth of information is contained in a wide variety of formats--pamphlets, books, cd-roms, maps, periodicals, congressional documents--everything from coloring books to complex technical reports.

ARRANGEMENT

The arrangement of the Government Publications Collection is quite different from the rest of the library since publications are filed on the shelves according to the Government Agency and not by subject. Each publication has its own unique call number, the SUDOC number, by which it is located on the shelf. Many publications are in microfiche format and are filed in fiche cabinets in call number order.  In addition, many current materials are accessible only electronically through the worldwide web.  If you cannot locate materials, please ask for assistance.

DOCUMENTS CIRCULATION

Most government publications can be checked out at the documents desk.  The circulation policy for most materials is four weeks.  Patrons are asked to seek assistance from the staff in locating, retrieving, and checking out materials in this area.

ACCESS to MATERIALS:

• CATALOG: The library's catalog  provides access to many of the U.S. and Wisconsin Government Publications from 1976 to the present.  Web access is provided for the newer materials being published electronically.  *Please note that government publications older than 1976 are not included in the on-line catalog.  To locate the call numbers for these materials, patrons will need to use specialized paper indexes available in this department.
• GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS CATALOG: This catalog provides computer access by author, title, subject and keyword to most U.S. Government documents published from 1976 to the present. Additional publications not yet added to the library's on-line catalog are included.  In particular, this index is very useful when searching for general government information.  On-screen instructions make it easy to use.  The SUDOC call numbers are included on the top of each individual citation.
• CONGRESSIONAL UNIVERSE: This provides comprehensive access to the rich resource of congressional publications from 1970 to the present.  Each year Congress generates over half a million pages of information on a phenomenal range of subjects covering its investigative, oversight, and legislative activities.  Abstracts provide detailed summaries of each publication and the SUDOC call number.
• STATISTICAL UNIVERSE: This provides access to authoritative statistical data on population, business and finance, trade, agriculture, health, transportation, government programs, social and economic issues.  The web version includes basic statistics in "search tables".  In addition, since the U.S. Government is the world's most prolific source of statistical data; government series, monographs and periodicals are analyzed for their statistical content in the "search abstracts" section.  The department has most of the source publications which are indicated by a SUDOC call number.
• CIS U.S. SERIAL SET INDEX: 1789-1969 provides retrospective access to official agency and congressional reports and documents.  The library has many of these original materials arranged by serial number in the compact storage area of the department.  These materials do not circulate.
• In addition, many government information sources are now being published electronically and are available through web access from the above listed catalogs and databases.

GOVERNMENT WEB RESOURCES

Governments are now switching to electronic publishing on the world wide web for distribution of their materials.  Web access to these authoritative resources can be found in the library's catalog, the government indexes and the Library's Virtual Reference Desk under the topic "government" which includes a selected listing of Federal, Wisconsin and International Government web resources.  Visit the Government Virtual Reference Desk for a complete list of Government web resources.

WISCONSIN DOCUMENTS

The University Library is a state regional depository library for Wisconsin documents.  As such, we are required by law to collect all state-issued documents and publications and to provide public access to them.  We serve as a documents resource center for all the people and libraries in our ten-county area.  Most Wisconsin documents from 1976 to the present are included in the library's on-line catalog and can be checked out at the Documents Circulation desk.

Some publications in this area include:

• legislative bills and reports
• statutes and laws
• state agency annual reports
• subject-area reports
• environmental impact statements
• public interest brochures
• Cooperative Extension program publications
• UW institutes/program publications

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

The following are housed in the Government Publications Department:

• Rare Books
• Native American Collection
• Assassination Collection
• U.S. Census Collection

For further information on these, go to Special Collections.