United States Research Guide

The United States Federal Documents Depository of Mississippi State University has served the university and local communities since 1907, when the land grant Mississippi A & M College was granted depository status. The present selective depository collects on an extensive basis, receiving over ninety-five percent of the document series offered by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) Service.

This is a selective guide designed to assist researchers and students in gaining access to United States federal information available within the library's collections and databases, and via the Internet. Please contact the Government Documents and Microforms Reference Desk on the second floor of the Library, call 662-325-0008, or contact LaDonne Delgado at ldelgado@library.msstate.edu for further assistance with any of these resources or with any questions.

US System of Organization	Background Information and History	Current Awareness
Indexes and Databases	Directories	Statistical Information
	Research Guides

U.S. System of Organization

United States Government Manual. Washington, DC : U.S. GPO. Annually.

GS 4.109:1935-36, 1939-40, 1973-85 Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor

AE 2.108/2: 1985-- Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor

Gov Docs Ready Ref. AE 2.108/2: 2000-2001 Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor

Ready Ref. JK 421 .A3 Latest Copy Reference, 2^nd Floor

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gmanual/index.html 1995 to present: As the official handbook of the Federal Government, this manual provides comprehensive information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial and executive branches. It also includes information on quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; as well as boards, commissions, and committees.
Ben's Guide to the United States Government http://bensguide.gpo.gov/: Geared towards K-12 students, this site provides useful information about how laws are made, the election process, government branches, and other topics.
Government Information Locator Service (GILS) http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gils/index.html: A decentralized collection of agency-based information locators using network technology and international standards to direct users to relevant information resources within the Federal Government. Because this collection is decentralized, the U.S. GPO is attempting to provide a single point of entry to access, or link to, all U.S. Federal GILS databases.

Legislative Branch

Legislative Branch Internet Resources
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/legbranch/legbranch.html: Internet resources for the U.S. Legislative Branch maintained by the U.S. Library of Congress.
Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet
http://thomas.loc.gov/: Provides full-text web access to current and recent Congressional information in the areas of legislation, the Congressional Record, and committee information. Coverage begins with the 103^rd Congress. Selected historical documents, including the U.S. Constitution, are also available.
Congress
http://www.congress.org/: "The Congress of the United States was created by Article I, section 1, of the Constitution, adopted by the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787.....The first Congress under the Constitution met on March 4, 1789, in the Federal Hall in New York City. The membership then consisted of 20 Senators and 59 Representatives." - U.S. Government Manual.
U.S. House of Representatives
http://www.house.gov/: "The House of Representatives comprises 435 Representatives. The number representing each State is determined by population, but every State is entitled to at least one Representative. Members are elected by the people for two-year terms, all terms running for the same period. A Representative must be at least 25 years of age, must reside in the State from which they are chosen, and must have been a citizen for at least seven years." - U.S. Government Manual.
U.S. Senate
http://www.senate.gov/: "The Senate is composed of 100 Members, two from each State, who are elected to serve for a term of six years. Senators were originally chosen by the State legislatures. This procedure was changed by the 17th amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1913, which made the election of Senators a function of the people. There are three classes of Senators, and a new class is elected every two years. Senators must be residents of the State from which they are chosen, must be at least 30 years of age, and must have been a citizen of the United States for at least nine years." - U.S. Government Manual.
Congressional Record http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/index.html: Historically, the Congressional Record has not been a verbatim transcript of the proceedings of the congress. Now (since 1995), the House uses a different typeface to differentiate statements not actually delivered. The Daily Digest (KF35 .C65, in reference) is a concise factual record of committee and floor proceedings, including action on bills, votes, hearings, meetings, bill status, and, at the end of the week, the agenda for next week.
Records of Congress
www.archives.gov/records_of_congress/index.html: The records of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate document the history of the legislative branch beginning with the First Congress in 1789. Although the records remain the legal property of the House and Senate, they are preserved and made available by the Center for Legislative Archives. Other records from legislative branch support organizations, including the Publications of the U.S. Government from the Government Printing Office, are also preserved at the Center.

Judicial Branch

U.S. Courts: The Federal Judiciary
http://www.uscourts.gov/: Clearinghouse for information about U.S. federal courts including news, press releases, publications, directories, long-range planning documents.
SupremeCourt of the United States
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/: "The Supreme Court is comprised of the Chief Justice of the United States and such number of Associate Justices as may be fixed by Congress, which is currently fixed at eight. The President nominates the Justices with the advice and consent of the Senate." U.S. Government Manual

Executive Branch

Official U.S. Executive Branch Web Sites
http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/fedgov.html

Contains Executive Branch sites only. Strives to be, but may not be, totally comprehensive. Agencies are often included because they requested to be listed.

The White House
http://www.whitehouse.gov/

The President is the administrative head of the executive branch of the Government, which includes numerous agencies, both temporary and permanent, as well as fourteen executive departments.

Federal Register. Washington, DC : [Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration] : U.S. GPO. Published Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
AE 2.106: Latest Two Years Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor
http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS1756 (1995 to present), http://www.gpoaccess.gov/multidb.html (1994 to present)

The official publication for Presidential Documents and Executive Orders, as well as Notices, Rules and Proposed Rules from Federal agencies and organizations.

Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States. Washington, DC : U.S. GPO.
J 80.A283 1930- (with gaps) Circulating Collection, 3^rd Floor
J 80 .A283 Indexes for 1945-1974 Circulating Collection, 3^rd Floor
1993 to present http://www.gpoaccess.gov/pubpapers/search.html

Each volume in the series contains the papers and speeches of the President of the United States that were issued by the Office of the Press Secretary during the specified time period.

SEE ALSO: Roosevelt, Franklin. The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt with a Special Introduction and Explanatory Notes by President Roosevelt. 13 volumes. New York : Random House, 1938.
E 806 .R749 Circulating Collection, 3^rd Floor: A compilation of the public papers and addresses of President Roosevelt.

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. Washington, DC : U.S. GPO. Published every Monday.
v.1 (1965) to present MSU Bound Journals, 1^st Floor
Most Current Issues MSU Current Journals, 2^nd Floor
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/wcomp/index.html
1993 to present

Contains statements, messages, and other Presidential materials released by the White House during the preceding week. Most documents are eventually included in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States.

Background Information and History (Basic Reference Tools)

A Century of Lawmaking For a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html: In order to make these records more easily accessible to students, scholars, and interested citizens, this online site brings together the records and acts of Congress from the Journals of the Continental Congress through The Congressional Globe, which ceased publication with the 42nd Congress in 1873.
Core Documents of U.S. Democracy
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/coredocs.html: Free, permanent, public access is being made available to a core group of current and historical government publications via the GPO Access service to provide American citizens direct online access to the basic Federal Government documents that define this democratic society.
A Chronology of U.S. Historical Documents
http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/: A listing of pre-Colonial era documents (e.g., the Magna Carta) to the present with Internet links when possible.
Kurian, George Thomas, editor in chief. A Historical Guide to the U.S. Government. New York : Oxford University Press, 1998.
Ref. JK 9 .H57 1998 Reference, 2^nd Floor: Presents a profile of the U.S. government through a composite history of the various departments and agencies that constitute it. ...Arranged by entry term alphabetically, letter by letter rather than word by word. ...Following most entries readers will find selected bibliographies of works that will be helpful if they wish to learn more about the subject of the entry.--preface

Current Awareness (News Sources)

Bills in the News
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/textonly.html: Current bills (and public laws from several previous Congresses) recently receiving coverage in newspapers and in TV and radio news. Bills are from the 106th Congress unless otherwise noted; Public laws show the Congress of their passage in their title: i.e. P.L. 104-95 was passed into law in the 104th Congress.
C-SPAN
http://www.c-span.org/: Information about the program, plus current events, and discussions of public affairs.
Documents in the News
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/docnews.html: Links to resources about government issues making headlines in the news. Maintained by the University of Michigan Library.
Roll Call
http://www.rollcall.com: Roll Call is widely considered the leading source for Congressional news and information both inside the Beltway and beyond. In 1996, building on the solid reputation of the newsprint version, Roll Call launched a companion Web edition. The leading stories from the newspaper are posted every Monday and Thursday, along with editorials, election news, commentary, cartoons and classifieds.
Various National Newspapers

The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
The Christian Science Monitor
http://csmonitor.com/
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
The Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/

Back issues filed alphabetically by place of publication MSU Microforms, 2^nd Floor
Latest hardcopies kept until microfilm is received MSU Current Journals, 2^nd Floor: There is no better source for current, up-to-date news than newspapers. The above four titles are only a few of the titles held in the MSU Library. Also consult the Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe database which contains full-text of these and other national newspapers, some going back as far as twenty years.
** In order to remotely access Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University. **

Indexes and Databases (Searching Tools)

Because only some of the U.S. documents collection has been cataloged and can be found by using the Library's online catalog, the following major indexes to federal government documents must be used in order to access older documents.

Current Searching Tools

CIS Index to Congressional Publications and Public Laws. Bethesda, MD: Congressional Information Service. Monthly with annual cumulations.
Microforms Ref. KF 49 .C62 1970 to date Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor: Contains abstracts, legislative histories and indexes for Congressional hearings, committee prints and public laws as well as the numbered House and Senate reports and documents contained in the Serial Set. For the most part, CIS has superseded the Monthly Catalog as THE index for Congressional materials issued since 1970. The MSU Library houses the complete CIS Microfiche Collection therefore everything listed in this index is available to patrons.
FedWorld
http://www.fedworld.gov/: A central access point for searching, locating, ordering and acquiring government and business information. Many specific government databases can be searched from this page. It includes a rather eclectic selection of resources, and by no means does it demonstrate the entire breadth of government resources. The difficulty with FedWorld is knowing what data and resources are available from it as opposed to other sites.
USA.gov
http://www.usa.gov/: The official U.S. gateway to all government information and is the catalyst for a growing electronic government. Users can search more than 51 million web pages from federal and state governments, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. Most of these pages are not available on commercial websites. USA.gov has the most comprehensive searching capabilities of government information anywhere on the Internet.
GPO Access
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html: GPO Access is a service of the U.S. GPO that provides free electronic access to a wealth of important information products produced by the Federal Government. The information provided on this site is the official, published version. Information retrieved from GPO Access can be used without restriction, unless specifically noted. Most documents are full-text. GPO Access is a part of Keeping America Informed which has even more federal government information.
GPO on SilverPlatter. Available electronically. 1976 to date.
** In order to remotely access GPO on SilverPlatter, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University. **: This database corresponds to the Monthly Catalog and includes citations from the annual Periodicals Supplement and the U.S. Congressional Serial Set Supplement. It indexes documents from 1976 to the current and is updated quarterly.
InfoMine
http://infomine.ucr.edu/search/govpubsearch.phtml: INFOMINE is a database developed by the librarians at the University of California, Riverside. It is easy to use and currently contains over 9,500 records covering most academic disciplines with a large section devoted to government information. It is known globally for its high quality scholarly and educational collection. Allows searching and browsing by subject, keyword, or title.
Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications. Washington, DC: U.S. GPO. Monthly with semi-annual and annual cumulations. [Title varies throughout the years.]
Gov Docs Index Area, 1895 to date Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor
http://catalog.gpo.gov/F (only covers Jan. 1994 to present): This is THE BASIC INDEX for government publications. Titles are arranged by classification number under issuing agency. Periodicals and various other series. are listed annually in the Serials supplement. Indexing is by subject, title, keyword, author, series number and various other access points.

Retrospective Searching Tools

1941-1974 Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications. Cumulative and Decennial Cumulative Indexes. Washington, DC : U.S. GPO, 1953-1981. (5 volumes in 9 volumes)
Gov Docs Index Area Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor: Five and ten year cumulative subject indexes to the Monthly Catalog. Conveniently merged the indexing from multiple annual indexes and added original indexing for thirty issues of the Monthly Catalog that were never indexed by subject.
1900-1971 Buchanan, William W. and Edna M Kanely, comp. Cumulative Subject Index to the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications 1900-1971. Washington, DC: Carrolton Press, 1973. (15 volumes)
Gov Docs Ready Ref. Z 1223 .A16 1900-71 Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor: A fifteen-volume, single alphabet index. The BEST subject index for this time period.
1895-1933 Index to the Reports and Documents of the 54^th Congress, 1^st Session to 73^rd Congress, 2^nd Session, December 2, 1895-March 4, 1933; with Numerical Lists and Schedule of Volumes. Washington, DC : U.S. GPO, 1897-1933. (43 volumes) [Commonly known as the Documents Catalogue]
Gov Docs Index Area Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor: An alphabetical subject (or inverted title) listing for congressional documents and reports contained in the Serial Set.
1893-1940 Catalog of the Public Documents of the 53^rd to 76^th Congress and All Departments of the Government of the United States for the Period from March 4, 1893 to December 31, 1940. . Washington, DC: U.S. GPO, 1896-1945. [Commonly known as the Documents Catalogue]
Gov Docs Index Area Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor: A dictionary catalog listing publications by agency, subject, title, and author. The Documents Catalogue provides the best subject approach to government publication for the period covered. Each volume of the title covers approximately two years of government publishing activity. Gives Serial Set numbers, but not SuDoc call numbers.
1881-1893 Ames, John G. Comprehensive Index to the Publications of the United States Government, 1881-1893. Washington, DC : U.S. GPO, 1905. (2 volumes) [Commonly known as Ames for the author, John Griffith Ames]
Gov Docs Ready Ref. Z 1223 .A1905 Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor: Originally issues as Serial Set 4745-4746 (58th Congress, 2nd Session, House Document 754). The arrangement is alphabetical by subject and includes a personal author index. No SuDoc call numbers and Serial Set numbers are under Congressional Documents
1833-1969 CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings Index. Washington, DC: Congressional Information Service, 1981-1985. (8 parts in 42 volumes)
Microforms Ref. KF 40 .C56 Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor: Covers published hearings from the earliest years (early 1800s) through 1969. Provides comprehensive index access to the subject matter and issues covered in all hearings held during this period, including bills and laws discussed, the Federal agencies concerned, the witnesses who testified and the organizations they represented.
1789-1976 Lester, Daniel W., Sandra K. Faull and Lorraine E. Lester, comp. Cumulative Title Index to United States Public Documents, 1789-1976. Arlington, VA: U.S. Historical Documents Institute, 1979-1982. (16 volumes)
Gov Docs Ready Ref. Z 1223 .A12 C85 Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor: A single alphabet listing of document titles compiled from the shelflist of the Public Documents Library of the Government Printing Office. Unfortunately it includes only those titles which have been assigned a documents classification number, thus excluding the numbered reports and documents of Congress which are included in the Serial Set.
1789-1969 CIS U.S. Serial Set Index, 1780-1969. Washington, DC : Congressional Information Service, 1975-1998. (13 parts in 40 volumes)
Gov Docs Ready Ref. Z 1223 .Z7 C26 Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor: Includes indexing for the American State Papers and Index by Reported Bill Numbers. Has Subject Indexes and Finding Lists for each group of years. Contains an on-going collection of the basic publications of Congress, i.e., reports of private and public bills, as well as a variety of documentation which Congress has decided to incorporate. The collection is particularly important in the 18^th and 19^th centuries when most government publications were either originally published as part of the Serial Set or were reprinted in it. Access to the Serial Set volumes appearing after 1969 is found in CIS, the Monthly Catalog, and other tools.
1789-1816 American State Papers. [1^st 14^th Congresses, 1789-1816]
Ref. H 33 .A 48 1832 MSU Special Collections, 3^rd Floor: Some consider this the predecessor to, others consider it a part of, the Serial Set. It is a separate 38-volume set with publication categories such as Foreign Relations, Indian Affairs, Finance, Public Lands, and Miscellaneous Documents.
1817-- United States Congressional Serial Set. 15^th Congress--, 1817.
Gov Docs Serial Set Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor: The longest-running series in the United States. Sequentially numbered bound volumes of congressional reports and documents. Besides committee reports relating to pending legislation, the Serial Set includes the House and Senate Journals from 1818-1954. In the 19^th century, approximately fifty-percent of Senate and House Documents were reprints of executive branch or departmental publications. It is worth considering the Serial Set as a source of all types of government publications into the first quarter of the 20^th century.
1774-1881 Poore, Ben Perley. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Government Publications of the United States, September 5, 1774-March 4, 1881. Washington, DC : U.S. GPO, 1885. [Commonly known as Poores for the author]
Gov Docs Ready Ref. Z 1223 .A1885 Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor: Originally issued as Serial Set 2268 (48th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Misc. Document 67). A chronological list which gives author, title, and date for each document. The subject and name index in the rear of the volume refers the user to the page on which the document is listed. The page must then be scanned to locate one or more entries on the subject being researched. No class numbers for executive department documents and no Serial Set numbers for congressional publications are given.

Classification System Outline Tools

For locating SuDoc numbers not given in indexes.

Current. List of Classes of United States Government Publications Available for Selection by Depository Libraries. Updated monthly.
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/loc/index.html: The official listing of publications available for selection by depository libraries participating in the Federal Depository Library Program. Arranged by SuDoc number and designed to group together publications by the same government author. Also accessible from this web site are Inactive or Discontinued Items, List of Active Items and Class Stems, Classes No Longer Active, and an Alphabetic Listing of Government Authors.
1976 --     Batten, Donna, ed. Guide to U.S. Government Publications. Farmington Hills, MI : Gale Group. Revised annually. [Commonly known as Andriot after the original editor and publisher]
Ref. Z 1223 .Z7 A574 1976, 1977, 1989     Inactive Reference, 4^th Floor
Ref. Z 1223 .Z7 A574 1990--                       Reference, 2^nd Floor
Ref. Z 1223 .Z7 A574 Latest Copy              Gov Docs Ready Reference, 2^nd Floor: An excellent guide to document series and periodicals (not monographs), tracing changes in SuDocs classes. Not the source to use if looking for individual Congressional documents, reports, etc. Supplements and complements the Lists of Classes. Includes annotations, title index, more complete agency index, and an agency class chronology.
1933-1971 Numerical List and Schedule of Volumes of the Reports and Documents of the Congress, 73^rd Congress 91^st Congress. Washington, DC : U.S. GPO, 1934-1972.
Gov Docs Index Area Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor: Provides access to the Congressional Serial Set for this period.
1789-1909 Checklist of United States Public Documents, 1789-1909, Third Edition, revised and enlarged. Washington, DC: U.S. GPO, 1911. [Commonly known as the 1909 Checklist]
Gov Docs Index Area Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor: Arranged by SuDoc class with agency index. This title is the basic source for SuDoc numbers prior to the 20th century. Although there is no subject approach to documents, the volume is useful for scanning the publishing output of governmental agencies and for identifying various editions of the same document. Lists individual titles as well as series.

Additional Indexes and Databases

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. Available electronically.
** In order to remotely access Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University. **: Lexis-Nexis is the world's largest provider of credible, in-depth legal, government, business, and high-tech information.
Historical Statistics of the US. Available electronically.
** In order to remotely access Historical Statistics of the US, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University. **: This database is a reputable source for essays and quantitative data on American history, covering a wide variety of topics. It allows users to download informative data tables and customize them to their individual areas of interest.
PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) International. Available electronically.
** In order to remotely access PAIS International, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University. **: A bibliographic index to the literature of public policy, social policy, and the social sciences in general. Journal articles; books; government documents; statistical compilations; committee reports; directories; serials; reports of public, intergovernmental, and private organizations; and most other forms of printed literature from all over the world are indexed.

Directories

Browse Topics
http://browsetopics.gov/: Browse Topics is your pathway to Federal Web sites. Professional librarians from the Federal depository library community have created a browseable list of Federal Web sites based off broad subject areas. Choose a category and then click on a listing to read a detailed description of the services provided by a site.

GS 4.109:1935-36, 1939-40, 1973-85	Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor
AE 2.108/2: 1985--	Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor
Gov Docs Ready Ref. AE 2.108/2: 2000-2001	Gov Docs, 2^nd Floor
Ready Ref. JK 421 .A3 Latest Copy	Reference, 2^nd Floor