Policy

GOVERNMENT INFORMATION & LAW DEPARTMENT
POLICY/PROGRAM/ISSUE RESEARCH

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS

The United States collection contains publications from U.S. government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of the Interior, Department of Labor, and Congress. The purpose of many publications is to provide a record of government activities rather than to summarize or analyze information.

ARRANGEMENT

United States publications are arranged by the Superintendent of Gov't & Law (SuDoc) classification system which groups publications together by issuing agency, rather than by subject. Publications are shelved alphabetically by the letters at the beginning of the call number, then numerically within each letter group. Microfiche is arranged by SuDoc numbers in the Gov't & Law microform cabinets. Censuses are shelved separately at the end of the first range of shelving. The Congressional Serial Set and current House and Senate reports and Gov't & Law are shelved at the beginning of the first range of shelving (before the A's).

CONGRESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS
Hearings and reports on laws and amendments in the years in which they were proposed or passed, hearings on programs or issues, agency appropriation hearings. Most likely source of evaluative information.

CIS (Congressional Information Service), 1970? . (GOV REF KF 49 .C62)
Indexes all congressional publications in depth: hearings, committee prints, reports, and Gov't & Law. Also indexes laws and gives legislative history for each law. Currently 3 volumes
for each year: abstracts, index, and legislative histories. In earlier years the legislative histories were in the back of the abstract volume. Legislative histories are arranged by public
law number and list all congressional publications related to that law.

LexisNexis Congressional, 1970-. Web index on MiamiLINK.
Choose Article indexes/Databases from the main menu, then "Government" in the "Business, Government and Law" box.

Web version of CIS. Select the "CIS Index" button from the main menu.
Also includes full text of bills, laws, regulations, the Congressional Record, and selected congressional publications.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS
Legal authorization for programs and rules of operation.

United States Code (USC) Gov't & Law Law Collection and on LexisNexis Congressional.
Text of all U.S. laws in effect arranged by broad subject category. Any amendments made over the years are incorporated.

United States Code and Congressional Administrative News Gov't & Law Law Collection
Text of all U.S. laws by year in original unamended form with selected committee reports.

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Gov't & Law Law Collection and LexisNexis Congressional.
Text of all U.S. government agency regulations.

EXECUTIVE AGENCY & GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE PUBLICATIONS
Executive agencies directly responsible for a particular program may produce related publications. Sometimes program information can be extracted from more general publications about the agency or its activities or from agency newsletters and periodicals. The General Accounting Office does evaluations and audits of federal agencies and programs.

Miami Libraries Catalog on MiamiLINK.
Most U.S. government publications since 1976 are included in the library catalog.

Government Documents Catalog Service (Impact/ACCESS GDCS) . Web index on MiamiLINK.
Choose Article indexes/Databases from the main menu, then "Government" in the "Business,
Government and Law" box. Comprehensive index to U.S. Government publications, July 1976- .

List of Classes of United States Government Publications Available for Selection by Depository Libraries. Gov't & Law Desk and Reference counter. Internet at http://www.du.edu/bdld/locintro.htm#gtr00
Lists types of publications available from each government agency with SuDoc call number. One can then browse that call number area on the shelf. Many publications will also be in
microfiche so the microfiche cabinets should also be browsed.

General Accounting Office (GAO) Reports Online via GPO Access Internet at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces160.shtml
Search and retrieve full text of GAO reports from 1995 on. Only the first search box need be used.

Federal Agency Internet Sites (U.S. Government Printing Office) Internet at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/locators/agency/index.html
Locate government agency web sites.

Federal Web Locator Internet at http://www.infoctr.edu/fwl/
Locate government agency web sites.

REFERENCE TITLES

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance GOV REF PrEx 2.20:
Brief description of all government financial assistance programs.

Budget of the United States Government GOV REF PrEx 2.8: and
http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/index.html

Historical Tables, Budget of the United States GOV REF PrEx 2.8/2:

CQ Weekly and Almanac GOV REF JK 1 .C66 (through 1999) and KING REF (complete)
Summaries of major laws, congressional activities, and issues. CQ Weekly also on the Web at http://library2.cqpress.com/cqweekly/

Major Acts of Congress King Ref KF 154 .M35 2004 v.1-3 -- short essays on selected acts with bibliographies. See online Table of Contents for acts covered.

STATISTICS

Statistical Abstract of the United States (annual) C 3.134: (Latest at Gov Desk) and
http://www.census.gov/statab/www/

County and City Data Book (quinquennial) C 3.134/2:C 83/2/(year) (Latest GOV REF)
http://www.census.gov/statab/www/ccdb.html

State and Metropolitan Area Data Book (irregular) C 3.134/5: (Latest GOV REF) and
http://www.census.gov/statab/www/smadb.html

USA Counties CD-ROM. (Gov CD-ROM Stations) and
http://censtats.census.gov/usa/usa.shtml

Economic Report of the President (annual) Pr 42.9: (Latest GOV REF) and
http://w3.access.gpo.gov/eop/

Census of Population (decennial) GOV CENSUS and
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet (2000)

Census of Governments (quinquennial) GOV CENSUS and
http://www.census.gov/govs/www/cog.html

Census Bureau Web site Internet at http://www.census.gov/
Full text of many Census Bureau publications.

American Statistics Index (ASI) (GOV REF Z 1223 .Z7 A46x)
Comprehensive index to statistics published by U.S. government agencies.

LexisNexis Statistical. Web index on MiamiLINK. Choose Article indexes/Databases from the
main menu, then "Government" in the "Business, Government and Law" box.

Web version of American Statistics Index, as well as other statistical indexes.

OTHER SOURCES

Government Information & Law Department Home Page (Select "Libraries & Departments" from the
MiamiLINK main menu, then "Government Gov't & Law"
http://www.lib.muohio.edu/libinfo/depts/Gov't & Law/).

Public Policy Matrix Web site from University of Michigan http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/polproc.html

Detailed matrix of public policy resources prepared for similar academic assignments. Some commercial indexes/titles are not available outside of the University of Michigan, but some of the same or comparable titles may be available via MiamiLINK. For example, you cannot link to LexisNexis Congressional via this site, but you can via MiamiLINK.

Selected Rand Abstracts (King Ref AS 36 .R284)
Or search online at http://www.rand.org/Abstracts/abstracts.html
Index to reports of Rand Corp. (a policy research organization). Check Rand report series name and individual titles in library catalog to see if Miami owns.

State of Ohio government publications
Search Miami Libraries catalog on MiamiLINK.
Ohio Government Web page: http://www.state.oh.us/government.htm
Ohio Capitol Connection Web index on MiamiLINK. Choose Article
indexes/Databases from the main menu, then "Government" in the "Business, Government and Law" box.
Full text of Ohio bills/laws and other Ohio legislative information.