LibGuides: U.S. Government Publications: Home

Government Publications

Using government publications requires asking questions:

Which government are you dealing with? Local? State? Federal?
What branch of government is responsible? Executive? Legislative? Judicial?
What is the geographic jurisdiction (which court has jurisdiction within a particular geographical region)?
What is the time frame? When did the event occur? When was the document published?

Answers to these questions will help determine where you should be searching. This LibGuide focuses on federal government publications.

Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
Finding tool for federal publications. 1976-present.
Google
Not the best, but we both know you'll use this. Focus your search by adding these limit phrases to your keywords: site:.gov or site:epa.gov
govinfo
Digitized versions of major government publications across all three branches.

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Digitized publications from all branches of the U.S. Government.
Also includes International treaties, constitutions, foreign relations, US Congressional Documents, US Federal Agency Documents.

MetaLib
Federated search engine that searches multiple federal government databases.

WorldCat This link opens in a new window
Millions of records from the world's libraries. Includes links to full-text government publications.

Links below point to indexes that are digitized or print.

An index organizes (usually by subject) and lists print resources. None of these indexes provide full-text links.

Once you find the title of the resource/publication you're looking for within the index, search WorldCat to locate that title. You'll then need to use ILL/Tipasa to borrow/get a copy.

1774-1881
Descriptive Catalog of the Government Publications of the United States. PDF.
1789-1909
Checklist of Public Documents 1789-1909. PDF.
1789-1976
Cumulative Title Index to United States Public Documents. 16 volumes. Print. Search to find record in WorldCat (link above).
1897-1945
Catalog of the Public documents of the Congress and of all departments of the Government of the United States. PDF. 19 vols.
1895-2004
Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications. Large collection of PDF monthly indexes. Best start in Cumulative Indexes located at the bottom of the link page.