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    Academic Universe    Congressional Universe    Statistical Universe    GPO Access

    Finding Government Publications in the Libraries of the Claremont Colleges:

    Using Library Catalogs

    Using Indexes & Bibliographies to Find Government Publications

    Using Library Catalogs to Find Government Publications *

    *  All Current U.S.(from January 1993), California State (beginning 1996), and International Governmental government publications (beginning 1989) are accessible through Blais, the Libraries' on-line catalog. For U.S Government Publications, from 1976 to 1993, there is the Marcive Web Docs, or Monthly Catalog  on the World Wide Web. For older U.S. government Publications, see below under Indexes & Bibliographies. We are currently converting our old card catalog records for publications received prior to 1976 which will be included in Blais - the libraries' on-line catalog. The card catalog and special indexesare used  to locate publications not yet included in Blais. It is difficult to describe exactly what is or isn't in Blais. The card catalog is closed for new U.S.government publications beginning in late 1992. California State and International Governmental documents are also partially cataloged in Blais. Please ask for assistance at the Honnold/Mudd Reference desk if you do not find what you are looking for.

    To locate government publications, search Blais, the Libraries' of the Claremont Colleges online catalog. Government Publications are best searched by title, keyword, or call number. Author searches for government publications are difficult and less precise because a government publication has an agency, or corporate author listed rather than a particular person. There can be many publications by a particular corporate author such as United States Congress. House of Representatives; or The United States Department of Commerce.

    • To search for a publication, as TITLE or as SUBJECT, search by the title, or words that approximate the SUBJECT
    • Subject searching requires use of Library of Congress subject headings. Here are some typical subject headings dealing with income and poverty

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      • AIDS (disease)
      • AIDS Disease in women
      • Hiv Positive Persons Services For United States Finance
      • Hiv Infections United States
      • Hiv Viruses United States
      • AIDS (Disease) -- California -- Epidemiology -- Statistics

    • To limit the items retrieved to Government Publications, click on LIMIT THIS SEARCH; click on WHERE the item is located; and choose HONNOLD/MUDD Government Publications.

      • You can use Library of Congress subject headings to search most other library catalogs (the University of California's MELVYL, RLIN, Cal Poly Pomona, etc.). Also available via WorldCat in FirstSearch.
       
    • If you are unsure of the exact title or if your subject search doesn't produce the results you hoped for, try a KEYWORD search using two or three of the most significant words from the title or subject you are trying to find.

    Using Special Catalogs to Find Books

    Most bibliographies which focus on Government Information are located in call numbers Sudoc GP 3 -. Titles listed below are just a sampling of those available. Browse this call number location in (list the appropriate Libraries here) to find more. Search Blais to determine whether the Libraries have items these bibliographies include which interest you.

    FEDERAL (UNITED STATES) GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS

    • Marcive Web Docs (on WWW) (Monthly Catalog of ONLY Government Publications) - Catalog of publications cataloged by the U.S. Government Printing Office since 1976.
    • Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (1895-to HON REF US GP 3.8 date) -  Title has varied - available in paper in the Government Publications Department.. Prior to 1895
    • Document Catalog - (1893-1940) (overlaps with the HON REF US GP 3.6 Monthly Catalog) - Catalog of the Public Documents of the 53rd to the 76th Congress and all Departments of the U.S. Government.
    • Descriptive Catalog of the Government Publications of the United States.  (1774-1881) Poore

      • HON  REF US GP 3.6
    • Comprehensive Index to the Publications of the United States Government.  (1881-1893) Ames   HON REF US  328.734 Un3.
    • Andriott's Guide to U.S. Government Publications. HON REF US Z 1223 Z7 A574 Annual. Lists agencies of provenance (authorship) by Sudoc number alphabetically over time. Good history of agency and call number changes over the years.
    • CIS (Congressional Information Service) Abstracts/Indexes HON REF US KF 49 1970-to date. Available on WWW from 1969 Congressional Universe. Available on This resource is available only to users in the search centers of the Libraries from 1789-=1969.[address?}  Indexes all C62 hearings, documents, reports and committee prints. ***NOT ALL HEARINGS ARE PUBLISHED. THERE IS AN INDEX TO UNPUBLISHED COMMITTEE HEARINGS. WE DO NOT OWN IT. (This resource is available only to users on the Claremont Colleges Network.)
    • U.S. Serial Set Index (1789-1967) Indexed by CIS since 1970. HON REF US Z 1223.  The Congressional Serial Set has had many titles, and includes such Z9 C26 publications as the House and

      • Senate Journals, reports from agencies in the executive branch, annual or fiscal audits of agencies and organizations, investigative and background studies, directories, manuals, research and statistical studies and reports on public and private bills. Honnold/Mudd has a complete collection of the Serial Set in paper, microcard, and microfiche. (Since 1978) It now, since 1978, includes; Documents, Reports, Senate Treaty Documents, and Senate Reports. Requires translation to a "Serial Set " volume number to find the actual document.Now available on the This resource is available only to users in the search centers of the Libraries through Congressional Masterfile 1.
    • Numerical Lists and Schedules of Volumes. HON REF US GP3.7 (Well kept secret) Key to finding Serial Set Volume numbers not assigned when the Serial Set Index was published.
    • Index to U.S. Government Periodicals. HON REF US Z 1223, resumed in 1994, in  paper and CD-ROM, published by CIS. [address for Index to Gov Pers] For 1987-1994, see ASI or Z9 U5 PAIS.
    • FBIS Index (Foreign Broadcast Information Service). Daily Reports.  HON MICROFORMS REF F 1401 D332 Index in paper from 1975- Also on  CD-ROM from 1975-1996, available through the WWW full-text to Claremont Colleges faculty, staff and students from 1996 through World News Connection  FBIS monitors broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals and government statements. Publishes translations. Reports are received in microfiche on deposit.

      • This database requires a password available from the Honnold/Mudd Reference Desk.
    • GAO Reports and Testimony: HON GOV US GA 1.16/3: Indexes reports of the General  Accounting Office, the "watchdog" agency of the legislative branch. Information about many subjects. Title was GAO Documents from 1979 - 1988. Became Reports and Testimony, 1988. Most reports come on deposit and are in microfiche. Also available from the GAO website.GAO Reports and Testimony.
    • Transdex Index . (1974 -1996)  HON  MICRO/FORMS REF. Indexes JPRS reports. (JointPublications Research Service) Documents are from newspapers,journals, speeches and broadcasts, and cover a wide range of topics, from all regions of the world. Available in microfiche in U.S. Depository Collection.
    • NARA Guide to National Archives and Research. HON GOV US REF AE 1.102:M Administration Microfilm Publications. Helpful for genealogical research. One must go to the National Archives for population schedules (names) from the Census.(Also assists in directing users to the National Archives Branch in Laguna Niguel.) Also try NARA website.
    • Energy Research Abstracts, (1977-to date) HON GOV US E 1.17 Now available throught the DOE Information Bridge. The DOE Information Bridge, a component of DOE’s EnergyFiles, provides free, convenient, and quick access to full-text DOE research and development reports in physics, chemistry, materials, biology, environmental sciences, energy technologies, engineering, computer and information science, renewable energy, and other topics.
    • Government Reports, Announcements and Index. HON GON US REF C 51.9/3 (For anything (governmental) you can't find anywhere else) TBA. Use NTIS online search service at Fedworld Information Network

      • American Statistics Index (ASI) - (1974 -current) HON MICROFORM REF Z 7554 I53.  Indexes statistics in U.S. government publications issued by the federal government. Included in Statistical Universe CD-ROM from 1991-1998. Available through Statistical Universe from 1998.
      (This resource is available only to users at the Claremont Colleges or connecting to a Claremont Colleges modem pool)
      Statistical Reference File (SRI)- (1991-to date) HON MICROFORMS REF Z 7554 U5 Indexes individual state, organizational and trade publications. Available through Statistical Universe CD-ROM from 1991-1998. To be available through Statistical Universe in 1999.
      (This resource is available only to users at the Claremont Colleges or connecting to a Claremont Colleges modem pool)
    INTERNATIONAL
    • Index to International Statistics -(ISI) (1983-to date ) REF INDEXES Z 1223 Z9 I5 Indexes

      • statistics in International Intergovernmental Publications. Also valuable for any International reference as it
      indexes by country and subject. Available through Statistical Universe CD-ROM from 1991-1998.
      (This resource is available only to users at the Claremont Colleges or connecting to a Claremont Colleges modem pool)
    • UNDOC - The United Nations Documents Index. (1946-to INT Z 6482 U451 date) HON REF Indexes documents, periodicals and general interest publications published by the United Nations. See the UN Documents Index on WWW from 1991. Available through Access UN.

      • (This resource is available only to users at the Claremont Colleges or connecting to a Claremont Colleges modem pool)
       
    • PAIS - (Public Affairs Information Service) HON REF PER 3. (1915-to date) Index to public policy issues, one of the only commercial indexes to cover government publications at all. Does include all levels

      • of government.  Indexes articles, books, conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories about public affairs. [Ovid:1972-present; updated monthly. This resource is
      available outside the Libraries only to students, faculty and staff of The Claremont Colleges.]
    CALIFORNIA
    • California State Publications List. (1945 - to date) CALDOCS L 575 .P94 Indexes publications received by thge California State Library.  Selective and incomplete. Check MELVYL.  The California State Library catalogs its collection and it is available through MELVYL, The University of California Online Catalog.

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    • California State Library Catalog. The California State Library catalogs most California State Publications in its online catalog. One can search the State Library Catalog for older publications that might not be cataloged yet in Blais, and check with the reference librarian to see if Honnold/Mudd has the publication. If not, the State Library will directly loan the publication through the Government Publications Librarian.

      • Some facts about the cataloged collections in the online catalog of The State Library:

      --United States documents issued prior to 1976 are not listed in the Catalog.
      --City, county, and special district documents received prior to 1981 are not listed in the Catalog.
      --Documents from other states received prior to 1981 are not listed in the Catalog.

    Last updated on August 27, 1998 by mary.martin@libraries.claremont.edu
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