Bomhold_CH9_Scan.docx

INTRODUCTION In the United States it is an elementary—but all important—principle that the operations of government are to be open to scrutiny and criticism. This makes it possible for citizens to participate in government and to contribute to the advancement of society. Indeed, the American politic...

INTRODUCTION In the United States it is an elementary—but all important—principle that the operations of government are to be open to scrutiny and criticism. This makes it possible for citizens to participate in government and to contribute to the advancement of society. Indeed, the American political system, and to a large extent the educational system, rests on the widespread acceptance of ready and fair access to information about government and information produced by the government. This principle has led local, state, national, and even international governing bodies to produce large quantities of information. Publications produced by governing bodies encompass a broad range of topics—not only on the government itself and how it is run, but also on many subjects of interest to citizens. This chapter is designed to serve as a guide for locating government information, both in traditional and electronic format. The emphasis is on U.S. Government publications, which are more numerous than those of the other entities; there are brief introductions to local, state, and international documents. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS Government information is useful for research in many disciplines, but especially in the social sciences and the natural sciences. Although it is possible to find govemment information covering topics in the humanities, that is not the norm. Aside from the intrinsic value of contributing to an informed citizenry, government publications have a number of distinctive characteristics that add to their value as information sources. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS The United States government is the single largest producer of information in the world. The information sources from the federal government are as varied as they are numerous. Govemment publications come in all sizes and shapes—from one-page leaflets to works of several thousand pages and many volumes. SCOPE Government publications vary in scope from highly technical scientific research reports to popular pamphlets on such topics as weight loss and caring for pets. Included in government publications are all the official documents such as laws, regulations, court decisions, presidential documents, treaties, congressional proceedings, military records, and census reports. The government issues a large number of reference books including indexes, abstracts, bibliographies, directories, atlases, handbooks, yearbooks, and almanacs. Approximately 1,200 government periodicals are published on a regular basis. FORMAT The format of government information is almost as varied as its scope. Until recently, government publications were published in traditional formats: paper, microfiche, film, video and cassette tapes, photographs, maps, charts, and posters. The federal government has been a leader in utilizing new technologies to produce, store, and retrieve information including statistical sources, maps, government regulations, and reference sources such as the Statistical Abstract of the U.S. Today the Government Printing Office (GPO, http://www.gpo.gov/), which is the chief publisher of U.S. government information, has transitioned from a paper publisher to a primarily electronic publisher. In 1996, Congress issued a mandate that the GPO formulate a plan to cease publishing and distributing government information in paper and microfiche format and move to electronic format, including digitization of historical documents originally printed in paper format. In 2009, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced the Open Government Directive (http://www.whitehouse. gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-06.pdf) and the creation of Data.gov, to which each federal agency is required to post at least three high-value data sets that have not previously been available on the Web. Government electronic publications available on the Web include the publications from all three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial. Many government publications on the Web are in PDF (Portable Document File) format and are exact copies of the original. To view or print PDF documents requires Adobe Reader, a software program available for free from http://get.adobe. com/reader/. DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES The Government Printing Office (GPO) was established in 1861 for the purpose of publishing the official publications of the federal government. Prior to that time private firms printed the official documents of the U.S. government. Consequently, we have historical documents published by authority of the federal government dating back to the Continental Congress. The GPO is still the official publisher and/or distributor of all the documents of the federal government that are considered by law to be in the public interest—the Congressional debates, laws, executive orders, annual reports, court decisions, regulations, reports, and special studies. In 1895, Congress enacted legislation that provided for the free distribution of documents to designated libraries and institutions. The libraries receiving documents free of charge from the GPO are called depository libraries. There are approximately 1,250 depository libraries in the United States. Of these, about 50 are regional depositožy libraries, which receive all the publications distributed by GPO. 277 Catalog of United States Government Publications. GPO, 1976—.2005—2006. 10 April 2006 http:// catalog.gpo.gov/F. "The Catalog of U.S. Publications (CGP) is the finding tool for electronic and print publications from the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government. These publications make up the National Bibliography of U.S. Government Publications. The CGP contains descriptive records for historical and current publications and provides direct links to those that ale available online" (GPO). Updated daily, it contains over 500,000 records dating from July 1976. LexisNexis Academic. LexisNexis, a Division of Reed Elsevier. http://www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/ products/lexisnexis-academic.page Although not devoted exclusively to government publications, LexisNexis Academic includes a vast amount of information, most of it in full text, by and about the U.S. government, including Congressional hearings, summaries of legislative actions, committee markups, television transcripts, presidential campaign materials, and tax and medical information. Available by subscription. Science.gov. Science.gov Alliance. http://www.science.gov/.Aportal to more than 55 databases and 2100 federal agency Web sites containing 200 million pages of authoritative science information including research and development. Retrospective Government Information (Pre-1976) Cumulative Subject Index to the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications, 1900—1971. comp. William W. Buchanan, and Edna M. Kanely. 15 vols. Washington: Carrolton, 1973-1975. A subject index to the titles listed in Monthly Catalog for the years 1900—1973. Cumulative Title Index to United States Public Documents, 1789—1976. Comp. Daniel W. Lester, Sandra K. Faull, and Lorraine E. Lester. 16 vols. Arlington: United States Historical Documents Institute, 1979-1983. An alphabetical listing of the titles of publications distributed by the Government Printing Office. Useful for locating a pre-1976 publication if the title is known. Congressional Information CQ Press Electronic Library. Washington: Congressional Quarterly, http:/flibrary.cqpress.com/. Available by subscription only. A suite of full-text databases covering public affairs. Includes the CQ Researcher, CQ Weekly, CQ Electronic Encyclopedia ofAmerican Government, the Washington Information Directory' (eWID), CQ Public Affairs Collection, and CQ Insider. Subscriptions to individual titles available. GPO Congressional Hearings contains congressional public hearings dating from 1985-86 (99th Congress) http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CHRG. Law Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/law/find/hearings.php contains congressional hearings on selected topics such as census, immigration, and freedom of information/privacy. Thomas. Library of Congress. Washington, http://thomas.loc.gov/. Primary point of entry for information on current U.S. federal legislative information. It is fully searchable and includes the full text of bills, laws, the Congressional Record (the verbatim record of sessions of the U.S. Congress), reports, and links to other govemment information. Judicial Information FindLaw. FindLaw, a Thompson Business. http://www.findlaw.com/. A comprehensive site for legal information, it offers databases suitable for the general public as well as for legal professionals. It includes both state and federal codes, cases, and forms. LexisNexis. LexisNexis, a Division of Reed Elsevier. http://www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/home.page. A subscription service it provides full-text documents to thousands of legal sources, including Shepard's Citations for all U.S. Supreme Court cases back to 1789. Available by subscription. Supreme Court Decisions. National Technical Information Service. http://www.fedworld.gov/ supcourt/index.htm. This database contains the full text of 7,407 U.S. Supreme Court Decisions from 1937 to 1975. State and Local Governments. Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/stategov/stategov.html. Library of Congress Web site listing of state and local government information under two categories: State and Local Government Information in General and Individual States and the District of Columbia. LOCAL GOVERNMENT INFORMATION In the United States there are many local units of government—towns, cities, counties, and special districts. Although information about local govemmental units appears in federal government as well as in commercial publications, most of the key information is produced by local governmental units. Publications from local governments include records of their official activities, such as charters, laws, regulations, financial reports, city plans, maps, statistics, budgets, and decisions. Local publications are an important primary source of information. These documents usually are not widely distributed, making them difficult to locate and access. One way to get information from local governments is to request it directly from the local agency. Another way is through the library. Libraries, especially college and university libraries, often serve as depositories for local documents. The way local documents are handled varies among libraries. Some libraries catalog local documents along with the other materials in the library, while others keep them in separate collections that may or may not be cataloged. Since there are no quick and easy guides to local government publications, one should ask the librarian for assistance when seeking local documents or information about a local governmental unit. LOCAL GOVERNMENT INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET Governing Com: the Resourcefor States and Localities. Congressional Quarterly. http://www.governing. com/. Articles relating to local govemment. Includes city and county home pages. Local Government. GovEngine.com: http://www.govengine.comflocalgov/index.html A subset of the search engine GovEngine.com. Contains links to counties and municipalities in all of the states. ZIP Code Lookup. United States Postal Service. 1999—2005. https://tools.usps.com/goZipLookupAction! input.action. Provides ZIP code information for all localities. Search by address, city, or business name. (See also sites listed under State Government Information on the Intemet.) INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS International government organizations (IGOs) refers to those institutions that are created as a result of formal agreements between two or more sovereign states. The agreements are designed to address and regulate (within the bounds of international law) matters of common concern to all the parties— peacekeeping, human rights, or economic development. Included in the agreements are arrangements for maintaining facilities and providing for the ongoing activities of the members. IGOs vary greatly in their goals, structures, and geographic scope. Some focus on single issues while others deal with broader concems. There are hundreds of IGOs, the most notable being the United Nations and its allied organizations such as World Health Organization, International Labour Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, and World Bank. Other well-known international organizations include the European Union (EU), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). 285 International Documents. Stanford University, Jonsson Library of Government Documents. http://wwwsul.stanford.edu/depts/jonsson/index.html. Guide to both print and online sources relating to intemational governments. National Governments. Yahoo! http://dir.yahoo.com/Govemment/Countries/. Directory of Web sites for information on countries of the world, listed alphabetically by country. Union of International Associations. UNA. http://www.diversitas.org/db/x.php. Access point for the Yearbook of International Organizations Online, a comprehensive guide to international organizations. The site also includes access to a number of free databases: World Problems—lssues, Global Strategies—Solutions, Human Development, Bibliography (issues), Human Values, Integrative Concepts, Patterns and Metaphors. United Nations [home page]. http:www.un.org/. Excellent starting point for current information by and about the United Nations. Contains links to many full-text documents, databases, e-joumals, maps, and geographic information. WWW Virtual Libražy.• International Affairs Resources. Elizabethtown College. http://www2.etown.edu/vl/. A well-organized site for international government information at all levels.