Ellen Calhoun Coordinator for New Brunswick   Government Publications Processing calhoun@rci.rutgers.edu March 10, 2006

Research Resources: Subject Research Guides: Government Information Resources:
Government Publications in the Library of Science and Medicine

• General Introduction
• The Documents Collection at LSM
• Access to the Literature
• Government Documents Card Catalog
• Classification Numbers

General Introduction

A GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION or DOCUMENT is any item issued by or under the auspices of a government agency, whether U.S. Federal or state governments, foreign national governments, or international organizations.

A DEPOSITORY LIBRARY receives publications from a government agency in exchange for certain services, such as providing the public with access to government information. Alexander Library has been a Federal Depository Library since 1907 and is also a depository for State of New Jersey documents. The Library of Science and Medicine (LSM) shares in these Federal and N.J. State depository arrangements, and has been a depository for U.S. patents and trademarks since 1989. In general, documents which relate to the social sciences and humanities are kept in Alexander Library. Documents which are SCIENTIFIC or TECHNICAL in nature are kept at the Library of Science and Medicine.

Not every item published by the federal government is sent to depository libraries. The Library of Science and Medicine obtains many government publications in other ways-- through subscriptions and other purchases, gifts and mailing lists. Many materials are obtained in microform as well as in paper copy. Also, many federal documents are now available electronically. Visit the Government Printing Office Web page at http://catalog.gpo.gov/F.

The Documents Collection at LSM

Government Documents at the Library of Science and Medicine are located on the 2nd floor. Except for journals, maps, statistical publications, and other heavily used sources, documents do circulate to qualified borrowers. They may be charged out at the Circulation Desk just as books are.

The LSM Documents Collection has OPEN STACKS which users are welcome to search on their own. Some documents may be shelved in DOCREF, on reserve, or may already be charged out. Others may only be available in microform or in electronic format.

HELP in finding a document is available at the main Reference Desk on the first floor.

Access to the Literature

For access to government documents at the Library of Science and Medicine, search IRIS, the online catalog first. If your IRIS search is unsuccessful, consult the LSM government documents card catalog. The catalog is arranged in sections including federal, state, foreign and international documents. See the section below on the "Government Documents Card Catalog" for further information on how to use this catalog.

For access to government documents by subject, use some of the major indexes/abstracts described below:

The most well known general source for locating federal government publications is the MONTHLY CATALOG. It is located in the reference stacks at LSM REF Z1223.A18. For current listings, visit the Rutgers University Libraries' home page, click on Find Articles, Indexes and Databases, and use U.S. Government Publications (Monthly Catalog) (1976+). Or use the Catalog of Government Publications (1976+) on GPO's web page. The Monthly Catalog is the best source for locating publications of executive departments. A black dot next to an entry in the print edition indicates that the publication was sent to depository libraries. Non-depository items (without a black dot) may have been received directly from the issuing agency, but are also available in microprint or microfiche at the Alexander Library or the Library of Science and Medicine, depending on the topic.

GOVERNMENT REPORTS ANNOUNCEMENTS is the best source for identifying technical reports, or reports resulting from research done under contract to federal government agencies. It is located in the reference stacks at LSM REF T1.U4. LSM does not receive all reports listed in this index, but most are available for sale from the National Technical Information Service. For current listings (1990+), visit the NTIS web page. For access to the full database (1964+), visit the Rutgers University Libraries' home page, click on Find Articles , Indexes and Databases , and use National Technical Information Service.

Documents from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are listed in SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL AEROSPACE REPORTS (STAR). It is located in the reference stacks at LSM REF TL501.U635. For current listings, visit the NASA Scientific and Technical Information web page. Documents in the print edtion of STAR are listed by "N" accession number. Those numbers with both an * and a # sign have been sent to GPO depository libraries in microfiche. LSM filed these reports by "N" numbers in its technical reports microfiche until 1992. Another copy of these technical reports, and all current reports, are filed by SuDoc classification number in the government documents microfiche collection.

Department of Energy technical reports are listed in Energy Research Abstracts. It is located in the reference stacks at LSM REF TJ164.E62. Energy Research Abstracts will note which reports have been sent to depository libraries. LSM has been a depository library for DOE reports since 1981, and files these reports by "DE" accession numbers in its technical reports microfiche collection. The collection ceased in 1994. Reports published since then are available through the DOE Information Bridge.

To locate journal articles on a specific subject, you may first wish to consult the INDEX TO U.S. GOVERNMENT PERIODICALS. It is located in the reference stacks at LSM REF Z1223.Z9I5. Many government serial titles are only indexed in this publication.

Government Documents Card Catalog

The Documents card catalog is an important resource for locating older documents, but no new cards have been added for recently acquired (2003+) titles. Use the documents card catalog if your search for a particular title in IRIS is unsuccessful. LSM maintains a SEPARATE CARD CATALOG for the documents collection. There is no subject or title access provided in the government publications card catalog. Such access is provided in various indexes, some of which have been mentioned above.

The DOCUMENTS CARD CATALOG is divided into sections, according to the type of government issuing the document:

• Federal - United States government agencies
• State - states of the United States
• International - agencies with several member countires, such as the World Health Organization
• Foreign - countries other than the United States.

There are two additional sections of the documents catalog:

• Technical Report File - list by report numbers
• Journal List - index to articles written by New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station authors.

To use the documents card catalog:

• You must know the name of the government agency which released the document you seek because the name is the basis of the filing arrangement. There are no personal author, subject, or title cards in the documents catalog.

• The name used for filing will be the most specific agency responsible for the document's publication. For example, a document issued by the National Ocean Service, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is part of the Commerce Department, will have a card in the catalog with the issuing agency's name - National Ocean Service - at the top of the card.

• Government agencies do change or sometimes cease to exist. You must know the agency's name at the time the document was published, which may not be the same as the current agency name, because that will be the name under which it is filed.

• Words such as "Office of," "Bureau of," "Department of" are transposed in filing the agency's name. For example, cards for the "Department of Transportation" will be filed under "Transportation Department."

• Most documents received are represented by a card. However, if a document is part of a series, there may not be a title card for that document in the catalog. The document will be checked in by its series number. For example, "Promoting agricultural trade among developing countries," from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, will be checked in, in the International section of the catalog, under the title "FAO Economic and Social Development Paper" because it is #41 of that series.

• Journals or periodicals issued by the government are also listed in the catalog, although the complete record of holdings for a document journal is maintained elsewhere.

• Many of the cards in the catalog will have plastic sleeves with the words "IN STORAGE" printed at the top. These documents are available at the Library Annex. Check the upper right-hand corner of the card for notes on which volumes have been sent to the Annex.

• Many documents are received on microfiche. The card will either say "microfiche" above the call number in the left-hand corner, or the document series number will be entered on the card in red ink.

• Some documents are received in electronic format. The card will either say "DOCUS-COM" above the call number in the left-hand corner, or the document series number will be entered on the card in blue ink.

In the documents card catalog, cards are filed in alphabetic/word order.  Acronyms are filed at the beginning of an alphabetic word sequence. For example, under U.S. National Cancer Institute:

• History of cancer control in the U.S.
• ICRBD cancer series
• If you really want to quit
• NCI fact book
• NTP technical report
• The National cancer program

Exceptions and special circumstances:

• Federal Documents Section: Soil surveys received from the U.S. Soil Conservation Service are filed at the end of all other titles from that agency in a separate alphabetic sequence, by state and counties within states.

• State Documents Section:
  • Cards for Agricultural State Documents are filed at the beginning of each state.
  • Cards for municipal and county documents are interfiled by name in the state documents section, i.e.: Michigan; Middlesex County, NJ; Millburn, NJ; Minnesota.
  • New Jersey state documents received on deposit after September 1984 are cataloged to a separate DOCNJ collection. These documents also appear in IRIS, the online catalog.
  • Journal Series List: The library receives reprints of articles written by N.J. Agricultural Experiment Station personnel and published in various journals. These reprints are assigned numbers in the NJAES Journal Series. A card was typed for each reprint number received prior to 1978, and filed by author of the article. The title of the article and journal citation information was also included on each card. Reprints received since 1978 are checked in by reprint number only on a card headed by the author's name.
  • Technical Report File: Cards in this section of the catalog are arranged by technical report number. Cards with technical report number prefixes, instead of complete technical report numbers, refer you to the proper agency card in the documents card catalog, where the report will be checked in by number on a series title card. Cards with complete technical report numbers will indicate the shelf location of the document in the left-hand margin of the card.

Classification Numbers

The CLASSIFICATION NUMBER used for government documents is not the same as other library call numbers. The federal government uses a scheme called the Superintendent of Documents system, or SuDocs for short. It is an alpha-numeric sequence, preceded by the shelving location at LSM. Some shelving locations typically used are US, DOCUS, DOCUSM, DOCUSCOM, or DOCUSMAP.

• US A 1.2:
• US HE 20.3117:
• US NAS 1.21:

The letters and numbers preceding the decimal point indicate the issuing agency. The numbers following the decimal point, which file as whole numbers, indicate the series or type of publication.

The classification system for state, foreign, and international documents is a modification of the federal scheme. Some state, foreign, and international documents have been reclassified to the call number scheme used throughout the rest of the library (the Library of Congress classification scheme).