Module
3:
Searching Print Directories
Why search
the library catalog?
As a Regional Federal
Depository Library, the University of Maryland system will
have thousands of government documents that are not available
as full text online. Many of these items can be borrowed just
like any other item, while some, such as materials on microform,
are restricted to library use. Even if you are not near any
of the University of Maryland libraries, there are Federal
Depository Libraries all across the country. All Federal Depository
Libraries by law have to admit persons interested in looking
at their government documents collections, even if it is a
private institution. You can locate
a federal depository library near you.
In addition, materials located at a USMAI library can be sent
to other USMAI libraries for pickup, or, can be mailed to you
through the Get
It Delivered service if you live outside
Maryland, but in the continental United States. Materials that
are available online will often have a link directly from the
library catalog. Even though much current government information
is now available online, for historical materials, you must
still rely on print resources.
Tips and techniques
for a successful search:
If you know the title
or subject of the material, you can search for government information
in the library catalog much the way you do for other materials.
For example, a "title words beginning with" search
in the catalog on Statistical Abstracts will take you
right to the record for that document. While the catalog does
not allow you to limit a search just to government information
sources, one of the indications that something you found in the
catalog is a government document is that it will have a different
type of call number, called a SuDocs number. SuDocs will
be discussed in the next section. You may also notice the author
listed is usually not a person but an agency. In most cases in
government information sources the author is the department,
agency, division or branch that produced the document. This makes
a search by author a convenient way to bring up all materials
in the catalog produced by a specific agency. To find materials
authored by the Internal Revenue Service, for example,
go to the library catalog and
search the Internal Revenue Service as the author.
Your search results
will look like this:
Notice that the author
is listed as the Internal Revenue Service and since this
document is available full text online, a link is provided. A
list of USMAI Libraries that own the print version of the document
is also provided. For additional help in searching the library
catalog, take the catalog
tutorial.
How to find
the material on the shelf?
In many libraries,
government documents are located in a separate section, although
some items may be shelved with the other library materials. The
classification system used for shelving the materials is called SuDocs (Superintendent
of Documents Classification System). Unlike the Library
of Congress Classification System (used at USMAI) or the Dewey
Decimal Classification System (used by many public libraries)
materials are not grouped by subject. Materials are arranged
by the agency or department that published the material. You
may want to ask a librarian for assistance.
More
information about government documents at the University of Maryland
libraries can be found in the Government
Documents and Maps division at McKeldin Library.
Module
3 
