Introduction to United States Government Information Sources

This work sets forth an introductory account of the general and specialised sources of information that compose the bibliographic structure of federal government information sources.

Expanded and restructured, it also documents the changes that have occurred in those sources and their structure since the last edition (1983). Beginning with a brief overview of public documents, the book includes chapters on "Government Publishing and the Government Printing Office"; "Superintendent of Documents"; Depository Library System"; "General Catalogues, Guides and Bibliographies, and Selected Reference Sources"; "The Presidency"; "Administrative Laws, Regulations and Decisions"; "Executive Departments and Independent Agencies"; "Publications of the Judiciary, and Advisory Committees and Commissions"; "Research and Technical Report Literature"; "Geographic Sources"; "Government Periodicals and Serials"; and "Statistical Sources". Each chapter is clarified with illustrative tables, lists, reports, abstracts and samples.

Special attention is given to the proliferation of nonprint sources of information such as CD-ROM.

Whether utilised as a text for library and information science students, as a resource for professional librarians needing to access the information produced by or for the federal establishment, or as a guide for researchers, this new edition should be a useful resource and a valuable book.

Joe Morehead received the first CIS/GODORT/ALA "Documents to the People Award" in 1977 and "The James Bennett Childs Award" in 1989.