Political Science 250: Introduction to Public Policy

September 3, 1999 - Using Resources in the Government Documents Library

 

Overview of the Government Documents Library

 

·         Reference hours: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Monday through Friday

·         Reference desk phone number: 244-6445

·         website: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/doc/

 

Selected print sources for legislative research

 

United States Code DOC Y1.2/5:994/

 

United States Statutes at Large DOC AE2.111:

 

Shepard's Acts and Cases by Popular Names, Federal and State DOC 345.Sh4s

 

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents DOC AE2.109: (for 1965-85: GS4.114: )

 

CQ Weekly 328.7305 COQA

 

Congressional Quarterly Almanac 328.7305 COQ 19xx

 

CCH Congressional Index 328.73BC73c

 

Congressional Record DOC X/a:

 

Federal Register DOC AE 2.106

 

Code of Federal Regulations DOC AE2.106/3:

 

Monthly Catalog of Government Publications DOC GP 3.8+8

 

CIS Index 015.73 C76

 

To see how these publications, and others, are used for tracking legislation, see Brief Recapitulation of the Legislative Paper Trail in the UIUC Libraries (part of a class guide prepared for Political Science 315) at:

http://www.library.uiuc.edu/doc/classes/ps315/dist-bib.htm#recap

 

Using online sources for legislative research

 

LexisNexis Congressional (by subscription - for UIUC only)

(from Government Documents homepage, link first to U.S. Legislation, Laws & Regulations)

·         Review Overview for scope and contents of this site.

·         Be sure to look at How do I...? for answers to most of your questions for Assignment 1.

·         Read How a Bill Becomes Law (link from Overview section) in order to understand the phases in this process. Terms cited are linked to a Glossary, which is also linked to the Help section.

 

 

 

Online sources not restricted to UIUC

 

GPO Access - from the U.S. Government Printing Office

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/index.html

 

Thomas - Legislative Information on the Internet from the Library of Congress

http://thomas.loc.gov/

 

Project Vote Smart

http://www.vote-smart.org/

 

Legislative Histories- from University of Michigan

http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/legishis.html

 

Congressional Mega Sites - from the Library of Congress

http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/legislative/mega.html

 

Congressional Hearings on the Web - from University of Michigan

http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/hearings.html

 

 

Public Policy Matrix - from University of Michigan

http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/polproc.html

 

 

Choosing a research topic

 

·         In LexisNexis Congressional, choose CIS Index, then search by subject or keyword. Look for "Legislative History" among the list of results from a particular subject search. Review the Legislative History to see if a bill was enacted into a law. Consult the Subject Index / Subject List for help in choosing appropriate subject terms.

 

·         Review CQ Weekly for current topics. Also browse Congressional Quarterly Almanac - see topics listed in the Table of Contents, or the Appendix listing all Public Laws enacted during a particular Congressional session.

 

·         Review the Index to the print version of the CIS Index; cross-reference chosen topics against the Abstracts and Legislative Histories.

 

·         Browse links from any of the websites listed above, or try the lists of subjects from:

Public Policy Issues and Groups - from Vanderbilt University

http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/central/pubpol.html

 

Meta-Subject Index To Government Information - from Idaho State University

http://www.isu.edu/~woodstep/Subjects_1.html