LSU Libraries - Government Documents Tutorial

CONTENTS:

Introduction
What are Government Documents?
US Government Documents
State Documents
UN Documents

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U.S. Government Documents

What are they?
Materials issued by the various agencies of the United States federal government.

Where are they?
Middleton Library is a Regional Depository, which means that it receives copies of all government documents issued through the Government Printing Office's Federal Depository Library Program. The LSU Government Documents Department is located in the basement, room 53.

How are they arranged?
Government documents have their own system of call numbers called SuDoc numbers. Unlike Dewey Decimal numbers or Library of Congress numbers, SuDoc numbers are not arranged by subject, but by the agency that issues the documents.

What are they good for?
The US Government publishes information on a wide variety of topics, everything from pet care to technical research. In general, government documents will be of most use to those doing research in the social sciences and sciences. You might want to look for government documents if you need any of the following:

Statistics: The government publishes a huge amount of statistics on every conceivable subject. For more on statistics, take a look at the statistics section of our Reference Tools Tutorial.
Social Issues: Examples include world hunger, population, abortion, or unemployment.
Legal Research: If you need to track legislation or look up laws or court cases, then you'll be using government documents.
History: There is much government information of interest to students of both local, American and international history.
Scientific Research: Government agencies spend billions of dollars each year on scientific research, and most of the reports on this research are available for free.

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Last Updated: Wednesday, 29-Aug-2007 16:52:27 CDT