Federal Government Documents

 

Menu

• Government Documents

• Items selected by the Law Library

• Locating items in the Law Library

• Superintendent of Documents Number

• Microfiche

• Finding documents not in the Law Library

---

Government Documents

Government documents are those records, reports, and publications written by various government agencies and published by the Government Printing Office (GPO). Not all documents published by government agencies are printed by the GPO. Many agencies have some or all of their documents printed by other sources. The fact that an item is a government document does not mean that it will be available in the Law Library as we select only limited titles printed by the GPO.
Back to Top

Items selected by the Law Library

Most items selected are directly related to the law, legislation, or legal subjects. Some of the items selected are: United States Code, slip laws; United States Reports (U.S. Supreme Court decisions); Congressional bills, reports and hearings; Congressional Record; Presidential documents; Code of Federal Regulations (rules and regulations of most federal agencies); Federal Register; some federal administrative agency decisions; and treaties and international materials.

Some of the materials are received on microfiche, some are in paper, and many government documents are available on the Internet through various sources. A few good sources of electronic government information are GPO Access (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html ) and FedWorld http://www.fedworld.gov ). Various federal legislative materials, such as Congressional Record, legislative histories, and current bills are also available on Lexis and Westlaw for those with password access.
Back to Top

Locating items in the Law Library

The majority of the hardcopy government documents are located on the east wing of the second floor and are arranged by SuDocs number.  This collection is currently being added to our online catalog and is accessible through a Legalferret search.
Back to Top

Superintendent of Documents Number

A Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) number is the classification number assigned by the GPO to a certain document or series of documents. Generally, the first letter or letters indicate the agency that produced the document and the rest of the numbers or letters indicate a specific publication or series. For example, SuDocs numbers starting with L indicate publications from the Department of Labor; I is Department of the Interior; J is Department of Justice.
Back to Top

Microfiche

Much of our government document collection is on microfiche and will be located in cabinets on the main floor following stack M-S-22. Each drawer has a label indicating its contents. The library has some Congressional hearings produced by a commercial company called Congressional Information Service (CIS). These are arranged by CIS number and can be accessed by using the CIS Indexes located at the east end of stack M-C-9. The CIS indexes can also be used to locate SuDocs numbers for most Congressional publications.
Back to Top

Finding documents not in the Law Library

The University of Wyoming main library has an extensive collection of government documents, both in paper and microfiche. The documents staff at Coe can help you locate items, or you may try using the US Serial Set from their online databases.  From the UW Libraries’ web site, http://www-lib.uwyo.edu, select Articles and Databases - LexisNexis Academic - Related Products, Congressional (right column).  You may search by subject or, to perform a search for a specific publication for which you have a number, select the Search by Number tab.

Items not available at the Law Library or Coe can usually be borrowed from another library via interlibrary loan. If you have questions, please ask for help at the Reference Office or the Circulation Desk.
Back to Top

01/08