Module 1
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Introduction
Government Information
Academic Information
Private Sector Sources
What is a book?
What is a periodical?
Government Documents
Non-Print Material
Quiz

Government Documents

In the section on the production of information by the government
we stated that government agencies are the largest producers of information in the United States. We also mentioned that libraries throughout the country are set up as depository libraries to receive copies of the documents produced by government agencies. When you are doing your research you should consider looking for government documents that might support your topic. Government documents can be broken down into three broad categories: 1) federal documents, 2) state documents, and 3) local documents.

Federal Documents

Federal documents are those produced by federal agencies such as the Department of Education, the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, the Department of Agriculture, etc. These agencies send their documents to the Government Printing Office (GPO), which then makes them available to the public. In Mobile, you can access federal documents at a number of depository libraries.

There are two basic types of federal depository libraries: full-depository libraries which contain all the federal documents available through the depository system, and selective-depository libraries which tailor their collections based on the characteristics of a particular congressional district. Selective-depository libraries in Mobile are Spring Hill College and the University of South Alabama.

You can search for federal documents using the SHC Online Library Catalog and a number of electronic resources available in the Library Reference Department.

State Documents

State documents are those produced by state agencies in each state. Many Alabama state agencies maintain their own WWW sites. You can access the main WWW site for State of Alabama documents at http://www.state.al.us/2k1/

Local Documents

Local documents are those produced by various local branches of government, i.e., county or city governments. Local documents are usually available in the main branch of a city or county public library system. Local documents can also be found in county or city law libraries.