CHS 230: Introduction to Government Information Sources

What are Government Documents?

• Government documents (sometimes called government publications or government information sources) are information sources that are published, in tangible form or online, by a government. The content is information collected by the government or is information about the workings of the government. Examples of government publishers include:
  • The United States government, including any of its agencies such as the Government Printing Office, a Congressional committee, the Census Bureau or the Department of Education.
  • A foreign country’s government
  • A state government
  • A city or county government
• Information published by a government:
  • Can be a primary source (examples: Census statistics, laws, Congressional hearings).
  • Usually is authoritative, objective, accurate information. (See Evaluating Print and Internet Resources).
  • Most government publications are interesting and/or useful. A few examples:
    • Toy Recalls
    • Census Bureau Minority Links for Media: Hispanics or Latinos
    • Text and status of two federal bills about immigration status and higher education (both introduced in 2007):
      H. R. 416 and H. R. 1275. Information about California bills is also available online.
    • Government Publications on Social Issues, an Oviatt Library subject guide about finding government publications on controversial and current social issues; includes links to many examples of government publications.

Demonstrations

• Oviatt Library's Government Publications web pages, including:
  • California and Los Angeles Government Web Links
  • Ways to Search for Government Publications. Lists where and how to search for government publications using either print or online indexes/search engines. It also includes a list of the online Subject guides about government information that have been prepared by California State University, Northridge librarians.
• Catalog of U. S. Government Publications (a major index and finding tool).
• Google's U. S. Government Search and USA.gov (examples of Internet searching for government information).

Practice exercises on finding government information

Exercise 1: Using a search engine specializing in government information

1. After someone requested it under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released information it collected about Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers. You need to find this information at a government web site.
2. Go to the CSUN Library's home page <http://library.csun.edu/>.
3. Select Government Publications.
4. Select Ways to Search for Government Publications.
5. Navigate to the section on Internet indexes and search engines especially for government information and choose Google's U. S. Government Search.
6. Type United Farm Workers FBI in the search box.
7. Click the box that says "Search Government Sites".
8. Find the FBI information about Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers in the search results.
9. Open your email in another Browser window and send an email to your professor's university account <karin.duran@csun.edu> that gives the answers to these questions:
   1. What is the url (web address) of the web site about the FBI and the United Farm Workers?
   2. Is the information part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's website (yes or no) and how did you decide this?
   3. Would this site be a good primary source if you were doing a paper on the United Farm Workers or about Cesar Chavez?

Exercise 2: Using a specialized subject-oriented government database

1. Go to the CSUN Library's home page <http://library.csun.edu/>.
2. Select Government Publications.
3. Select National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
4. Type "racial profiling" and Hispanic (include the quotation marks) in the keyword search box. Leave the other search choices as they were already set (that is, a check in each content type box; search type=Boolean; and maximum results per content type=50).
5. Click on the Go button.
6. Go to the PDF version of "Contacts Between Police and the Public, 2005". Does some of the information in this publication compare police interaction with Hispanics to police interaction with whites and blacks? Would it be a useful source if you were researching the topic of racial profiling?
7. Open your email in another Browser window. Type your answers to 6 above into an email message and send it to your professor's university account <karin.duran@csun.edu>.

Exercise 3: Using American Factfinder to locate Census statistics

1. Go to the CSUN Library's home page <http://library.csun.edu/>.
2. Select Government Publications.
3. Select American Factfinder.
4. Find the Fast Access to Information box (near the top of American Factfinder's home page).
5. Type in, as a zip code, 91324 and click the Go box.
6. Review the information given in the Fact Sheet for the zip code.
7. Send an email to your professor's university account <karin.duran@csun.edu> that gives:
   1. The percentage of people in zip code 91324 that speak a language other than English at home.
   2. The percentage of all people in the United States that speak a language other than English at home.
   3. The percentage of people in zip code 91324 that speak Spanish at home.

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Created and maintained by Mary M. Finley
Questions or comments: mary.finley@csun.edu
Links checked: 24 March 2008

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