Kenyon College has been a Federal Depository Library since 1873 and has a large collection of historical and current government documents. As a depository library, we provide free public access to government information in a variety of formats: in print, microfiche, and CD-ROM, as well as electronically. Kenyon also collaborates on a variety of government documents projects as part of the Five Colleges of Ohio consortium.

Check out Government Information and Current Events for links and documents that are in the news. Recent links include the President's State of the Union Address, voting information, and the U.S. Government's Budget for 2009.

• Government Information at a Glance
• Popular Links
• Finding Government Information in the Library
• Citing Government Information Sources
• Research Help

Government Information at a Glance

• State and Local: Ohio and other states; Gambier, Mount Vernon, and Knox County

• Executive Branch: The office of the President; departments and agencies; the regulatory process

• Judicial Branch: The Supreme Court; federal appellate and trial courts

• Legislative Branch: The House and Senate; bills, laws, and the U.S. Code

• Departments and Agencies: Executive departments/agencies (State Department, Homeland Security, the CIA, etc.)

• Census and Statistics: Recent and historical population census resources; statistics from the U.S. and around the world

• Maps, Posters, and Images: USGS maps and other geographical resources; historical posters and images

• Foreign and International: United Nations; international and foreign law, statistics, and government information

Popular Links

• GPO Access provides access to official information from all three branches of the federal government.

• Google U.S. Government Search limits Google searches to government (.gov) and military (.mil) websites.

• Congressional Universe contains the U.S. Serial Set and other congressional/legislative materials.

Finding Government Information in the Library

Most of the government publications received by the library are classified according to the Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) system and located on the first floor in compact shelving. To retrieve items from compact shelving, stop by the Information Desk on the second floor. Other government publications are located in the Reference collection or in the main stacks and shelved by Library of Congress (LC) call number.

• Search CONSORT for government documents, journals, CD-ROMs, electronic documents and more.

NOTE: Not all documents in Kenyon's collection are cataloged. If another CONSORT institution has the document you're looking for, take the SuDocs number from the record and look for the publication on Kenyon's shelves.

• Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (1976-present)
  Citations for all government documents published since 1976. Includes SuDocs numbers.

• Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (1899-1976)
  Paper index for all government documents, located in the Government Documents Reference area on the first floor. To research a topic over time, you may want to use the Cumulative Subject Index to the Monthly Catalog 1900-1971, a 15-volume set organized by subject (also located in Gov Docs Reference).

• U.S. Serial Set
  The U.S. Serial Set is an ongoing collection of U.S. government publications, including all the reports, documents, and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and constitutes a rich source of primary source material on all aspects of American history. Print volumes of the Serial Set are shelved across from the main Reference collection on the second floor. There is also a Serial Set Index (1789-1969) in Gov Docs Reference.

• Congressional Universe
  Indexes and abstracts congressional publications, such as hearings, reports, and committee prints, from 1970 to the present.

• Statistical Universe
  Provides access to a variety of sources of statistical information from federal, state and international sources. Where available, links to full-text electronic publications are provided.

Citing Government Information Sources

• Cheney, Deborah. The complete guide to citing government information resources: a manual for social science & business research. 3rd ed. Bethesda, MD: LexisNexis: Congressional Information Service, c2002. (InfoDesk Z7164.G7 G37 2002)

• Brief Guide to Citing Government Publications: Chicago/Turabian (University of Memphis).

• Citing Government Documents: bibliography of citation guides (Columbia University).

• DocsCite: MLA and APA (Arizona State University).

Need Help? Contact:

Melanie Maksin
Librarian & Technology Consultant

740-427-5735