Government Documents Collection
The Government Documents Collection in the Jerome Library includes documents from the governments of the United States, Ohio, Bowling Green and Wood County. The boxes below include a sample of the government documents that might be useful for your projects. All of our government documents are cataloged, so you can use the BGSU Libraries catalog to find additional resources that would be useful.
To limit to print documents in the Catalog advanced search:
- Collection: Limit to the 1st and 8th floor
- Location: Government Documents
- Add your search terms and search
Get Assistance with Government Documents
Digitized Government Documents
- ProQuest CongressionalProQuest Congressional is a comprehensive database that searches across current and historical documents of the United States Congress, many of which are included in full text. It includes the U.S. Serial Set (the published working papers of Congress), Congressional Hearings, the Congressional Record (through 1997) and hundreds of thousands of House and Senate reports, State of the Union messages, Congressional journals, hearings, high-resolution maps, and more.
Citing Government Documents in Chicago
The Chicago Manual of Style provides some guidance on cititing government documents. The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citations is the preferred reference if the needed information on a particulary type of document is not specified.
- Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide for Government DocumentsPrepared by Bowdoin Library, BL, 4 April 2018
The Bluebook by Call Number: REF KF245 .B58 (Research and Information Desk)ISBN: 9780692400197Publication Date: 2015-06-25
Where Is the Print Collection?
Most government documents that are available in a tangible format, such as a book, pamphlet, CD, DVD, microfiche, microfilm, map, or poster, are found in the SE corner of the 1st floor in Jerome Library, behind the Learning Commons
Call Numbers for U.S. Government Documents
United States government publications are arranged on the shelf by an alphanumeric system called the Superintendent of Documents Classification Scheme (SuDocs). Letters stand for the publishing agency, for instance
- A for Agriculture
- C for Commerce
- D is for Defense
- L for Labor
- Pr for President
- and so forth
The numbers on the top line of the call number file differently than the Dewey or LC collections. The number following the period is a whole number NOT A DECIMAL. For instance, C3.9: is located before C3.44: and C3.44: is located before C3.223:
The number for a documents called Poverty in the U.S. was assigned the SuDocs classification number C 3.186/22:999. In this classification number:
- The C standards for the issuing agency (Commerce Department)
- The 3 stands for the subagency (Census Bureau)
- The 186 is the series title (Current Population Reports)
- The /22: is the document title (Poverty in the U.S.)
- The 999 is the year of the publication (1999)
Government Documents by Topic
Civil War: The U.S. Civil War long predates our government documents collection and as such there are limited offerings from the time period. There are many contemporary documents memorializing the Civil War. The defense documents on this topic are located in D114.2 C49/2
- Report of the Secretary of the Navy in relation to armored vesselsGOV DOCS N 1.2:AR 5/1
- Civil War Marine : a diary of the Red River expedition, 1864 / edited and annotated by James P. Jones and Edward F. KeuchelPrinted in 1975 GOV DOCS D 214.13:C 49
Tulsa Race Massacre: This event predates our collections and may not have received adaquate coverage at the time. There will be some statistical materials on Tulsa available as well as some later documents that may discuss the event. There are many digitized primary resources available from Oklahoma libraries and museums: https://info.library.okstate.edu/oklahoma/racemassacre
- School desegregation in Tulsa, Oklahoma : a report / prepared by the Oklahoma Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil RightsThe Massacre is discussed in this gov doc on school desegregation
GOV DOCS CR 1.2:D 45/22
Second wave feminism/Women's liberation/Title IX: There should be many documents of interest from the government from this timeframe. A date limited search with relevant keywords (women, sex discrimination, equality, feminism, title ix) may identify several documents of interest.
- The Women's Bureau (Dept of Labor) produced many interesting pamphlets on working women. You can browse these in GOV DOCS L 36.110:
- Call numbers begining with CR are from the Commission on Civil Rights and maybe of the documents will be applicable : GOV DOCS CR 1.8:M 51
- Women in the wonderful world of OhioGOV DOCS OYW72.1:1967
- Enforcing Title IX : a report of the U.S. Commission on Civil RightsGOV DOCS CR 1.2:En 2/7
American Revolution: Government Documents will include some reprints of primary sources from the American Revolution as well as retrospective publications memorializing the war.
- Naval documents of the American RevolutionGOV DOCS D 207.12:
Japanese Internment: The government documents collection includes some primary sources on this topic. The term used at the time would be war relocation.
Native American Civil Rights Movement: There will be some documents from the Commission on Civil Rights in our government documents collection. Recommend a date restricted search with search terms covering both Native American and American Indian.
http://maurice.bgsu.edu/search~S6/X?SEARCH=(native%20american%20OR%20indian)&searchscope=6&Da=1960&Db=1980&SORT=D&b=vd