Government Publications
About the CollectionWhere: Ekstrom Library, 3rd floor The University of Louisville has been a depository library since 1925 and serves Kentucky's 3rd Congressional district. We are a selective depository receiving approximately 67% of the items distributed to libraries via the Government Printing Office. Government documents come in a variety of formats, including print, microform, CD-ROM, DVD, and online. Most documents in the collection are available for circulation. |
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Locating Government Publications
Most documents published since 1976 are included in Minerva, the library's online catalog. The majority of government documents collection is on the 3rd floor in the government publications area. Items in this collection are classed using the Superintendent of Documents, or SuDoc classification. However, not every item in the government publications collection is listed in the online catalog. In fact, most older documents are not. There are three main print indexes in the reference department to help you locate the uncataloged documents:
- Monthly catalog of United States government publications (Reference Documents Stacks x Z 1223 .A18).
The Monthly Catalog began in 1895. It contains listings of items sold by the Government Printing Office or distributed to depository libraries. There is an online version available from the databases list [GPO Monthly Catalog] that has records back to 1976. The Monthly Catalog will give you the SuDoc # of an item, if it was distributed to depository libraries. Use this number to check the government publication stacks on the third floor for the document. - Cumulative subject index to the Monthly catalog of United States Government Publications, 1900-1971. (Reference Documents Stacks Z 1223 .A182).
The citations in the Cumulative index refer to the year and the page number of the Monthly catalog entry. - Index to U.S. Government periodicals. (Reference Documents Stacks Z 1223 .Z7 I53).
Index to government issued periodicals.