COLLECTIONS:

Special Collections

University Archives

Collection Preservation

Research Collections:
Government Document Collection

Collection Overview
The Government Documents unit of the O'Neill Library, located in the 4th Congressional District, was designated a federal depository Library in 1963. Other depository libraries in the 4th district include the Public Library of Brookline, Wellesley College, and the Boston College School of Law. The collection supports the curriculum and research needs of Boston College and constituents. In accordance with the requirements defined in the Instructions to Depository Libraries, Guidelines for the Depository Library System, and the Federal Depository Library Manual, this unit also strives to serve the government information needs of the constituents of the 4th Congressional District. Since this depository is in close proximity and easy public access to the Boston Public Library, a regional depository, most of the general public patrons are local business persons. O'Neill Library supports a Small Business Development Center at Boston College and acquires extensively in the areas of small business, commerce, education, labor, health, vital statistics and international commerce.

Primary responsibility for selection of government documents and support materials belongs to the Government Information Manager, who works closely with the Government Documents Librarian. Bibliographers in all subject areas review and reevaluate current item selections annually and make recommendations for additions and de-selections.

The Government Information Manager and the Government Documents Librarian also work with staff to identify and review commercially published sources to support the collection.

This depository currently selects 58%of the depository item selections. The selections are primary in English with selected titles in Spanish and Braille.

The Government Documents Collection supports a broad range of programs, but is primarily used by the Carroll School of Management, the School of Nursing, the Graduate School of Social Work and the Political Science , History, Education and Sociology Departments.

Selected Resources

In the O'Neill Library:

• Reference works: Ames, John G. Comprehensive Index to the Publications of the U.S. Government, 1881-1893; Andriot, John. Guide to U.S. Government Publications; Checklist of United States Public Documents, 1789-1909; Declassified Documents Index; Poore, Benjamin P. A Descriptive Catalog of the Government Publications of the United States, September 5, 1774-March 4, 1881; U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News.

• Key indexes: CCH Congressional Index; CIS Index to U.S. Executive Branch Documents; CIS American Foreign Policy Index; CIS Index to Publications of the United States Congress; CIS U.S. Serial Set Index; CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings Index; CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Prints Index; Index Medicus; Monthly Catalog of Government Publications; NTIS Government Reports Announcements and Index; CQ Weekly.

On the Web (Restricted to the BC Community):

• Subject index to the literature: GPO Monthly Catalog, ERIC, Medline, PAIS International, AccessUN, World News Connection, Congressional Universe, STAT-USA, Academic Universe, World News Connection.

• Statistical databases:  Statistical Universe, TableBase, STAT-USA.

Research Guides
More information about available resources can be found in the following resource guides: Government Documents at O'Neill Library and Legislative Histories at the Boston College Libraries.

Interdisciplinary Elements of Subject Area
Primary areas include: education; health; health care; vital statistics; demography and population; Congress; industry and commerce; labor and international trade. The breadth of government document coverage supports most disciplines.

Formats and Types of Materials
Paper copy is preferred for most frequently used documents. Duplicate copies are purchased for heavily used reference material such as Statistical Abstract of the U.S.

Statistical data is preferred in electronic format to make downloading a viable option.

An increasing amount of government information is now available on the internet. Monthly Marcive records of government documents loaded into BCAT currently include URL's for online formats.  The Government Documents area has internet workstations for support of electronic formats in addition to reader/printers available for microfiche printing.

Languages
Most materials collected are in the English language.

Geographic Areas (Subject Approach)
Collection covers both U.S. and International areas.

Time Periods (Subject Approach)
The depository collection is a current documents collection.

Date of Publication
Current publications are acquired. A limited number of earlier titles, both book and serials, are purchased as needed for replacement purposes.

Subject Areas Collected by Superintendent of Documents
BCAT, the online catalog, can be searched by Superintendent of Documents classification number to get a better idea of what specific titles the government document collection contains.  For example, the command cs=C1 will produce the beginning of a list of works from the Commerce Department. This list can be browsed by pressing the F8 key or typing f and pressing the Enter/Return key.