Government Information Connection at Sycamore Library

In addition to being the location where the political science, business, economics, and health and public services collections are, the Sycamore Library holds collections from our federal and state repositories. The staff there are experts in finding government information, both within our collection and online. They provide reference and research services to students and also create library guide pages with online resources to help student navigate government agencies, policies, and resources. The combination of these physical and online resources is the Government Information Connection. On this page you will find resources related to using government documents.

How to read a SuDoc Number

SuDoc (Superintendent of Documents) classification numbers are used to organize U.S. federal documents and can be difficult to understand. Like Library of Congress call numbers, SuDoc are organized by letter then numbers. There can be a lot of variation of symbols in SuDoc numbers, but typically the follow this pattern.

The first letter represents the Authoring Agency
The 1st number represents a subagency
. (a period separates the next author information from the series title )
The next number is a code for the series title or document type ( i.e 14 is an address )
/ (a slash separates the next information)
The next number represents the document title
: (a colon separates the next information)
Year of publication. (Note: years before 2000 drop the 1. So 1991 would read 991)

Example: Y 3 .14/66: 991

However, letters can come after the colon and slashes can come before the colon too. There are other symbols used too. The key thing to remember is that the information is organized by letters in alphabetical order and numbers in numerical order. Also numbers are whole numbers, not decimals. If you need help finding a resource, ask a librarian to help you. We love to help you find stuff.

Library Guides, Pages, and other Resources of Interest

The below list of guide and database that are designed to help you access more government information and resources. They should be used in tandem with any directions provided by your professor in order to best support to your coursework

Library Guides

Databases

- HeinOnline
- Nexis Uni Database
- Policy File Index
- ProQuest Congressional
- ProQuest Political Science
- Westlaw Database