Government Documents at LA Tech University

Government documents are official publications produced by any government agency, such as a department of the federal government or a state agency. They come in a variety of physical formats, including books, periodicals, maps, microfiche, CD-ROMs, and videotapes. This guide will offer direct access to, primarily, online resources.

Note that government information permeates virtually all academic disciplines, so many of the resources listed in this guide may also be found in other guides. Additionally, the complexity and breadth of some online resources may result in resources being duplicated under different categories or linked through various access points.

Documents provide: 

• Respected, usually non-partisan information.​
• Information collected from citizens and residents and returned to them, often with context and analysis.
• A source for unique: 
  • Data and reports compiled by government agencies,
  • Large-scale surveys like the Census,
  • Detailed and exact information on government events, such as on votes in Congress and on speeches from the President. 

"Government information" is a big set and not easily divided into consistent categories. 

• Some sources are freely available on the Internet. 
• Others may require access to a special collection; understanding of a special vocabulary or classification system; or historical knowledge. 
• Also, groups such as the United Nations are usually classified as governmental. 
• A searcher might go in one direction for a type of material and in another because of an interest in a particular area.
• Statistical information from government bodies is commonly cited. Other government information is less often seen.

In conclusion, please take time to browse types, topics, and the conventions used for the type of material. If you could use assistance finding material, please ask us.

SuDoc Classification System

"SuDoc” or “SuDocs” is short for “Superintendent of Documents.” The Superintendent of Documents is in charge of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), which sends copies of government publications to libraries all over the United States and its territories. The SuDoc classification system is used to organize publications issued by the federal government.

The three things you really need to know about SuDoc numbers:

1. Organized by agency

The SuDoc system is a “provenance-based” system, meaning that documents are organized by the agency that issues them or their publication source.  For example, all the Forest Service documents are shelved together on the shelf, all Defense Department publications are together, and so on. 

The first letter of the SuDoc call number indicates the parent department.  For example:

The next number in a SuDoc call number indicates the sub-agency that produced the publication. See three agencies from the Department of Interior in the example below:

2. SuDocs use whole numbers, not decimal numbers

Unlike the Dewey Decimal System, numbers in a SuDoc call number are whole numbers, not decimal numbers. The chart below compares similar numbers from the two classification systems to show how the publications would be located on library shelves.

3. One document, one number 

SuDoc numbers are typically assigned by a central organization, the Government Printing Office. Each document is given a unique call number, and that number should be the same at any depository library that uses the SuDoc classification system. Therefore, if you see a SuDoc call number in another library’s catalog, on WorldCat, or in a printed reference work, if we have it, it should be at that number on the shelves in the Government Documents area (1st and 2nd floors) of the Prescott Memorial Library.