I know the government publishes a lot of information. When would you recommend seeking out government documents to answer a reference question?

United States Government documents are very useful in answering reference questions especially when the researcher is seeking primary sources (e.g., the text of federal laws and federal court cases), expert opinion (e.g., the testimony of expert witnesses at Congressional hearings), or the latest information on a given topic (e.g., current information on a particular country). U.S Government documents also offer demographic and statistical data as well as information useful for consumers. To get a sense of the variety and usefulness of these documents, take a look at our U. S. Government Documents Department’s Documents You Can Use. This will give you some idea of the breadth and scope of U.S. Government documents.

So how do I find these documents?

The U.S. Government Printing Office has created a Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP), which indexes documents from 1976 through present. The vast majority of references are to print documents. The U.S. Government Document can be found at your local Federal Depository Library. It’s worth remembering that the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications is the finding aid for both print and electronic documents published by all three branches of government. In many cases, more recent documents are available electronically on the Web and you can easily locate them using this wonderful resource.

Another thing you’ll want to remember is that several of the most useful U.S. Government documents formerly available only in print are now also available electronically. These include the following:

• United States Government Manual – the official handbook of the federal government containing information on all agencies of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches as well as independent agencies.
  
  
• Statistical Abstract of the United States – ready access to statistics on the economic, political, and social organization of the United States.
  
  
• CIA World Factbook – formerly available in both print and online formats, this useful source for information on the economy, geography, government, and people of every nation is now only available online.