Government Documents Department

U.S. Ohio Tax Form Resources
Other States' Tax Departments

FOIA Electronic Reading Room provides information from the CIA that has been declassified under the Freedom Of Information Act
Other FOIA Programs

Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights
Via Thurgood Marshall Law Library

Location: Alden Library, 5th floor
Phone: (740) 593-2718
Fax: (740) 593-2719
Hours: Same as Alden Library

Ohio University Libraries has been a Federal Depository Library for the Sixth Congressional District since 1886. The stacks in the Government Documents Department are open to the public, and users are welcome to browse and select materials. The Government Documents collection contains information published at government expense for public access as guaranteed by law, but remains the property of the U.S. Government. The collection also includes State of Ohio depository materials and the United Nations Publications Readex Microfiche Collection from 1991 and other UN Documents and Publications from 1946.

Focus of the Government Documents Collection

The Alden Library Government Documents collection is an 80% selective partner with the Government Printing Office (GPO) Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). The collection caters primarily to the needs of the Ohio University students, faculty and staff and the Athens city and county community along with the Sixth Congressional District. The focus of the collection includes but is not limited to environmental, geology, earth sciences, education, health, public policy, and legal topics. Government Documents Department has an extensive collection that includes but is not limited to: Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Geological Survey publications and publications from every other Federal Department and Agency. The Government Documents Department has titles available in every conceivable format that includes paper, microform, CD-Rom, DVD, and electronic resources via the Internet. Materials published after 1975 are able to be searched by title, keyword, author, subject, etc. in the ALICE Online Catalog. The collection is shelved by the Superintendant of Documents Call Number SuDoc Classification System.

Circulation of Government Documents Titles

All titles in the open Government Documents collection are available for circulation except for Reference, Indexes and Census information and titles such as United States Statutes at Large (Public Laws), Code of Federal Regulations, and Congressional Serial Set. Members of the community can also check out materials from the collection and can obtain a library card from the Circulation Department on the 4th floor of the library; see the Borrowing Services page for more information. Circulating materials that were published after 1975 are available to circulate via ALICE Online Catalog and pre-1976 circulating materials not in ALICE may be checked out manually at the Government Documents Reference Desk.

Government Documents Stacks

The Government Documents stacks on the Fifth Floor of Alden Library contains the vast majority of Federal documents available for patrons to circulate. Our materials are filed according to the Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) classification system. By using this system, our U.S. document collection is arranged according to the U. S. Government agency that issued the publication and include titles from the early 1770's to the present on a variety of research topics. The Federal government provides a great deal of the latest scientific research on energy, the environment, and agricultural planting techniques to name a few. The collection also has the latest data covering economic and business statistics and more. The collection also includes documents from the State of Ohio and early United Nations materials. The U.S. Government Documents, State of Ohio Documents, and UN collections are all available for circulation.

State of Ohio Documents

The State of Ohio has a similar depository system to the federal one. Alden Library is a State Documents depository and the State Documents titles are available via the ALICE Online Catalog and is part of the Government Documents collection on the Fifth Floor of Alden Library. You can find a great deal of the latest State of Ohio information via our Ohio Documents page. The State Library of Ohio is the State of Ohio Regional Depository with a comprehensive collection of U.S. and Ohio documents.

Government Documents Reference

The material in this collection includes titles that are in constant use and which library staff needs to answer some of the most basic inquiries made by patrons. Some titles include:

• Statistical Abstract of the United States
• CIA World Factbook
• Uniform Crime Reports for the United States or Crime in the United States
• Digest of Education Statistics
• Occupational Outlook Handbook
• United States Code
• 1990 Census

All reference titles are non-circulating but some have comparable formats available via the Internet.

Federal Maps Collection

The map collection includes titles published by the United States Geographical Survey (USGS), the National Image and Mapping Agency (formerly Defense Mapping Agency), U.S. Forest Service which are available in the Map Collection on the Fifth Floor of Alden Library and the Central Intelligence Agency which are available in the Government Documents collection on the Fifth Floor of Alden Library. The Map Collection includes topographic maps for Ohio and other states. You can also find large wall thematic and political maps of the world for classroom use. Maps are available for circulation.

United States Congressional Serial Set Collection

The Serial Set Collection contains House of Representatives and Senate documents and reports dating back to 1789 and the First Congressional Congress. Throughout its history the Congressional Serial Set has included a wide range of publications: House and Senate Reports and Documents, House and Senate journals, Executive and miscellaneious publications, reports on private and public legislation, etc. For on campus access to an index of this material, go to Lexis-Nexis Congressional and choose Historical Indexes Congressional Indexes, 1789-1972. Starting with publications from the 104th Congress (1995), most of the House and Senate Reports, and House and Senate Documents are available through GPO ACCESS - U. S. Congressional Serial Set. Even though the Serial Set titles are unavailable for circulation, photocopies are allowed.