Subject Guide to U.S. Government Reference Sources - Hardcover

(Davis), Gayle J. Hardy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 156308189X ISBN 13: 9781563081897

Publisher: Libraries Unlimited, 1996

Synopsis

Revised and updated, this compendium helps readers identify and understand the scope of key government reference sources-traditional books (including publications catalogs and telephone directories); information clearinghouses; and materials in new formats, such as CD-ROMs, datafiles, and Internet sites. The authors focus on free information and depository materials-both readily available through toll-free phone numbers, mail or e-mail requests to agencies, or federal depository library collections. Materials are fully described in annotations that differentiate between similar materials, identify typical citation formats, and note common abbreviations

About this title

About the Author

rdy-Davis /f Gayle /i J.

inson /f Judith /i Schiek

Reviews

This new edition of a selective subject guide first compiled by Sally Wynkoop in 1972, and updated by Robinson in 1985, has been revised to take into account the increasingly electronic nature of federal government information dissemination. Free materials, substantive documents available at federal depository libraries whether in paper or electronic format, Internet sites, and specialized information clearinghouses all fall within the guide's definition of government reference source. More than two-thirds of the 1,300 entries are new to this edition. Among the new entries in the general works section of the "Economics and Business" chapter, for instance, are electronic sources such as the National Trade Data Bank CD-ROM and the Economic Bulletin Board. For popular paper titles like the Commerce Business Daily and the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, URLs are supplied for World Wide Web versions. Compact disc sources cited under various topic headings throughout the guide can be found together in the index under the heading "CD-ROMs." In the section on disease and disabilities, the Department of Education's National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities is one of several clearinghouses listed; address, phone, and e-mail data are provided.

Concise, informative annotations accompany each entry, and useful data such as SuDocs classification and OCLC control numbers are also furnished. Major federal government electronic sites such as GPO Access, THOMAS, LC MARVEL, and the NTIS FedWorld are cited, but the Federal Web Locator, the extremely useful pathfinder page maintained by Villanova, does not appear in the index, nor does Maggie Parhamovich Farrell's electronic guide Federal Government Information on the Internet. Still, as the vast and baffling array of federal government information sources expands into the electronic realm, this up-to-date guide will be a valuable aid in all types of libraries.

Edition details

• Publisher: Libraries Unlimited
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 156308189X
• ISBN 13: 9781563081897
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 358