Tapping State Government Information Sources

Each state government produces large varieties and quantities of useful information that are largely unknown outside their state of origin. This book leads the public to the most useful information sources produced by each state, as well as to depository libraries that will facilitate more effective research. For each of the 50 states, important publications are detailed, along with information on how to obtain them. The publications' topics range from crime statistics to vital statistics, business statistics, health information, statistical abstracts, education directories, state budgets, economic indicators, state laws and legal information, and more.

Tapping State Government Information Sources has a broader focus than previously published books in this subject area, most of which have focused solely on depository laws, useful state publications, or indexes to state publications. This book covers all three. The first chapter describes print and electronic sources that provide information about all 50 states. Each state's resources are then described in individual chapters. When possible, information about how to order a copy of the source is given, as are Web addresses for titles that are available online. At the beginning of each state chapter, the state's legal definition of public document or its equivalent is given, which may be of interest to librarians in states that are reexamining their own depository laws.

LORI L. SMITH is Head of the Government Documents Department at Southeastern Louisiana University's Sims Memorial Library. She is also a founding member of the Louisiana Advisory Council for the State Documents Depository Program.

DANIEL C. BARKLEY is Coordinator of Government Information/Periodicals/Microforms at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. He has served as Chair of the American Library Association's Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) and is incoming Chair of the U.S. Public Printer's Depository Library Council. He is also the Chair of the New Mexico Depository Library Council.

DANIEL C. CORNWALL is the administrator of the Alaska State Publications Program as well as the technical services librarian for the Alaska State Library.

ERIC W. JOHNSON is the Interim Library Director at the Sims Memorial Library, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond Louisiana.

J. LOUISE MALCOMB teaches Government Information: Resources and Organization for Indiana University's School of Library and Information Science, Bloomington, Indiana. She has also served there as Head of Undergraduate Library Services and as Head and Librarian for Geography and Maps.