The three branches of the federal government - legislative, executive, and judicial - produce resources and information that can be useful to anyone doing research on a wide variety of topics, everything from Art to Zoology. In particular, government resources include information about law, legislation, agency rules and regulations, public policy, foreign affairs, public safety, social welfare, the economy, and crime. They offer compilations of fact sheets, statistics, judicial decisions, reports, biographies, directories, and more.
This libguide is designed to facilitate user's search of all formats -- print, microform, electronic, and digital. Each active link brings the user directly to a .gov website like govinfo.gov or other searchable database. Users can also use our AUM Catalog to access resources in our collection or ask a librarian or library associate for help.
Researchers can locate print, microform, and DVD resources in our Government Documents Department.
The Government Publishing Office (GPO) has the special mission of Keeping America Informed about government operations and activities at the federal level. To fulfill its mission, GPO produces, preserves and distributes official and authenticated government publications in print, DVD, and online. This libguide provides inks to GPO publications and databases like govinfo.gov., the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP), and other websites maintained by federal agencies. Learn more at:
GPO distributes government publications through the Federal Depository Library Program. Alabama has at least 22 of these specialty libraries, with AUM being one of the state's two regional sites. For a list of other sites in the state, see the Federal Depository Library Directory (FDLD). There are almost 1,350 FDLP sites across the United States and its territories. These are typically located in libraries and other research institutions and are identified by the FDLP logo shown above.
Our AUM Government Documents Department (Gov Docs) is located on the 3rd floor of the Administration side of the Library Tower, upstairs from the Computer Lab. Our Government Documents collection includes tangible editions of government publications in print and on microfilm, microfiche, and DVDs.
As a specialty library, or "library within a library," our Government Documents Department provides onsite access to these books, bulletins, magazines, reports, court opinions, congressional committee hearings, transcripts, calendars, public laws, statutes, maps, guides to national parks and museums, and other materials distributed by GPO.
Search our AUM Catalog to locate publications by title, author, subject, or call number or come to the Government Documents Department to browse, request assistance from Senior Library Associates, or find a quiet place to read and study.
Unlike the Library of Congress, GPO uses the Superintendent of Documents Classification System (SU DOC System), to assign call numbers to publications based on the issuing agency, not the subject or author. For example, call numbers for items published by the Department of Agriculture start with the letter "A." Call numbers for publications of the Department of the Interior "start with the letter "I." Publications of the Department of Justice, including those related to courts, crime, law enforcement, and the judicial system are classified under "J" and "JU." Two exceptions are Congressional publications, which start with X and Y. In addition, the SU DOC System uses numbers to group publications by type (annual report, bulletin, circular, etc.). For more about using the SU DOC System, see the chart below or ask a Government Documents Associate for help.
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