The Government Documents Program at Bluefield State College

The Wendell G. Hardway Library became part of the federal depository library program (FDLP) in 1972 in order to serve the citizens of the Third United States Congressional District of West Virginia.  Our mission, as part of the FDLP, is to ensure that the American public has access to its Government’s information. To that end, we provide free and open public access to the documents we receive, which are in both tangible and electronic formats.   Our library catalog, which is part of the Mountain Library Network, will help you to find what is available. 

Five public PC’s are available in the first floor reading room/reference area of the library. They provide access to the Internet, the Mountain Library Network online catalog, Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, etc.), and allow for the use of CD-ROM and DVD-ROM products. Headphones are available at the circulation desk. A photocopy machine and a microfiche/microfilm reader/printer are available for public use. These resources are provided in accordance with the following FDLP guidelines and recommendations:

Public services for Government information in electronic formats

FDLP Internet use

2005 Minimum Technical Requirements for Public Access Workstations in Federal Depository Libraries

Library staff can help you with the use of our equipment, computers, and other access issues. The links below will lead you to some of the better known and most popular government web sites.  Use them to explore the fascinating world of government information.

Sections

1. Federal Government: General Information
2. Federal Government: Legislative and Regulatory Information
3. State Information
4. International and Foreign Information
5. Statistical Resources
6. Additional Resources

Federal Government:
General Information

• Federal Government Resources on the Web (Univ. of Michigan)
• Government Information (Compiled by librarians in the West Virginia Government Documents Round Table of WVLA)
• Frequently Used Sites Related to U.S. Federal Government Information (ALA GODORT FDTF)
• Federal Agencies Directory (Louisiana State Univ.)
• Supreme Court of the United States
• U.S. House of Representatives
• United States Senate
• White House Home Page

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Federal Government:
Legislative and Regulatory Information

• Code of Federal Regulations (GPO Access)
• Congress.Org (Searchable directories and current awareness)
• Federal Register (GPO Access)
• GPO Access (U.S. Government Printing Office)
• Legislative Branch Internet Resources - Thomas (Library of Congress)
• Thomas (Search and retrieve legislation)
• Law (Univ. of North Texas)

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State Information

• West Virginia State Page
• West Virginia Legislature
• WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research
• Government Resources on the Web - States (Univ. of Arizona)
• State Constitutions, Statutes and Related Legislative Information (Cornell Univ.)
• State Government Collections -- try one of the following:
• American Law Sources On-Line (ALSO!)
• Virtual Law Library (Indiana Univ. School of Law) From the "Browse by Information Type" menu, select "State Government Servers"
• FindLaw
• Piper Resources

• State Legislative Database (GoverNet Affairs)
• StateList (Electronic Source for State Publications, Univ. of Illinois - Urbana/Champaign)
• U.S. State and Local Gateway

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International and Foreign Information

• Country Studies (Library of Congress)
• Foreign Governments (Northwestern Univ.)
• Foreign National Governments, International Governmental Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations (ALA GODORT International Documents Task Force)
• International Governmental Organizations (Northwestern Univ.)
• US State Department Home Page
• United Nations

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Statistical Resources

• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Business & Economics Numeric Data Starting Points (Mansfield Univ.)
• Fedstats (Search engine for government statistics and data)
• InfoNation (United Nations)
• National Center for Education Statistics
• National Center for Health Statistics
• Statistical Agencies & Information (Univ. of North Texas)
• US Census Bureau

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Additional Resources

• "Agency Approach" To Locating Government Information on the Internet (tutorial)
• Catalog of U.S. Government Publications U.S. Government Printing Office)
• GODORT CD-ROM Documentation Service (Univ. of Iowa)
• FirstGov, and Google Uncle Sam (Search engines for government information)
• Meta-Subject Access to Government Information (Idaho State Univ.)
• Resources of Use to Government Documents Librarians (ALA GODORT)
• U.S. Government Online Bookstore (U.S. Government Printing Office)
• Migrating Government Publications (full-text docs via the Univ. of Memphis, or try the collection of brochures and pamphlets at the Univ. at Buffalo)

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Return to the Library Home Page

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For comments or suggestion concerning this page, please contact Nancy Turner

URL of this Page: http://www.bluefieldstate.edu/library/govinfo/govinfo.htm

Last Modified: 12/20/2005