College and Research Libraries


By D A V I D E. ESTES 

Government Publications in the Classroom 

GO V E R N M E N T P U B L I C A T I O N S are a most important form of library material. 
In many subjects they are a rich and 
fundamental source of information 
which cannot be neglected, especially by 
students in history, political science, and 
sociology. Many publications are tran-
scripts of original records and constitute 
primary source materials in the history 
of government administration. Others, 
such as annual reports, contain accounts 
by executive officers of the work of their 
offices. Numerous series published by 
various agencies and departments pro-
vide statistics for measuring social and 
economic changes. For the most part, 
they are free or inexpensive. 

T h e value of government publica-
tions is matched, however, by the diffi-
culty of using them. T h e average stu-
dent usually hesitates to consult them 
because out of the great mass of mate-
rial he does not understand how to 
locate what he needs. (And this is 
equally true of many faculty members.) 
For example, a student in political sci-
ence who lives in Georgia's Fifth Con-
gressional District was asked to find out 
the bills introduced in Congress by his 
representative. After these had been 
listed, he was asked to take one of the 
bills and follow each step of legislation. 
A recent class assignment asked for the 
United States diplomatic representatives 
in the N A T O countries and their rep-
resentatives to the United States. All of 
this information may be found in gov-
ernment publications, but assistance and 
explanations about their contents and 
location is needed, since the peculiari-

Mr. Estes is Reference Librarian, Em-
ory University Library. 

ties of their organization, bibliography 
and indexing are baffling to the un-
initiated. It is necessary, therefore, to 
make them available and to provide in-
struction in their use. Since all librarians 
are uneasily aware of these things, an 
account of what is being done by the 
Emory University Library to promote 
government documents and give instruc-
tion in their use, even though it is a 
limited program, may be of interest. 

T h e library is a partial depository for 
the official publications of the United 
States Government. There is a docu-
ments center, where most of these pub-
lications are housed and where refer-
ence service is provided to assist students 
and faculty in their use. Here the biblio-
graphic aids are assembled on one range 
of shelving, not only Poore, Ames, the 
Documents Index, the Documents Cat-
alog and the Monthly Catalog, but also 
lists of publications, bibliographies and 
indexes issued by individual govern-
ment agencies. These serve as a checklist 
of Emory's holdings and give the classi-
fication numbers by which the docu-
ments are arranged. 

T w o "self-help" guides have been pre-
pared by the reference department. One, 
" T h e Documents Center: Finding and 
Using Government Publications," de-
scribes the types of documents and ex-
plains the procedure for identifying a 
specific document as well as the arrange-
ment, location and classification of the 
collection. T h e other, " U . S. Govern-
ment Publications in the Emory Univer-
sity Library Which Contain Material on 
Congressional Bills," is a mimeographed 
guide giving brief definitions of all types 
of bills and resolutions. It gives infor-
mation on the printing, distribution and 

78 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



indexing of bills, resolutions and reports 
of committees of Congress and also pro-
vides information and direction for 
using the Congressional Record, the 
Digest of Public General Bills, and tells 
how to trace a bill. 

Group instruction in the use of doc-
uments is also given. Special arrange-
ment is made for students in political 
science who study American govern-
ment—its history, functions and proce-
dures. In order that these students might 
better understand the workings of the 
government, the author and the staff of 
the political science department decided 
to introduce federal documents in the 
introductory course on American gov-
ernment. For the past five years lectures 
have been given to students in these 
classes. T h e remainder of this paper is 
concerned with a description of these 
lectures. 

Government publications can be di-
vided into three groups corresponding 
to the three branches of the government: 
congressional or legislative publications 
—those relating to the proceedings of 
Congress; judicial publications—-court 
decisions, etc.; and executive publica-
tions—those published by the executive 
departments and independent agencies. 
T h e library's treatment and arrange-
ment of these publications is described 
first. Then some of the more outstand-
ing documents and their relation to the 
program of the class are studied. Copies 
of the publications to be discussed are 
brought to class. 

A class lecture on United States gov-
ernment publications may be given for 
a one-hour period or for two periods of 
one hour each, according to the wishes 
of the instructor. If only one hour is 
devoted to the lecture, most of the time 
is given to the congressional publica-
tions. Due consideration is given to the 
Congressional Directory, a copy of which 
is taken to the class to give students an 
idea of what it looks like and the type 
of information it contains—biograph-

ical material on senators and represent-
atives, committee assignments, terms of 
service, party leaders, etc. A student will 
often ask questions about his senator or 
representative. 

T h e next step covers bills of each 
house. An example of each kind of bill 
and resolution is carried to the class 
for students to examine. One bill from 
either house is briefly traced and publi-
cations covering each phase of passage 
are shown and discussed. Each printing 
of the bill, whether one or a dozen or 
more, is taken to class. Amendments, 
readings, printings, etc., are brought out 
and the change from bill to act is noted. 
Information on the bill as to number, 
date introduced, and by whom, is read. 
If the bill chosen for example is a Sen-
ate bill, and Senate hearings are held, 
a copy of the printed hearings is shown 
along with an explanation of the differ-
ence between a hearing and a commit-
tee report. T h e list of people appearing 
before the committee is covered in order 
to point out the number and types of 
people present. T h e committee report 
is also shown with the explanation that 
this is the committee's opinion on the 
bill. If the bill goes to the House and 
hearings are held, these as well as the 
House report are shown. 

T h e Congressional Record and its in-
dex are then covered. A daily issue of 
the Record, a fortnightly index, and a 
copy of the bound index are exhibited 
with explanations given about the use 
of each. A copy of the bound index is 
used since legislation already bound is 
usually discussed. Explanations for 
using the three sections of the index 
are given. Special attention is focused 
on a member of Congress, the bills he 
introduced, and the remarks he made. 
Students are sometimes asked to find 
how a particular senator voted on the 
passage of a bill. 

If the bill has become a law, a copy 
of the slip law is shown, the title being 
read as well as the number of the bill 

JANUARY 1959 79 



responsible for the law. Except for the 
initial printing in slip bill form, a bill 
is not reprinted in its entirety elsewhere. 
It is necessary therefore for a library to 
preserve the bills of both houses, if a 
person doing research on a bill needs 
to read the original bill as introduced. 

A brief discussion is given on the 
Digest of Public General Bills, which 
is prepared by the Legislative Refer-
ence Service of the Library of Congress. 
This publication presents the bill in 
simple form and reports action which 
has been taken on it. T h e latest copy is 
shown and its location in the library 
is noted. It is well to explain here that 
this is most helpful to those students 
doing more research on a bill or per-
haps to those who plan to major in 
political science. House and Senate jour-
nals are also discussed. They appear at 
the end of each session of Congress and 
contain all motions, roll-call votes and 
various other matters such as the Pres-
ident's message to Congress, but no de-
bates. A list of bills introduced in both 
houses by number and title is provided 
in each journal. 

From time to time there are questions 
from the class about the publications 
which are being discussed or perhaps 
requests for a recapitulation of a par-
ticular phase of the lecture. These are 
always welcomed as they pin-point 
sparks of interest as well as keep the 
instructor alert to how well the lecture 
is being received. At the end of the hour 
the class is given a group of questions 
which will require their visiting the li-
brary to answer. These include having 
the student name the representatives 

from his state and the number of the 
district he represents, asking for the 
names of chairmen of certain commit-
tees, or perhaps the name of the commit-
tees certain congressmen serve on. After 
all questions are answered they are 
turned in to the instructor and, if pos-
sible, he gets together with the lecturer 
for an evaluation of the class period. 

If a second lecture is given, the execu-
tive and judicial branches are covered 
in the same manner. T h e United States 
Government Organization Manual is 
taken to class and all types of informa-
tion in it are noted. Each department, 
along with its branches and offices and 
their publications, is discussed. Mention 
is made of outstanding independent 
agencies, such as the United States Civil 
Service Commission, T h e Smithsonian 
Institution, and the Library of Con-
gress. 

Because of this class instruction bibli-
ographic aids for the United States gov-
ernment documents have been given 
much wider use in the Emory Library. 
Students recognize the importance and 
value of such publications as the Con-
gressional Directory, the Congressional 
Record and the United States Govern-
ment Organization Manual. Faculty 
members have noticed more interest in 
the work of Congress and the executive 
departments on the part of students, and 
many students state that discussing the 
actual documents has clarified the work 
for them. With this program, the Emory 
Library is participating actively in the 
educational process and demonstrating 
its basic importance in the life of the 
university. 

T H I S B O O K IS DEDICATED to those devoted public servants, the librarians and 
archivists who keep, preserve, and make available the manuscripts and printed 
material which are the living record of our past.—Dedication in Philip Van 
Doren Stern's An End to Valor (Boston, 1958). 

80 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES