Introduction | United
States Government Documents | State
Government Documents | Local
Government Documents
Introduction
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Governments documents can be very useful resources. Governments produce
large amounts of information which is often:
- readily available - most government publications are inexpensive or
even free. Many government documents may be available in libraries or
on governmental Web sites.
- primary sources of information - governement agencies and organizations
collect, organize, create and disseminate large amounts of information.
- free of bias - governmental documents are generally considered to
be objective.
- up-to-date - government publications which contain government data
are often more current than non-governmental publications which use
governmental data.
- only source of information on a topic - the information created by
a governmental unit may not be available anywhere else.
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United States Government Documents
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Federal documents are available in approximately 1,400 complete depository
libraries and university libraries throughout the United States; many
public and academic libraries are partial depository libraries and have
a separate government documents department. Need to locate
a federal depository library near you?
The NSU Law Library
is a partial depository for United Nations, state and federal documents.
Many government agencies, such as the U.
S. Department of Education, have their own World Wide Web site where
the agencies' publications can either be downloaded or ordered. FirstGov
is a useful Web site for locating federal government information, including
links to government agencies.
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State Government Documents
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State documents usually are available at state libraries and large public
and academic libraries. State government documents are typically available
from the state agency that issued the document;
Copies generally are free to libraries and professionals. Sale copies
are often available through the state printer or its distribution agent;
some state agencies sell documents directly.
Many state government agencies, such as the Florida
Department of Education, have their own Web sites where their publications
can either be downloaded or ordered. Consult the Library of Congress list
of state and
local governments to locate the Web site for a particular state or
local area.
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Local Government Documents
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These documents are similar to state documents in that copies are available
in local, municipal, school, and law libraries.
Many local government agencies, such as Florida
school districts, have their own Web sites where their publications
can either be downloaded or ordered. Consult the Library of Congress list
of state and
local governments to locate the Web site for a particular state or
local area.
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