Reference Service

Help with searching and finding government documents is available at the Information Desk on the main floor of The Valley Library.  Help via chat, e-mail, text, and phone, as well as in person, is available -- see Ask Us

Borrowing Documents

While many documents are available online, the OSU Libraries also has a large collection of circulating documents in physical formats. Many are located on the 1st floor; others are cataloged and shelved within the library stacks. Be sure to check the online record in 1Search to find out what format your document is (paper, microfiche, CD/DVD, online etc.) and the physical location of the document. You may need to ask for staff assistance when retrieving the documents. The table below provides location information and circulation status for documents:

Federal and State documents at the OSU Valley Library can be found in a variety of places. Records for all of them are included in 1Search searches. For documents in physical formats, it is essential to note both call number and location from the record.

• The most recent documents are often online only, and can be located with a search in 1Search; links to these documents are found in the record.

• Many of our tangible (physical) documents are given a classification number in the Library of Congress (LC) system and located in the regular book stacks with our other items, 1st floor compact shelves, or the LC section of the microfiche cabinets.

• Others are classified in Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) classification (or OrDocs in the case of Oregon documents) and are found in the 1st floor compact shelves, in CD/DVD cabinets, or in microfiche cabinets.

What is a SuDoc number? Federal documents not classified by Valley Library in the standard Library of Congress (LC) classification system are classified in SuDoc. This is a system that arranges publications by the agency that produced them, NOT by subject like LC. At the Valley Library, these are all located in the 1st floor compact shelves. An Explanation of the Superintendent of Documents Classification System from GPO.

U.S. Senate

Senator Ron Wyden (D)
Senator Jeff Merkley (D)

U.S. House of Representatives

District 01 Suzanne Bonamici (D)
District 02 Cliff Bentz (R)
District 03 Earl Blumenauer (D)
District 04 Val Hoyle (D)
District 05 Lori Michelle Chavez-DeRemer (R)
District 06 Andrea Salinas (D)

Find your member of congress, state senator or state representative via the interactive Legislator Lookup 

Government documents can be confusing to cite in text or bibliographies, as there are some differences between them and other sources. The number and kinds of authors (personal authors, agencies, or both) can make things complicated; so can the format of the document—PDF articles, websites, databases, microfiche, and paper publications have subtly different requirements. Other than standard reports, there are special formats such as Census, Serial Set, Hearings, and Congressional Bills, with unique aspects.

Some basic stuff: 

1.  If a personal author is named, they should be given credit; often there isn’t any author named and the agency is treated as the author.

2.  If the issuing agency is also the publisher, you may eliminate the publisher name in the entry.

3.  Internet-original publications may not have “publisher” information and you can substitute the URL in its place (usually a good idea to include the access date also).

4.  Abbreviate United States to U.S. in the agency name.

5.  Include the report number and/or SuDoc classification number if there is one. These can be very helpful for readers looking for the document.

The style guide for whatever style you’re using (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) ought to have some guidance for citing government documents. There is also a book, The Complete Guide to Citing Government Information Resources (3rd ed.), call number J9.5 .G37 2002.

For basic help online, the University of Delaware Library has a Guide you can consult, at http://guides.lib.udel.edu/c.php?g=85404&p=548852