United States government documents (also called government publications) comprise a vast and valuable source of information on a wide variety of subjects, and are as varied in format as they are in subject. Magazines, reports, books, pamphlets, maps, posters, compact disks, and internet sites are all forms that government documents may take. In addition, many government documents are published and distributed on microfiche as a space-saving alternative to the traditional paper publication. For lists of print publications being converted to electronic format, see Uncle Sam Migrating Government Publications.

Loras College Library is considered a "selective" depository library, meaning the library is designated to receive a selected portion of all documents available--those we consider most useful to the Loras College community. Although we receive only about 15% of all documents available to depository libraries, since being designated a federal depository library in 1967 well over 150,000 government documents have been received.

Paper documents: Located on the lower floor in the Government Documents stacks if printed on paper.

Microfiche documents: Documents photographed onto microfiche are located in microfiche cabinets in the microform area of the main level.

Electronic documents: Documents received as CD-ROM disks or floppy disks are located in the office of the Government Documents Librarian. Contact the Government Documents Librarian for assistance in using electronic government documents.

Superintendent of Documents numbers are the "call numbers" for government documents. SuDoc numbers always start with a letter or group of letters and contain a colon; other punctuation marks are usually present also. A SuDoc number delineates the hierarchy of the document's issuing agency within the government, the series of publications, and an identifying number for a particular title. For example, publications of the Department of Agriculture begin with an "A"; those issued by the Department of Education begin with "ED", and so forth. "Y" indicates a congressional document. These letter designations place material on the shelves (or in the microfiche cabinets) by department in A to Y order.

Keep in mind when searching for documents on the shelf or in the microfiche cabinets that numbers in the SuDoc classification are always treated as whole numbers separated by punctuation marks rather than as decimal numbers. In other words, the various punctuation marks in the SuDoc numbers (colons, periods, slashes, etc.) are merely devices to separate whole numbers from each other. Recognize that the number is divided into parts and then locate them one part at a time.