Government Publications

Laws require that the government agencies make collected information available to the public. For many years the information was distributed in paper to designated government depository libraries such as Montana Tech Library. Later distribution has been expanded by microform and the internet.

The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) is a partnership between the Federal Government and libraries funded by State or local government or private institutions to serve the public in their local communities. The Montana Tech Library is open for anyone to use. The FDLP was established by Congress in 1813 to ensure that the American public had access to its Government's information.

SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS CLASS NUMBER The Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) number is the call number scheme used in depository libraries for their Federal documents collections. A list of classes of the depository system can be found at the Superintendent of Document classification list. Because this classification scheme arranges materials by the authoring agency and type of publication, a SuDoc number fielded search allows one to locate similar resources by an agency. At least up to the stem of the SuDoc number must be entered for the search to be executed properly. The stem includes the initial letters and numbers up to and including the colon (:). Be sure to insert a space between letters and numbers unless there is intervening punctuation. No spaces precede or follow symbols. Do not use quotation marks (" ") in a SuDoc field search. For example:

EP 1.2:B 74/2 retrieves the specific document: Read this if you plan to breathe this summer : Advisory for Those with Asthma Breathing Problems and for Children, Older Adults, and People Who Work Outdoors.

EP 1.2: retrieves other general publications from the Environmental Protection Agency.

GPO Access on the internet is a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office that provides free electronic access to a wealth of important information products produced by the Federal Government. The information provided on this site is the official, published version and the information retrieved from GPO Access or printed materials found in the depository libraries and can be used without copyright restriction, unless specifically noted.