256 p. · $55.00
8½" x 11" · Spiral-bound
Includes supplementary materials on disk

ISBN 0-9652711-8-8
© 2003

Government Publications Unmasked; Teaching Government Information Resources in the 21st Century

Wendy Mann and Theresa R. McDevitt, Editors
Active Learning Series, no. 7

From the Editor | Table of Contents
Sample Lesson Plan (260K, PDF) | Order this Book

From the Editors

"Statistics and health advice, laws and children's resources, technical reports and consumer information — these are all published by the agencies of the U.S. federal government to keep its citizens informed and improve their lives. For over one hundred years, such publications have been distributed through a complex system of depository libraries located across the country and staffed by dedicated documents librarians. Unfortunately, for most of this period, such valuable sources remained greatly underutilized. ...

"[T]here has never been a better time to search for government information, or to teach others to do so. The extensive accessibility of federal government resources on the Internet makes it possible for researchers to become both comfortable and adept in searching for information. One objective of this book is to assist librarians in teaching others to search for federal government publications, regardless of the type of collection or library in which they work. ... The instruction sessions have been designed with general librarians in mind. They can be used to assist both government publications librarians and librarians in general in guiding users in unmasking the valuable information resources available though the federal government in hardcopy or on the Internet."

Table of Contents

18 lesson plans in 7 sections

Section 1
  • The Basics of United States Government Publications
  • Major Search Engines and Indexing Tools for Locating Current Government Information
  • Finding Government Information Produced Prior to 1976
Section 2
  • Statistics: Overview of Major U.S. Government General Statistical Reference Sources and Indexes
  • Census of Population and Housing
Section 3
  • Federal Legislative Resources on the Web
  • Federal Rules and Regulations: What Are They, Where Did They Come From, and How Do I Find Them?
  • The Federal Judiciary: An Overview of the Federal Court System and the Basic Resources that Index Federal Law
Section 4
  • Government Health Resources
  • Education Resources from the Federal Government: More than "ed.gov"
  • Sources of Crime and Criminal Justice Related Government Information
Section 5
  • Business and Economics: Using Public Data in the Classroom
  • Environmental Information from U.S. Government Sources
  • Scientific and Technical Government Information Instruction
Section 6
  • The Presidency: The Position and Its Role in the United States Government
  • Federal Election Resources and Governmental Publications
Section 7
  • International Affairs
  • Military/Defense and Intelligence Agencies