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The Hekman Library
1855 Knollcrest Circle SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402

Guides for Finding Government Documents

Where are the documents?

Most of the Gov. Docs collection is found in the far left corner on the library's 2nd floor. There are also some documents in the 2nd floor microfiche cabinets and in the CD-ROM cabinets in the Digital Research Center.

If you are having trouble locating documents, talk to any of the students in Gov. Docs or to the Documents Librarian, Diane VanderPol. Her office is on the 2nd Floor near Career Services.

The Government Documents Guide was compiled by Jen Stevens and Joe Stubenrauch, former student employees in the Government Documents Department.

How do I look up a document?

  1. Use WebCat to find the SuDOC call # for the subject/book you are looking for.
  2. Open the appropriate shelf for the # you are looking for by pressing the red button in and cranking the shelf in the desired direction.
  3. The shelves are divided into 3-foot sections that read from top to bottom, left to right.
  4. Search for the beginning letter and then:
    • if the next is a letter, it will come first
    • if the next is a number, it will come after the letters

Just Remember: In the SuDoc classification system, letters before numbers. 1.35 (for example) reads as 1. "35" and so comes after 1.4 (forget what you learned in math, these do not read like decimals). Consult our SuDoc tutorial for more help.

Tip: We maintain a list of government documents that may be helpful for specific academic courses.

Did You Know?

Did you know that the first 1 or 2 characters in a call # stand for the government department that produced it? For more information on SuDoc classification in addition to the following,

A Agriculture EP Enviro.Pro. JU Judiciary SBA Small Business
C Commerce HE Health L Labor SSA Social Security
D Defense HH Housing NAS NASA T Treasury
E Energy I Interior PREX Exec.Office TD Transportation
ED Education J Justice S State Y Congress

Government Documents can not be taken out of the library, but they may be photocopied and oftentimes they are smaller pamphlets and books that can be viewed in one sitting.

You can also find government information using the library's Research Databases, primarily in GPO Monthly Catalog, PAIS International, and WorldCat. Many citations will have links to online full-text documents.

Other Interesting Information

Under the call # D 114.7: we have a series that contains more than 20 books covering different aspects of WWII and other wars. For example: United States Army in World War II: The Last Offensive D 114.7:EU 7/v.9

In the 1st aisle of the shelves (Gov. Docs reference area), you can find a few binders that say "BACKGROUND NOTES" with the call # S 1.123. In these are small booklets that contain info such as the geography, economy, history, etc. about all different places in the world.

Under the call # C 3.134: we have copies (actual books, not the Internet!) of the Statistical Abstract of the United States from 1919-21, 1924, 1928, 1933-36, 1938, and 1941-98.

Website to Try for Online Government Documents

GPO Access (from the Gov. Printing Office)

The Michigan Electronic Library -- Government, Politics, and Law

THOMAS, the Library of Congress legislative info

The Hekman Library has Census info all the way back to 1950. Look for it under the call # C 3.223 to C3.224.

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Contact us with any questions or suggestions.
1855 Knollcrest Circle SE Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 Phone: (616) 526-7197 Fax: (616) 526-6470