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Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP): Search Tips

The Catalog, which dates from 1994, uses WAIS database search software that provides several search options. There are fielded searches and search terms may be combined by using Boolean logic. Using either or both of these features yields more precise search results. The more specific the query is defined, the more relevant the search results will be. However, if unfamiliar with how records are formatted or how the search mechanism works, a query can be too specific and yield no results.

Formulating Searches | Stopwords | Sample Searches | Interpreting Results

Formulating Searches

Begin by choosing the terms you wish to search. A search term may be words, initials, or numbers. Search terms can be subject terms; an author's, editor's, or organization's name; words in a title or series; geographic terms; format terms (such as computer file, database, microfiche, video recording, etc.); or identifying numbers or dates.

Once the search terms are identified, they should be entered in the appropriate field or combination of fields. For most users the keyword or title search will be sufficient. The entire bibliographic record is searched when a keyword is used. This is a much broader search, and likely to produce more results than a title search which only searches the title field of the record. Searching fields is recommended particularly when looking for a known item.

Stopwords

Like many database search systems, the WAIS search mechanism employs the use of "stop words." These are common words that the system ignores, therefore they do not have to be included in a search string. The CGP stopword list includes only 10 words.

adj
and
for
nor
the
an
as
from
or
to

Sample Searches (11)

Online Titles | Agency Name | Report Number | Title | SuDoc Class Number | Depository Item Number
GPO Stock Number | Publication Date | Cataloging Date | Multiple Field

1. Search for Online Titles

Use the Keyword search (online titles) function to create a subset of the CGP that only includes titles available online. Include PURL or http as part of your search strategy. Combine this with strategies described in the BASIC SEARCHING section to locate topical information. This strategy can also be used with the name of a Government agency or to conduct numerical searches, but only records for online titles will be retrieved.

2. Search by Agency Name

Search for agencies from the Keyword Search option. Enter the query as a phrase containing significant words from the agency name. "The" and "of" are stopwords and are not necessary to enter. Department, when part of a title of a work, is always spelled out. In all other instances (e.g., publishing agency or subject) it is abbreviated as dept. The order in which terms are entered affects results. Entering "state dep*" will not retrieve the entries for the Department of State. If you are unsure of the correct word order, enter a search string with both options: "state dept" OR "dept state".

Since an agency publishes many different titles, it is helpful to include one or more subject terms as well as the agency name. For example, to search for publications on post traumatic stress disorder issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs, enter the keyword query:

"dept. veterans affairs" AND "post traumatic stress"

3. Search by Report Number

Search for publications by report number and other identifying numbers by enclosing the complete number to be searched in quotation marks.

Report Number Examples: "EPA/600/R-94/038a" "JPL 400-363" "Serial no. 105-87"
Accession and Order Number Examples: "ED 331282" "N 92-22208" "PB 93-100048"
Contract and Grant Number Examples: "DE-AC07-761D01" "A63972" "307-51-08-04"
Quotation marks are also effective in searching for publications by other kinds of numbers including: series, task, project, and International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN).

4. Search by Title

It is not necessary to know the exact title of a Government information product to use the title field. Results will display records with the search terms anywhere within the title field. Boolean logic, phrase searching, and other basic search techniques described above can be used in the title field. When a keyword search results in too many records, using the title search is a viable alternative. For example, a keyword search of drug* AND teen* resulted in 78 hits, while producing only 5 as a title search.

5. Search by SuDoc (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. 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.

For a more information about the SuDoc classification system see An Explanation of the Superintendent of Documents Classification System and the GPO Classification Manual.

6. Search by Depository Item Number

Depository item numbers are used to identify categories of publications or specific periodicals, looseleaf services, and other continuing publications selected by Federal depository libraries for their collections. Item numbers can be used to find a particular kind of publication issued by a Federal agency. It also may be used as a tool to assist depository librarians refine their item selections.

An example of a Depository Item Number is: 1008-D. Information in parentheses following an item number identifies that the item is available in microfiche (MF), paper (P), electronic (E), or online (Online). It is not necessary to use these in the search string, but if used, the parentheses must be omitted.

7. Search by GPO Stock Number

The GPO sales stock number is a unique twelve digit number assigned to each item available for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office. An example of a GPO Stock Number is: 030-001-00168-7. When using this field to search, do not enclose the stock number in quotations. Only if the stock number is used in the via keyword search in combination with other search terms, should the number be enclosed in quotation marks.

8. Search by Publication Date

The publication date field can be used to limit a search to information published in a specific year or for a range of years. Remember, although the database contains records created since January 1994, there may be publications with earlier publication dates. The field appears as:

Publication date search:
TO

Simply enter the date range, using four digits for the year, to conduct a publication date search. To find publications issued in single year, put the date in both date fields. For example, if the publication year is 1994, use [1994] to [1994]. Do not leave either date field blank, doing so will produce an inexact search result.

9. Search by Cataloging Date

The cataloging date search can be used to limit search results to titles cataloged during a specific time period. The <005> field of a MARC record is the cataloging date and time stamp and appears in this sample as:

<005> 19990922103100.0
The initial eight numbers refer to the date (yyyy/mm/dd) in which the record was created by GPO. In this case the date is September 22, 1999. The remaining numbers represent the time of day the cataloging record was generated.

When using this search strategy the asterisk (*) must be used after the numeric representation of the date. This truncation alerts the search mechanism to ignore the time stamp numbers in the rest of the <005> string. Please note that use of leading zeros is required for this search, e.g., 09 for September or 08 for the 8th day of a month.

Examples of searches and results:

Search Result
199909* AND PURL Cataloging records created in September 1999 for publications available online
199902* AND "Dept. of Justice" Cataloging records created in February 1999 for Dept. of Justice publications
19990208* Cataloging records created February 8, 1999
1999020* AND "Dept. of Justice" Cataloging records created between February 1, 1999 and February 9, 1999 for Dept. of Justice publications

Searching for a wide date range of records will often retrieve too much material for the system to handle. When expecting a number that exceeds the maximum that the the database permits, break down your search into smaller blocks of days:

Search Result
1998011* Cataloging records created between January 10, 1998 and January 19, 1998

10. Search by Multiple Fields

To narrow search results and to retrieve more useful records, conduct a multiple field query. Choose from Title, Superintendent of Documents Class Number, Depository Item Number, GPO Sales Stock Number, or Publication Date searches then click the SUBMIT button. A search form that meets your specifications is generated. Once the form is produced, all chosen fields must be used to achieve accurate results. Chosen fields cannot be left blank. Use the search protocols described above for each of the chosen fields.

Interpreting Results

Summary Records | Record Displays

Summary Records

The search results lists present a summary record for each publication. The summary record includes the title, format (i.e. microfiche, CD-ROM), date of publication, issuing agency, SuDocs Class Number and [[Depository Item Number]]. If the publication is available online, a direct link is provided. If the title is for sale by GPO, a GPO Stock Number will also be supplied. See the sample below:

ATF, the youth crime gun interdiction initiative : crime gun trace analysis reports : the illegal youth firearms markets in 17 communities. 1997] United States. T 70.2:C 86. GPO stock no.: 048-012-00106-6. [[0971-B]].
http://www.atf.treas.gov/core/firearms/ycgii/ycgii.htm
Rank: 329 Locate Libraries, Short Record, Full Record

Once a publication is identified, a link is available to locate Federal depository libraries that received that publication. A search for libraries can be conducted by area code or state.

Record Displays

  • The Short Record provides a user-friendly display with the basic information one needs to locate or cite a source.
  • The Full Record, on the other hand, provides the complete and detailed MARC21 catalog record for the publication. Both displays have direct links to online versions of the publication if they are available. Looking at the fields in a MARC21 record provides an opportunity to see the record structure which could prove beneficial in refining a search.