U.S. Government Documents 

FDsys

Government information currently available on GPO Access is in the process of being migrated to this web site. Migration to this site will be completed in 2009.

GPO Access

Includes bills (full-text 1993 forward), history of bills, calendars, documents & reports (full-text 1995 forward), Congressional Record and its Index, public laws (full-text 1994 forward), the U.S. Code, Congressional Directory, and a history of line item veto notices.

Hein Online U. S. Congressional Documents (Princeton faculty, students and staff only)

Provides online access to the Annals of Congress (1789-1824), Register of Debates (1824-1837) and Congressional Globe (1833-1873), and the Congressional Record (1973-current). In addition, the American State Papers and the Journals of the Continental Congress are available.

Legislative Sourcebook (Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.)

Includes a weekly list of newly released hearings, newly enacted public laws, a table of Congressional publication volumes and Presidential issuances, and a guide to the U.S. Serial Set.

Lexis-Nexis Congressional (Princeton faculty, students and staff only)

Includes the Congressional Record, bills and bill tracking (full-text 1989 forward), legislative histories, public laws (full-text 1988 forward), hearings (full-text of 30-40% from 1988 forward), documents (full-text 1995 forward), reports (full-text 1990 forward), committee prints (selective full-text 1995 forward), biographical, financial and voting information for members of Congress.

The Serial Set is a composite of nearly all House and Senate reports and documents published since 1817. It includes committee reports related to bills and other matters, presidential communications to Congress, treaty materials, certain executive department publications, and certain non-governmental publications. The precursor to the Serial Set is a privately published collection called the American State Papers.

Paper holdings

• American State Papers 1st-14th Congress (1789-1817):  located in Annex A (request retrieval through the  Main Catalog)
• Serial Set 15th-103rd Congress (1817-1994):  located in Annex A, arranged by Congress and document number (request retrieval through the  Main Catalog)
• 104th-105th Congress (1995-1998): located in Recap. Request retrieval through the Main Catalog.
  
• Serial Set 104th to date (1995- ):  located in the U.S. Documents Collection (Social Science Reference Center), arranged by Congress and document number

Microfiche holdings:

• Serial Set and American State Papers (1789-1969):  located in Recap. Request retrieval through the Main Catalog.
• Serial Set 91st Congress to date (1970- ):  located on C floor (C-16-F), arranged by year and CIS number

Full text of House and Senate Reports from the 1st Congress-90th Congress (1789-1969) can be searched and obtained via Lexis-Nexis Congressional. Full text of House and Senate Reports from the 91st Congress to current will be available in 2009 via Lexis-Nexis Congressional. Full text of from the 104th Congress to date (1995- ) via THOMAS.

Note: Senate Executive Documents and Reports were not included in Serial Set until 96th Congress (1979). They are indexed in CIS Index to U.S. Senate Executive Documents and Reports (located in the SSRC).

• 15th-90th Congress (1817- 1969):  microfiche 2069, located in Microforms Service (C Floor, Firestone Library), arranged by Congress, session, and CIS number
• 91st-95th Congress (1970-1978):  on microfiche, located on C floor (C-16-F), arranged by year and CIS number

The general public is welcome to use depository materials free of charge. For access information and hours, please consult the the online hours (choose "Firestone Library - Depository Access" from the drop down menu), Access Information Page, and the Firestone Access Office. 

PLEASE NOTE:  While the general public is welcome to use depository materials free of charge, many of our U.S. Government resources, including many of the resources listed in this research guide, are not depository materials and may only be used by Princeton University students, faculty, and staff.  This includes most of the electronic resources such as Lexis Congressional and Hein Online.

Princeton University Library adheres to the following policies set by the Goverment Printing Office: FDLP Internet Use Policy Guidelines and Depository Library Public Service Guidelines for Government Information in Electronic Formats.