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Locating United States government information: A guide to sources
0277-9390/84$3.00 + .OO
Government PubiicalionsReview, Vol. 11,pp. 235-243,1984
Copyright * 1984 Pergamon Press Ltd
Printed in the USA. Ail rights reserved.
BOOK
BRUCE
RE VI.. WS
MORTON
The Library, Carlton College, Northfield, MN 55057
Locating United States Government Information: A Guide to Sources. By Edward Herman. Buffalo, NY: W.S. Hein, 1983.250 p. $27.50 (cloth); $20.00 (paper). ISBN O-89941-182-7 (cloth); O-89941-245-9 (paper). A show and tell workbook are the words that best describe the newest entrant to lists of available training aids for users of government information. The format is considerably different from previously published texts used to train library school students: Schmeckebier, Morehead, or Boyd. The utility of this new volume is to teach social science and law students, attorneys, marketing researchers, and other library users to cope with some of the principal sources of information to be found in document collections. Individual chapters address key groups of publications: general comprehensive indexes, statistics, technical reports, the Freedom of Information Act, and their main access tools. Step by step procedures are given for tracing legisiation and other types of research. Chapter 11, “Using the Freedom of lnformation and Privacy Acts,” is a convenient place to look for direction on how to obtain information under their provisions. Reproductions of actual documents (e.g., ~on?~Iy Catalog entries, Covernment Reports Announcements keyword indexes, and Public Laws) are interspersed with the instructional information. Each chapter is followed by a quiz, answers to the quiz, and a list for further reading. Both official government and commercially published reference tools are included. This book is not intended to provide comprehensive coverage of retrospective indexes, nor is it intended to describe the variations and changes of indexing procedures over the years or to discuss their strengths and weaknesses. It does cover a select list of intensively used sources. Since the titles or groups covered are those first taught to users, the workbook could be used by a documents librarian who has not already established instructional guidelines for teaching workshops. There is an index that mainly covers titles discussed in the text; authors and titles mentioned in the various lists of publications for further reading are not indexed. Also presented in tabular form by the index are the types of indexing available (subject, title, report number, etc.) in specific reference works. Mr. Herman impresses the reader as being a thoughtful and thorough teacher, achieving a result consistent with the goals of this book. CATHARINE .I. REYNOLDS Head, Government Publications Library University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, CO 80309 U.S.A.
Repertory of Disarmament Research. United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. Geneva: Palais Des Nations, 1982. 449 pp. $30.00. ISBN 92-9045-002-9. (Distributed by UNlPUB, P.O. Box 433, Murray Hill Station, New York, NY 10157.) The Repertory is presented as the first product of an automated system, established by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research “for the collection, processing and dissemination of information on the arms race.” It is intended to be both a reference work and a practical working tool for “diplomats, officials, academics, journalists, members of non-governmental organizations [and] stu235
Government PubiicalionsReview, Vol. 11,pp. 235-243,1984
Copyright * 1984 Pergamon Press Ltd
Printed in the USA. Ail rights reserved.
BOOK
BRUCE
RE VI.. WS
MORTON
The Library, Carlton College, Northfield, MN 55057
Locating United States Government Information: A Guide to Sources. By Edward Herman. Buffalo, NY: W.S. Hein, 1983.250 p. $27.50 (cloth); $20.00 (paper). ISBN O-89941-182-7 (cloth); O-89941-245-9 (paper). A show and tell workbook are the words that best describe the newest entrant to lists of available training aids for users of government information. The format is considerably different from previously published texts used to train library school students: Schmeckebier, Morehead, or Boyd. The utility of this new volume is to teach social science and law students, attorneys, marketing researchers, and other library users to cope with some of the principal sources of information to be found in document collections. Individual chapters address key groups of publications: general comprehensive indexes, statistics, technical reports, the Freedom of Information Act, and their main access tools. Step by step procedures are given for tracing legisiation and other types of research. Chapter 11, “Using the Freedom of lnformation and Privacy Acts,” is a convenient place to look for direction on how to obtain information under their provisions. Reproductions of actual documents (e.g., ~on?~Iy Catalog entries, Covernment Reports Announcements keyword indexes, and Public Laws) are interspersed with the instructional information. Each chapter is followed by a quiz, answers to the quiz, and a list for further reading. Both official government and commercially published reference tools are included. This book is not intended to provide comprehensive coverage of retrospective indexes, nor is it intended to describe the variations and changes of indexing procedures over the years or to discuss their strengths and weaknesses. It does cover a select list of intensively used sources. Since the titles or groups covered are those first taught to users, the workbook could be used by a documents librarian who has not already established instructional guidelines for teaching workshops. There is an index that mainly covers titles discussed in the text; authors and titles mentioned in the various lists of publications for further reading are not indexed. Also presented in tabular form by the index are the types of indexing available (subject, title, report number, etc.) in specific reference works. Mr. Herman impresses the reader as being a thoughtful and thorough teacher, achieving a result consistent with the goals of this book. CATHARINE .I. REYNOLDS Head, Government Publications Library University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, CO 80309 U.S.A.
Repertory of Disarmament Research. United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. Geneva: Palais Des Nations, 1982. 449 pp. $30.00. ISBN 92-9045-002-9. (Distributed by UNlPUB, P.O. Box 433, Murray Hill Station, New York, NY 10157.) The Repertory is presented as the first product of an automated system, established by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research “for the collection, processing and dissemination of information on the arms race.” It is intended to be both a reference work and a practical working tool for “diplomats, officials, academics, journalists, members of non-governmental organizations [and] stu235