Fundamentals of Government Information: Mining, Finding, Evaluating, and Using Government Resources

by Erice J. Forte, Cassandra J. Hartnett, Andrea L. Sevetson

Government information is an integral part of library work. Sifting through the massive amount of government data available to find the answers and current information you and your patrons need, however, can be difficult and overwhelming. Fundamentals of Government Information will bring ease and effectiveness to this daunting process by providing you with the background knowledge and tools needed to quickly access the very best government information resources. Here, the editors pool their extensive experience to present, in an approachable and well-organized style, the most current online and print government information resources available. You will find models and techniques throughout, as well as more than 50 chapter exercises. Key topics Essential government resources, the nature of government information, and government rules and regulations; The court system and judicial law; Statistical resources like the Statistical Abstract of the United States; Health information and PubMed General scientific information and scientific publishing agencies like NASA and the United States Geologic Survey (USGS); Environmental and energy resources from agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy Consumer information from sources such as the Pew Center on the Internet and American Life and Census data.

Genres: Library Science, Nonfiction, Librarianship, Government

396 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2011

Reviews

[Ansate · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars means "I'm going to read it again."[return]I think the thing that strikes me most is the dialogue - confusion, empathy and sarcastic humor all manage to come across mainly through what people say instead of through the brute force of character description. Even when we do get character description it's usually more about what else they do than a list of adjectives. I can identify with Elinborg's baking, Sigurder Oli's stress about getting home to his wife, and Erlender's solitairy reading habit. [return]The only thing that stuck me as off were the scenes with Marion Briem - probably because they are meant to be outside the normal flow of the investigation. They just feel like a running joke from the author that I'm not in on. [return]This has the true hallmark of a good mystery - I didn't figure out whodunit, but it made sense when revealed. (The previous book in the series seems more of a procedural - I didn't think I had enough clues to try to guess. That's fine too, but I do like a good mystery.)[return]I'm looking forward to the American edition of the next book!

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is quite lively for what may seem to be a dull subject. By the end of it, I found myself looking forward to the next reference question that could be answered by visiting a government website. The authors highlight and describe government documents and the structure and functions of the U.S. government. Along the way, they provide tips and strategies for finding and using government information. Some government resources have changed already (e.g., THOMAS is being replaced by Congress.gov; and the Statistical Abstract of the United States is no longer published by the U.S. government). Nevertheless, the book is still extremely useful and helpful for librarians of all kinds in showing how the government works and how one can tap into the vast array of information published by governments, even state, local, tribal, and international.

[Matt Raymond · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took this class, and bought this book, because I wanted to learn about government librarianship. This book certainly did that & then some! I think this was the most helpful & interesting of all my textbooks, which is saying something because library textbooks are usually boring & tend to repeat themselves. And it probably helped that this was the most recent text on the subject, at least according to my teacher. I could see myself reading an update of this, since much has changed in a short time.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book yhas been the highlight of my Government Information class. It isn't perfect. Even being published last year, it already is inaccurate in references to GPOAccess (now all migrated to FDSys) and Google Uncle Sam (now retired). More immediately, large chunks of the Census Bureau have been defunded in the latest House budget so the much discussed American Community Survey (ACS) may be dead.

Even for all the time-relevant information, this one will be going on my work reference shelf.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gives a decent overview of how government activity relates to the documents that the government publishes. It also provides some good pointers to resources for information as well as ways of thinking about how to get to the information you need from a government agency. Though there is benefit to reading it cover to cover, I think I will value it even more as a point of reference.

[Kellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

More current as to 2011. Favorite section "Sources Mentioned in this Chapter" at the end of every chapter for quick reference.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

great overview to the fabulous world of government documents!

[Kelsey Badger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, I'm giving a textbook five stars. It's that good.