Political Science

There are a few things which make Government Documents searching a little bit different from other catalog searches:

• Government Documents Call Number
• Online/Electronic Versions of Government Documents
  

The Government Documents call number

If you need to search for a government document by its call number, we recommend that you go to the Numbers tab and start with the OCLC Call Number option in the drop-down menu.

Contrary to popular belief (and the catalog help screen), this recommendation applies to both U.S. federal and Texas state government documents.

If you are unable to locate a U.S. federal document using the Other Call Number search, then try a SuDoc Number search. But in most cases, the “Other” search is more dependable.

Additional tips

• Make sure you enter the proper punctuation in a call number search. The online catalog is very “picky” about punctuation in call numbers.
• Don’t rely on OCLC or WorldCat call numbers. They are often incorrect or different. If you find something in a WorldCat record, it’s best to search for the UNT copy by title rather than call number.
• Speaking of WorldCat, please be aware that UNT government documents holdings are not listed in WorldCat. It’s necessary to search our own UNT catalog to see if we have an item in our collection.

Online [Electronic] versions of Government Documents

Did you know that a large percentage of government publications are available online? And it’s not just the new stuff, either.

Unfortunately, though, you can’t just limit your search to “electronic resources” if you’re looking for online government documents. Nor can you limit your material type to “ebooks” or “ejournals”.

To find an online version of a government document, you must do a regular catalog search as if you are looking for a paper book. 

Look for the “related content” button on the browse screen for your title. This signifies that there is a hyperlink of some sort in the record. 

 You’ll probably also notice that the paper book, paper map, and online versions of this title are all together on one record.  Due to the way government documents are issued, we’ve found that it’s easier for patrons to find all the parts and formats of a title if they are all included on the same record. Unfortunately, this also means that limiting searches to a particular format is not always productive.

So remember, if you’re looking for an online government document, don’t limit your search by format or material type.

Bonus tip

If you find a government documents microfiche title in our catalog, and there’s no link to an online version in our catalog, try “googling” the title.  Many of those gov docs microfiche titles are available online, even if our UNT catalog doesn’t show it. And most students would much rather read an online version than a microfiche version.

And of course, ALWAYS feel free to contact the Government Documents staff if you are unable to find something in the catalog. We know this stuff can be difficult to search for.