The United States Congress passes hundreds of laws every year. Each step in the legislative process is recorded officially in a US government publication or document, and may be reprinted by any private publisher. This primary source material includes: printed Congressional hearings, committee reports or documents, public laws, and federal regulations. In addition, numerous published secondary sources may annotate, analyze, criticize, or summarize the legislative actions, and provide appropriate background information. This pathfinder includes an annotated list of primary and secondary source material. A supplementary list is also included to identify the judicial sources and regulatory agencies involved in the interpretation and regulation of a law once it has been passed.		Table of Contents: Legislative History Information Sources Primary Supplementary Sources Secondary Supplementary Sources Indexes to Journals and Newspapers Internet Web Sites LEGISLATIVE HISTORY SOURCE CHART

Almanac of American Politics
Gives data for Congressional districts. (Also in paper format in Reference)

Congressional Districts in the 1990's: A Portrait of America - Ref./JK/1341/.C64/1993
Look here for information about a Representative and his/her district.

CONGRESSIONAL INFORMATION SERVICE (CIS) - Docs. Ref. Z / 1223 / Z7 / C6
Indexes and abstracts to the publications of Congressional committees, including hearings, documents and reports, and committee prints. Monthly, annual and cumulative. 1970-date. Our paper subscription to CIS Index ends with 1995. Congressional Compass online is the same database, and continues to the present.

CONGRESSIONAL DIRECTORY - Docs. Ref. Y 4 P93 / 1:1 /
"Who's Who" of the U. S. Congress and many executive agencies. Gives committee memberships and biographical data for representatives and Senators. Shelved in Docs. stacks; Latest edition in Docs. Ref.

CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY WEEKLY REPORT (CQ WEEKLY) - Ref. JK / 1 / C 15
CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY ALMANAC (CQ ALMANAC) - Ref. JK / 1 / C66
Weekly and annual summaries of major Congressional actions. The best place to find an overview of bills, committee votes and floor votes. 1945-date. Shelved in Docs. Ref. West area. Internet access is available for the CQ Weekly Report.

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - Docs. X.
A nearly verbatim account of floor proceedings in the House and Senate. Includes debates on bills, records of votes. In Docs. stacks through July, 1986. July 1986 to date in Docs. microfiche.

DIGEST OF PUBLIC GENERAL BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS - Docs. LC 14.6:
A tabular summary of Congressional actions, derived from the Congressional Record, with concise legislative histories. Arranged by Public Law numbers, bill numbers, personal name, and subject indexes. Shelved in Docs. stacks. Ceased in 1990. Current information on Internet at GPO Acess and Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet

PUBLIC PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENT - J / 80 / A283 Ref. J / 80 / A283
Contains all the President's public statements, such as press conferences, radio and TV appearances, remarks on bill signings, etc. This is a permanent bound version of the WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS. (Shelved in LC stacks; current President's papers in Ref.)

SERIAL SET - JV83
House & Senate Reports and Documents, 1817-date. Indexed to 1969 by Serial Set Index (Docs. Ref.Z / 1223 / Z9 / C65 / 1975), later by Monthly Catalog (Docs. Ref. GP 3.8:), and by Numerical Lists (at end of serial set).
Recent years of unbound House & Senate Documents and Reports are in Docs. Ref.; bound serial set volumes on Basement level of stacks.

SLIP LAW - Docs. Ref. AE 2.110:
Texts of individual laws, with brief legislative history. Superseded by Statutes at Large (Docs. AE 2.111:).

UNITED STATES CODE (USC) - Docs. Y 1.2 / 5:
UNITED STATES CODE ANNOTATED (USCA) - Ref. KF / 62 / 1927 / W45
The laws of the United States currently in force, arranged by subject matter into 50 "titles". US Code Annotated also cites pertinent regulations and Federal court cases. Available online at GPO Access and Congressional Compass

US CODE CONGRESSIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE NEWS (USCCAN) - Ref. KF / 48
Texts of public laws passed by Congress since 1941, in Public Law number order. Legislative history includes text of one or more House or Senate committee reports on the bill.

United States Congress
United States House of Representatives

UNITED STATES STATUTES AT LARGE - Docs. AE 2.111
Texts of public laws passed by Congress, in PL number order. Identical to USCCAN, but without legislative histories or annotations. 1860-1948 are in Docs. S 7.9:; 1949-1983 are in Docs. GS 4.111; 1984-date, are in Docs., AE 2.111:

WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS - Docs. AE 2.109: Docs. Ref. AE 2.109:
All the official statements of the President: press conferences, proclamations, speeches, remarks at bill signings, etc. Text is compiled into annual volumes as PUBLIC PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENT. Olin keeps both PUBLIC PAPERS and WEEKLY COMPILATION. Issues before 1986 are in Docs., GS 4.114: Current year in Docs. Ref.

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CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS - Docs. Ref. AE 2.106 / 3:
Currently effective regulations issued by executive and regulatory agencies. Codified by subject matter into fifty "titles". Index by subject , agency, US Code citation, and Public Law number is shelved after Title 50 . Updated daily by the Federal Register. Sample citation: 49 CFR Part 210

FEDERAL REGISTER - Docs. AE 2.106
Daily listing of new or proposed agency rules and regulations. Cumulated into Code of Federal Regulations. Current issues since June 1986 on microfiche , older issues in Documents stacks, under call numbers AE 2.6:, GS 4.107:, and AE 2.106:. Sample citation: 43 FR 12300.

UNITED STATES REPORTS - Docs. Ju 6.8:
Case decisions of the Supreme Court in the order in which they were decided, without annotations. Sample citation: 420 US 80

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT REPORTS: LAWYERS' EDITION and LAWYERS' EDITION 2ND - Ref. KF / 101 / A3
Case decisions of the Supreme Court, with summaries. Sample citation: 34 L Ed. 2nd 480 Indexed by subject and case name in UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DIGEST Ref. KF 101.1 / 1948

SUPREME COURT REPORTER. - KF / 101 / S9
Case decisions of the Supreme Court, with summaries. Sample citation: 98 SCt 542

FEDERAL REPORTER; FEDERAL REPORTER, SECOND SERIES; FEDERAL REPORTER, THIRD SERIES - Storage / Compact 8 / KAR83 / F29 KF / 105 / F432
Case decisions of the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, with summaries. Sample citation: 85 F 309 245 F2d 850 12 F3d 988

FEDERAL SUPPLEMENT - KF / 120 / F43
Case decisions of the Federal District courts, with summaries. Sample citation: 389 F. Supp. 233

FEDERAL DIGEST; MODERN FEDERAL PRACTICE DIGEST; FEDERAL PRACTICE DIGEST 2ND, 3RD, AND 4TH - KF / 127
Indexes by subject and case name to Supreme Court Reporter, Federal Reporter series, Federal Supplement.

US GOVERNMENT MANUAL - Ref. JK / 421 /A3
A directory of Federal executive agencies, listing officials, addresses, telephone numbers. Provides brief history of creation and function of agency. Current year in Ref., older years in stacks. Available online at GPO Access

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NATIONAL JOURNAL - Ref. JK / 1 / N28
Weekly summary of executive branch activities, as CQ is for Congress. Thematic articles included.

NATIONAL PARTY PLATFORMS, 1840-1976 - Ref. JK / 2255 / J64 / 1978
NATIONAL PARTY PLATFORMS, 1980 - Ref. JK / 2255 / J643
Campaign platforms of the major political parties for Presidential elections. Note: For party platforms since 1984, see Congressional Quarterly Almanac for appropriate year.

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NEW YORK TIMES INDEX - Ref. A1 / 21 / N44
Subject and name index to the New York Times. Olin Library has the Times on microfilm. Available online at Lexis-Nexis

WALL STREET JOURNAL INDEX - Ref. HG / 1 / W2 / Index
Olin Library has the index since 1958. The newspaper is on microfilm.

OFFICIAL WASHINGTON POST INDEX - Ref. AI / 21 / W33 / O54
Olin Library has the Post since 1961 on microfilm, and the index since 1982.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS INFORMATION SERVICE (PAIS) - Ref. Reading Room
Subject and name index to social science periodicals, books, and documents of the US and other governments. Cumulative index through 1974. Online since 1984 in OCLC FirstSearch under Public Affairs & Law.

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INTERNET WEB SITES

Congressional Compass

LC Thomas

Library of Congress's legislative site. Fro 1995- includes laws and legislative history. Continues information found in Digest of Public and General Bills. For 1991-1995, go to: Library of Congress home page-Links to other legislative, executive, and judicial sites.

GPO Access

Government Printing Offices's online access to legislative, executive, and judicial information. Includes legislative history. Same database as Thomas, but arranged differently.

Congressional Mega Sites Plus

Links to government, commercial, educational, and nonprofit sources of information about Congress.

U. S. Congress--Vote Smart

Biographical and political information on Representatives and Senators, including voting records.

Code of Federal Regulations (searchable)

Currently effective regulations issued by executive and regulatory agencies. Codified by subject matter into fifty "titles".

Lexis-Nexis

U. S. Senate gopher

U. S. Senate home page

U. S. House gopher

U. S. House home page

Congressional News and Analysis

United Nations home page

United Nations System

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LEGISLATIVE HISTORY SOURCE CHART

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