U.S. Government Full Text Databases Via the Internet
GPO ACCESS is an Internet site maintained by the U.S. Government Printing Office. The free services of GPO ACCESS fall within the following categories:
- full-text searchable documents for regulatory, Congressional, and business databases like the Federal Register, Congressional Record, Commerce Business Dailyand many more.
- a directory of Federal Depository Libraries and a search for what is available in these collections.
- access to the Federal Bulletin Board and more than 4,500 agency files.
- useful reference tools to assist in finding government information like the Sales Product Catalog (formerly PRF), Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (MOCAT), Pathway Indexer and more.
- User Support services.
Access
GPO ACCESS is available at the GPO ACCESS site on the web, through Federal Depository Gateways, and at Federal Depository Libraries like McIntyre Library. Users with telnet capability or a modem can access the databases directly from GPO or through a gateway library.
This guide covers Internet web access. Information on other access methods is available online at the GPO ACCESS site and in the Government Publications Department. Workstations in the Department feature Netscape bookmarks for the GPO ACCESS site as well as selected gateway sites. Adobe Acrobat Reader is available to view, print, and download PDF files.
In addition to the GPO ACCESS site alternate access through a Depository Library Gateway site may provide and easier-to-use interface. Two recomended sites include:
Additional gateway sites are listed on the GPO Access search page.
Full-Text Databases
The following databases are available as of August, 1998; additional databases will be added and will be listed at the GPO ACCESS site.
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Decide What You Need
Complete database descriptions can be found on the GPO ACCESS site. Because there are more than 30 GPO ACCESS databases, it helps to narrow your search before beginning. Your results will be improved if you limit your search to selected databases, such as the Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Code, or the Congressional databases. In many cases knowing the date of the requested information will help to select the correct database.
Basic Search Tips
- Select the database(s) by highlighting your choice, or click in a check box, varies with GPO Access version.
- Enter a word or phrase. Enclose phrases in quotation marks.
- To use Boolean logic in a search form, input AND, OR, or NOT in capitalletters. The default is OR if you do not specify AND or NOT.
- Broaden the search by using an asterisk for truncation. For example, congress will also search for congresses, congressional, etc.
- Advanced searches through the use of named fields is available for some databases.
Additional GPO Access Applications
In addition to the document databases, GPO the site also features the following search sites:
| GILS | The Government Information Locator Service-search all available Federal GILS sites. |
| Pathway Services | An indexed search of more than 1350 agency and military web sites. |
| MOCAT | Catalog of U.S. Government Publications: search and retrieve cataloging records of titles available at Federal Depository Libraries, 1994-. |
| SPC | Sales Product catalog: search and order government publications (formerly PRF). |
Please ask for assistance with this or any government Internet site.
