97-76 C
March 25, 1998
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
How to Find Information in a Library
Suzy Platt
Information Management Specialist
Congressional Reference Division
Summary
For constituents who want to learn more about the topics that interest them, the
Congressional Research Service has prepared this guide to locating information in
libraries. It includes sources of background information (encyclopedias, almanacs,
business directories, statistics, and biographical directories), current information from
newspapers and magazines, organizations, foundations, government, politics, legislation,
and books and periodicals. It lists a number of Internet search engines. This report will
be updated from time to time.
Background
Members of Congress receive thousands of requests daily from constituents wanting
information about a wide variety of subjects. Many inquiries relate to current laws and
legislation or topics of shared public and congressional interest and concern, but others
are the types of reference or research questions that are handled routinely in libraries.
The Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, in assisting
congressional offices to respond to questions from their constituents, is limited in both
the time and the material it can expend in answering these requests; its primary duty is to
provide information to Congress and to help Congress meet its legislative responsibilities.
However, in an effort to provide as much assistance as possible to constituents wishing
additional information on their subjects, we offer the following suggestions on using
materials in local libraries.
How to Find Information in a Local Library
Libraries today serve as clearinghouses for practical information as much as
collections of learning, research, and bestsellers. Librarians can help one learn how a
certain holiday originated, which agency to contact to lodge a consumer complaint, which
food processor to buy, and much more.
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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Most areas have a city or county public library to help with reference and research
problems. College and university libraries often provide some public access to their
collections. Even a small library has resources that, if used creatively, can often answer
a question or at least suggest a source where information can be found.
Every library has a reference collection of books for use in the library, including
encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, periodical indexes, biographical directories,
compilations of statistics, and so on. They can provide a great deal of information
quickly. Many libraries have electronic online searching, usually for a fee, and CD-
ROMs for readers to use themselves. Many provide access to the Internet and the World
Wide Web.
This guide gives examples of some of the general reference works that can be found
in many libraries and that will help find the needed information. There are many more
sources, both general and subject-oriented, available in libraries. Some of the
publications in this guide may be available only at larger public or research libraries, or
at libraries which are depositories for U.S. government publications, which by law must
be open to the public for their depository collections.
Internet Access
There are a number of Internet World Wide Web search engines, some of which
cover several other search engines; these are labeled “multi” on the list below.
All-in-One
[http://www.albany.net/allinone]
AltaVista
[http://www.altavista.digital.com]
Excite
[http://www.excite.com]
Hotbot
[http://www.hotbot.com]
InfoSeek
[http://www.infoseek.com]
Lycos
[http://www.lycos.com]
Metacrawler (multi)
[http://www.beta.metacrawler.com]
[http://metacrawler.cs.washington.edu:8080]
Northern Lights
[http://www.nlsearch.com]
Open Text
[http://www.opentext.com]
ProFusion (multi)
[http://www.designlab.ukan.edu/profusion]
SavvySearch (multi)
[http://guaraldi.cs.colostate.edu:2000/form?beta]
Yahoo
[http://www.yahoo.com]

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, sources can change, appear, or
disappear without warning.
General Background Information
Among the most useful reference works are encyclopedias, which provide brief
information on a great many topics. Many libraries have several encyclopedias, such as
the World Book Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Americana, Encyclopaedia Britannica, and
Academic American Encyclopedia.
Almanacs such as the World Almanac and the Information Please Almanac provide
in a compact form brief information on a great many topics. They have historical
information, statistics, lists of winning teams, election results, etc.
One of the best places to find statistics of every kind about the United States is the
Statistical Abstract, published annually by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
and available in nearly every library. Other useful government publications are Historical
Statistics of the United States from Colonial Times to 1970, Public Papers of the
Presidents, the annual Budget of the United States Government, and the Occupational
Outlook Handbook, among many, many others.
Biographical information, whether about people living now or historical figures, can
be found in many places. In addition to what the encyclopedias can provide, Webster’s
Biographical Dictionary and the Dictionary of American Biography are useful. For
current newsmakers, one can start with Current Biography, Who’s Who in America, or
Biography Index. Some of these sources are available electronically.
Businesses and corporations are listed in Moody’s Industrial Manual, Standard &
Poor’s Register of Corporations, Directors, and Executives, Hoover’s Handbook of
American Business, Ward’s Business Directory of U.S. Private and Public Companies,
and the Thomas Register of American Manufacturers. There are many specialized
directories that list businesses by location or by industry.
Current Information
The latest information on topics of current interest can generally be found in
newspapers and magazines. By using periodical indexes, one can find articles on a
particular topic or by a particular author. One of the most widely-used general magazine
indexes is the Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature. Others are Magazine Index
(microform or electronic), Social Sciences Index, and Public Affairs Information Service
Bulletin (known as PAIS). Examples of indexes on special topics are: Art Index,
Education Index, Humanities Index, and General Science Index. There are also periodical
articles available on CD-ROMs.
A number of U.S. newspapers publish indexes, and the one most often used is the
New York Times Index. A weekly news summary, Facts on File, can be used to find the
date of an event and a brief summary.

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Organizations and Foundations
Organizations can be useful sources of information when printed sources fail. There
are thousands of national associations in the United States, ranging from very small to
very large, and they can often provide information on a topic or point out other sources
that may be contacted. A guide to these organizations is the Encyclopedia of
Associations, which comes out annually and lists more than 22,000 groups. Many
organizations have World Wide Web pages on the Internet, and often their reports are
available there.
Foundations are of interest to people who are looking for funds for various purposes,
although most grants are to groups rather than individuals. The Foundation Center,
headquartered in New York, has a library in every state and publishes the Foundation
Directory, which lists the principal grant-making foundations in the United States.
Government, Politics, and Legislation
Executive Branch
The federal government is large and complicated, and has a bewildering number of
agencies and bureaus. The United States Government Manual can help people discover
which agency to contact for information, as it lists all the government departments and
agencies and explains what they do.
The Washington Information Directory, an annual publication, tells which
government agencies, congressional committees, and private groups in Washington, D.C.,
are interested in particular topics. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance lists the
government programs that give money to groups or individuals for particular purposes
and explains how to apply. The Government Assistance Almanac by J. Robert
Dumouchel (Detroit, Omnigraphics. Annual), a guide to the Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance, reduces the information to “the essentials.” On the World Wide Web, the
Catalog is available at: [http://www.gsa.gov/fdac/queryfdac.htm]
Two World Wide Web sites are the GovBot Database of Government Web Sites
[http://pardoo.umass.edu/GovBot] and the Government Printing Office’s GPO Access
[http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aaces001.html].
Legislative Branch
The Congressional Directory is the official directory of Congress, with lists of
Members and committees, biographical information on Members, statistics, and so on.
Two privately-published books are also good sources of information on Members of
Congress: Almanac of American Politics (Washington, National Journal) by Michael
Barone and Politics in America, published by Congressional Quarterly, Inc. All are
published every 2 years.
The Congressional Record is the official record of congressional activity. Another
publication that reports on the activities of Congress is Congressional Quarterly Weekly
Report, published by Congressional Quarterly, Inc. The Weekly Report is cumulated into

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an annual Almanac. The National Journal is another weekly that reports on activities of
Congress, although its emphasis is more on the executive branch.
The Congressional Information Service, Inc., collects congressional publications and
laws and issues them on microfiche along with the printed CIS Index/Abstracts, which
provides a subject approach to publications (reports, hearings, documents) of Congress.
Laws passed by Congress are published in the United States Statutes at Large, and
the permanent general laws are later collected and codified into the United States Code.
Regulations are first published in the Federal Register and are later codified into the Code
of Federal Regulations.
An extremely useful source for legislation is THOMAS, legislative information on
the Internet: [http://thomas.loc.gov]. It has public laws and bill summaries since 1973,
House and Senate roll call votes for several years, the Congressional Record text and
index since 1994, bills full text since 1993, links to committee Home Pages, and other
things.
State Government
Each state generally issues a “blue book” listing officers of the state government,
members of the legislature, state boards and commissions, and so on. A source providing
brief information for all the states is the Book of the States. One of its supplements, State
Officials Classified by Function, lists all the state departments of health, labor, and so on.
Books and Periodicals
One finds out what books and periodicals are in a library through its catalog, whether
a card catalog, microfiche, online, or other version. Many libraries have access to
catalogs of other libraries in their state or region, and may have access to catalogs of other
libraries as well. For example, there is online access to the Library of Congress catalogs
at the following address:
[http://www.loc.gov/homepage/online.html]
There are various guides to help one find out about books and periodicals in general.
Books in Print (BIP) is a listing of all the books currently on sale and available from U.S.
publishers and bookstores. BIP lists books by author and title; its companion, Subject
Guide to Books in Print, lists them by subject. The Cumulative Book Index (CBI)
lists—by author, title, and subject—books published in English anywhere in the world.
Periodicals can be identified in such bibliographies as Standard Periodical Directory,
Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media, and Ulrich’s International Serials
Directory. Several of these directories are available online as well.

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