Presidential Papers in Government Documents @ Steen Library

Finding the Public Papers of the Presidents can be somewhat challenging because they are not all together in one place.  A recommendation in 1957 ensured that an annual series of the President’s papers would be compiled beginning with the fifth year of the Eisenhower Administration.  Provision was also made for retrospective collections.  An earlier resolution of July 27, 1894, directed Congress to gather and publish “all the annual, special, and veto messages, proclamations, and inaugural addresses” of the Presidents from 1789 to 1894.  This work was prepared under the Joint Committee on Printing under the direction of James D. Richardson, a representative from Tennessee.  Not every early message and presidential paper is included in this set, and other sources may need to be consulted.  The Steen government documents collection located in the SE corner of the 2^nd floor houses the following compilations:

• A compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897 by John D. Richardson. Washington, GPO.  1896-1899, 10 volumes. SFA Stacks: J81 .B96 Vol.#
  
  
• (A later edition of 20 volumes contains additional material through the Wilson Presidency, and paging is renumbered) SuDoc: Y 4.P93/1:3/1917 vol # (some volumes also available online through Google Books)
  
  
• Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States  (Herbert Hoover — Ronald Reagan,excluding Roosevelt) SuDoc: GS 4.113: (Herbert Hoover - Bill Clinton [1931-2002] online at:http://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/ppotpus/ )
  
  
• Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States  (Ronald Reagan [1984] –George W. Bush) SuDoc AE 2.114: (papers of George H.W. Bush—George W. Bush also online at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/pubpapers/search.html)
  
  
• The Congressional Record (contains Presidential addresses to Congress and other messages not of a routine nature.  Check the Record Index under “President of the United States.” SuDoc  X 1.1 (Indexes, Print and Microfilm 1784-2004, 1833-1873 Online, 1998-Present)
  
  
• American State Papers.  Documents, legislative and executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vol. SuDoc SERIAL SET 01-38
  
  Some additional library sources include:
  
  
• The writings of George Washington: being his correspondence, addresses, messages and other papers, official and private, selected and published from original manuscripts.  12 vol.  Jared Sparks, contr.  Boston: Russell, Odiorne and Metcalf, 1834-1840. ETRC Call no. E312.7 1834x
  
  
• Papers of Thomas Jefferson.29 vol. and 6 vol. index.  Julian P. Boyd, et al, contr. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950.  Call no. E302 .J442 1950
  
  
• The public papers and addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 13 vol. Samuel Irving Rosenman, contr.  New York: Random House, 1938-1950. Call no. E 806 .R749
  
  
• The State papers and other public writings of Herbert Hoover.  2 vol. William Starr Myers, contr.  New York:  Kraus Reprint, 1970. Call no.  E801 .H66 1970x

Kayce Halstead halsteadkay@sfasu.edu rm. 202g 936.468.1574 Subjects - Government Documents, Collection Development

CRS Reports Congress' not so Secret Weapon for First Class Research

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Library Association (ALA) today sent letters to Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), thanking them for introducing S. Res. 118, legislation to allow no-fee public access to taxpayer-funded Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports.

The CRS produces well-researched and balanced reports on a wide variety of current issues affecting our citizens and country. Unfortunately, CRS reports are not systematically made freely available to the public through the Federal Depository Library Program or any other means. No-fee public access to these reports has been a goal the ALA has pursued for many years.

The CRS home page describes its service to congress as providing independent and professional "analytic capabilities" with the capability to "integrate multiple disciplines and research methodologies. In a fast-paced, ever-changing environment,". The site goes on to say that the "CRS approaches complex topics from a variety of perspectives and examines all sides of an issue. Staff members analyze current policies and present the impact of proposed policy alternatives, even if it means bringing to light facts that may be contrary to established assumptions. With public policy issues growing more complex and political debate turning more contentious, the need for insightful and comprehensive analysis of the issues has become vital. Congress relies on CRS to marshal interdisciplinary resources, encourage critical thinking, and create innovative frameworks to help legislators form sound policies and reach decisions on a host of difficult issues."

Wouldn't it be great if you could get access to this type of information on issues not ten years after the event in a book or filtered, slanted, or chopped up into sound bites as so often happens in political reporting of the day? Well at the risk of losing my ALA membership card, I will let you in on a librarian secret. You can get access to thousands of CRS reports that have already been released, or leaked to the public. Most of them would be difficult if not impossible to find using Google. Fortunately, several libraries and organizations have created online collections of these reports for public access on the Internet. Finding the right report for your research involves choosing the right collection of CRS reports to search.

Full text PDF versions of thousands of CRS reports are available at the OpenCRS site http://opencrs.com/. They act as a clearinghouse or central access point for CRS reports however, they do not have all the reports that are available online. While this source appears to have the most current overall coverage, subject access is provided by many groups including the ones listed on the OpenCRS collections page. http://opencrs.com/collections/

According to the web site OpenCRS
http://opencrs.com/ taxpayers pay nearly $100 million dollars a year to fund the Congressional Research Service (CRS) at the Library of Congress.

• National Council for Science and the Environment/National Library for the Environment
  http://ncseonline.org/NLE/CRS/
  


• Thurgood Marshall Law Library/University of Maryland School of Law
  http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/crsreports/index.html
  


• US Department of State Foreign Press Centers (FPC)
  http://fpc.state.gov/c18183.htm, PEPFAR
  CRS Reports,
  


• Franklin Pierce Law School Intellectual Property, Cyberlaw, and Electronic Commerce
  


• Federation of American Scientists Intelligence, Military and National Security
  

Two other clearing houses for CRS reports include the massive Archive IT directory (http://www.archive-it.org/collections/1078) and the web site WikiLeaks which reportedly uploaded 7000 CRS reports recently. The collection of CRS reports at the WikiLeaks site provides not only a full text search of the reports, but an alpabetical list, and (possibly the most significant contribution for research and analysis) a chronological listing of CRS reports.

For those who want to be sure that no virtual stone is left unturned you may want to do one final search with a Google Scholar. Use the advanced search feature with "Congressional Research Service" as an author. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_q=&num=30&btnG=Search+Scholar&as_occt=any&as_sauthors=Congressional+Research+Service&safe=off

When you need some of the best and most current information Congressional Research Service reports a hard to beat. Now you have a secret weapon of sources for your research papers that is sure to impress your teachers and improve your grade.

This blog will self-destruct in 10 seconds…

R. Philip Reynolds preynolds (AT) sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Geography, Kinesiology