If you've ever heard "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help," now you have an online version. USA.gov is the federal government's portal to services and information. In addition, links are provided for state and local government, and Tribal governments. This site can be a very useful start to finding information and digging into agencies.
The site is organized by services, topics, branches, and agencies by name or A-Z list. Topics that may be of interest to clients include jobs, unclaimed money, benefits and grants, and credit reports. Free publications can be searched and requested.
Below are links to examples of topics available throught USA.gov
While the amount of government information available online is always growing, there are times that documents are not available, for example, the document has not been digitized, or during the government shutdown in October 2013. Government information is produced for public use and anyone may visit these libraries and access the documents collection.
South Carolina's only Federal Regional Depository Library is located at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Regional depository libraries receive and hold forever all documents produced by the US Government Printing Office, provide reference assistance, and interlibrary loan. USC is also a European Union depository library.
Locally, we have Selective Federal Depostitory Libraries at the College of Charleston, the Citadel, and Charleston Southern University. The Selective Depository Libraries individually choose their holdings and will have different collections.
The South Carolina State Library, State Documents Depository Program provides access, online and print, to publications produced by state agencies and state-supported academic institutions. The local state document depository is at the College of Charleston
Clemson University is our closest US Patent and Trademark Library. Copies of patents from 1790 to present are available, as well as guides for searches.
The closest United Nations Depository library is at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Their Documents section has been a UN Depository LIbrary since 1946, but does not receive all items published by the UN.
Charleston Southern University
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The United States government is arguably the world's largest producer of free or low-cost, copyright-free public information. Most information is now available online and covers almost any imaginable topic subject to regulation or litigation. Information is found in many formats, including documents, reports, satellite imagery and maps, databases and web services.
This LIbguide is intended to help locate US, South Carolina, and International publications electronically accessible through the Sol Blatt Jr Library catalog, The Gavel and online sources. You may wish to consult additional CSOL libguides, Administrative Law, Administrative Law Study Aids, or South Carolina Law when starting your research.
You can limit your search results in the Gavel to return only government documents. The documents will be viewable electronically as PDF documents. Access the Law Library's catalog page. On either simple search or advanced search, scroll down to the box "Select Libraries." Check "Government Documents." The yellow arrow is pointing to the box.
The yellow arrow is pointing to the open drop down box. Once "Government Documents" is checked, you may seach as usual by keyword, title, subject. or author.
Another search option is to search by an additional call number you may see on government documents, the SUDOC number. This is a call number assigned by the US Government Printing Office, and is based on the issuing agency as author, subagency, and publication type. For example, the stem "HE" will appear as the prefix for publications issued by the Department of Health and Human Services. If you know the agency responsible for the information you are seeking, that knowledge can help focus your search. Check the GPO's list for agencies' SUDOC class stems abbreviations.
