Syllabus

UNT School of Library and Information Science Government Information and Access Service

SLIS 5660 Syllabus and Course Objectives COURSE DESCRIPTION: United States Government Information is a valuable resource for citizens and information professionals alike. Learn about the nature, use, acquisitions and organization of federal information in a variety of formats including print and electronic - historical and current. Prerequisite: SLIS 5600 or consent of school.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: GOALS: To establish government bodies as major and unique publishers and to prepare students to select, use, organize, and administer government publications in depository and non-depository libraries. To establish government bodies as major and unique publishers and to prepare students to select, use, organize, and administer government publications in depository and non-depository libraries. OBJECTIVES: On completing SLIS 5660, students should know: 1. The history and current issues determining public access to federal information, e.g. federal information policy. 2. The background and present responsibility of the Government Printing Office and the Superintendent of Documents in government publishing, in sale and distribution of public information, and the compilation of print/electronic catalogs and indexes of public government information. 3. The functions and relationships between selective and regional depositories. 4. The historic and current role of federal depository libraries in federal information policy. 5. The mechanics of administering separate or integrated physical/digital

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public document collections in depository libraries. 6. The mechanics of administering both a print collection and an online Federal Depository Library Program. 7. The principal tools and procedures for use in selecting federal documents for the depository library. 8. The importance of federally sponsored technical support literature, the agencies responsible for public access to this literature, and their relationship to the depository library program. 9. The general and specialized government and commercial catalogs, indexes, and checklists to public documents, including print and electronic. 10. The retrospective and current publications which are produced by the Legislative Branch of the federal government, print and electronic. 11. The various publications generated by the Presidency, print and electronic. 12. Significant publications and types of publications which emerge from the departments and agencies in the Executive Branch with emphasis on reference and statistical information. 13. The publications of the judiciary and the most important reference and research aids which assist legal research. On Completion of SLIS 5660, students should be able to: 1. Have an awareness of the major public access issues involved in federal information policy. 2. Recognize the Government Printing Office as a major publisher/source of federal information, with full awareness of government publications, i.e. information from other sources such as the National Technical Information Service and other government agencies; utilize the distribution services of the Superintendent of Documents and other government agencies. 3. Understand the responsibilities and functions of depositories as a service to the parent institution, to the public and to society generally.

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4. Administer document collections in depository libraries. 5. Select and acquire public documents for a depository library, print and electronic. 6. Select and obtain federally sponsored technical report literature, print and electronic. 7. Use the current and retrospective bibliographic apparatus which offers access to U.S. public documents, print and electronic. 8. Recognize the informational values of and access to the several types of publications from Congress, its committees and commissions, and the agencies whose officers are charged with specific duties and functions under the direction of the Congress. 9. Recognize the informational values of and access the publications generated by the White House office, the Executive Office of the President, the Office of the Federal Register, and the Department of State. 10. Recognize the informational value of and access the publications which emerge from the departments and agencies of the executive branch. 11. Utilized the publications of the judiciary and perform basic legal research.

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