GPO Access

Contents & Access | Searching | Display | Exporting Results | Further Assistance

Contents and Access

What does this database contain?
GPO Access is a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office that provides free online access to the official published versions of United States government publications. Contains publications from the Legislative Branch (Congressional Bills, Congressional Hearings, United States Code), the Executive Branch (Budget of the United States of America, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations), and the Judicial Branch (Supreme Court Decisions), in addition to U.S. laws, administrative decisions, and the Core Documents of U.S. Democracy.

Where do I access this database?
Through the UTSA Library web page (http://lib.utsa.edu) under Databases & Article Searching > A - Z
or access it directly at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/

Available off-campus?
Yes, available at no cost to anyone at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/.

Full Text of articles available online?
Significant full text content.

Language of articles?
English.

What is the date coverage of citations?
Dates of coverage vary, but most coverage begins in the 1990s with linking to significant archival information..

Types of publications included in this database?
GPO Access contains Legislative Branch (Congressional Bills, Congressional Hearings, United States Code), Executive Branch (Budget of the United States of America, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations), and Judicial Branch Publications (Supreme Court Decisions).

Searching

Basic search terms?

AND (will narrow your search)
OR (will broaden your search)

NOT (will exclude a word from your search)
ADJ (within 20 words of one an other)

How do I limit by Date?
This varies by database. In most databases you select dates or number of Congress before performing a search.

Truncation?
Use the asterick (*) to automatically retrieve most plural and possessive forms of words.
Examples:
child* Retrieves child's, children, children's and any word beginning with child (childbearing, childless, or childhood)

Display

How do I display my search results?
GPO Access will display search results by relevance. Relevance is based on certain factors including occurence of the search terms in the document title, freuency of the terms as a percentage of document size, and if the document conforms to exact search phrase. The default is set to display forty documents. A box is provided in all of the GPO Access search pages to change the default amount of records displayed. The maximum amount of records retreived is 200.

How do I sort my search results?
Documents are sorted by relevance only.

Printing, Downloading, E-mailing

How do I print?
If the document is displayed in Adobe Acrobat format click on the printer icon on the Adobe Acrobat toolbar to print. Otherwise, from the file menu choose print; or, click on the print button from the browser toolbar.

Can I download or save the list?
From the file menu choose save as and select where to save the file (if you are using a public workstation, type a:\myfile.txt (saves as a text document and not as HTML). Or use the print /save button on the navigation bar to select the citations for printing or saving through your browser.

Can I e-mail an article to myself?
No.

Help

Where do I go for more help?
Feel free to ask at the Reference Desk or contact us for more assistance: (210)458-4573. Or view the GPO Access Training Manual.

How do I cite electronic congressional publications?
Take a look at the Uncle Sam: Brief Guide to Citing Government Publications (http://exlibris.memphis.edu/resource/unclesam/citeweb.html) for more information.

What other databases/indexes would give me more information like this?
Electronic: Academic Universe, Statistical Universe, Congressional Universe
Subject Guides: Government Documents