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Congressional Publications

Introduction

Congressional publications occur in many forms: hearings, reports, prints, and other various documents. The United States Government Printing Office (GPO) officially publishes Congressional materials. The Congressional Information Service (CIS) is a private company that makes available Congressional publications on microfiche and electronically through Congressional Universe (LexisNexis). Because CIS is a leader in publishing Congressional materials, the term "CIS Documents" is sometimes used interchangeably with "Congressional Documents" or "Congressional Publications." Because of the different ways Congressional publications have been created and organized over the years, searching and locating them can sometimes be confusing. There are some guidelines, however, that will help you search for and locate Congressional publications at UTSA Library.

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Types of Publications

There are many types and categories of Congressional publications. All Congressional publications are created by either the entire House or Senate, a committee within either, or a joint committee.

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Hearings

Hearings are records of testimonies, question/answer exchanges, and pertinent documents held before a House, Senate, or joint committee. There are three main types of hearings: legislative, oversight, and investigative. Some hearings are unpublished and remain unpublished according to schedules created by the House, Senate, or individual committees. Here are some general rules about the timeline for publication of the full text of hearings:

• Unpublished Senate hearings and other committee papers are closed for 20 years
• Unpublished House hearings and other records are closed for 30 years
• Investigative hearings in both the House and Senate are closed for 50 years
• A senator can insist that a proceeding in which he was a part be closed until his death, even if that exceeds the 20 years rule.

Unpublished simply means that the government has not officially published a hearing through the Government Printing Office. CIS has acquired and made available on microfiche many unpublished hearings from transcripts, senators' repositories, and archives.

Example of a hearing citation:

Alabama and Coushatta Indians of Texas.
CIS-NO: H497-6
SOURCE: House Committee on Indian Affairs
DOC-TYPE: Published Hearing
DATE: Feb. 23, Mar. 1, 1928
LENGTH: ii+60 p.
CONG-SESS: 70-1
SESSION-DATE: 1927, 1928

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Reports

Reports are produced by House or Senate committees for the benefit of the House or Senate as a whole, such as findings of hearings or discussions of legislative intent.

Example of a report citation:

Agricultural Trade Freedom Act: report (to accompany S. 566).
CIS 99 S163-1

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Prints

Prints are generic documents produced by committees. They can be about anything a committee does or undertakes, such as draft legislation, statistics, and analyses.

Example of a print citation:

Investigation of the federal courthouse construction program [microform] : majority staff report to the Committee on Environment and Public Works, United States Senate.
CIS 94 S322-3

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Documents

Documents are published by the full chamber of either the House or Senate. They can include such things as vetoes, biannual reports on committee activities, and presidential messages on new legislation.

Example of a document citation:

Enforcement of the no-fly zone in Bosnia-Herzegovina [microform] : communication from the President of the United States transmitting his follow-up report on the deployment of United States combat-equipped aircraft to support NATO's enforcement of the no-fly zone in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
CIS 95 H460-24

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U.S. Serial Set

The Serial Set contains House and Senate Legislative Reports, House and Senate investigative reports and documents, annual reports and statistical publications from federal agencies, selected reports of non-governmental agencies, journals of the House of Representatives and Senate, and administrative reports of both chambers of Congress. The Serial Set used to be the definitive publication documenting the U.S. Government, but over the years it has become more selective in what it includes. Documents for the first fourteen congresses were published as the American State Papers. UTSA Library has the U.S. Serial Set on microfiche and American State Papers on microfilm.

You can search the Serial Set specifically in Congressional Universe, Historical Full Text. You can also use the print CIS U.S. Serial Set Index, shelved in the JPL Reference Stacks, Z1223 .Z9C65, for documents 1789-1958.

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CIS Call Numbers

CIS Call Numbers contain information about the session date or year of Congress, the parent body (House or Senate), the particular committee, and type of publication. They are needed in order to locate the publication.

Locating publications before 1970

1. Match the type of document, e.g., House hearing or committee print, you're looking for with the correct color-coded microfiche cabinet.
2. Find the correct session number of Congress.
3. In some cases, you may have to then look for House, Senate or Joint.
4. Look then in order for the numerical or alphabetical part of your call number, e.g., H2282-2
5. *Hearings supplements are arranged first by committee name and then by session of Congress.

After 1970

1. Find the correct cabinet for the year of Congress in your citation.
2. Look for House, Senate, or Joint.
3. Look for your document in numerical order, e.g., H180-3.

Be sure to either print out the citation page from the electronic indexes or copy/photocopy the citation, including all the information, from the print index. You will save time by doing this, in case there is a problem locating the full text later.

Explanation of call numbers

(90) H2282-2 (example from CIS Print Index)

90 = Session number of Congress

H = House

2282 = Accession number (look for this in numerical order)

2 = where the document begins on the microfiche

CIS 2001 S321-20 (example from UCAT)

2001 = Year of Congress

S = Senate

32 = Committee (the first two numbers represent a particular committee. See committee numbers for the list.)

1 = Type of document (the third number represents the type of document. See document numbers for the list)

20 = where the document begins on the microfiche

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Committee Numbers

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Document Numbers - 3rd number after H, S, or J in call number

0 = House or Senate Document or Special Publication

1 = Hearing

2 = Committee Print

3 = House or Senate Report

4 = Senate Executive Report

5 = Senate Treaty Document

Example: CIS 2001 H161-15

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Searching For and Finding CIS Documents

There are several indexes you can use to search for CIS documents:

• Congressional Universe
• UCAT
• GPO Access
• THOMAS
• CIS Print Indexes

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Congressional Universe

UTSA Library subscribes to Congressional Universe, a database containing a vast amount of government information, including Congressional publications. Generally, if the document is newer than 1995, it is likely available full text through Congressional Universe. Currently, the full text of approximately 45 percent of congressional publications issued from 1995 forward is on Congressional Universe, with some dating to 1988. For documents 1970 to present, use CIS Index. For documents 1789-1969 and unpublished hearings through 1980, use Historical Indexes. There are a variety of ways you can search, including by CIS subject descriptor (be sure to click the link to look at the subject list) and title. Note the Congressional Search Forms on the far left of the screen. If you find a document, and it's only an abstract or summary, look for a link to the full text, e.g., Retrieve the full text of testimony. Note: "Locate a Copy of this Publication in Your Library" does not currently link to UTSA Library. If the full text is not available, be sure to copy or print out the information about the document found in the title section at the top, including CIS-NO, Source, Doc-Type, Date, and Cong-Sess. Then, you can locate the full text on microfiche in the UTSA Library. There is a tipsheet for help with Congressional Universe.

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UCAT

You can search for CIS documents published since 1970 in UCAT, the library's catalog. To search, use Guided Keyword and enter a keyword or keywords, such as agriculture or "no-fly zone", for your topic in the top search box. Then, enter CIS in the second box. To search even more narrowly, you could add a type of document, such as hearing or report in the third search box. To find the full text of a document, click the link to the full text (the link will take you normally to the full text at GPO Access). If a link to full text is not available, copy or print the information regarding the document: title, call number, # of congress, and type of document. You may have to click "Long View" to see all of this information. Then, look for the document on microfiche in Room 2.01.12C. If the document is newer than 1995, you may be able to locate it full text in Congressional Universe.

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GPO Access

The United States Government Printing Office (GPO) publishes the official full text of many Congressional hearings, reports, prints, and documents online. Under GPO Access Resources by Branch, choose Legislative Resources, and then on the next page, choose the type of document, e.g., hearing, committee print. Dates of full text coverage vary depending on the document type; but in general, there is full text availability back to 1997. GPO Access is listed under Databases A-Z on the library's homepage, and there is also a tipsheet.

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THOMAS: legislative Information on the Internet

A service of the Library of Congress, THOMAS has comprehensive information about the U.S. Congress, including recent bills and legislation. THOMAS also has links to individual House and Senate committee websites and their publications and hearings. Dates of coverage compare with GPO Access, so that, in general, full text will be available for documents later than 1997.

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CIS Print Indexes

The CIS Print Indexes can be used to search for Congressional publications through 1998. The print indexes are shelved in the JPL Reference Stacks, and include:

• CIS Index to Unpublished US House of Representatives Committee Hearings (1833 - 1972) KF40 .C54
• CIS Index to Unpublished US Senate Committee Hearings (1823 - 1980) KF40 .C55
• CIS US Congressional Committee Hearings Index (1833 - 1969) KF40 .C56
• CIS US Congressional Committee Prints Index: from the earliest publications through 1969 KF40 .C65
• CIS Index Annual (1970 - 1998) KF49 .C62
• CIS U.S. Serial Set Index Z1223 .Z9C65 1975

To obtain the full text of documents, copy down the title, call number, number of congress, and type of document. You will need this information to locate the document on microfiche in Room 2.01.12C. Because of the different ways over the years that CIS documents have been organized, you may have to convert the number of congress to year or vice-versa. For example, if you have located a document with a date of 1969 and no session number, you will have to find out what session date of Congress that year corresponded with. In some cases, filing cards in the microfiche cabinets display both year and session number. You can also visit this site to do the conversion: Session Dates of Congress. If the document is newer than 1995, it may be available full text from Congressional Universe.

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Citing CIS Documents

MLA Format

Example, from microfiche:

United States. Cong. Senate. Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety of the Committee on Environmental and Public Works. Hearing on the Clean Air Act: Incentive-Based Utility Emissions reductions. 106th Cong., 2nd sess. Washington: GPO, 2001.

Example, from Congressional Universe:

United States. Cong. Senate. Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety of the Committee on Environmental and Public Works. Hearing on the Clean Air Act: Incentive-Based Utility Emissions. 106th Cong., 2nd sess. Washington: GPO, 2001. Congressional Universe. LexisNexis. The University of Texas at San Antonio Library. 12 February 2004 < http://web.lexis-nexis.com>.

Example of in-text citation:

In a hearing held before the United States Senate on the Clean Air Act, representatives from several federal agencies testified to the need for environmental reform (15).

APA Format

Example, from microfiche:

Clean Air Act: incentive-based utility emissions reductions: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, United States Senate, 106th Cong., 2 (2001).

Example, from Congressional Universe:

Clean Air Act: incentive-based utility emissions reductions: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, United States Senate, 106th Cong., 2 (2001). Retrieved February 12, 2004, from Congressional Universe database.

Example of in-text citation:

(Clean Air Act, 2001)

See also the UTSA Subject Guide, Citing in APA and MLA Formats.

For more information on government publications, see also the UTSA Subject Guides: U.S. Government Information, and Government Documents.