Government Documents and Information

For many years, Elihu Burritt Library served as a selective depository for publications from the United States Government. These include materials from virtually every branch and agency of the federal government, such as: laws and legislation, congressional hearings, Supreme Court decisions, Geological Survey Maps, and a wide range of statistical sources including the U.S. Census. 

A small collection of print government documents can be found on Stack 1 and are searchable in CentralSearch.  For assistance please call the Reference Desk at 860-832-2060. The Connecticut State Library in Hartford is a full government document depository.

Government documents may now also be accessed through the Internet. While the "traditional" (i.e., paper and microfiche) formats will not cease, increasingly government information has migrated online. The most popular sites can be found to the left using the Quick Links or "Find... Information tabs.

Burritt Library serves as a designated depository library, part of the Federal Depository Library Program. As such, it is committed to an open door policy with regards to the government documents collection. This means that the public is free to use any and all of the available government documents without restriction. This includes computers which are freely open and available to the public without any log in or password restrictions.

• General https://www.govinfo.gov/- From the Government Printing Office, FDsys provides free online access to official Federal Government publications. Replaces GPO Access.
• General https://www.usa.gov/ - Web portal with information by topic for citizens, researchers, government employees and others.
• Science Science.gov - a gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. Government agencies, including research and development results.
• Statistics https://www.usa.gov/statistics - Numbers on nearly everything.
• Congress https://www.congress.gov//- current federal legislation
• GAO Reports Government Accountability Office Topic Search - Nonpartisan reports on government operations browseable by topic.
• CRS Reports https://crsreports.congress.gov/ - Brings together reports on many topics of interest done by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service.
• Directory https://www.usgovernmentmanual.gov/- Learn more about the structure of our government and locate government contacts.