Research Guides: The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications: CGP: Basic Search

CGP: Basic Search

Welcome to the GPO LibGuide for The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP)!

"The CGP is the finding tool for federal publications that includes descriptive information for historical and current publications as well as direct links to the full document, when available. Users can search by authoring agency, title, subject, and general keywords, or click on "Advanced Search" for more options."

http://catalog.gpo.gov

CGP: Basic Search Instructions

The initial http://catalog.gpo.gov landing page offers users the fastest, "Basic" search functionality: enter some search terms and click "Go"! This example shows a search for the terms "water quality Florida" in any keyword index and within the Historic Shelflist catalog.

For more options with a Basic Search, choose a keyword index:

Exact Title: search terms will appear in the exact order given
Title: search terms may appear anywhere in the title
Author: surname and forename in any order
Subject: LC, MeSH, and NASA subject headings

Then choose a catalog to search (available catalogs are listed in the box below). Enter search term(s) in the box and click "Go". Use quotes around phrases, use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) between terms, or apply any of the other rules listed above to get more precise search results.

Once you have conducted a search you begin to work within the catalog. To perform another Basic Search, click on BASIC in the catalog's top navigation bar and formulate a search as done previously, or simply update the previous search by adjusting the search parameters at the bottom of the Results List page (this will require an understanding of the Command Code Language described on the CGP: Expert Search Page).

CGP: Searchable Catalogs

Other catalogs contain record subsets of the "full" Catalog of U.S. Government Publications and are a first step in narrowing a search. These catalogs also contain indexing specific to the content. For example, ISSN numbers can be searched in the Serials catalog:

Congressional Serial Set (PURL)
The Congressional Serial Set Catalog contains records for House and Senate Reports, House and Senate Documents, Senate Executive Reports and Documents, and Senate Treaty Documents. The records date from July 1976 and are complete from the 95th Congress (1977-1978) to the present. Links are provided to publications when they are available online.
Congressional Publications (PURL)
The Congressional Publications Catalog contains records for publications of the United States Congress, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and joint committees dating from July 1976 to the present. Links are provided to publications when they are available online.
Historic Shelflist
The GPO Historic Shelflist is the U.S. Government Publishing Office's (GPO) historic card catalog covering U.S. Government documents from the 1800s to October 1992.
Electronic Titles (PURL)
This catalog contains records for and links to Federal Government publications that are available online. Records date from July 1976 to the present.
FDLP Web Archive (PURL)
The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) Web Archive is comprised of selected U.S. Government Web sites, harvested and archived in order to create working "snapshots" of the Web sites at various points in time. The aim is to provide permanent public access to Federal Agency Web content.
Gov eBooks
This catalog contains records for and links to Federal Government digital publications that are formatted specifically to be used with an eBook device or eBook reader software. GPO archives free eBook files found on public Federal Government websites and provides permanent public access to the content.
Serials (PURL)
This catalog contains bibliographic records for continuing Government titles such as journals, annuals and periodicals. Records date from 1976 and they contain links to titles that are available online.

CGP: Other Search Types

CGP: Advanced Search Page
The Advanced Search allows you to search up to three word groups simultaneously with your choice of Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) between the groups and your choice of indexes to search. The words and/or phrases you choose to search do not have to be searched in the same index. Many index options are in the drop down boxes. The more indexes or terms that are searched, the narrower your search becomes.
CGP: Expert Search
The Expert Search uses the Common Command Language (CCL) to search for words or headings in several different indexes at once. Codes must be used to indicate the index to be searched.

Wildcard search

For specific subject searches of LC, MeSH, and NASA subject headings, the wildcard character, "?" (question mark) must be used if the exact heading is unknown. For example:

LC heading search of libraries retrieves only records with "libraries" as a subject heading.

LC heading search of libraries? also retrieves records in which "libraries" is only the first element of the subject heading, e.g., "libraries - security measures"

super? = super, superconductor, superintendent, superpower, supervisory, etc.