Library Instruction Sessions: U.S. Govt. & International Docs. Chella Vaidyanathan
History, Political Science, and U.S. Government &
International DocumentsUniversity of Miami
LibrariesALA Conference, June 2008
Why Teach About Documents?
• Highly valuable sources of information• Teaches critical thinking and evaluation• Issues of global concern – global
warming, human rights, drug trafficking, etc
• Interdisciplinary nature of information • Recent information is available• Available for free
Discipline Specific Uses: History, Political Science, International Studies, & Latin American Studies
• Primary source materials• Legislative history • Domestic and public policy issues• Hot international issues • Concerns of present administration• Government viewpoints • Introduction to American and
international governments
Few Examples from U.S. Govt.
• The National Security Archive – http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/
• Central Intelligence Agency – http://www.foia.cia.gov/special_collections.asp
• U.S. Department of State – http://www.state.gov/
• U.S. Agency for International Development – http://www.usaid.gov/
• The White House – http://www.whitehouse.gov/• World War II – http://worldwar2.smu.edu/• Library of Congress –
http://www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html• Foreign Relations of the United States –
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/FRUS/
International Examples• United Nations – http://www.un.org/english/• Portals to the World: Library of Congress –
http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/portals.html• The World Bank – http://www.worldbank.org/• Asian Development Bank – http://www.adb.org/• Europa: Gateway to the European Union – http://
europa.eu/index_en.htm• Inter-American Development Bank –
http://www.iadb.org/• Organization of American States –
http://www.oas.org/main/english/• OPEC Online Library –
http://www.opec.org/library/
Starting Points• GPO Access – http://www.gpoaccess.gov/• USA.gov – http://www.usa.gov/• Open CRS – http://opencrs.com/• GODORT Handout Exchange and Clearing House
– http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/godort.html• U.S. Government Accountability Office –
http://www.gao.gov/• Foreign Governments: Northwestern University –
http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govinfo/resource/internat/foreign.html
• Foreign Governments: University of Michigan – http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/foreign.html
Promoting Use of Documents
• Marketing e-mails to faculty• Word of mouth publicity by faculty• Workshops on government documents• Team-teach with other subject
librarians• Present at departmental meetings • Student spokesperson• Research consultations• Reaching local community users• Exhibits
Results at the University of Miami Libraries
• Increased visibility of documents collection
• Research consultations – approximately 177
• Course-related instruction sessions – approximately 70