Government Documents/Maps Services
Last updated: August 8, 2008Federal Documents Stacks | Washington State Documents
Federal Documents Reference | Federal Maps Collection
Federal Documents Microfiche Collection | ERIC Microfiche Collection
Serial Set Collection | Federal Documents CD-ROM Collection
GovDocs/Maps Website
Focus of TESC GovDocs/Maps Collection: The TESC GovDocs/Maps collection is a 37% U.S. Federal Government Documents depository. The collection caters primarily to the needs of the TESC community. The focus of the collection includes but is not limited to environmental, wildlife and fisheries, public policy, geology, earth sciences, education, and legal topics. GovDocs/Maps has an extensive collection of Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Geological Survey publications. The collection has titles available in every conceivable format which includes paper, microform, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and the Internet. Take a look at our collection development policy for further information.
Circulation of GovDocs/Maps Titles: All titles in the GovDocs/Maps collection are available for circulation except for Reference and microfiche titles. Members of the community can also check out materials from the collection and can obtain a library card from the Circulation Department of the library. Interlibrary Loan privileges are available only to the TESC community. Members of the general public desiring to interlibrary loan titles from the TESC Library can make interlibrary loan requests from their nearest public library branch.
Federal Documents Stacks: contains the vast majority of Federal documents available for patrons to circulate. The Stacks includes titles from the late 1800's - Present on a variety of research topics. The Federal government provides a great deal of the latest scientific research on Alzheimer's disease, AIDS, and agricultural planting techniques to name a few. The collection also has the latest data of importance to many such as economic and business statistics and more. The Federal Documents Stacks collection is available for circulation.
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Washington State Documents: has a similar depository system to the federal one. TESC is not a State Documents depository, but does have some State Documents titles available via their online catalog and is part of the Main Stacks collection and not part of the GovDocs/Maps Stacks collection. You can find a great deal of the latest Washington State information via our GovDocs/Maps website. The Washington State Library and the University of Washington Libraries are Washington State Depositories with comprehensive collections.
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Federal Documents Reference: The material included in this collection include titles that are in constant use and which library staff needs to answer some of the most basic inquiries made by patrons. Some titles include United States Statutes at Large (Public Laws), Code of Federal Regulations, Statistical Abstract of the United States, the U.S. Code, Occupational Outlook Handbook and the1990 and 2000 Census to name a few. Some of the current issues of Governemnt Documents reference titles can be found at the GovDocs/Maps Desk on the 3rd floor of the library. The Legal Reference titles can be found in the Library's Law Area located in the Library Underground. All reference titles are non-circulating.
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Federal Maps Collection: the map collection includes titles published by the United States Geographical Survey (USGS), the National Image and Mapping Agency (formerly Defense Mapping Agency), U.S. Forest Service, and the Central Intelligence Agency. The Maps collection includes topographic maps from Washington State, Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon; nautical charts from the Pacific Northwest area; a small number of topographic and nautical charts from British Columbia published by the Canadian government; and aerial maps. You can also find large wall thematic and political maps of the world for classroom use. The collection also has a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)station (Schroeder) loaded with ArcGIS Desktop to view digital maps from the collection. Maps are available for circulation.
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Federal Documents Microfiche Collection (GPO Fiche): A substantial number of Federal documents is published in microfiche. Fiche titles are unavailable for circulation but you can make photocopies at the microfiche readers located in the Periodicals Room.
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ERIC Microfiche Collection: The U.S. Department of Education publishes a myriad of research for educators. For many years, they made this research in microfiche through the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). GovDocs/Maps has a fairly complete set of the ERIC Microfiche Collection. The ERIC website contains a complete index of education research since its inception. The website does contain some full-text and they continue adding to the database every day. If you cannot find the publication in full-text, our ERIC Microfiche Collection will aid you in your research. Fiche titles are unavailable for circulation but you can make photocopies at the microfiche readers located in the Periodicals Room.
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Serial Set Collection: contains House of Representatives and Senate documents and reports dating back to 1789 and the First Congressional Congress. The GovDocs/Maps collection only goes as far back as the early 1970's, but if you need pre-1970's information you should be able to find it at the Washington State Library (WSL). WSL is the Regional depository of Federal Government Documents for the state of Washington and Alaska. As such, they retain all historical Federal Government Documents in their collection. Any reference that you see in the online catalog note field that says House Report, House Document, Senate Report, Senate Document will clue you in to find this information in the Serial Set collection. Even though the Serial Set titles are unavailable for circulation, photocopies are allowed.
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Federal Documents CD-ROM Collection: The Federal Documents collection includes a number of CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs for patrons to use and even check out. The Federal government is at this moment going through a transition by which most Federal documents will be in electronic format in the near future. For the most current information go to the GovDocs/Maps website, which is an index to Federal, Washington State, Thurston County and Canadian Government Documents on the web.
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