No More Proquest Congressional!&^%@#

So what?

Jenn Huck&

Barbie SelbyUniversity of Virginia Library

Session Overview

• What’s in Proquest Congressional anyway?• Why should you care?• What you can still get (for free!)• What you can’t get any longer• Alternative sources• How Virginia’s federal depository libraries can help

You’re losing access to indexing to all Congressional materials back to 1789, and full text of many Congressional materials.

Proquest Congressional - Basic• CQ Political Transcripts - 1995-• Roll Call - 1998-current • Washington Post - 1987- • Published Hearings Abstracts and

Indexing - 1970-• Selected Testimony Transcripts and

Submitted Statements - 1988- • Temporary Hearings Records – 2005-• Committee Prints - Abstracts and

Indexing 1970- (selected full text – 1993-2004)

• GAO Reports Abstracts and Indexing, with links to PDFs -2004-

• Committee Reports Abstracts and Indexing - 1970-

• Committee Reports Full Text - 1990-

• Congressional Record Daily Edition - 1985-

• House and Senate Documents Abstracts and Indexing -1970- (Full text from 1995- )

• Bill Text & Bill Tracking -1989-• Public Laws - 1988-• U.S. Code • Code of Federal Regulations -1981- • Federal Register -1980-• Legislative Histories, All Public Laws -

1969-• Campaign Contributions from

Individuals and PACs -1987- • Campaign Financial Data -1989- • Key Votes in Congress -1987- • Member Financial Disclosures 1991-

For Free • CQ Political Transcripts - 1995-• Roll Call - 1998-current • Washington Post - 1987- • Published Hearings Abstracts and

Indexing - 1970-**• Selected Testimony Transcripts and

Submitted Statements - 1988- • Temporary Hearings Records – 2005-• Committee Prints - Abstracts and

Indexing 1970- (selected full text – 1993-2004)**

• GAO Reports Abstracts and Indexing, with links to PDFs -2004-

• Committee Reports Abstracts and Indexing - 1970-**

• Committee Reports Full Text - 1990-• Congressional Record Daily Edition -

1985-

• House and Senate Documents Abstracts and Indexing -1970- (Full text - 1995- )**

• Bill Text & Bill Tracking - 1989-• Public Laws - 1988-• U.S. Code • Code of Federal Regulations -1981- • Federal Register -1980-• Legislative Histories, All Public Laws -

1969-• Campaign Contributions from Individuals

and PACs - 2002- • Campaign Financial Data -1989- • Key Votes in Congress - 1987- • Member Financial Disclosures - 1991-

**Post-1996 full text for many congressional publications is available

Specific Free Sources

• GAO Reports – Full Text – FDSys (www.gpo.gov/fdsys )– 1993-

• Congressional Record – FDSys – 1994-

• Bill Text -– Congress.gov (http://www.congress.gov) – FDSys – 1993-

• Bill Tracking –– Congress.gov – 1973-

• Public Laws – – FDSys – Congress.gov - 1995-

More Specific Free Sources• U.S. Code

– FDSys – 1994-• Code of Federal Regulations

– FDSys - 1996-

• Campaign Financial Data – http://www.fec.gov/pindex.shtml - 1980-

• Key Votes in Congress– Congress.gov - 1989-– Govtrack.us – 1789-

• Member Financial Disclosures –– Clerk of the House database http://clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial.aspx - 2008-– Senate - https://efdsearch.senate.gov/search/ - 2012-

• Campaign Contributions from Individuals and PACs • http://www.fec.gov/portal/super_pacs.shtml - 2002-

Congress.govhttps://www.congress.gov/

• Bill tracking

• Bill actions

• Links to full text from FDSys

• Easy interface

• Bill summaries

• “Related Bills”

FDSys – Federal Digital System• Mostly Congressional content,

but slowing expanding to other agencies

• Provides full text for Congress.gov & other sites

• Full text back to about mid-1990s

• No bill tracking information

• Less than idea interface, but it works

• Adding older content

• Adding library contributed content

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation

• Full text of Congressional documents from 1774-1885

• Part of American Memory

• Full text of early laws

• Less than ideal interface

• Many documents have both transcriptions and page images

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/

VIRGOhttp://search.lib.virginia.edu

• U.Va.’s online catalog

• Links to GPO supplied full texts of hearings back to about 1996

• Links to Hathi Trust full text

Non-Government Sources• Sunlight Foundation

– http://sunlightfoundation.com/ – Cool tools and data to analyze govt. & corporate activities

• Govtrack.us – https://www.govtrack.us/– Tracks votes from 1789– Brief member profiles– Analysis of votes

• Project VoteSmart– http://votesmart.org/– State and national level

• OpenSecrets.org– https://www.opensecrets.org/

Additional Help & Education

• U.Va. Library - Virginia’s Regional Depository – Jenn & Barbie– http://guides.lib.virginia.edu/findinggovinfo

• Free Congressional & Presidential sites LibGuide– http://guides.lib.virginia.edu/congressionalOpenWeb

• Help, I’m an Accidental Documents Librarian!– http://

www.nclaonline.org/government-resources/help-im-accidental-government-information-librarian-webinars

• Government Publishing Office Webinars– http://login.icohere.com/public/topics.cfm?cseq=1172

• Virginia Depository Library Directory– http://guides.lib.virginia.edu/vadepdir

Thank you!

Jenn Huckjhuck@virginia.edu

Barbie Selbybselby@virginia.edu