Rod Library - University of Northern Iowa

Documents and Maps Collection

Publications published by the federal government
Identified through UNISTAR and a card catalog
Service is provided at the general Reference Desk
Maps from private publishers as well as the government
Most of these materials circulate

The Library has been a depository for U.S. Government publications since 1949. The Library is a selective depository and receives about half of the items distributed by the U.S. Government's Printing Office through the Depository Library Program. This collection is to help fulfill the information needs of the University and Waterloo/Cedar Falls communities as well as those of persons living in the First Congressional District of Iowa. The publications are produced by various federal agencies, departments and units including the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, and Labor, the U.S. Congress, the Census Bureau, and the Central Intelligence Agency. The collection contains information on virtually every topic including federal regulations, civil rights, small businesses, population, the economy, health, education and women. The materials are available in various formats including books, maps, periodicals, pamphlets, CD-ROM, and microfiche. An increasing amount of government information is accessible through the World Wide Web.

Help with finding particular documents in the collection or finding government information generally is available at the Reference Desk. The paper-format documents collection is housed in open stacks adjacent to the Reference area. The microfiche, poster and maps collections are also found in this area. The collection is arranged using the Superintendent of Documents Classification system, and this system is different than those used in other areas of the library. The collection is freely available to the public, but there is a fee for photocopying materials. Most documents items circulate.

UNISTAR, the online catalog, contains records for more than 100,000 U.S. documents. Most documents published since the late 1980s can be identified using UNISTAR. Select documents published earlier can also be found through this system. Older documents held by the library are listed in a card catalog near the collection.