Government Publications
Our Mission
The mission of the Government Publications Section is to assist California state employees and to support State and Federal Depository Libraries in California in providing the public with free and open access to government information. Providing a single primary location for government documents and information assistance improves government efficiency, and coordinating the efforts of depository libraries in collecting, organizing, preserving, and making available information from the California and U.S. Federal Governments strengthens a democratic tradition of open government and free access to public information.
The California State Library's government publications collection is the only regional depository of federal government information in California, a full depository for California state government publications, and a Patent and Trademark Resource Center. Our collections include:
- All federal publications distributed by the United States Superintendent of Documents to depository libraries;
- All California state publications distributed under the Library Distribution Act;
- Selected Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) produced as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA);
- Selected California local government publications;
- Selected publications by other state governments;
- Selected foreign government publications.
Some of our older materials and special-format collections are not included in the Library’s online catalog. Collections which are not represented in the library’s online catalog include:
- Many pre-1976 federal publications;
- United States patent and trademark information in paper, CD-ROM, DVD, and microform formats, including full patent specifications with images;
- National Technical Information Service (NTIS) reports on microfiche;
- ERIC reports on educational research on microfiche.
We help government employees and members of the public locate government-disseminated information. We also provide one-on-one patent and trademark search training sessions.
Phone: (916) 654-0261
Fax: (916) 323-9768
Ask Government Publications a Question
In Person
914 Capitol Mall
Stanley Mosk Library & Courts Bldg, 3rd Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
California State Library
Government Publications Section
PO Box 942837
Sacramento, CA 94237-0001
Dozier, Herbert L. Recipes for cooking muskrat meat. Wildlife leaflet 229. United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. October 1943.
