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Check Bryn Mawr's, Haverford's, or Swarthmore's library websites for additional resources during COVID-19.

Government Information

Background to the collection

Logo for US Federal Depository Library ProgramSwarthmore College Library is a selective depository for United States government publications and Pennsylvania State publications. We receive approximately 27% of the publications made available by the U.S. Government Printing Office through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP).

Swarthmore has been a depository for federal government publications since 1923. Since 2001, Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore have shared a depository collection, with Swarthmore as the main depository and Bryn Mawr a selective housing site.

To find government documents (print and online), search Tripod.

Documents available in the TriCo

US Government Documents
 

  • Find Documents

    • Search Tripod for US government documents: BMC Tripod | HC Tripod | SC Tripod
    • Tripod links to online documents and provides call number locations for physical/paper documents.

  • Paper / Physical Documents

    • Housed in Swarthmore's McCabe Library (Lower Level), Bryn Mawr's Canaday and Collier Libraries, and Haverford's Magill Library
    • Organized on shelves based on which government agency/entity created the document. (This is called the Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) classification, an alternative to Library of Congress or Dewey Decimal Classification.)

  • Online Documents

    • Find links in Tripod and databases listed on this Research Guide.

Pennsylvania Documents

  • Swarthmore College receives regular shipments of Pennsylvania state documents.
  • These are shelved on the Lower Level of McCabe Library in the government documents section, before the U.S. documents, according to the Pennsylvania Documents (Penn Docs) classification system.

International Documents

  • We collect selected United Nations documents, British Parliamentary documents, and international governmental organization documents. These are shelved in the regular stacks of McCabe Library according to Library of Congress call numbers.
  • The Tri-College Consortium subscribes to the United Nations Official Records, housed at Bryn Mawr's Canaday Library.
  • To find United Nations information online, search the UN's Official Document System (ODS) or the United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBISnet).