GOVERNMENT SERIALS BROCHURE

UNIVERSITY LIBRARY (Mona Campus) Email: government.library@uwimona.edu.jm

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A GUIDE TO THE GOVERNMENT SERIALS, UNITED NATION AND ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES COLLECTIONS IN THE MAIN LIBRARY

GOVERNMENT SERIALS SECTION

The Section is located on the top floor, west wing. It houses three separate collections:

• Government Serials
• United Nations (U.N.) Documents, this includes monographs and serials
• Organization of American States (O.A.S.) Documents.

Material shelved in the Section can be recognized from the catalogues as follows:

Main card catalogue: G, U.N. or OAS in red in front of the call #

OPAC: MN-GOV, MN-UNC, MN-OAS

United Nations documents are listed in the card catalogue in the Section by title and by document number (sales or symbol).

Frequently used documents from all three collections – Government Serials, United Nations and O.A.S. are kept in the Government Serials Office. To borrow these, you will have to complete a (blue) Reading Room Form and leave your I.D. card.

This is a Reference Collection, material must not be taken out of the library.

If you have any difficulty, the staff of the section is always willing to help.

When the Office is closed, after 4:30pm on weekdays and all day Saturdays, the staff of the Periodicals Section (floor below) will assist you.

WHAT ARE GOVERNMENT SERIALS?

Publications issued at intervals by the governments of countries or their agencies. These include:

• Legislation- Laws, Bills, Acts, Subsidiary Legislation
• Parliamentary Papers
• Gazettes
• Reports of Institutions, Ministries and Departments
• Documents containing official statistical data.

These publications do not provide descriptive information about the way types of governments e.g. the Westminster model, function. Such information can be found in the general collection and Periodicals Section.

THE COLLECTION focuses primarily on Caribbean countries, but also includes publications of the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and some African and Asian countries.

ARRANGEMENT

Government serials are arranged by the Library of Congress Classification Scheme and shelved at the front of the Section.
Some government publications, including the United States Congressional Hearings, are available on microfiche and compact discs.

You can also find Government publications on the World Wide Web. Some useful sites are:

• http://www.yahoo.com/government
• http://www.statinja.com
• http://www.fedstats.gov
• http://www.findlaw.com
• http://www.statcan.ca

UNITED NATIONS DOCUMENT COLLECTION

THE COLLECTION includes:

Official Records of the main organs:

• The General Assembly
• The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
• The Security Council The Trusteeship Council
• Trade and Development Board

Sales publications – include information on the history of the Organization as well as its structure and substantive activities or programmes; major reports and studies; proceedings of conferences and of some seminars and symposia.

Mimeographed/symbolled documents – this series contains many drafts and provisional documents later issued in both the official records and the sales series, as well as material unique within its series.

Periodicals – published by the U.N. on a regular and or irregular basis.

ARRANGEMENT

United Nations Documents are shelved immediately following the Government Serials in three (3) sequences:

1. Sales publications – using the sales number, the publications are shelved first by category. Within each category the arrangement is by year and number.

For example the title Population distributions and migration has the sales number 98.XIII.12 so first you look for Category XIII- Demography, then the year of publication –98 (i.e. 1998) then the no. 12 signifying the 12th
publication for the year.

Notice that the categories are in Roman numerals and that all sales documents about demography are in the same category so the documents fall into a subject arrangement. A complete list of categories is on the catalogue in the Government Serials Section.

2. Symbolled Documents including the Official Records are shelved in an alphanumerical sequence. The symbol is made up of elements, separated by oblique strokes, that denote: the acronym(s) of the issuing body/a technical form division/an individual document number e.g. E/ECE/AGRI/WP.5/Rev.1 is the first revision of working paper no. 5 of the Agricultural Committee of the Economic Commission for Europe which is a sub-body of the Economic and Social Council. If this seems complicated don’t worry, just remember that it is an alphanumerical sequence and the staff will always help.

3. Periodicals are arranged alphabetically by title.

Official Records of the General Assembly, Sessions 1-30 are available on microfiche.

Information about the United Nations and its publications can also be found on its various web sites. Here are some examples:

• http://www.un.org
• http://www.unep.org
• http://www.unctad.org

You can also find information about many topics e.g. “Reforming the U.N.”, on ‘unofficial’ websites such as:

• http://www.david-kilgour.com/ssap/anreform.htm
• http://www.globalpolicy.org/reform/index.htm

ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES DOCUMENTS

THE COLLECTION includes monographs, serials and the official records of the organization

ARRANGEMENT

The collection is arranged in two sequences:

• Monographs and some serials not issued with O.A.S. numbers are shelved by the Library of Congress class number.
• Official records are shelved by the O.A.S. document number.

The organization’s web site is:

• http://www.oas.org

HOURS OF OPENING

MAIN LIBRARY, SCIENCE & MEDICAL BRANCH LIBRARIES

Semester:

Mon. - Fri.: 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Saturdays: 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Vacation:

Inter-Semester
Mon. - Fri.: 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturdays: 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon

Summer
Mon. - Fri.: 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Saturdays: 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon

Overnight Reading Room
Mon. – Fri. 10:00p.m. – 6:00a.m.
Saturdays: 4:30p.m (or noon*)- Monday 6:00a.m.

The Library is closed on Public and University Holidays throughout the year, on the Saturday during the Easter Weekend and before Independence Day, at noon* on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

2004