Information created, received, used, and maintained regardless of physical form, and information prepared for or produced by the government institution and deemed to be under its control in the conduct of its activities or in pursuance of legal obligations
A "work of the United States Government," referred to in this document as a U.S. Government work, is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties. See 17 USC § 101, Definitions.
Source: http://www.cendi.gov/publications/04-8copyright.html#311
For U.S. Government Information: There are many locations where government information resides. However, a good place to start is the Muskingum University government information LIBGUIDE. Also, another good location is The Free Government Information Site. The Free Government Information site is devoted to raising awareness of issues related to government information policy, especially those regarding the easily restricted/malleable/trackable digital realm.
Established by Congress to ensure that the American public has access to its Government's information, the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) involves the acquisition, format conversion, and distribution of depository materials to libraries throughout the United States and the coordination of Federal depository libraries in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
The mission of the FDLP is to disseminate information products from all three branches of the Government to about 1,250 libraries nationwide at no cost.
The U.S. Government Printing Office administers the FDLP and serves to provide this network of libraries with the tools they need to keep America informed.
Source: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/libraries.html
The classification system, developed by the Superintendent of Documents, used for U.S. government documents. Arranges the collection with materials published by an agency placed together on the shelves.
Source: http://www.lib.cwu.edu/GovernmentDocumentsGlossary
Here is a quick overview from West Texas A&M University: Source
Yes, both U.S. and State of Ohio government information is available online. The State Library of Ohio houses versions of most Ohio state government documents (and most of these are available online - http://www.library.ohio.gov/LPD/fed_state_docs ). You may also search the Muskingum University Catalog to locate various titles. Here’s an example of how they will appear in the search results:
|
LOCATION |
CALL # |
STATUS |
MESSAGE |
|
MUSKINGUM OHIO DOCUMENTS |
OY I 48.15: |
ONLINE |
From the keyword search page, choose government publication. You can limit government publications to federal, state, or local, or you can choose to see all government publications.
The library catalog lists free government publications, known as government documents, or gov docs. You can tell that something is a government publication by looking at the publisher. Often, it will list the publisher as Congress or G.P.O. (Government Publication Office). Many times, these free government publications will have excellent information on a topic.
There is no way to remove all government documents from search results, but you can reduce them by using the following tips:
Use not to avoid government publishers.
EX: NOT G.P.O or NOT Congress
Be careful though; this will prevent the search from returning any results with the word G.P.O or Congress, even if it would be relevant.
Use not to avoid types of documents.
EX: NOT report or NOT hearing
There are several resources that offer examples for citing government information (depending on the citation style you are using. This guide provides guidelines and links on the Cite tab.