What Is It?
The United States Congressional Serial Set is a collection of the House and Senate Documents and Reports. At certain times, the Serial Set included House and Senate Journals and reports of "executive departments and agencies." Currently, the Serial Set includes the following publications:
- House and Senate Documents
- Reports of executive departments
- Committee Prints
- House and Senate Executive Documents
- Senate Executive Documents - text of Treaties
- Prior to the 97th Congress
- Senate Treaty Documents
- Treaty Texts
- Beginning in the 97th Congress
- House and Senate Miscellaneous Documents
- House Miscellaneous
- Other executive branch material
- Senate Miscellaneous
- Other executive or legislative branch material
- House and Senate Reports
- Reports of Congressional Committees concerning proposed legislation and/or findings under investigation
- Senate Executive Reports
- Reports of the Committee on Foreign Relations relating to Treaties
- Court of Claims Reports
- Have jurisdiction to hear all monetary claims based on congressional statue
- House Journals
- Official record of proceedings of each legislative day in the House
- Senate Journals
- Official record of proceedings of each legislative day in the Senate
History of the Congressional Serial Set
The first Serial Set was published with the 15th Congress in 1817 and continues to the present. Prior to 1817, the documents were a part of the American State Papers. Each Serial Set is assigned a Serial Number, a system created by Dr. John G. Ames. Dr. Ames was in charge of the Documents Division of the Interior Department. Yet, for the longest time, these bound sets didn't have an official title. They had a few different titles including:
- "Congressional Set"
- "Congressional Series"
- "Sheep Set"
- "Serial Number Set"
In 1981, the official title of the "United States Congressional Serial Set" was set. The Library of Congress' Serial Set site gives an excellent overview of the Set and includes the earlier volumes in full-text.
Where & How To Access
There are multiple ways to access the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, both physically and virtually.
Virtual
Govinfo.gov recently released a Browse By Topic feature to navigate the Serial Set. Since it is organized alphabetically, a researcher can easily find what they are looking for by topic.
If a researcher has the exact title and details of the document or report they are looking for, they can type it in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.
The Edmon Low Library offers access to two databases that can be used to access the Congressional Serial Set. The first database is HeinOnline. The database has released their own blog post, "Tip of the Week: How to Use the Serial Set Lookup Tools" with HeinOnline specific information.
The second database is the Readex Serial Set. It's accessible through the Edmon Low Library website's database section.
The Edmon Low Library has a few options for the tangible Congressional Serial Set. Using the Library's online catalog, patrons can locate materials by subject in a Serial Set volume and request the volume through interlibrary loan. The Library has the Serial Set Indexes published by the Congressional Information Service on the 5th floor covering 1789-1969. These indexes are a key tool for finding information by subject and other access points within the Set.
The Library also has the current reports and documents which will eventually be included in the Serial Set can also be found on the fifth floor of the Library.
Other Resources
Interested in purchasing a Serial Set? The U.S. GPO Bookstore has Serial Set volumes available for purchase.
The FDLP has its own information and background information on the Congressional Serial Set, including the binding process of each set.
The FDLP explains the background of the system used to produce each Serial Set.
_________________________________________________________Eager to know more? Start here.
Government Information Online is produced by the staff at the Oklahoma State University Libraries Government Documents Department, a regional depository for U.S. Government and Oklahoma state government documents. We are located on the 5th floor of the Edmon Low Library. Our department website can be reached at www.info.library.okstate.edu/government-documents. For more information or for research assistance, contact us at 405.744.6546. or email suzanne.reinman@okstate.edu.
Comments