Core Federal Reference Sources Available to Purchase

Although government documents are most often associated with large research depository libraries, they are an important and often overlooked resource for smaller libraries. Small libraries frequently have three major concerns in obtaining documents: What should we select? How do we order it? And can we afford it? The following list of core reference sources attempts to answer these questions by suggesting items appropriate for three different budget levels. Ordering information for each item is included, along with a brief annotation. The sources are useful for many different types of small libraries and provide a core reference collection that can be used to answer questions for users in public, academic, or special libraries.