Government publications

The federal government is frequently described as being the greatest information producer (in volume, if nothing else) in the world. Yet, the fact is often ignored that the federal government, as an entity, is one of the world's greatest information consumers. Its concerns are great and far‐reaching; many societal problems are on the cutting edge of research, and all possible forces are brought to bear in addressing them. It is not surprising that the federal government frequently finds a large body of literature which must be synthesized and be made available for immediate use in a convenient form. To meet these needs, the U.S. government has developed indices to the scholarly and research literature in fields with which it is intimately involved: labor, wildlife, environment, energy, and so forth. Perhaps the best known products of these efforts are the Bibliography of Agriculture and Index Medicus.