Documents Lost: Or, The “List of Special Materials”

As required by law, the U.S. Government Printing Office issues the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications to serve as the “comprehensive index of public documents.” The Monthly Catalog was for many years an indispensable, but stodgy, source of bibliographic information about publications of the federal government. Since the mid‐1970s the Monthly Catalog has undergone a number of significant changes. In July 1976 it took on a new look when it first appeared with unit card format citations. The Monthly Catalog's indexing also changed: Library of Congress subject headings were introduced, and new index sections were added. With the adoption of computer techniques, the publication has been able to become more responsive to the demands placed upon it.