GPO ACCESS SEARCHING TIPS FOR WAIS OR WWW USERS Adapted from GPO Access User's Manual by Bill Taylor **GENERAL TIPS ** BOOLEAN OPERATORS Operators must be capitalized in search statements, otherwise they will be considered stopwords and ignored. AND, OR, NOT: Used in standard fashion. OR is the default, if you don't specify an operator between terms. To search for a phrase as a whole, you must enclose it in quotation marks. To ensure that the system interprets your logic correctly, always use parentheses in queries with multiple operators. Example: Kassebaum AND ("child abuse" OR "child labor") TRUNCATION For end truncation, an asterisk represents any number of characters. Front and middle truncation are not possible. CHOOSING SOURCE FILES Remember that each database or "source file" covers only one year or one Congress. You can select as many as you wish, so it is possible to search multiple years simultaneously. Note that some databases for 1995 and later have features not available in the 1994 version. When searching multiple years, use the 1994 techniques; they will work for later years as well. **TIPS FOR SPECIFIC DATABASES AND SPECIFIC TYPES OF SEARCHES** CONGRESSIONAL BILLS AND HISTORY OF BILLS 1. To search by bill number in the Congressional Bills or History of Bills databases, use a phrase query in quotation marks: "s 1234" (to find S. 1234) "h r 1234" (to find H.R. 1234) As you see, you can ignore punctuation in the abbreviation, but if you omit periods you must replace them with spaces. Capitalization is not necessary. This type of search also works for other types of bills, resolutions, etc. See the attached LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN GPO DATABASES. When you retrieve documents in the Bills database, each is prefaced by a code that indicates what version of the text it is. For example, "is" identifies the version "Introduced in the Senate," and "ih" means "Introduced in the House." The attached LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS... includes all of these codes. U.S. CODE AND PUBLIC LAWS DATABASES The following search methods apply to both of these databases. The U.S. Code is current to January 1994, but each section is annotated to show whether it has been affected by subsequent legislation. Public laws are available for the 104th Congress only. 1. To search by Public Law number use a phrase query in the following form, substituting the appropriate numbers, and remembering to enclose it in quotation marks: "public law 104 1" 2. To search by Statutes at Large citation use a phrase query in the following form, substituting the appropriate numbers, and remembering to enclose it in quotation marks: "109 stat 3" 3. To search by U.S. Code citation, you must do things a little differently. The citation is recorded in the U.S. Code database as one word, e.g., 42USC109. Oftentimes, subsections are broken down into separate documents -- so there will be separate entries for 42USC109a, 42USC109b, and so on. Therefore, if you are searching for an entire section, always truncate your citation with the asterisk: 42USC109* This will find all of the subsections. Unfortunately, it will also find 42USC1091, 42USC1092, and so on, which are presumably irrelevant. FEDERAL REGISTER AND CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - COMMONALITIES Although these are very different publications, they have two search features in common, which are explained here for both databases. Search tips specific to each database follow below. PAGE NUMBERS FOR REGISTER AND RECORD, 1995 AND LATER In both of these databases, starting with 1995, page numbers are embedded in the text, preceded by the word "Page," and surrounded by double square brackets, thus: [[Page 1234]]. You can search for a specific page in these databases by using a phrase query (remember the quotation marks): "page h1234" (finds Page H1234 of the Record) "page 12345" (finds Page 12345 of the Register) To search on a page citation to the 1994 Register requires a more complicated procedure which is explained below. It is not possible to search on a page citation to the 1994 Record. FIELDS Starting with 1995, both of these databases include searchable fields. Field searches are entered in the same box as Boolean full-text queries, with the field name followed by the equals sign and the text or value to be searched in that field. For example, both of these databases include a date field. To search either database by date, use the following forms: date=5/1/95 (for documents issued on that date) date=>5/1/95 (for documents issued after that date) date=5/1/95 TO 5/10/95 (for documents issued during a given time period) Fields can be combined with Boolean searches of the text, using the AND operator. For example: date=5/1/95 TO 5/10/95 AND "balanced budget" There are a number of other useful fields available in these databases. Further information is available from the Government Documents Librarian or GPO. FEDERAL REGISTER - SPECIFIC TIPS 1. To find the table of contents for a particular issue, use the following form of query, substituting the relevant date, of course: contents AND "register April 27" This will retrieve the table of contents for April 27 of the year whose source file you have chosen. 2. To retrieve proposed (or final) rules requires a little care, since the phrases "proposed rule" and "final rule" appear very often in the Federal Register. To limit your search to documents which are the actual rules and avoid retrieving passing references to them, include one of the following phrases in your query statement: "action proposed rule" "action final rule" By including the word "action" you assure that you will retrieve only the rules themselves, because all such documents have the heading "Action: Final Rule," or "Action: Proposed Rule." 3. To search by CFR section affected, use the following form of query, substituting the appropriate numbers, of course: "40 CFR Part 55" By including the word "Part" in your search phrase, you find only documents that actually affect this CFR section. This is because the introductory material for such documents will cite "40 CFR Part 55," whereas a passing mention in the body of the text uses the citation form "40 CFR 55." 4. To search by page number in the Register after 1994 see above instructions for Federal Register and Congressional Record. 5. To search for a page number in the 1994 Register requires a different technique, since page numbers were not included in that database. Instead, to find a document by its citation, you must first look at the table of contents for that day to locate the headline of the entry to which your citation refers. Then, search on these key words or phrases, along with the date, to find the actual passage. For example, if you have a citation to "59 FR 37929 (July 26, 1994)," first search for that day's table of contents as described above. Then view the retrieved table of contents to find the headline of your citation. In this case, it refers to plant quarantines against the oriental fruit fly. With this information, you can run a second search, with the query: "fruit fly" AND "register July 26" This will retrieve the cited document. 6. To search by a specific field, see the instructions above for Federal Register and Congressional Record. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SPECIFIC TIPS 1. To find a member's speech, assuming you know the date, use the following form of query: "mr kennedy" AND "record June 21" Using "ms," "mrs," or "mr" is important, to avoid retrieving the many appearances of the member's name in vote tallies, where members are listed by last name alone. (For women members, either Ms. or Mrs. is used, based on the member's preference.) On the list of documents you retrieved, each title will give some idea of the topic or bill that was being discussed on the floor. After you choose a likely document and view it, you can use the Find command to locate the member's name in all capitals within your document -- enter the name in all caps and check off the box marked "Match Case." Members' names appear in all caps only when they are speaking. 2. To search by date in the Record after 1994, see instructions for the Record and Register, above. To search by date in the 1994 Record, use the form, "record January 26" substituting the desired date and remembering the quotation marks. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN GPO DATABASES The following abbreviations are used in the display of retrieved documents to identify the type of document, give its date, or provide other information. CONGRESSIONAL BILLS DATABASES Abbreviation Document Type _______________________________________________ H.R. 1234 House Bill S. 1234 Senate Bill H.J.Res. 123 House Joint Resolution S.J.Res. 123 Senate Joint Resolution H.Con.Res. 123 House Concurrent Resolution S.Con.Res. 123 Senate Concurrent Resolution H. Res. 123 House Simple Resolution S. Res. 123 Senate Simple Resolution To search for any of these document types, use a phrase query, enclosed in quotation marks. You may ignore capitalization and punctuation, but when omitting periods replace them with spaces. For example: to find H.R. 1234 search for "h r 1234" to find S.J.Res. 123 search for "s j res 123" ABBREVIATIONS FOR VERSIONS OF RETRIEVED DOCUMENTS Code Document Status (Version) _______________________________________________ (ash) Additional Sponsors House (ath) Agreed to House (ats) Agreed to Senate (cdh) Committee Discharged House (cds) Committee Discharged Senate (cph) Considered and Passed House (cps) Considered and Passed Senate (eah) Engrossed Amendment House (eas) Engrossed Amendment Senate (eh) Engrossed in House (ehr) Engrossed in House--Reprint (eh_s) Engrossed in House (No.) Star Print (enr) Enrolled (es) Engrossed in Senate (esr) Engrossed in Senate--Reprint (es_s) Engrossed in Senate (No.) Star Print (fah) Failed Amendment House (fps) Failed Passage Senate (hdh) Held at Desk House (hds) Held at Desk Senate (ih) Introduced in House (ihr) Introduced in House--Reprint (ih_s) Introduced in House (No.) Star Print (iph) Indefinitely Postponed in House (ips) Indefinitely Postponed in Senate (is) Introduced in Senate (isr) Introduced in Senate--Reprint (is_s) Introduced in Senate (No.) Star Print (lth) Laid on Table in House (lts) Laid on Table in Senate (oph) Ordered to be Printed House (ops) Ordered to be Printed Senate (pch) Placed on Calendar House (PCs) Placed on Calendar Senate (pp) Public Print (rah) Referred w/Amendments House (ras) Referred w/Amendments Senate (rch) Reference Change House (rcs) Reference Change Senate (rdh) Received in the House (rds) Received in the Senate (re) Reprint of an Amendment (reah) Re-engrossed Amendment House (renr) Re-enrolled (res) Re-engrossed Amendment Senate (rfh) Referred in House (rfhr) Referred in House--Reprint (rfh_s) Referred in House (No.) Star Print (rfs) Referred in Senate (rfsr) Referred in Senate--Reprint (rfs_s) Referred in Senate (No.)Star Print (rh) Reported in House (rhr) Reported in House--Reprint (rh_s) Reported in House (No.) Star Print (rih) Referral Instructions House (ris) Referral Instructions Senate (rs) Reported in Senate (rsr) Reported in Senate--Reprint (rs_s) Reported in Senate (No.) Star Print (rth) Referred to Committee House (rts) Referred to Committee Senate (sas) Additional Sponsors Senate (sc) Sponsor Change House (s_p) Star (No.) Print of an Amendment CONGRESSIONAL RECORD In the WAIS system and some WWW interfaces, each retrieved document has a code in the following format: cr27fe95S The "cr" stands for Congressional Record, "27fe95" is the date, and the last letter tells which section of the Record this document is from. The section abbreviations are: D - Daily Digest E - Extension of Remarks H - House S - Senate FEDERAL REGISTER In the WAIS system and some WWW interfaces, each retrieved document has a code in the following format: fr24my95P The "fr" stands for Federal Register, "24my95" is the date, and the last letter tells which section of the Register this document is from. The section abbreviations are: A - Reader Aids C - Contents E - Presidential Documents N - Notices P - Proposed Rules R - Rules and Regulations S - Sunshine Act Meetings X - Corrections CONGRESSIONAL RECORD INDEX AND HISTORY OF BILLS In the WAIS system and some WWW interfaces, each document is preceded by a code such as "cri94" or "hob95" where "cri" stands for Congressional Record Index and "hob" stands for History of Bills. The two digits represent the year. PUBLIC LAWS AND UNITED STATES CODE Documents retrieved from these databases are identified with standard citations, e.g., "Pub.L. 104-1" or "39 USC 3009." Prepared by Bill Taylor Government Documents Librarian Georgetown Law Library 111 G Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 202-662-9184 taylorw@law.georgetown.edu