The CGP is the online replacement to the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications, which existed from 1895-2004. Currently, the CGP contains materials dating back to 1976, but is continually growing to include more historical publications. Eventually, the Catalog database will include all of the holdings of the Monthly Catalog plus all publications going forward.
One important thing to keep in mind is that the Catalog includes ALL publications, regardless of format that are published by the federal government. Other finding aids that you might be familiar with (FDsys or govinfo are two examples) only contain publications that are available electronically. Obviously, not everything throughout history has been made available online, so the CGP is a very valuable tool to utilize when trying to perform comprehensive searching. If you need to locate a title that isn’t available electronically, the Catalog provides information about where an item can be located as well as if it is available electronically.
The Law Librarians at the Texas Tech University Law Library will gladly assist you if you would like more information or training on using the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP).
Reference Services
806-742-7155
reference.law@ttu.edu
Or just stop by and ask to speak with one of the librarians.
The Reporter 