Northwestern is a repository for international, national, state and local government materials.
The library catalog does not include listings for many government materials or rare maps in our collection. To get started, use our research guides:
Or contact a librarian at govinfo@northwestern.edu for assistance.
Northwestern University Libraries offers a vast collection of government and cartographic materials. Highlights include digital access to World War II posters and League of Nations documents, alongside an expanding online map and atlas collection.
Librarians are available for research, reference, consultation and instruction to support the exploration and use of our collections.
Contact govinfo@northwestern.edu to meet with a librarian.
For social science data services, see Data Services.
Room B190, University Library
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208
Hours
Space open for all University Library hours.
Email us to set up an appointment for research assistance or to review rare materials.
Northwestern University Library uses three main classification systems: Library of Congress (LC), Dewey Decimal, and SuDocs. LC is now used for all new acquisitions (since 2015) and specifically for Music and Transportation collections. Before 2015, most of the library's collection was classified using Dewey Decimal. SuDocs organizes U.S. government documents by issuing agency rather than by subject.
The Government Information and Maps Collection contains materials produced by the U.S. Federal government, the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago and several international governmental organizations, including the United Nations. The Maps and Rare Atlas collection contains over 200,000 maps.