About the Collections
The Government and Geographic Information and Data Services Department strives to meet the government information needs of the Northwestern University community as well as members of the general academic and public communities. The department houses maps and data collections, and is a depository library for U.S. Government, State of Illinois, United Nations, Organization of American States, European Union, and World Tourism Organization publications in all formats. Many materials in the department are not included in NUcat, the library’s catalog. To provide better access to resources, non-depository resources, indexes, and other access tools are acquired.
U.S. Government - Northwestern is one of more than 1300 libraries designated as a depository for documents issued by the United States Government Printing Office (GPO). As a member of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the library currently selects about 80% of the materials made available by the Government Printing Office. Northwestern University Library has been a depository library since 1876 and the collection dates back to the late 1700's. The Federal Documents Collection specializes in early American history, demographic information, and U.S. public policy, and includes documents such as Congressional hearings, Presidential papers, agency reports and numerous publications in various formats from a diverse amount of federal agencies.
International - The International Collection is made up primarily of documents from the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU). We have been a depository for UN documents since 1947 and for European Union documents since 1970. In addition, there are extensive holdings of publications from many other international organizations, including: Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO); International Labour Organization (ILO); International Monetary Fund (IMF); League of Nations; Organization of American States (OAS); Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO); World Bank; World Health Organization (WHO); and World Trade Organization (WTO). There is a vast array of materials available electronically as well as in print and on microfiche.
State and Local - Since 1971, Northwestern University has been a depository for Illinois state documents. We also house a selective collection of basic reference publications from other states. The local collection contains items from Evanston and Chicago, such as city budgets, annual financial reports, municipal codes, and demographic reports, as well as some documents from Cook County.
Maps - The Map Collection is composed of over 200,000 maps and includes atlases, gazetteers, and other reference materials. The Map Collection's holdings are primarily U.S. federal government products and selected map publications from state and international governments and commercial publishers. Complete coverage of the United States is available for: topographic maps (at various scales), navigational charts, geologic maps and studies, state highway maps, and federal digital mapping products. Our holdings of map materials for foreign locations include: topographic maps for many countries (at various scales), city street and tourist maps for major cities, and historic maps (primarily Africa and Europe). We also have a large collection of historical and specialized atlases. Most of our atlas holdings are reflected in NUcat.
Data Services - Social Science Data Services (SSDS) acquires and maintains an extensive collection of numeric computer data files used for secondary analysis in the social sciences. Thousands of data files are accessible from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) and the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
Legal - The department's collection of legal resources consists primarily of federal and Illinois statutes, federal and Illinois regulations, and decisions of the U.S. and Illinois supreme courts. The collection also includes federal court decisions collected in the Federal Reporters. The Northwestern University Law Library in Chicago houses a far more extensive collection of legal materials.
