pol491ch

POL 491C Senior Seminar: The Presidency Library Research Guide

Purdue Libraries contain many useful resources for conducting scholarly research on the presidency. These resources are contained in scholarly books and journals, government documents, and credible scholarly websites.

Sample searches using the Libraries online catalog using the following Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) searches are a good way to look for books. The following LCSH's are representative samples:

Obama Barack Political and Social Views
Presidents United States
Presidents United States Decisionmaking
Presidents United States Staff
Reagan Ronald Political and Social Views
United States Officials and Employees Selection and Appointment

You can also search for documens by presidents by doing author searches in the online catalog e.g. Bush George W

Many scholarly publishers produce series of works on Presidents and presidential policy that can be found through title searches in the online catalog e.g.

American Presidency Series (University Press of Kansas)
Presidential Rhetoric Series (Texas A&M University Press)

Scholarly Journal Resources

Scholarly articles on presidents and their presidencies can be found in numerous Purdue Libraries databases. Examples of these databases include:

America: History and Life (Covers material from American and Canadian history journals.)
PAIS International (Covers material from political science and public policy journals including some U.S. Government documents.)
Social Science Citation Index (Covers scholarly literature in the Social Sciences and when this literature is cited in scholarly literature.)
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts(Cites articles from political science and public administration journals.)

Selected scholarly and news journals: CQ Weekly Report, National Journal, and Presidential Studies Quarterly.

Miscellaneous Resources
JSTOR: The Scholarly Journal Archive (Provides access to historical scholarly journal articles in the social sciences up to the last five years. View this resource as a collection of individual journals instead of as a searchable database.)
Project Muse (This Johns Hopkins University Press provides access to scholarly literature in the humanities and social sciences. Treat it as you would JSTOR.)

U.S. Government Documents
U.S. Government documents are essential resources for studying the presidency. Purdue University Libraries have been a federal depository library since 1907 and have many documents on the presidency. Use Catalog of Government Publications
for bibliographic access and some full text access to these resources since 1976. Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications HSSE Periodicals 016.353 Un36 is the print version of this resource.

Important sources of presidential documents including the following authoritative sources are:

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (2001-Jan. 2009) and HSSE Periodicals 352.03505 W419 (1965-2000) and HSSE MF AE 2.109
Note: This title becomes Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents with the Obama Administration in 2009
Public Papers of the President (1995-present electronically) and HSSE Periodicals 353.035 Un 27 (1929-present)

Federal Register (Online 1994-present) HSSE Reference (recent issues) and HSSE microfiche and microcard 1936-present.-Published five times a week by the National Archives, this contains the text of presidential orders, proclamations, and proposed and approved federal regulations to enforce laws.

Code of Federal Regulations-(Online 1997-present). Title 3 of this compilation of federal regulations (HSSE REF 353.0313 C648) contains the text of executive orders, proclamations, and other presidential docuemnts.

United States Government Manual (Online 1995-1996 to present) HSSE DOC AE 2.108/2 and HSSE Periodicals 353 Un35-This annual publication includes listings of government departments and agencies and the names of key policymakers.

Many organizations within the Executive Office of the President provide policy guidance and advice to the President including:

Office of Management and Budget
Central Intelligence Agency
Council of Economic Advisors
Office of National Drug Control Policy
Office of U.S. Trade Representative

Print versions of many of these agencies publications are in the PREX section of the HSSE Library Government documents

Presidential commission reports are also good information sources on federal and presidential policymaking. These commissions consist of experts appointed by the President and Congress to stury and issue reports on important public policy issues. Recent editions of these reports are online and paper copies can be found in the PR section of HSSE's Government Documents stacks based on individually numbered presidents. Obama Administration commissions and other documents will begin with the PR 44 government document call number. Recent examples of presidential commission reports from the George W. Bush Administration and Clinton Administration include:

Serve, Simplify, Support: Report of the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors PR 43.8:W 25/C18 (2007)-also known as the Dole-Shalala Commission
Our Nation on the Fault Line: Hispanic American Education PR 42.8:F 27 (President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans.)

Congressional Sources

Congressional hearings are also useful resources for understanding presidential policymaking. These committees are responsible for funding federal programs and conducting oversight on these programs. The CIS Index HSSE Reference 328.73005 C76 is a good source for researching congressional committee publicaitons and the legislative hiostories of laws from 1970-present. Congressional committees since 1975 are cataloged and in the Y 4 section of the first floor of the HSSE periodical stacks. Examples of committees that may conduct oversight of presidential administration documents include:

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee HSSE DOC Y 4.G 74/7
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee HSSE DOC Y 4.G 74/9
Plum Book (United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions)

Presidential Libraries
The National Archives and Records Administration serves as the custodian for federal agency records and adminsters the presidential library system containing print and increasingly electronic records for every presidency from Herbert Hoover's to the presidnet. A link to presidential library websites is here along with the text of relevant laws and regulations on presidential libraries and records. Clinton and George W. Bush presidential library websites will include versions of the White House website during their presidencies. Some of these presidential library websites will include the full text of major presidential documents such as those produced by the National Secuirty Council. Use the White House website fir Barack Obama Administration presidential documents.

Additional Valuable Resources
Digital United States Congressional Serial Set (Contains the text of numerous presidential, executive branch, and congressional documents from 1789-1969. This resource also provides access to growing retrospective coverage of the Congressional Record.)
American Presidency Project (University of California-Santa Barbara resource featuring a variety of materials on the presidency.)
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Books (George Washington University resource featuring the text of declassified U.S. foreign policy and national security policy documents since World War II.)

Professor Bert Chapman
Government Information & Political Science Librarian
42837
chapmanb@purdue.edu
5/09 (rev.)