The Ruth A. Haas Library at Western Connecticut State University is a designated U.S. Federal Depository Library. WCSU became a depository in 1967. It collects approximately 26% of the total number of documents available through the Depository Library Program of the U.S. Government Printing Office. The Connecticut State Library, located in Hartford, collects 100% and serves as a regional depository for Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Some of our major areas of collection are the Department of Commerce including the Census Bureau, Department of Education, Justice Department and Department of Health and Human Services.
While some documents can be found in the general collection and in reference, most are shelved in a special Government Documents section on the Third Floor. Most of documents are available in paper, however a certain percentage are on microfiche and are stored in the microfiche storage cabinets also on the Third Floor. The paper collection is divided between those documents that circulate and those items that do not circulate. Items that do not circulate are stamped as non-circ. Government Documents do circulate to non-CSU patrons. Please see a Reference Librarian if you are a non-CSU patron and would like to check out an item. Government Documents may also be requested from other CSU libraries, or through Interlibrary Loan.
By Federal law we are required to keep documents for five years. Because of space limitations, we must discard many items once they are older than five years. For items we do not select, or items we have discarded, please see another depository library. A list nearby depositories is available at the Haas Reference Desk.
Government Documents are cataloged for mainly the last five years in CONSULS and arranged on the shelf by SUDOCS (Superintendent of Documents) number. This is a call number based on agency of publication rather than subject. Therefore, it is essential that you use CONSULS or one of the government documents indexes to locate materials.
Please see our Government Information section of the homepage for more information about government agencies and departments.
