United States Government Manual

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United States Government Manual, 1935 to Present

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About the United States Government Manual

What is the Government Manual?

The United States Government Manual, the official handbook of the Federal Government, is issued by National Archives' Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and provides information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. It also includes information on quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, commissions, and committees. The Manual begins with reprints of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

A typical agency description includes:

A list of officials heading major operating units.
A summary statement of the agency's purpose and role in the Federal Government.
A brief history of the agency, including its legislative or executive authority.
A description of its programs and activities.
Information, addresses, and phone numbers to help users locate detailed information on consumer activities, contracts and grants, employment, publications, and other matters of public interest.

The Manual is currently published as a special edition of the Federal Register (see 1 CFR 9.1). Its focus is on programs and activities. Persons interested in detailed organizational structure, the regulatory documents of an agency, or Presidential documents should refer to the Federal Register or one of its other special editions.

What is available?

All editions of the U.S. Government Manual from 1935 to present are available on govinfo.
Editions of The Manual from 1935-1995 are available from digital imaged file formats in PDF format with full-text search and indexing. Editions from 1995-96 to present are available in PDF format, and more recent years are available as XML.
GPO and OFR partner to offer bulk data downloads of files from 2011 forward from Data.gov and GPO’s Bulk Data Repository.
View a currently updated online Government Manual

Searching the Government Manual

You can locate and search editions of the Government Manual by:

Using Basic Search for keyword and metadata fielded searches (see Metadata Fields and Values section),
Using Advanced Search; fields specific to The Manual will display after you select United States Government Manual in the Refine by Collection column,
Refining search results by clicking on links in the Refine Your Search panel on the left hand side of the page (the sections under Refine Your Search correspond to the metadata available for the documents), and
Browsing on The Government Manual browse page.

General govinfo Search Tips

Important: Only the most recent edition is searchable using Basic Search unless you specify iscurrent:false or iscurrent:all in your search criteria. All editions are searchable when using Advanced Search. Learn more about what’s included in search results.

Search Examples

Search Government Manual by Agency - These examples will search for Government Manual documents with Department of Homeland Security as the agency.

Using Basic Search, enter: collection:govman agency:"department of homeland security"
Using Advanced Search, select United States Government Manual under Refine by Collection, then under Search in select Agency in the first box and enter Department of Homeland Security in the second box

Search Government Manual by Date - These examples will search for Government Manual documents published in 2009.

Using Basic Search, enter: collection:govman publishdate:2009 then select the checkbox next to View Historical Results
Using Advanced Search, select Date is in the box under Date Range, enter 2009 in the next box, then select United States Government Manual under Refine by Collection
From the Government Manual browse page, navigate to the 2009-2010 Edition and click to expand

Search Government Manual by Section - These examples will search for Government Manual documents from the Legislative Branch section.This applies only to editions 1995-96 to present.

Using Basic Search, enter: collection:govman sectionhier:legislative
Using Advanced Search, select United States Government Manual under Refine by Collection, then under Search in select Section in the first box and select Legislative Branch from the second box
From the Government Manual browse page, navigate to an edition and expand the sections to find documents in the Legislative Branch section

Search Government Manual by Personal Name - These examples will search for Government Manual documents with Al Gore in the text.

Using Basic Search, enter: collection:govman "Al Gore" then select the checkbox next to View Historical Results
Using Advanced Search, select United States Government Manual under Refine by Collection, then under Search in, enter: Al Gore in the second box

Sample Government Manual URLs

Govinfo uses two key pieces of information to construct predictable URLs to documents and Details pages:

Package ID is used to identify an individual edition of the United States Government Manual.
Granule ID is used to identify individual documents within the edition of the United States Government Manual.

Identifier	Structure/Metadata Field	Example
Package ID	GOVMAN-{Publication Date} Note: Publication Date is in YYYY-MM-DD format.	GOVMAN-2008-06-01
Granule ID	{Package ID}-Pg{First Page Number}{Sequence Number} Note: Sequence Number is only used if there are more than one granule with the same First Page Number. The first granule will not have a Sequence Number and the second would have a Sequence Number of 2.	GOVMAN-2008-06-01-Pg50 GOVMAN-2008-06-01-Pg82-2

Identifier

Structure/Metadata Field

Example

Package ID

GOVMAN-{Publication Date}

Note: Publication Date is in YYYY-MM-DD format.

GOVMAN-2008-06-01

Granule ID

{Package ID}-Pg{First Page Number}{Sequence Number}

Note: Sequence Number is only used if there are more than one granule with the same First Page Number. The first granule will not have a Sequence Number and the second would have a Sequence Number of 2.

GOVMAN-2008-06-01-Pg50

GOVMAN-2008-06-01-Pg82-2

Details page for a full United States Government Manual Edition
Structure: www.govinfo.gov/app/details/{Package ID}
Example: www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GOVMAN-2008-06-01

PDF File for a full United States Government Manual Edition
Structure: www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{Package ID}/pdf/{Package ID}.pdf
Example: www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVMAN-2008-06-01/pdf/GOVMAN-2008-06-01.pdf

Details Page for a document within the United States Government Manual
Structure: www.govinfo.gov/app/details/{Package ID}/{Granule ID}
Example: www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GOVMAN-2008-06-01/GOVMAN-2008-06-01-Pg50

PDF File for a document within the United States Government Manual
Structure: www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{Package ID}/pdf/{Granule ID}.pdf
Example: www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVMAN-2008-06-01/pdf/GOVMAN-2008-06-01-Pg50.pdf

Government Manual Metadata Fields and Values

Metadata fields and values can be used to increase the relevancy of your searches. The metadata fields available for the United States Government Manual are listed in the table below. Metadata fields and values are used throughout govinfo for

Refining Your Search,
Browsing,
Field Operators,
Advanced Search, and
Display on Details Pages.

Metadata fields and values can be entered into the Basic Search Box using field operators. The field operators available for the United States Government Manual are listed in the table below, along with examples for each metadata field. Using Field Operators

Some of these metadata fields are made available for use in Advanced Search. Using Advanced Search

Important: Only 1995-present editions are searchable using Field Operators generated from the metadata fields below. Editions prior to 1995 are searchable by collection, government author, title, date issued, sudoc classification, publisher, and access ID.

Metadata Field Display Name	Metadata Field Definition	Field Operator	Field Operator Example
Collection	The collection to which the document belongs. Typically the same as the publication or series.	collection:	collection:govman "govman" is used for the United States Government Manual
Government Author	The names of the Government organizations responsible for authoring or assembling the document.	governmentauthor:	governmentauthor:"office of the federal register"
Publication Date	The date the document was first made available to the public.	publishdate:	publishdate:1995-07-01 Date format is YYYY-MM-DD
Language	The language code of the original document, from the ISO639-2b standard.	language:	language:eng
Former Package ID	The document ID of the "package" as originally specified on www.gpoaccess.gov.	mods:identifier:(@type:"former package identifier":______)	mods:identifier:(@type:"former package identifier":169338pr)
SuDoc Class Number	The SuDoc class number from the U.S. Superintendent of Documents which classifies Government publications by publishing agency.	sudocclass:	sudocclass:"AE 2.108/2:"
Ingestion Date	The date the document was ingested into the govinfo preservation repository.	ingestdate:	ingestdate:2016-12-30 Date format is YYYY-MM-DD; check the box next to "View Historical Results" after search
Electronic Location (URL)	The URL where the document or the document in context (the content detail page) is located.	url:	url:pkg/GOVMAN-2016-12-16/pdf/GOVMAN-2016-12-16.pdf
Publisher	The government organization who publishes the document or publication. Not typically the Government Publishing Office (who serves as the printer and distributor), except in the case of Congressional publications.	publisher:	publisher:"Office of the Federal Register"
Branch	The branch of Government responsible for the document's contents.	branch:	branch:executive Possible Values: Executive, Legislative, Judicial
Type of Resource	The media type for the document, typically "text". Defined as part of the Library of Congress MODS standard.	typeofresource:	typeofresource:text
WAIS Database Name	The name of the WAIS database to which the document belonged in the former GPO Access system.	waisdbname:	waisdbname:1995_government_manual
Record Origin	How the record was originally generated. Typically "machine generated."	recordorigin:	recordorigin:"machine generated"
Title	The title of the publication.	title:	title:"congressional budget office"
Section	These are the different sections and sub-sections contained within the Government Manual document.	sectionhier:	sectionhier:legislative Possible Values: See table below
Agency	Agency or sub-agency name. For example, "Defense Department" or "Department of Labor".	agency:	agency:defense
President	The name of the president, for example "George W. Bush," "Barack Obama," or simply "Clinton".	president:	president:bush
Citation	The GPO standard method for searching citation references from the selected publication.	citation:	citation:"u.s. government manual, 2008-2009 edition"
Public and Private Law References	Citation references to Public or Private Laws. For example, "Public Law 110-32" or "Private Law 110-3".	plawcitation:	plawcitation:"public law 95-507"
United States Code Citation	Citation references to the United States Code. For example, "42 U.S.C. 5841" or "42 U.S.C. App. 99"	uscodecitation:	uscodecitation:"42 U.S.C. 3121"
Statutes at Large Citation	Citation references to Statutes at Large. For example, "88 Stat. 1242".	statutecitation:	statutecitation:"32 Stat. 51"
Reference Citation	Reference to another document within the text of a document.	refcitation:	refcitation:"42 U.S.C. 3121"

Section Metadata Values

The table below lists the metadata values which can be used when limiting your search using the Section advanced search field or the sectionhier: field operator.

Metadata Value	User Readable Value	Description
FRONTMATTER	Front Matter	Includes Preface, Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Chart: The Government of the United States.
LEGISLATIVE	Legislative Branch	Various lists of congressional information along with descriptions of the role the legislative branch within U.S. Government.
JUDICIAL	Judicial Branch	Various lists offices and agencies in the judicial branch.
EXECUTIVE	Executive Branch	Various lists of offices, within the Executive branch. Contains all departments, presidential offices, and independent establishments and government corporations.
INDEXES	Indexes	Indexes for Names and Agency/Subject
CHANGES	Recent Changes	Changes in government brought to the attention of the Manual’s Editor
APPENDICES	Appendices	Appendices
OTHER	Other	Any granule that does not match a previous granule class.

Government Manual Related Resources

Currently updated online Government Manual - Website jointly administered by the Office of the Federal Register and Government Publishing Office
Index of Federal Agencies from USA.gov - A service of the U.S. General Services Administration
Contact your local Federal Depository Library - To access a physical copy of the U.S. Government Manual.
Purchase printed copies - From GPO's Online Bookstore
Download the Government Manual in bulk XML - From GPO's bulk data repository