QUICK GUIDE:  HOW TO FIND FEDERAL AGENCY PUBLICATIONS

I. Administrative Decisions

A. Official Reports:

Many federal agencies, including all the major regulatory commissions, publish official reports of their decisions. However, there is no consistency from agency to agency. To identify an agency’s official reporter and locate its published decisions:

1. Search JACOB using the name of the agency as the author.

2. Consult “Appendix D: Sources of Federal Regulatory Agency Rules, Regulations and Adjudications” in How to Find the Law (Reference: KF 240 .C538 1989)

B. Unofficial sources:

Unofficial sources of agency decisions are often more quickly published, better indexed, and more accessible than the official sources. Options include:

1. Looseleaf Services – regularly updated, usually multivolume, sets devoted to specific topics that contain statutes, regulations, and agency decisions, often with editorial comments. Selected looseleaf services are listed in Legal Looseleafs in Print (Ready Reference: KF1.S7). Search JACOB to locate a particular title in the library’s collection.

2. Commercial topical reporters – For example, Pike and Fischer’s Administrative Law (SL3: KF5401.A8 P55). Consult JACOB to see if there is a topical reporter available in the library on your subject.

3. Lexis and Westlaw – Many agency decisions can be located in the areasof law topical databases.

C. Agency Web Sites:

Many recent agency decisions are available on the Internet. For links to the decision sections of federal agency web sites, go to the Administrative Decisions & Actions - By Agency page created by the University of Virginia School of Law.

Most recent agency documents are available on the internet. For a comprehensivelist of federal agency web sites, click on:

1. LSU Libraries Federal Agencies Directory

2. The U.S. Government’s A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies

B. In Print:

1. Search JACOB, select “Author” search and enter the name of the agency.

2. If not available in JACOB, search WorldCat to see if the item is available in another library. If found, request via Interlibrary Loan.

last updated: 8/01/05