Congressional Information Service Legislative Resources

This guide provides brief descriptions of, and detailed step-by-step instructions on how to use, selected Congressional Information Service United States resources in the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library.

Congressional Information Service is owned by the LexisNexis group, the legal publishing component of Reed Elsevier. CIS is not part of the United States Congress.

CIS Index, Abstracts, and Microfiche Library

CIS US Congressional Committee Hearings Index and Microfiche

CIS United States Serial Set Index and Microfiche Library

Additional LexisNexis Resources

CIS Index, Abstracts, and Microfiche Library

Index & Abstracts (KF49 .C62) and Microfiche Library in Microforms area of Base level of the Law Library.

Published 1970- . Index published monthly; with quarterly, annual, and 5-year cumulations. Since 1984, also publishes annual "Legislative History" volume.

This publication provides the most complete and detailed indexing and abstracting of Congressional publications from 1970 to the present. Includes Committee Hearings, Committee Prints, House and Senate Reports, House and Senate Documents, Senate Executive Documents and Reports, special publications, and Public Laws. Provides full-text microfiche copies of Congressional publications.

Subject/Name Index lists subjects, geographic names/sites, witnesses' names/affiliations, individual and corporate authors, government agencies, subcommittees, names of Bills and Public Laws, and special information sources.

Eight supplementary indexes:

(1) Titles of Congressional publications

(2) Bill numbers

(3) Report numbers

(4) Document numbers

(5) Committee and Subcommittee Chairpersons

(6) Senate Hearing numbers*

(7) Senate Print numbers*

(8) Superintendent of Documents numbers.

[*House Hearings and Prints not covered in supplementary indexes because they're not numbered.]

How To Use:

(a) Use Indexes to identify publications relevant to your search. Note each publication's year of publication and "Accession Number" (eg, H360-9).

(b) Use Accession Numbers to locate publications in CIS Abstracts volumes. Review abstracts to determine which publications you would like to read in their full-text version.

(c) Use year of publication and Accession Number to retrieve desired microfiche. CIS microfiche are filed by year of publication, then Accession Number within each year. Each Accession Number may encompass several microfiche. Accession Numbers appear on upper left of microfiche.

CIS US Congressional Committee Hearings Index and Microfiche

Index (KF40 .C56) and Microfiche in Microforms area of Base level of the Law Library.

Indexes, and provides full-text microfiche copies of, published Congressional hearings from 1833 to 1969. Committee hearings publications contain full transcripts of hearings proceedings including texts of oral and written statements; transcripts of committee questions and discussions between committee members and witnesses; exhibits and submitted materials presented for the record; and related reports, studies, and correspondence.

Index in eight parts:

(1) 1833 - March 1917 (23rd-64th Congress)

(2) April 1917 - March 1925 (65th-68th Congress)

(3) December 1925 - 1934 (69th-73rd Congress)

(4) 1935-1944 (74th-78th Congress)

(5) 1945-1952 (79th-82nd Congress)

(6) 1953-1958 (83rd-85th Congress)

(7) 1959-1964 (86th-88th Congress)

(8) 1965-1969 (89th-91st Congress)

Each Index part in four sections:

(a) Reference Bibliography - bibliographic data, annotations, notes, subject descriptors, bill numbers, and witness names and affiliations.

(b) Index by Subjects and Organizations

(d) Supplementary Indexes - title, bill number, Superintendent of Documents classification number, Report number, and Document number

Microfiche in four groups:

(1) Senate Library's 1869-1934 (41st-73rd Congress) bound collection of hearings and 1833-1934 bound US Serial Set Collection of "documented hearings." [Groups 1(A) and 1(B); Index parts 1-3]

(2) 1839-1934 (25th-73rd Congress) hearings publications not contained in the Senate Library. [Group 2; Index parts 1-3]

(3) Senate Library's 1935-1969 (74th-91st Congress) bound collection of hearings. [Group 3; Index parts 4-8]

(4) Other 1800s-1969 hearings publications identified by CIS researchers. [Group 4; Index parts 1-8]

How To Use:

(a) Use Indexes to identify publications relevant to your search. Note each publications' microfiche "Accession Number."

(b) Use Accession Number to retrieve desired microfiche. CIS US Congressional Committee Hearing microfiche are filed by group, then Accession Number within each group. Each Accession Number may encompass several microfiche.

Note: Accession Numbers on microfiche differ by microfiche group -- you have to get a "feel" for these Accession Numbers as to which group they refer.

Examples:

Group 1(A) H200-1 -- Within header at top of microfiche, look for House fiche volume 200.

Group 1(B) (23-1) S.Doc. v.5 n.422 -- Within header at top of microfiche, look for 23rd Congress, 1st Session, Senate Document volume 5, number 422.

Group 2 HAg 50-A -- At top right corner of microfiche, look for HAg 50A.

Group 3 (87) S1482-1 -- At top right corner of microfiche, look for 87th Congress; within header at top of microfiche, look for Senate volume 1482.

Group 4 (89) HAp-1 -- At top right corner of microfiche, look for (89) HAp-1.

CIS United States Serial Set Index and Microfiche Library

Index (Z1223 .Z9 C65) and Microfiche in Microforms area of Base level of the Law Library.

Indexes, and provides full-text microfiche copies of, Congressional publications from 1789 to 1969. Includes Committee reports, Congressional Journals, and other Congressional publications (eg, investigation records, directories, manuals, and histories). Also includes Executive branch and nongovernmental publications (eg, annual reports, official communications, and periodical publications).

Index in four sections:

(a) Index of Subjects and Keywords

(b) Private Relief and Related Actions - Index of Names of Individuals and Organizations.

(d) Schedule of Serial Volumes

How To Use:

(a) Use Index volumes to identify Congressional publications relevant to your search. Note each publication's "Serial Volume Number" (eg, 2107-3) and "Publication Series Number" (eg, H.rp. 500).

(b) Use Serial Volume Number and, if needed, Publication Series Number to retrieve desired microfiche. CIS US Serial Set microfiche are filed by Serial Volume Number. Each Serial Volume Number may encompass several microfiche. Serial Volume Numbers appear on upper right of microfiche. Publication Series Numbers appear on upper left of microfiche.

Additional LexisNexis Resources

LexisNexis.com: Congressional Information Service

Provides general information on the CIS publications, microforms, and databases.

LexisNexis: Legislation & Politics: - U.S. & U.K.: U.S. Congress

Includes bills and bill tracking 101st Congress onward; committee reports 103rd Congress onward; committee hearings and selected committee prints 103rd Congress onward; Congressional Record 99th Congress onward; and selected compiled legislative histories (eg, Clean Water Act of 1977 Legislative History). Within this U.S. Congress group of source files, see also the Legislative Histories: CIS/Historical Index source file for 1789-1980 Congressional materials.

LexisONE: Legal Web Site Directory: Legislative Resource Center

Laura E. Ray, MA, MLS

Educational Programing Librarian

March 2006