The official United States Congress website provides a convenient one step access point to a substantial variety of information.
The Congressional Observer Publications website provides useful information about current Congressional activity.
The Government Documents Department at UT has an excellent website that will prove helpful in doing these exercises.
1. You are a reference librarian in an academic Library. You have
been asked to speak to an sophomore class in U.S. government and
politics about how to find the voting records of their representatives
and senators. Prepare an outline for a presentation--about 30 minutes
in length--that will introduce the most useful sources available with
some indication of which are most useful for what. Provide one simple,
visible exercise for the students.
2. You have been asked to make an introductory presentation on
LexisNexis Congressional to a political science class. Include a sample
search with search pointers.
3. You have been asked to make a presentation on Congressional Quarterly publishers to a library science class. Besides the usual considerations of history, scope, and availability, provide examples of specific helpful in understanding legislation and politics. Prepare an outline.
4. A political science faculty member has asked you to speak to her
American government and politics course on how to find information
about Congressional staff, including biographical information. Using
sources such as The Almanac of the Unelected: Staff of the U.S. Congress [JK 1012 .A45] and the Congressional Staff Directory
[JK 1012.C56], provide information about Congressional staff, and some
interesting examples of how a student might learn about staff
associated with a particular representative, senator, or committee.
5. A political science faculty member has asked you to speak to her American government and politics course on recent U.S. Federal elections. Students will later be asked to complete a small research project where they compare election statistics in the 1990s with those in the 1970s. You are familiar with CQ's Guide to U.S. Elections, but will need to identify other useful sources for your presentation. Prepare an outline for your presentation.
6. A user needs information on lobbyists. In particular, she wants to know which U.S. railroad spends the most on lobbying.
7. A user wants to know about campaign contributions for the two Virginia senators. You might begin with FECInfo Home Page, but consider other sources.
8. Once again, you have been asked to speak at the Thursday morning reference meeting. You have been asked to review the National Journal [JK 1 .N28] with some consideration of how useful it might be for those interested in keeping up with legislative issues. Since this is a expensive title, at least one of your colleagues as asked if the same information cannot be found in other titles, such as the New York Times or the Washington Post or perhaps free on the WWW. Another colleague wonders if similar information is not available from The Hill. or Roll Call Online. Your response and rationale?
*9. THIS QUESTION IS REQUIRED OF ALL STUDENTS. Select a public law which was enacted between 2000 and 2004. Construct a legislative history for this law. Your legislative history should include these elements as available:
10. A student is interested in finding Congressional oversight hearings on the FBI, especially its role in anti-terrorist activities. While more recent hearings would be especially useful, she is interested in older ones as well. What can you find?
11. A graduate student is interested in locating the confirmation hearings for the last two Appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. What can you find?
12. A client needs to find a statute perhaps called "Consumer Protection Act of 2005." This is a popular title. Find the actual title and some indication of its legislative history.
13. A client needs information on the Public Law 109-3. What can you find?
14. Telephone reference query: Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the current chief deputy whip, was a candidate to become majority whip. What does the majority whip do? How much authority does he have?
16. Were any bills introduced into the current or recent Congress dealing with childhood obesity?
17. A political history student wants to know if slavery was mentioned in the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention. This might be a good time to become familiar with the Library of Congress A Century of Lawmaking site.
18. A user wants biographical information on John Duncan. You might begin with the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, but consider hard copy sources too.
19. You are helping a user find "29 U.S.C.A. 2301 et seq.. What can you find?
