Search By Number Form (Congressional Publications)
Use the Search by Number form to retrieve Congressional publications when you know the citation of the document or a related bill or law. Specifically, use this form to:
- Find
legislative citations, including bill number, public law number, Statute at Large citation, chapter, public resolution, or U.S. Code citation
-
Bibliographic citations, including publication number, SuDoc number, ProQuest accession number, or Serial Set volume number
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Congressional Record citations Congressional Record citations, including page reference with volume, daily edition to bound edition page number cross reference, or daily edition page citation -
Regulatory citations, including Code of Federal Regulations or Federal Register
For examples of how to use the Congressional Publications search forms, see these User Scenarios.
Find a Congressional publication by number
Select the Find a Congressional publication by number option to search for Congressional publications by specific document number. The search form will display four number types to search on: Publication Number, Bibliographic Number, Serial Set Volume Number.
Publication Number
Many, but not all, congressional publications have an official number assigned to them that reflects the number of the Congress in which the publication was issued, the publication type, and the order in which publications of that type and for that year were issued. Select Publication Number, and then select the abbreviated form of publication type from the drop-down list. Choose from the following abbreviations, which may vary according to your subscription type:
| Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|
| H.rpt | House report |
| H.doc. | House document |
| H.exdoc | House executive document |
| H.jnl | House journal |
| H.misdoc. | House miscellaneous document |
| S.rpt. | Senate report |
| S.doc. | Senate document |
| S.prt. | Senate print |
| S.hrg. | Senate hearing |
| S.exdoc. | Senate executive document |
| S.jnl | Senate journal |
| S.misdoc. | Senate miscellaneous document |
| CC.rp. | Court of Claims report |
| CRS rpt | Congressional Research Service report |
| Exec.rpt. | Executive report |
| Exec.doc. | Executive document |
| Treaty doc. | Treaty document |
| Claims. | American State Papers report on claims |
| Com.nav. | American State Papers report on commerce and navigation |
| Fin. | American State Papers report on finance |
| For.rel. | American State Papers report on foreign relations |
| Ind.aff. | American State Papers report on Indian affairs |
| Mil.aff. | American State Papers report on military affairs |
| Misc. | American State Papers miscellaneous report |
| Nav.aff. | American State Papers report on naval affairs |
| Post.off. | American State Papers report on Post Office Department |
| Pub.land. | American State Papers report on public lands |
In most cases, once you have selected the publication type, you will be asked to select the Congress number from a drop-down. In the blank space to the right of the Congress, type the number of the publication for which you are looking.
For example, if you want to retrieve the 34th Senate report from the 108th Congress, select S.rpt. from the Publication type drop-down list, select 108 from the Congress number drop-down list, and enter 34 into the search box.
Bibliographic Number
Congressional publications can also be retrieved if you know the Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) classification number or the CIS accession number. Select Bibliographic number as your Search Within category, and then choose SuDoc or Accession Number from the drop-down. Type the SuDoc number or the Accession Number into the search box at the right of your screen.
SuDoc Format for Congressional Basic:
Prior to 1981, GPO did not assign SuDoc numbers to House Reports, House Documents, Senate Reports and Senate Documents.
However, Senate Executive Documents (later known as Senate Treaty Documents) and Senate Executive Reports have always had SuDocs assigned using the Y.1(Congress-Session) class number.
For special House and Senate Documents, GPO did assign SuDocs using X(Congress-Session):H.doc.(the number) for their classification.
In 1981, GPO began classifying the complete serial set document collection. The former SuDoc class number for Senate Treaty Documents and Senate Executive Reports was changed to Y1.1/4: and Y1.1/6: respectively to conform to the new series listed below:
Y 1.1/3: Senate Documents
Y 1.1/4: Senate Treaty Documents
Y 1.1/5: Senate Reports
Y 1.1/6: Senate Executive Reports
Y 1.1/7: House Documents
Y 1.1/8: House Reports
Serial Set Volume
If your institution has purchased access to the U.S. Serial Set Digital Collection, you can retrieve congressional publications by entering the Serial Set volume number into the appropriate box on the Search by Number form. If your institution does not have access to the U.S. Serial Set Digital Collection, you will not see this search option. Users from institutions that have access to Serial Set bibliographic records through the Congressional Indexes historical module will not be able to enter the Serial Set volume number on the Search by Number form, but they can retrieve records by entering SERIAL-VOL_NO: followed by the volume number into a keyword search box on the Advanced Search form (e.g., SERIAL-VOL-NO: 12795-6).
Find Congressional publications related to a bill or law
Select the Find Congressional publications related to a bill or law option to retrieve Congressional documents that mention a specific bill or law. The search form will display three citation types to search on: Bill Number; Public Law Number; and Statute at Large.
The form will also display the various Congressional publications included in your institution's subscriptions and purchases. Use the checkboxes to specify which publications to search.
Find a legislative history by number
Select the Find a legislative history by number option to locate a Legislative History for a specific law, statute, or bill number. The search form will display three citation types to search on: Enacted Bill Number; Public Law Number; and Statute at Large.
Find the bound Congressional Record by citation or date
There are three ways to retrieve the bound Congressional Record from this search form.
Congressional Record Permanent Edition Citation
You can retrieve information from the Congressional Record and its predecessor publications by entering a volume and either a page or a range of pages.
Note:
If you use Roman numerals in your citations, remember that the letter "D" can be either a Roman numeral or a prefix for pages appearing in the Daily Digest. ProQuest® Congressional always interprets the letter "D" as a Daily Digest prefix if it is immediately followed by an Arabic number 0-9.Congressional Record Daily Edition Citation
You can retrieve information from the bound Congressional Record by entering a citation to the daily edition of the Congressional Record. Daily citations have a volume, section (house, Senate, or extension of remarks) and either a page or a range of pages.
Congressional Record Date
You can retrieve a particular day of the bound Congressional Record and its predecessor publications by entering a date.