by Mollie Thompson

The Dalhousie Libraries provide access to thousands of government documents both electronically and in print. Subjects ranging from technical and scientific study to historical and current trending topics. Documents from various levels of government—federal, provincial, municipal, and international—are available at your fingertips through the Novanet catalogue (which includes all academic libraries in Nova Scotia). New documents are added weekly to the collection, primarily in electronic format.

Government documents are available in print and shifting to electronic format. The Dalhousie Libraries have the largest and most extensive government documents collection in the Novanet library system. Government of Canada publications in electronic form are added weekly and are available in both French and English. Recently, Dalhousie Libraries staff have been busy adding over 3,000 Statistics Canada records to the catalogue.

Many of the Dalhousie Libraries collect government documents. The Killam Memorial Library is responsible for collecting federal and provincial documents and documents from intergovernmental agencies such as the United Nations and the European Union. The largest print collection of government documents in the Dalhousie Libraries is located on the second floor of the Killam Library.

The Sexton Design and Technology Library’s collection of government documents includes reports, papers, standards, codes, and other publications from national bodies such as The Canada Mortgage and Housing Commission, Industry Canada, Agriculture Canada, Environment Canada, and the National Research Council of Canada. Included as well are reports from Canadian municipalities primarily relating to proposed and completed urban development projects.

The Sir James Dunn Law Library has an extensive collection of print and electronic government documents encompassing Canadian legislative materials including federal and provincial statutes, regulations, debates and other parliamentary papers from most jurisdictions. The law library can provide access to Canadian case law emanating from multiple levels of courts, primary source materials from common law jurisdictions and international treaties on nations around the world.

The MacRae Library’s government document collection contains international, federal, provincial, municipal, and industry documents primarily focused on agriculture and related subjects.

For more information on accessing government documents, check out the LibGuide on the Dalhousie Libraries webpage, dal.ca.libguides.com/govdocs