LEXIS-NEXIS Group

1
LexisNexis Congressional Digital Collections
2
Congress as a source of humor.

• Suppose you were an idiot.And suppose you were
  a member of Congress....But then I repeat
  myself. -- Mark Twain
• With Congress, every time they make a joke it's
  a law, and every time they make a law it's a
  joke.-- Will Rogers
• If "CON" is the opposite of "PRO, what is the
  opposite of PROGRESS? -- Anonymous

3
Research value

• Congress studies everything that has to do with
  life in America, today and in the past from
  computer chips to buggy whips
• From a research and curriculum perspective --
  Agriculture to Zoology
• From a functional perspective -- indexing and
  abstracting helps both the novice and experienced
  researcher user find all relevant and related
  material

4
Todays agenda

• Discuss our vision
• Discuss the content
• Our value add
• Experiment some
• Q A

5
Our vision
To give researchers the power to quickly and
easily retrieve a variety of full-text,
complementary, Congressional information sources
through one interface using a single search
6
What does the vision provide users?

• Collections are housed within LexisNexis
  Congressional to allow search and retrieval with
  other complementary sources
• Search collections, individual document types, or
  all available material
• Controlled vocabulary indexing
• Original documents are viewable as PDF images
• Search full-text (OCR-generated ASCII text) and
  indexed fields

7
All Congressional PublicationsUnder One Roof


CIS INDEX Other Supplementary Historic Indexes
8
All Congressional PublicationsUnder One Roof


Legislative Histories 1969 to date
CIS INDEX Other Supplementary Historic Indexes
9
All Congressional PublicationsUnder One Roof


Congressional Serial Set 1789 to date
Legislative Histories 1969 to date
CIS INDEX Other Supplementary Historic Indexes
10
All Congressional PublicationsUnder One Roof

CRS Reports 1916 to date
Congressional Serial Set 1789 to date
Legislative Histories 1969 to date
CIS INDEX Other Supplementary Historic Indexes
11
All Congressional PublicationsUnder One Roof

CRS Reports 1916 to date
Committee Prints 1830 to date
Congressional Serial Set 1789 to date
Legislative Histories 1969 to date
CIS INDEX Other Supplementary Historic Indexes
12
All Congressional PublicationsUnder One Roof
Hearings 1824 to date

CRS Reports 1916 to date
Committee Prints 1830 to date
Congressional Serial Set 1789 to date
Legislative Histories 1969 to date
CIS INDEX Other Supplementary Historic Indexes
13
All Congressional PublicationsUnder One Roof
Hearings 1824 to date
Congressional Record 1789 to 1997
CRS Reports 1916 to date
Committee Prints 1830 to date
Congressional Serial Set 1789 to date
Legislative Histories 1969 to date
CIS INDEX Other Supplementary Historic Indexes
14
Indexing is the wire in the wall

• Full text
• Abstract full text
• Author
• Document number
• Issuing agency or committee
• Controlled subject
• Witness name and affiliation
• SuDoc number
• Title
• Bill number
• Public Law
• Statutes at Large citations

15
Built on a Solid Foundation

• Quality AI and acquisitions/collection
  development with over 35 years of experience
• LexisNexis 24/7 user support for technical issues
• Durable URLs are available for all digital
  collections
• MARC records are available for all digital
  collections
• Both the PDF documents and the user interface are
  ADA 508 compliant.
• Extensive help text that explains content and
  searching
• In discussions with Summon, NELLCO, and OCLC