Those who would lock their freedoms in a box to keep them safe deserve to be neither free nor safe--Benjamin Franklin

Myths About Government Documents...

Myth #1: Documents are Propaganda

Government Publications are written or commissioned by career service employees who are experts in their fields, not by politicians. A young lawyer named Felix Cohen was one such employee who began working for the government in the 1930's. He wrote a text called Handbook of Federal Indian Law. Sounds boring, doesn't it? Actually, it was so controversial that Mr. Cohen received death threats. He wrote his treatise on Native American rights at a time when politicians and their rich and powerful cronies wanted to push the tribes out of Oklahoma to get the oil there. In spite of the political climate, the handbook was published by the Department of the Interior and printed by the Government Printing Office in Washington. It remains the preeminent work on federal Indian law.

Myth #2: Books and articles are better resources than government documents
Actually, many books and articles are based on research which originally appeared in government documents! Sociologist Samuel Coleman was not a government employee. However, the government commissioned him to do educational research. His report was titled Equality of Educational Opportunity and eventually became known simply as the Coleman Report. This government document would pave the way for the landmark decision in Brown v. the Board of Education, school desegregation, and busing. It would cause riots and result in the calling out of the National Guard. More than 1,200 books and more than 16,000 articles were written based on Coleman's research. What do you think of documents now?

Myth #3: Documents are inaccessible
Some people think documents are hidden away and access to them intentionally obscured to keep government business secret. All documents in the Auraria Library can be easily found using our Skyline catalog. The open stacks are light and airy and browsing is encouraged. Most government publications can be checked out and all Federal Depository items are copyright free.

Stay tuned as we debunk more government document myths in the coming days...