Index to Current Urban Documents
The Index to Current Urban Documents, a full-text online service as of 2001, is the key national resource for local government publications of the United States and Canada. Close to 500 jurisdictions, mainly cities, counties and regional agencies in major metropolitan areas, are represented. At the core of the collection are fiscal and planning documents, including budgets and financial reports, and city, county and regional plans.
Collecting documents for the Index is cooperative effort coordinated by Greenwood Publishing Group. Libraries and local agencies from all over North America contribute documents to be filmed and indexed for the collection. The IGS Library contributes San Francisco Bay Area documents, as well as other California material. Over 2,400 publications are added annually.
The start of the online service corresponds to vol. 29 of the print version of the Index, covering the 2000/01 cumulation of documents. Index entries in the online version are searchable by key word, subject, jurisdiciton and state, and documents can be viewed/downloaded as PDF files. Index entries include links to the issuing juristiction. The Berkeley campus subscribes to the online version.
Urban Documents Microfiche Collection
Prior to 2001 documents are available in microfiche and accessed via the print version of the Index. IGS Library holdings of the Urban Documents Microfiche Collection begin with vol. 12 of the Index, covering the years 1983-84, and end with vol. 28, covering the years 1999/00.
The annual print version of the Index began publication in 1973. Full citations, many annotated, appear in the geographic index, arranged by city and county. The subject index is extensive, with many cross references. A list of jurisdictions represented is included with each volume.
On the Berkeley campus the Index is available at the IGS Library and the Environmental Design Library from v. 1 (1972/73), and at the Government and Social Science Information Service from v. 19 (1990/91). The Index is available at many other academic libraries.
Using the Microfiche Collection
Use the print version of the Index to identify items of interest. Note the microfiche order numbers of items to be retrieved. The order numbers are alpha-numeric (e.g., SFCA-0143) and appear in the upper left corner of the citation in the geographic index and after the title in the subject index.
At the IGS Library: Microfiche must be paged from closed stacks. Request microfiche by filling out the Library's blue call slips and taking them to the Information Desk. There is a microfiche reader in the Reading Room.
The IGS Library does not have a fiche-to-paper or fiche-to-fiche copier. Appropriate copiers are available in nearby campus libraries. Inquire at the Information Desk.
At UC Berkeley's Environmental Design Library: Duplicate copies of some microfiche, mostly from California jurisdictions, are available here. Inquire at the Reference Desk.
Off-Campus: Non-Berkeley campus users should consult the Index to Current Urban Documents at a nearby academic library. U.C.-affiliated users should follow the interlibrary borrowing procedures of their local campus to obtain needed fiche. Users not affiliated with U.C. may order needed fiche directly from Greenwood Publishing Group, per the instructions in the Index.
Pre-1983-84 Microfiche: The California State Library in Sacramento fully subscribed to the microfiche collection from 1973 through June 1989, and thus is a source for microfiche predating the 1983/84 cumulation. Also, the IGS Library may have directly acquired material from California jurisdictions in hardcopy. Check the Library's catalogs for California material.
Some Possible Research Uses
The collection is a rich repository of detailed information about specific localities, and may prove helpful when the research focus is a specific city or region. City, county and regional plans, which typically include statistical data and maps, as well as extensive narrative description and analysis, are prime examples of such localized information sources.
The collection may also be useful in research on domestic policy issues. Since local jurisdictions bear most of the responsibility for implementing domestic policies, from food stamps to mass transit, local publications are a potentially rich source of information on how domestic policies work and on how shifts in domestic policy affect communities.
Because what local governments do affects so many aspects of people's daily lives, taking an expansive view of the collection's scope is worthwhile. Information on everything from hazardous waste disposal to arts in the community can be found in the collection.
