This guide enables school librarians and teachers to make the best use of government information available on the Internet. It provides details about necessary hardware and software, as well as guidance on using catalogues, indexes and services from the Government Printing Office (GPO).

This guide introduces elementary and secondary school librarians to the wealth of information available from the US government and affordable to librarians on a budget. Federal government documents on history, government and politics, art, health, criminal justice and science are routinely available, at prices ranging from "free" to $10. The formats vary, and include monographs, posters, charts, maps, software, and multimedia. The manual includes samples of government selection tools, discusses commercial vendors of government documents, and review sourcees for new documents. Appendices list the GPO Book Stores and Federal Depository Libraries.