By Jon Bowie, Library Assistant - Government Publications & Reference Services
The New Brunswick Legislative Library has been publishing its Government Publications Checklist in various incarnations, since 1955. As mandated by the Legislative Library Act, the Legislative Library is the official depository for government publications, and each year assembles the checklist in order to document, in a detailed manner, these publications by provincial departments, councils and organizations. The checklist is an invaluable record and the only one of its kind within the provincial government.
The Government Publications Checklist has gone through many changes over the years, as resources and search tools have changed and evolved. Although the checklist once contained everything published within a department, the advent of an online searchable catalogue for the Legislative Library (http://leg-horizon.gnb.ca/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=13JS0992M5593.68717&profile=nbll&menu=search&ts=1323099439390#focus), means that patrons can search for monographs (reports on a single subject) by department, year of publication, author or subject. Thus the current checklist is mostly reserved for annual reports, pamphlets, and other serial titles.
The Government Publications Checklist is a concise and specialized research tool containing information not found elsewhere. It is an accurate compilation of government serials published and received during the calendar year. Often it will be used by departmental officials who are seeking information on what their own department has published in years past. Sometimes it is used to locate information based on what was available at a certain time. Now more than ever, the checklist remains an important and extremely useful document. You can find checklists from 2000 to present at our website: http://www1.gnb.ca/leglibbib/en/Publications.aspx/Index.
Printed Government Publications Checklists for the years prior to 2000 can be accessed at both the Government Documents Building (766 King St.), and the Legislative Library itself in the Legislative Assembly Building (706 Queen St.)
