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How the Serial Set Is Bound  |   Definitions  

Adapted from a presentation by Ms. Virginia Saunders, Congressional Documents Specialist, in GPO's Congressional Printing Management Division. The presentation was given at the Spring 1998 Depository Library Council/Federal Depository Conference in Arlington, Virginia.

I trust that many of you are in some way familiar with the United States Congressional Serial Set, or at least have heard of it. The United States Congressional Serial Set is considered a "must" for a law library or any library which is frequented by law students or legal advisers.

Basically, the "United States Congressional Serial Set," as it is known today, is comprised of the numbered Senate and House Documents and Senate and House Reports which are bound by Session of Congress. The Senate Executive Documents and Senate Executive Reports were also included in the Serial Set at the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing in 1979, beginning with the 96th Congress. Since that time, the Senate Executive Documents, which were previously "alphabetically lettered," became Senate Treaty Documents in 1981, beginning with the 97th Congress, and they are now numbered. All of the above series begin with Number 1 at the beginning of the Congress and are numbered consecutively from the 1st Session through the 2d Session of the Congress.

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Serial Set Title Page of volume of Senate Executive Documents

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How the Serial Set Is Bound  |   Definitions