About
The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) is the search tool for the National Bibliography of U.S. Government Publications, which provides bibliographic information about new and historic publications from all three branches of the U.S. Government. When available, persistent links to the official, authoritative copies of online resources are provided.
The CGP is the authoritative source of all U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) bibliographic records and cataloging activity. Please note: Libraries obtaining records from non-GPO sources should keep in mind that those records may have been modified by other cataloging/metadata agencies and therefore may not match the official GPO record in the CGP.
The CGP was originally the online counterpart of the Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (Monthly Catalog, or MoCat), produced by GPO from 1895 to 2004. Since 2004, the continuously updated CGP has served as the official record.
Selected Features
- New Titles: Multiple lists of resources recently add to the CGP, such as New Electronic Titles or New Government eBooks. The New Titles page is an easy way to find all the latest resources added to the CGP. You can browse recent CGP records organized by timeframe (last week, last month, etc.) or subset (New Electronic Titles, New Serial Titles, etc.). While browsing, you can further refine by searching within the set. For New Electronic Titles, you can also view archived lists in an HTML report or a spreadsheet format.
- Catalogs to Search: Catalog record subsets of the CGP, with indexing specific to the content. The Catalogs include Congressional Publications, Congressional Serial Set, Electronic Titles, FDLP Web Archive, Gov eBooks, Historic Shelflist, and Serials. See the CGP to access the different subset catalogs as each has its own search page.
- CGP FDLP Login: A custom feature exclusively for Federal depository library staff that provides access to additional functionality when staff are logged in, including:
- Configuring personal preferences, such as saving personal sets of records and adjusting the search result displays and record formats.
- Setting up email or RSS alerts of recently added or updated records using Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI).
- Gaining additional access to item numbers. An “Item Number” column replaces “Author” column in the brief results list and in the dynamic new titles search results. For example:
Snippet from a CGP search after use of the FDLP Login.
The brief results, showing initial results for a search by keyword ”eagles,” display item numbers.
See more information about this in the CGP Help section entitled “FDLP Account.” This section is accessible after you log in to the CGP and through this direct link.
Obtaining CGP records
One way Federal depository library staff may acquire GPO catalog records in the CGP is through use of the Z39.50 client. Login and password information is listed above. To make use of this American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/ National Information Standards Organization (NISO) communications protocol, see the Z39.50 web page.
GPO catalog records included in the CGP are available in other sources too.
Searching the CGP together with other Federal Databases
You can search the CGP within DiscoverGov, which provides a unified interface for searching across multiple U.S. Federal Government databases.
Please consult the table below to see how the CGP compares to DiscoverGov, and GovInfo:
| CGP | GovInfo | DiscoverGov | |
| System of Record | Yes | Yes | No |
| Full-text Links in Results | Limited | Yes | Limited |
| Search Full-text Content | No | Yes | Limited |
| Citation Generator | No | Yes | Yes |
| Federated Searching | No | No | Yes |
Cataloging Metadata | Yes: MARC | Yes: MODS/METS/PREMIS | Yes: PNX/MARC |
| Search Types | Basic, Advanced, Browse, Expert | Basic, Advanced, Browse | Basic, Advanced, Browse |
| All Three Branches of Government Represented | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Training
Consult the CGP Help section for short guides and tutorial videos.
The guides include:
- How to search within the CGP
- Searching within subset catalogs
- Working with results
- My Options Tab
- FDLP Account (available after logging in with the CGP FDLP Login)
- Browsers, Fonts, & Links
- askGPO and Find a Federal Depository Library (FDL)
The tutorials include:
- Welcome (Video, 1 minute, recorded in 2022)
- Basic Search (Video, 2 minutes, recorded in 2022)
- Advanced Search (Video, 1 minute, recorded in 2022)
- Boolean Operators and Special Characters (Video, 2 minutes, recorded in 2022)
- Expert Search (Video, 1 minute, recorded in 2022)
- Browse Search (Video, 2 minutes, recorded in 2022)
- Results Management Tools (Video, 3 minutes, recorded in 2022)
Consult the following for tips on searching the CGP within DiscoverGov:
- Search for a Known Publication (Video, 4 minutes, recorded in 2025)
- Searching by Topic for Publications (Video, 1 minute, recorded in 2025)
- Searching for Publications by Agency (Video, 4 minutes, recorded in 2025)
Find more information about the catalog records within the CGP:
- Overview of GPO’s Catalog Records (Article, updated in 2025)
- Use the subject tag, GPO Cataloging and Classification in the FDLP Academy Training Repository to identify tutorials, such as:
- Exploring Cataloging of Federal Government Documents at GPO (Videos, in 3 parts totaling 76 minutes, recorded in 2022)
- Scope of the Cataloging & Indexing Program and the Federal Depository Library Program (Video, 18 minutes, recorded in 2021)
- Subject Headings Behind the Scenes (Video, 57 minutes, recorded in 2020)