U.S. Federal Legislative History Library

In order to easily determine whether a legislative history of a particular public law has been compiled or to locate related documents, books, or scholarly articles, check out the Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories subcollection inside the U.S. Federal Legislative History database. This subcollection is derived from the looseleaf publication Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories: A Bibliography of Government Documents, Periodical Articles, and Books, originally created and edited by the late law librarian Nancy P. Johnson and now updated by professional law librarians Jenna Fegreus and Austin Williams.

Using this database, users can search by Bill Number, Congress, Related Document Title, Popular Name of Public Law, Public Law Number, or by the Title of the Public Law. Additionally, users can also browse by Congress or public law titles.

For example, if you need to know what is available for P.L. # 103-322 (the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994), enter the U.S. Federal Legislative History database and click on Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories subcollection. From there, select the 103rd Congress. Next, either scroll to find the name of the act listed alphabetically or use your CTRL-F function to search for either the name or public law number.

Click the title of the act, and you will see a list of available relevant material for this public law. Users can view articles that cite the act, view the act in tthe U.S. Statutes at Large, or view a list of legislative histories that have been compiled for the act. Anything that is available in HeinOnline will be hyperlinked.