About
During the time it was produced (1895-2004), the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications was the most comprehensive ongoing resource for identifying and locating U.S. Federal Government publications. Published under different titles during its run of production, this resource became known as the Monthly Catalog or MoCat. The publication included bibliographic descriptions of both depository and non-depository Government publications and included information on how to obtain copies.
The print MoCat provided users access to GPO’s bibliographic records until GPO adopted MARC format and began cataloging electronically in July 1976. That change allowed libraries to download MARC records from bibliographic utilities and add them to their local catalogs. Eventually, it also allowed vendors to create databases of these catalog records dating back to July 1976. The print MoCat remained the primary access point from 1895-June 1976.
In the early 2000s, GPO acquired and implemented its own library catalog. MARC records dating back to July 1976 were ingested, and new MARC records for current and historic publications continue to be added on an ongoing basis. GPO sought and received Congressional approval to provide online access to the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications as an ongoing replacement, and the print Monthly Catalog was discontinued with the December 2004 issue. The print MoCat remained the most widely available resource to access pre-1976 historical content.
Development and Partnership
In 2024 ProQuest/Clarivate announced the retirement of their Monthly Catalog of the United States Government (MoCat) database. The Superintendent of Documents established an agreement with ProQuest that allowed GPO to acquire a copy of their data under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC 4.0 DEED license and make the content publicly available.
The content covered GPO’s cataloging output from 1895 through June 1976 as printed in the Monthly Catalog during that time. Acquiring this data has allowed GPO to provide comprehensive coverage to bibliographic entries in the Monthly Catalog from that time period through MARC records in the Historic Monthly Catalog and through enhancements to the Monthly Catalog on GovInfo.
Historic Monthly Catalog
GPO’s metadata experts analyzed the dataset and converted the metadata into MARC records and enhanced the records in several ways. This resulted in over 1.2 million MARC records added to the Historic Monthly Catalog on the CGP.
Selected Features
- The Historic Monthly Catalog is available as a separate dataset in the CGP. Due to previous efforts to catalog pre-1976 documents, there is likely some overlap between the Historic Monthly Catalog dataset and the National Bibliography (NaBib) dataset in the CGP. Keeping the datasets separate will avoid any confusion that might be caused by duplication of records. Additionally, GPO cataloging practices have changed over time, so many of the MoCat records do not meet GPO’s current cataloging standards. Keeping these records in a separate dataset allows us to maintain the consistency in the National Bibliography dataset, while making the MoCat records available through the separate Historic Monthly Catalog dataset.
- Catalog to Search: Using the Catalog to Search feature enables users to search the Historic Monthly Catalog directly without having to select the dataset from a drop-down menu each time a search is executed. The Catalog to Search page does not offer searches for data fields such as subject headings and others that are not contained in Historic Monthly Catalog records.
Key Dates
GPO cataloging practices changed over time, so it is important to note some key dates impacting the data contained in the records.
- The first issue of the Monthly Catalog was issued in January 1895.
- Records before July 1924 do not contain item numbers.
- GPO began using a black dot to mark entries for publications distributed to depository libraries in November 1942. Entries prior to this will not indicate whether publications were distributed to depositories.
- Beginning in November 1947, GPO assigned entry numbers to individual entries in the Monthly Catalog, making them easier to locate. For this dataset, this change enabled automated matching of corrections published in later issues to the corrected entries.
- The last issue before GPO began cataloging online was June 1976. This is the end of this dataset.
Monthly Catalog on GovInfo
The Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications on GovInfo contains the digitized content of the full run of the print Monthly Catalog 1895-2004. The XML from this dataset has been added to the corresponding issues in the GovInfo collection, but it does not cover the full date range of the collection. For the available issues, the XML is included in searches of the Monthly Catalog on GovInfo.
Selected Features
- XML for issues from 1895-June 1976 can be downloaded from GovInfo.
- Availability of XML improves search results.
- Front matter and indexes (not included in the Historic Monthly Catalog) are included in the Monthly Catalog on GovInfo.
Key Dates
- There is no XML for issues after June 1976.
- Key dates for the Historic Monthly Catalog given above also apply to the content of the 1895-June 1976 issues on GovInfo.