A hardcopy index to this collection is located on top of the microfiche cabinet. Introduction of bills and resolutions are entered in the Congressional Record and the text of some of the more important bills is printed in original or amended form. All earlier volumes and indexes are available on microfiche. The Congressional Globe, Annals of Congress and the Journals of the Continental Congress are also available on microfiche. The Digest of Public General Bills and Resolutions furnishes a brief synopsis of each public bill and resolution that has been introduced into Congress at the time of publication.
Indexes provide retrieval by sponsor and cosponsor, identical bills, short title, and subject.
After a bill has been introduced in either house and has received a number, it is then referred to a committee for consideration. Those which the committee decides are to receive active consideration will be placed on the Calendar of the U.S. House of Representatives and, if important enough, will have a date set for public hearings. A committee informs itself about the matter under consideration by means of hearings and committee prints. Hearings and committee prints from 1970 through 1981 are on microfiche, filed by CIS abstract number, and from 1982 forward, hearings and committee prints are filed by SuDoc number in microfiche room, or shelved in SuDoc number order in the federal documents collection, depending on format. This volume indexes selectively from 1951 to 1974.