Women workers install fixtures and assemblies to a tail fuselage section of a B-17F bomberat the Douglas Aircraft
Company, Long Beach, Calif. Alfred T. Palmer, photographer. 1942.
Prints and Photographs Division. LC-USW361-128 DLC (color film copy slide)
Issues important to women are also policies of interest to governments and international organizations. Employment, health,
education, and economic parity can be researched at state, national, and international levels through government publications
housed in the Serial and Government Publications Division.
The majority of any government's publications are serial in nature. The division's collection includes periodicals published
by the federal government, state and local governments, foreign governments, and international organizations. Official serial
publications of U.S. states and foreign governments are housed in the division until bound. In addition to government-produced
periodicals, the division has depository collections for
U.S. publications issued by the U.S. Government Printing Office
the United Nations (UN)
the European Union (EU)
Special “blue-ribbon” panels established by the President of the United States are, by law, deposited with the Library and
made available through the division as federal advisory committee documents. Also, the Library has established exchange and
special agreements with a number of international organizations and foreign governments in order to receive needed publications
and documents. Organizations such as the Organization of American States, the International Labour Organization, and many
UN affiliated organizations share their publications with the Library.
International organizations have made conscious efforts to include women in their policy deliberations. Foreign government
publications contain varied levels of detail concerning women in any particular country. U.S. state publications reflect
the importance of women in the American home, workplace, and society, and state concerns are mirrored on the national
level as well. Researchers investigating the role of American women in the international arena and how American women fare
on a worldwide basis will find the statistics collected by governments and reports generated through government- and organization-sponsored
studies and research important sources to review.