Nonbook materials, such as videotapes, film strips, slide collections, pamphlets, news clippings files, and full text data files, should not be overlooked by the researcher as valuable information sources. Audio and visual materials often may be useful to add depth and additional interest to presentations. Pamphlets may succinctly cover many topics of current interest. News clippings files may include photos of current events or celebrities that may not be found easily elsewhere. Usefulness of any of these types of materials is best judged on a case by case basis. For example, if a researcher were planning to write a critique of Italian film-maker Federico Fellini's early motion pictures, it would be essential to view those motion pictures rather than to rely solely on other critics' appraisals of his work. If the same researcher planned a class presentation of the finished research project, short clips from Fellini's films would help to illustrate each of the major points the researcher made.

Additional nonbook materials include databases, both online and on CD-ROM, and microformat materials. Many periodicals are stored in microformat to save shelf space. A periodical may be kept on microfilm or on microfiche. Microfilm is a continuous strip of film that is wound on a reel and viewed frame by frame. Microfiche is a single card that has images reproduced in rows and columns. Newspapers are typically stored on microfilm. Many weekly periodicals are typically stored on microfiche or microfilm.

Online and CD-ROM databases may fall into several categories:

--Indexing services that provide access to periodicals or books by various means (subject, author, title, etc.) 

--Abstracting services that not only provide indexing but also brief summaries of the materials indexed. 

--Full text databases that provide subject access to entire articles on a variety of topics.

An online database is a database that is accessible from a computer network either for a fee or as part of a library's online catalog system. A CD-ROM database is a data file stored on a compact laser-readable disc. Both systems provide quick identifcation of and access to research materials. 

Government documents may also be of great value to researchers. The primary producer of government documents is the United States Government. The many departments of the government publish information of use to citizens on a wealth of subjects. Additionally, printed accounts of all hearings and proceedings of the United States Congress are published regularly to ensure public access. At most congressional hearings experts present testimony for consideration by senators and representatives. This expert testimony becomes part of the published hearings and can provide researchers with a gold mine of information.

Many United States government documents are now published on the World Wide Web. Current and past legislation can be found on the government's Thomas information system. Using Thomas, a researcher determine the status of current and previously considered bills before the Congress. Thomas also allows searching by key words, thus making legislative information even more accessible. 

United States government documents are cataloged according to the United States Superintendent of Documents cataloging scheme. Like the Library of Congress cataloging scheme, it too uses a combination of letters and numbers to arrange materials on the shelf. The similarity ends there, however. In this scheme, materials are arranged by department or agency classification. For example, documents issued from the office of the President are classified in the Pr classification. Defense Department publications begin with the letter D. Numbers are used to designate a specific office and type of publication. 

Two excellent guides to United States government publications are the Monthly Catalog issued by the government and the Congressional Information Service's Index to Publications of the United States Congress, commonly referred to as CIS. These indexes provide subject access to the many publications of the federal government. 

Not all libraries have government documents, but most large public and university libraries are designated as either full or partial depository libraries. A full depository receives everything published by the government. A partial depository receives selected publications. 

In addition to publications of the federal government, state and municipal documents are kept in many libraries. Access to these materials is handled usually via a printed card catalog or an online catalog. The library's online catalog provides UNF library users with access to municipal, state, and federal government documents.