How to Find U.S. Geological Survey Publications in the UO Science Library

Scientific Investigations Reports

Water Resources Investigations Reports

Finding USGS publications can be a bit of a challenge, due to changes over the years in the way they've been published and then cataloged by UO Libraries. Issues from different time periods of the same publication series may be found in different locations in the library. This guide attempts to indicate where you may find these publications in paper format or on the web. The series listed below are not all of the available USGS publication series, but are the ones most commonly used at UO. For more help, consult a science reference librarian.

Please note: some series changed in 1996 from being shelved as periodicals, to being cataloged individually and shelved as books. There is an overlap period, because when the USGS actually published an issue may be out of sync with strict chronology or sequential numbering of issues and reports. Therefore, issues or reports that were published around 1996 (which may actually date from earlier) may be in either the periodicals location or the call number location. So:

For Bulletins, Circulars, Professional Papers and Water Supply Papers published in the 1990s, search the online library catalog first for the author or title of the individual paper. If the individual paper comes up in a catalog search, then it is shelved as a book, by call number. If not, it probably is shelved with the periodicals, by publication title.

Bulletins

Nos. 1-900 (1883-1942): Ask at the Science Library Check-out desk. (Shelved alphabetically by title as: U.S. Geological Survey bulletin)

Nos. 901-2139, plus no.2220 (1940-1996): Shelved as a periodical, alphabetically by title as: U.S. Geological Survey bulletin

Various nos. from 1917-2134; 2140-latest (1996-2003): Cataloged separately and shelved with the books, by call number: QE75 .B9 [no. of bulletin]

2000-2003, plus a few 2004: many (but not all) Bulletins available full-text online at the USGS web site (see more information below.)

2004-present: Ceased publication; content now published in the new series Scientific Investigations Report.

Circulars

Nos. 5-1130 (1949-1996): Shelved as a periodical, alphabetically by title as: U.S. Geological Survey circular

Nos. 930-0, 1119, 1120-J,K,L; 1131- ; (approximately) 1996-present: Cataloged separately and shelved with the books, by call number: QE75 .C5 [no. of circular]

1997-present (plus a few 1996): Circulars available online at the USGS web site (see more information below.)

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Open-File Reports

online library catalog

Nos. 74-67 – 98-191 (with many missing, from 1970s-80s): OFRs available in print at the Science Library are shelved with the books, by call number: QE75 .O65 [report number]. Some OFRs issued as CD-ROMs.

Approximately 1996-present, plus some earlier ones: Available on line at the USGS web site (more information below.) Starting around 2000, many OFRs are now published only in electronic format.

Some Open-File Reports (OFRs) are on microfiche at the Knight Library Documents Center, microforms section, under the call number QE75 .O65. Here are the numbers of the older reports:
42-1, 44-19, 67-6, 72-223, 76-326; 78-064 through 93-647; 96-662
Many other OFRs are also available in microfiche in the Document Center, catalogued individually, from 1994 through 1999. Look up the individual report on the Library Catalog to find out.

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Professional Papers

Nos. 1-299 (1902-1958): Ask at the Science Library Check-out desk. (Cold Storage room.)

Nos. 300-1570 (1956-1996): Shelved as a periodical, alphabetically by title as: U.S. Geological Survey professional paper

Nos.729-G, 1220, 1266; 1357- ; (approximately) 1996-present: Cataloged separately and shelved with the books, by call number: QE75 .P9 [no. of paper]

Some Professional Papers available online at the USGS web site (more information below.)

Scientific Investigations Reports

New series begun January, 2004, incorporating Biological Science Report, Bulletin, Information and Technology Report and Water Resources Investigation Report.

Nos. 2004-5001- ; 2004-present: Cataloged separately and shelved with the books, by call number: QE75 .S43 [report no.]

Also available online at the USGS web site (more information below.)

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Water Resources Investigations Reports

WRIRs from the early 1970s were published with the Open File Reports, and can be found with them (see above.)

Nos. 74-10 - 03-? (1975-2003): Cataloged separately and shelved by call number: GB701.W375 [report no.], now kept in Math Storage (Fenton Hall)

2004-present: ceased publication; content now published in the new series Scientific Investigations Report.

Some WRIRs also available online at the USGS web site (more information below.)

Water Supply Papers

Nos. 1-218 (1896-1907): Ask at the Science Circulation Desk. Shelved by title as: [U.S.] Water-supply and Irrigation Papers of the …

Nos. 213 –1050 (1908-1957): Ask at the Science Circulation Desk. Shelved by title as: U.S. Geological Survey. Water Supply Paper

Nos. 1350-2445 (1958-1996): Shelved as a periodical, by title as: U.S. Geological Survey. Water Supply Paper [no. of paper]

Nos. 2446-latest (1996-present): Cataloged separately and shelved with the books, by call number: TC801 .U2 [no. of paper]/p>

Some papers also available online at the USGS web site (more information below.)

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USGS Publications Web Site

<=> From Advanced Search, you can search by series, and issue or report number. This is probably the easiest, quickest way to get to the exact one you want.

The USGS seems to be making a concerted effort to make ALL of their publications available full-text electronically through this web site. (You can track their progress here, by series. Note that "number of records" means bibliographic citations available online; "number online" means the number of records that include full text online.)

Older documents are only available as scanned images, or as DjVu documents. The DjVu plug-in is free, and easy to download and install. The legibility of some of these scanned older documents may not be very good.

From 2000 forward, most documents are available as HTML and/or PDF. Please note: If the only option offered from the citation level is "View the document as HTML\", click that even if you want a PDF – there may be a link to a PDF version from within the HTML document.

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Maintained by: Victoria Mitchell, vmitch@uoregon.edu
Last Modified: 09/25/2008