Tutorials,
Guides, & How-to's

FEDERAL REGULATIONS

Federal regulations are a means of implementing laws enacted by Congress. Laws often specify which executive agency or independent administrative agency is to write rules/regulations to carry out legislation. Regulations have the same binding effect of law. Internet access to regulations provides timely updates.

INTERNET PORTALS to FEDERAL REGULATIONS

:

LexisNexis Congressional (Available to ODU faculty and students)
Contains multiple databases related to legislative and regulatory materials. Choose "Regulations" from the left menu. Users can keyword search the Code of Federal Regulations from 1981 to present, and the Federal Register for the past 20 years. Use the "get a document" feature to search by a known citation.

GPO Access
The executive branch resources include the Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, and the List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA). Phrases or citations may be used when searching GPO Access; however, they must be surrounded with quotation marks. For example, "prescriptions" AND "drug enforcement" or "20CFR404". Boolean operators such as OR, AND, ADJ, or NOT may be used, but must be in capital letters.

Regulations.gov
An online forum for researchers and the public to locate, view and comment on regulations open for review including notices, proposed rules and rules.

KEY PUBLICATIONS, FORMATS and HOLDINGS

Federal Register (web version from 1994 to present)

FR is issued daily Monday-Friday (except holidays). It contains all rules, proposed rules (draft regulations that allow a period for public comment), notices relating to federal regulations, and Presidential documents (executive orders and proclamations).
* historic collection / Ref Microfiche AE 2.106: vol. 1-62 (1936-1997)
*** the Library no longer selects the Federal Register in print

Federal Register Index (historic fiche and print volumes)

FRI is a cumulative monthly index to the Federal Register. Indexing is by issuing agencies and very general subjects.
* Gov Pub Microfiche AE 2.106: vol. 1-62 (1936- 1997)
* Gov Pub Shelves AE 2.106: vol. 41- (1976-2005)

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) (web version contains editions for the last 10 years; older editions will roll off as new editions are added online)

The materials issued in the Federal Register are codified annually into the CFR. They are arranged under fifty subject titles. The fifty CFR titles are broken down into chapters (one for each rule-issuing agency), parts (general topics of regulation), and sections (the rules themselves), each with its own table of contents. The annual revision schedule is: Titles 1-16 (Jan. 1), Titles 17-27 (Apr. 1), Titles 28-41 (Jul. 1), Titles 42-50 (Oct. 1).
* Gov Pub Shelves AE 2.106/3: current edition in print in the library
* Gov Pub Shelves AE 2.106/3:3/ Title 3-President 1936- (keep all years in print)

CFR Index and Finding Aids (print volumes)
CFR Index is a subject/agency index for rules currently codified in the CFR. It refers to CFR titles and parts where the regulation appears. The index is revised once a year as of Jan. 1st.

Gov Pub Shelves AE 2.106/3-2: current 2 years

TIPS WHEN USING PRINTED SOURCES TO FIND GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS:

STEP 1: Use the CFR Index to search by subject/topic to locate title and part.

STEP 2: Use the Tables of Contents at CFR parts to locate sections.

STEP 3: Check the List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA) to determine if there have been any recent changes. Use the latest LSA issued after the CFR edition date. Check "CFR Parts Affected During..."

List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA) (search or browse the web version from 1997 to present)
(LSA historic compilations online from 1986-2000)

LSA is a cumulative, monthly index to amendatory actions and proposed rules that have been published in the Federal Register since the latest CFR revision. It must be searched by title and section number. Use the most recent LSA issued after the CFR edition date. The page numbers listed to the right of each LSA entry indicate where the specific amendments begin in the Federal Register. Boldface page numbers distinguish previous year changes from the current year.
* Gov Pub Shelves AE 2.106/2-2: (from 1949/63-2005)

 

NOTE: Many excellent resources are available on the Internet. Use the Library's homepage on the Web at http://www.lib.odu.edu as a gateway.