Congressional Research Service Products: Purpose and Legislative Histories

Charlie Amiot

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Congressional Research Service (CRS) products, such as CRS Reports and Issue Briefs, are valuable reference tools that can assist reference professionals in providing service to a wide range of patrons and should not be overlooked. This article briefly explains how legislative reference bureaus came into existence and details the early legislative history of the formation of CRS, the federal legislative reference service. This article also explains what products CRS creates and for what purpose. Finally, this article provides a brief legislative history of modern congressional efforts to publicly disseminate CRS products, which includes summaries of public discourse on the subject.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)273-308
Number of pages36
JournalLegal Reference Services Quarterly
Volume37
Issue number3-4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Published with license by Taylor & Francis. © 2019, © Charlie Amiot.

Keywords

  • CRS Reports
  • Congress
  • Congressional Research Services
  • Legislative Reference Service
  • Library of Congress
  • government documents
  • issue briefs
  • legislative history
  • legislative reference bureau
  • reference tools

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Library and Information Sciences
  • Law

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