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New York State Documents

A driver's manual for people planning to test for a driver's license... The final report on the results of a comprehensive, Statewide examination of the way that allegations of child abuse are investigated... A travel guide highlighting vacation areas in New York...

What these publications have in common is that they are all State documents - official publications of New York State agencies. And one of the best places to find, use and learn about New York government information is at the New York State Library. A repository of official State publications since its creation in 1818, the NYS Library has the world's largest collection of New York State documents.

Finding State Documents in the NYSL Collections

Catalog: Most New York State documents in our collection are listed in our online catalog. If there is a digital version of the document, the catalog record will link to it.

If a basic keyword search on the Library's online catalog is returning too many irrelevant results, try narrowing your search by using the POWER SEARCH option to limit your search to NYS documents and/or electronic documents.

  • Click on POWER SEARCH.
  • Enter your search word(s).
  • In the lower-right section of the screen, under Search Limits, click on the Location field and select:
    • ONLINE to search only digital documents. (This will include any items in our collections that are available online, not just State documents.)
    • D-NYS-DOC to search only New York State Documents. (This will include all NYS documents, whether they are in a digital or print format).

For more tips for searching our online catalog, see the Guide to Searching the Online Catalog.

Digital Collections: You can also go directly to the NYSL Digital Collections to search or browse only digital documents.

Finding Aids: If you do not find a document in the catalog, one of the NYS Document Finding Aids may be useful, particularly if it is an older document.

Finding State Documents Elsewhere

Agency Web Sites: Many State agencies post electronic versions of their publications, particularly recent publications, on their web sites.

Other Libraries: Other libraries in New York State also participate in the Document Depository Program and receive copies of many State documents. Check the list of State Depository Libraries for a participating library near you.

State documents can also be borrowed from the New York State Library through interlibrary loan. Requests must be made through your public (or academic) library. Please supply a full bibliographic citation with each request.

Other Government Documents:

Last Updated: February 7, 2024