Congressional Content Information
(Content FAQ)

Will LexisNexis Academic & Library Solutions maintain the LexisNexis Congressional files indefinitely?
LexisNexis is committed to maintaining the digital versions of the government publications in Congressional in perpetuity.

Can the CIS/Index be purchased separately from LexisNexis Congressional?
LexisNexis has designed and priced LexisNexisCongressional to integrate CIS indexing and abstracts with access to digital versions of recent congressional full-text source documents. LexisNexis Congressional 's integrated access greatly enhances the value of CIS indexing and abstracting, while being priced affordably. Indeed, for most institutions, LexisNexis Congressional costs only slightly more than the CIS/Index in print or CD-ROM, and in some cases, LexisNexis Congressional will cost even less than what an institution is currently paying for the Index.

Does LexisNexis Congressional provide electronic versions of all congressional publications?
No online or Web-based service--LexisNexis Congressional included--provides access to all congressional publications in their entirety. Only the CIS/Microfiche Library provides a complete set of the official congressional publications in their entirety. Still, LexisNexis Congressional has the most complete collection of electronic format congressional source documents available anywhere.

What is the criteria for selecting Committee Prints?
LexisNexis Academic & Library Solutions editorial staff selects and converts Committee Prints into electronic format based on a Print's enduring research value and public interest. For example, the selected Committee Prints file includes all publications of the Congressional Budget Office and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. About 15 percent of committee prints from 1995 forward are available on Congressional.

Does LexisNexis Congressional cover all the elements of a hearing?
LexisNexis Congressional provides full text of written submitted testimony for almost all hearings. There are transcripts of discussion sessions for selected hearings. Again, the CIS Microfiche Library provides a complete set of the official versions of entire hearings.

How complete is full text coverage of Committee Reports and House and Senate documents?
LexisNexis Congressional has full text from almost all reports from 1990 forward. The service does not have full text of Senate Executive Reports.
LexisNexis Congressional has full text of approximately 75 percent of House and Senate documents from 1995 forward. House and Senate documents are downloaded from the Government Printing Office (GPO) Access system and archived permanently by LexisNexis. Because some of the documents are not published on GPO Access and some are published only in image format, only about 75 percent are available on Congressional.

What's the source, coverage, and update schedule for the content?
Please refer to the chart below specifying each Congressional file's coverage, update schedule, and source.

LexisNexis Congressional Coverage, Updating Schedule, and Source