York University Libraries has an extensive collection of government materials from Canada, Ontario, the United States, and Great Britain as well as international governmental organizations including the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.

Most new government publications are classified using the Library of Congress Classification System and shelved alongside existing Scott Library collections. In addition, three areas of the collection are organized by the York University government call number system and housed in separate sections of the Scott Library:

• Government Reference Collection:
  Key government documents residing on the second floor of the Scott Library, identified as SC-GOV-REF in the library catalogue. This collection includes finding aids, parliamentary publications and governance documents from Toronto, the province of Ontario, Canada, the United States and the United Nations as well as Statistics Canada publications.
• General Government Collection:
  Government serials and circulating materials are found on the third floor of the Scott Library. This location will be identified in the library catalogue as SCOTT-GOV.
• Government Microtext Collection:
  Government microtext collections are found in Room 118 on the first floor of the Scott Library. This location will be identified in the library catalogue as SCOTT-MICR.

The Frost Library on the Glendon Campus also maintains a print and microtext government collection, identified by FR-GOV-DOC, FR-GD-OVSZ, and FR-GD-MICR in the library catalogue.

Part of the government collection is held in storage outside the Scott Library. This location will be identified in the library catalogue as HNES-STOR. These items can be requested by using the Request from Storage link in the library catalogue.

Reference inquiries concerning government information can be directed to the Scott Research & Collections Department. There are also Research Guides for using government materials available.