The Sourcebook to Public Record Information

By Don C. Johnson, Editor, PI Magazine

Are you serious about how you conduct background investigations and perform due diligence assignments? If so, you need this book.

The professional edition of The Sourcebook to Public Record Information has information on over 20,000 government agencies; including the U.S. district courts, state agencies, county courts, and local recording and assessors offices. This is a one-stop comprehensive directory for identifying public record resources, especially helpful for the following applications:

Legal research
Background investigations
Pre-employment and tenant screening
Locating people and assets
Genealogy research

The “Sourcebook” replaced the famous Guide to Background Investigations a year or so ago, reflecting a successful effort by BRB Publications (brbpub.com) to become the premiere publisher of reference materials for the research and investigation professions. Now with the familiar red cover of the “The Guide,” the Sourcebook is a hefty 1,925 plus pages of real value.

The sixth edition includes new sections on Canadian driver and criminal information. Also included are handy U.S. county and city cross references and state maps. Not to be overlooked is the Sourcebook’s chapter on “Guidelines for Public Records Searching,” which is more than a primer on the methods and myths of public record research.

The publishers recognize the changing nature of public record information by providing us with timely updates in the expanded online version of the Sourcebook. Available as a subscription service, the Public Records Research System (PRRS) is updated weekly. PRRS (found at www.publicrecordsources.com) includes not only the Sourcebook data, but BRB’s popular series, The National Directory to College and University Student Records and The County Locator.

However, for the day-to-day grunt work involving public record research, you need The Sourcebook to Public Record Information. And I say that not as the editor of PI Magazine, but as a veteran grunt PI with a few tattered editions of the Sourcebook scattered around my office.