Getting Started with ChatGPT: Unlocking UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies Library Collection for Faster Insights
The Institute of Governmental Studies Library (IGSL) at UC Berkeley has been digitizing an enormous collection of government documents as part of the Local DIG Project, making previously hard-to-access records available online. These documents contain policy reports, environmental impact studies, urban planning records, and other critical materials that provide historical and legal context for decision-making.
But there’s one major challenge: time. ⏰
Many of these reports are hundreds or even thousands of pages long and filled with technical language, policy jargon, and complex data. For researchers, policymakers, journalists, and everyday people, going through these documents manually can be overwhelming.
This is where ChatGPT becomes a game-changer.
How ChatGPT Can Help You Explore Large Government Documents
Let’s take a real-world example—the Central Library Renovation and Expansion Final Environmental Impact Report for Los Angeles. This report contains nearly 900 pages of detailed analysis. If you’re trying to extract key insights, where do you even begin?
With ChatGPT, you can:
Upload the document as a PDF.
Ask ChatGPT to read it and provide a summary of key points.
Refine your search by using prompts that guide ChatGPT toward the information you need.
For instance, instead of reading the entire document manually, you can write a simple prompt like:
👉 "Summarize the sections that discuss community impact and identify any mentions of displacement concerns."
Within seconds, ChatGPT can:
✅ Locate relevant sections
✅ Highlight policy discussions
✅ Extract quotes and page numbers for easy reference
Taking It Further: Writing More Targeted Prompts
One of the most powerful ways to use ChatGPT is by customizing your prompts to fit your research goals.
For example, if you’re studying marginalization in urban planning, you could ask:
👉 "Identify and extract language from this document that suggests policies that disproportionately impact youth ages 18-25."
Instead of scanning through hundreds of pages yourself, ChatGPT pinpoints where those discussions occur. This allows you to focus on analysis, strategy, and decision-making rather than spending hours searching for information.
Cross-Referencing Government Documents
Another powerful feature of ChatGPT is the ability to compare multiple documents—even from different jurisdictions.
For example, let’s say you’re studying how two cities handled similar environmental policies. You can:
Upload multiple government reports (e.g., Los Angeles & San Francisco housing policies).
Ask ChatGPT to cross-analyze them, using a prompt like:
👉 "Compare how each city approached low-income housing development in their environmental impact reports. Highlight differences in policy language and implementation timelines."Get a side-by-side breakdown, saving you days of manual review.
Endless Possibilities for Research & Analysis
Once you start using ChatGPT to explore government archives, the possibilities are endless:
✅ Extract key takeaways from long reports in minutes
✅ Compare policy documents across jurisdictions
✅ Find patterns in government language over time
✅ Identify where critical topics (like affordability or zoning laws) are mentioned
ChatGPT isn’t just a tool for summarization—it’s a way to interact with massive amounts of data more efficiently than ever before.
If you’re just getting started, this is one of the easiest and most valuable ways to use AI today. Once you see how much time it saves, you’ll never look at document analysis the same way again.
My name is Nick, I enjoy teaching and speaking about the intersection of research, ChatGPT, and prompt engineering. If you have questions, need help setting up, or improving your prompts, feel free to reach out -- I'd love to help!