Legal Research

Dissecting the Stimulus Bill

Posted on February 17, 2009
The House approved the economic stimulus plan Friday afternoon with a vote of 246 to 183, followed by the Senate with a vote of 60 to 38. The President will sign the bill into law today. ProPublic has dissected the...

Interface Design Matters

Posted on February 17, 2009
Julie Jones (Cornell and LLB Contributing Editor) wasn't around when LexisNexis and Westlaw made their collective presence felt in legal research but I and my gray hair colleagues who read this blog were. Both services were great at databasing discrete...

Public Universities Begin Furloughing Employees and Law Schools Are Not Exempt

Posted on February 17, 2009
Many Public universities have asked their employees to take an unpaid leave of absence in an effort to reduce spending. In an interesting article from the National Law Journal, Karen Sloan reports that Law Schools aren't exempt from these policies....

CCH Tax Briefing on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Posted on February 17, 2009
As tax cuts remain a large part of the overall stimulus package, CCH has issued a Tax Briefing regarding the agreement. Highlights include: Individual Incentives Business Incentives Energy Incentives Help for State/Local Governments [RJ]

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ARL's Report on the Research Library?s Role in Digital Repository Services

Posted on February 17, 2009
The final report of the ARL Digital Repository Issues Task Force, The Research Library?s Role in Digital Repository Services (Jan. 2009) recommends that in delivering digital repository services, research libraries should focus on the following issues: Develop a deep understanding...

Pennsylvania Governor's Proposed Budget Would Eliminate Almost 90% of State Library Staff

Posted on February 16, 2009
Can a state library operate if 50 of the library's 57 positions were eliminated? That's the plan under Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's proposed budget for 2009-10. Details here. [JH]

The National Money Hole, Pros and Cons

Posted on February 16, 2009
Friday Fun on Monday for folks who have to work this Presidents Day. [JH}

Detainee Treatment Account Concealed for National Security

Posted on February 16, 2009
A summary of the circumstances of the detention in Pakistan of a Guantánamo detainee will be permanently redacted from a published decision of the U.K. High Court on the ground that publication would lead the U.S. to reconsider its sharing...

Today's Session of the ABA House of Delegates To Be Webcast Live

Posted on February 16, 2009
For the first time the ABA House of Delegates will webcast its sessions live from the ABA Midyear Meeting. The House session, scheduled for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET on Monday, Feb. 16, will be available online here. Additional...

ALA News Launches Twitter Feed

Posted on February 16, 2009
Here. [JH]

Opening: Reference Librarian, William Mitchell College of Law Library

Posted on February 16, 2009
The Reference Librarian duties include: (1) assisting and instructing patrons (students, faculty, staff, private attorneys and public users) in finding and optimally utilizing library resources, (2) staffing the reference desk including participation in the evening and weekend reference rotation, (3)...

Small, Really Small as in Eye of a Needle Small

Posted on February 15, 2009
From making houses for ants as a child to sculptures that are so small they fit in the eye of a needle now, this clip profiles the work of micro sculptor Willard Wigan who describes his work as painstaking and...

Legal Issues Involved in Closing the Guantanamo Detention Center

Posted on February 14, 2009
The Congressional Research Service has released Closing the Guantanamo Detention Center: Legal Issues (Jan. 22, 2009). Here's a summary: Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Congress passed the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF), which granted the President the authority...

Conference Report for H.R. 1 (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)

Posted on February 13, 2009
From the Republican Committee on Rules: Bill Text: Text of Conference Report -Division A Text of Conference Report -- Division B Joint Explanatory Statement -- Division A Joint Explanatory Statement -- Division B [RJ]

Friday Fun: Guide to What Library Staffers Do the Friday Before a Three-Day Weekend

Posted on February 13, 2009

Tarlton Law Library Launches Energy Law Current Awareness Service

Posted on February 13, 2009
The Tarlton Law Library at The University of Texas has launched a new current awareness services, Current Energy Legal Literature. This service provides basic bibliographic data for recent articles focused on energy law appearing in U.S. legal journals and non-U...

Call for Papers: Workshop on Legal Informatics and Legal Information Technology

Posted on February 13, 2009
Workshop on Legal Informatics and Legal Information Technology, Poznan, Poland, April 28, 2009. Submission details: at http://bis.kie.ae.poznan.pl/12th_bis/wscfp.php?ws=lit2009 .Submission deadline: Feb. 22, 2009 Here is a description: The Legal Informatics and Legal Information Technology workshop held as part of the 12th...

The ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law Launches IP Annual Review

Posted on February 13, 2009
The ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law has launched the Annual Review of Intellectual Property Law Developments. The debut volume covers 2006-2008 reports on more than 300 of the top legal developments and provides comprehensive coverage of: Recent Supreme Court...

Opening: Reference/Intellectual Property Librarian, George Washington University Law School Library

Posted on February 13, 2009
The George Washington University Law School Library seeks a reference librarian to specialize in intellectual property law. Responsibilities include providing reference and research assistance to library patrons; participating in collection development for intellectual property materials; drafting guides to legal research;...

Feb. 12, 1809: 200th Anniversary of the Birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin

Posted on February 12, 2009
Abraham Lincoln: Check out the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission site. Charles Darwin: Check out the resources page of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, The Debate Over Evolution. [JH]

Online Law Research ? Pros and Cons

Posted on February 12, 2009
There are many advantages to having high technology at your disposal as a legal researcher. In many universities around the country, law databases are growing at an increasingly faster pace than ever before. Something is lost in translation; however, to...

On the Juridification of American Politics

Posted on February 12, 2009
In reviewing Gordon Silverstein's Law's Allure: How Law Shapes, Constrains, Saves, and Kills Politics (Cambridge UP, forthocming Feb. 28, 2009), Tom Ginsburg (Chicago) writes that "Beautifully written and displaying Silverstein's encyclopedic knowledge of American constitutional law and practice, the book...

New on GlobaLex (January 2008)

Posted on February 12, 2009
New legal research articles available from GlobaLex: Comparative Civil Procedure: A Guide to Primary and Secondary Sources by Radu D. Popa & Mirela Malawi: Legal System and Research Resources by Redson Edward Kapindu Sri Lanka: Legal Research and Legal System...

CRS Report on Economic Stimulus Issues and Policies

Posted on February 12, 2009
A Congressional Research Service report, Economic Stimulus: Issues and Policies, examines the opinions of various economists on the current economic stimulus package. There is consensus "that certain proposals, ones that result in more spending, can be implemented quickly, and leave...

Large Law Firm Sets New Online Research Policy: Use Loislaw First

Posted on February 11, 2009
Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, a full-service, national law firm of approximately 700 attorneys, has issued legal research guidelines calling for the use of Loislaw before turning to Lexis and Westlaw. From the firm memo published in Above the Law:...

Breaking Down the Stimulus Package

Posted on February 11, 2009
I am not a huge fan of pointer blog posts but The Washington Post today has this post that has an excellent graphic breaking down the $819 billion dollar Stimulus Package by category and then subcategory. It also has a...

Top 50 Cited Authors in HeinOnline's Law Journal Library

Posted on February 11, 2009
HeinOnline has compiled a list of the 50 most frequently cited authors in its Law Journal Library using Hein's new citation analysis tool, ScholarCheck. Here's the top 10: Posner, Richard A. cited 12,586 times in 251 articles. Sunstein, Cass R....

Corporate Histories of MySpace and Facebook

Posted on February 11, 2009
Julia Angwin's Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America (Random House) will be on sale on March 17, 2009. Here's the blurb:From its founding by Chris DeWolfe to its surprising purchase for nearly $600 million...

GPO Launches the Federal Digital System

Posted on February 11, 2009
The GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) is an innovative content management system containing files submitted by Congress and Federal agencies, information harvested from Federal agencies' websites and scans of previously printed publications. FDsys is now online and migration of information...

Spring 2009 Issue of the ALL-SIS Newsletter

Posted on February 11, 2009
The Spring 2009 issue of the ALL-SIS Newsletter is now available. In this issue, we introduce two new columns: Law Librarian in the Dark and Survey Roundup. We also have an article about the new SSRN eJournal, Legal Information &...

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