Legal Research

One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Posted on July 21, 2009
Monday, July 20th 2009 was the 40 year anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. Some of us older folk remember watching it live on television. It was a time when space exploration was new and exciting. NASA has organized a web page celebrating the event...

Paperback Swap

Posted on July 20, 2009
Do you have a lot of paperbacks at home? Do you love reading, but find that storing all those books is taking up too much space? You might want to try PaperBack Swap.PaperBack Swap is an online group that allows you to swap your books with other members...

Sports Labor Law

Posted on July 19, 2009
This might provide a nice short break for anyone who is now studying for the bar but finding it impossible to stop thinking about law--even while taking a break to watch baseball highlights.David Cone testified at Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings last week (transcript here) and he also happened to throw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium yesterday (a still-devastating curve)...

Searching the Deep Web

Posted on July 15, 2009
Did you know that you can search for Deep Web content? Completeplanet is a Deep Web directory that searches ?surface? Web sites as well as Deep Web content contained in searchable databases.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

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Haymarket Affair: 1886-1887

Posted on July 14, 2009
Chicago Anarchists on Trial: Evidence from the Haymarket Affair1886-1887This collection showcases more than 3,800 images of original manuscripts, broadsides, photographs, prints and artifacts relating to the Haymarket Affair. The violent confrontation between Chicago police and labor protesters in 1886 proved to be a pivotal setback in the struggle for American workers' rights...

The Earth Portal

Posted on July 11, 2009
Self-described as a comprehensive resource for timely, objective, science-based information about the environment, the Earth Portal was selected as one of Library Journal's "Best Free Reference" web sites of 2008. The Earth Portal covers the natural environment of the earth as broadly defined, from air and water to living organisms and interdisciplinary topics, including related law and policy...

The World's Ten Smallest Animals

Posted on July 09, 2009
We follow up our list of the weirdest animals of 2008 with that of the ten smallest animals. If you've ever wanted to see the smallest lizard, or--*cough, cough*--the smallest cat, then have a look.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

It was a dark and stormy night...

Posted on July 07, 2009
The results of the 2009 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction contest are released. Most likely you think of Snoopy in the Peanuts comic strip when you see the phrase "it was a dark and stormy night", but the phrase is actually part of the first sentence of the novel Paul Clifford by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton...

Spring OCIs?

Posted on July 05, 2009
There is some talk of moving the summer associate recruiting process from the 2L Fall Semester (often, in reality, summer) to the 2L Spring Semester. There is no telling whether this idea will catch on.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

SCOTUSblog: Super Stat Pack

Posted on June 30, 2009
Want a statistical overview of the Supreme Court term that has just ended? Then check out SCOTUSblog "Super Stat Pack". The statistics include:Opinion TallyJustice AgreementDecisions by Final VoteFrequency in the MajorityOpinion Authors by SittingCircuit ScorecardThe Court?s WorkloadGrant Rates by ConferenceOT08 Questions Presented and Results (with embedded links to slip opinions)Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Bill Jackets in the News

Posted on June 28, 2009
There has been a lot of controversy recently related to bill jackets in the New York State Senate. Bill jackets are, not surprisingly, jackets--or folders--for bills. As Bill Manz writes in Gibson's New York Legal Research Guide, "Engrossing a bill involves affixing to it the certifications of passage from each house and enclosing the bill in a folder known as a 'bill jacket...

The Redistricting Game

Posted on June 27, 2009
How may future lawyers, legislators or policymakers really understand how congressional redistricting works--and how it affects political power and the outcome of elections? Grasping these concepts would never be fun if it weren't for the Redistricting Game...

Independence Weekend Hours

Posted on June 26, 2009
For those of you studying for exams or the Bar Exam, make sure to take a break to celebrate the 4th of July. I will be doing the same. This means on Friday, July 3rd and Saturday, July 4th the Library will be CLOSED. We will be open on Sunday, July 5th from 10am-8pm...

Sleeping on a Complex Decision May Be a Bad Choice

Posted on June 25, 2009
The venerable piece of advice that one should ?sleep on? a complex decision before acting upon it may not help you to make the best choice, after all. So say two studies that question the evidence for unconscious decision-making. Read more about these findings here...

In this Corner .... Microsoft Bing: Interesting New Search Engines from Microsoft and Google

Posted on June 24, 2009
Microsoft recently launched their new search engine, Bing. While there are similarities between Bing and Google, Bing has added a few features like page preview. When you hover your mouse to the right of your search result, a preview of the page is displayed...

Philpapers

Posted on June 22, 2009
Looking for philosophy resources? Try PhilPapers. Philpapers is an online directory of philosophy articles and books--from here you can browse current tables of contents from over 200 journals or you can browse articles by subject. A search engine allows you to search by keyword as well...

Black's iPhone App

Posted on June 21, 2009
You can now purchase Black's Law Dictionary for your iPhone. At $50, it's comparable to the price you would pay for a new copy of the print version, but up to $48 more than you might pay for a used copy, or $50 more than you would pay for a copy provided by your law firm...

American Car Art

Posted on June 20, 2009
Take a break from summer work, courses, or bar exam study. Escape for a few minutes into the glamorous world of car advertising from the decades when the U.S. auto industry was immensely profitable and car ads represented an idealized vision of an era...

The Year's Weirdest Animals

Posted on June 18, 2009
According to the New Scientist, ?from a sea-slug that runs on solar power, to a bug that lives in total isolation; from the world's smallest snake to a one-tonne rodent ? here are the 10 oddest [animal] species from 2008?. See for yourself here (and notice that no species of felidae are included!)...

Summer Pre-Bar Exam Schedule

Posted on June 17, 2009
Just a reminder that the Law Library's Bar Exam Schedule will begin after Independence Day. From Monday, July 6 - Tuesday, July 28, the Law Library's hours will be:Monday - Thursday 8:00 A.M. - 11:00 P.M.Friday 8:00 A.M. - 10:00 P.M.Saturday & Sunday 10:00 A...

Map of Disputes between WTO Members

Posted on June 16, 2009
The WTO has created an interactive map of disputes between WTO members. One can search disputes by country, subject or chronologically. There is also a link for "Find Dispute Documents." An interesting way to view trade disputes.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Writing in the Age of Distraction

Posted on June 15, 2009
I know that many of you are currently (or are interested in) writing scholarly work. And I also know how difficult it is to write without being distracted by e-mails, texts, online games, RSS feeds, Facebook posts and/or other shiny things on the internet...

2006 United States Code

Posted on June 14, 2009
You can stop holding your breath. The 2006 United States Code has been completed. It is up-to-date through the end of 2006. What is nice about it is that you can now download PDF copies of individual sections of the U.S. Code from the Government Printing Office website...

YouTomb

Posted on June 13, 2009
If you have an interest in copyright, open access, and culture, you might want to check out YouTomb, a research project of MIT Free Culture, a student organization at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. YouTomb tracks videos on YouTube that have been removed for alleged copyright violations...

Another Search Engine choice

Posted on June 12, 2009
I know the name needs work, but I am still a fan of the Web search engine, Clusty . What makes it different and worth a look is that it "clusters" your results. So, if you search for something, for example "pet insurance" you will get your results in topics such as "health insurance", "cat insurance" and "compare" as well as just the usual list...

The Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks

Posted on June 11, 2009
Once you start looking, you'll "notice" that they're everywhere: Myriad signs with odd and unnecessary quotation marks. For instance, one that tells you there "will" be an extra charge, or another that urges you to step right ?in?. The Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks photographically chronicles these oddities...

Discover who is Tweeting with We follow

Posted on June 10, 2009
Are you having a tough time finding out who is Tweeting? Try We follow. We follow is a "user powered user directory" that ranks Tweeters by the number of followers and sorts the followers by user-defined tags. Popular tags include "celebrity," "news,""politics," and "socialmedia...

Revolving Door | Open Secrets

Posted on June 09, 2009
The Center for Responsive Politics is a donor supported research group dedicated to tracking money in politics and its effects on elections and public policy. Their mission is:Inform citizens about how money in politics affects their livesEmpower voters and activists by providing unbiased informationAdvocate for a transparent and responsive governmentThe mission is pursued mainly through the website...

UN Secretary-General's Database on Violence Against Women

Posted on June 08, 2009
The UN Secretary General's Database on Violence Against Women contains information about violence against women and the measures taken by various countries to combat this violence. The advanced search feature allows you to search by type of measure taken, the form of violence and by country...

Bing

Posted on June 07, 2009
The launch of Microsoft's Bing reminds us that search engines other than Google do, in fact, still exist. PC World compares Bing with Google and Yahoo!. (from the Law Librarian Blog).Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

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