Congratulations Linda Fariss!

The Law Library is delighted to welcome Linda Fariss as its new Director.  Linda has been the Associate Director of the Law Library for many years, so she knows and is dedicated to the continuing excellence of the Library—there simply isn’t a better choice for the position.  In addition, Keith Buckley and Nonie Watt have been named Assistant Directors of the Law Library, Keith for Public Services and Nonie for Technical Services.  So congratulations, Linda, Keith, and Nonie!  The Law Library is lucky to have you!

Commercial Laws of Europe

In these days of ever more, and ever more wonderful, electronic databases, it’s easy to forget that there are still excellent print-only titles lurking in the stacks. One such title is Commercial Laws of Europe (shelved on the second floor, under the call number KJC2044 .C65).

Published since 1978, Commercial Laws of Europe contains high quality English language translations of important recent legislation adopted in any European jurisdiction. Legislation may be in the form of treaties or constitutional provisions, primary legislation (i.e. statutes), secondary legislation (e.g., regulations, decrees), or even informal rules, such as guidelines and recommendations. Some of this material is available on the Internet as well, but usually in non-authoritative English language translation, or in the original language only.

Students who must cite European commercial law in their seminar papers or theses should keep Commercial Laws of Europe in mind. Even though they will want to cite the controlling law in its original, legally dispositive form, it will be useful to cite a high quality and readily accessible English translation as well.  On such occasions, Commercial Laws of Europe is just the right source.

SOPA Protest Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a blackout day for some important websites, including Reddit and Wikipedia.  The blackout comes as a protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act.  Google will also add an anti-SOPA link to its page tomorrow, however it will not actually go down.  The White House has said that it will not support the act.  For more on the blackout take a look at this article.  For a simplified look at SOPA, try this Washington Post Blog entry.

IUCAT Changes Coming Soon (and one small change that has already taken effect)

IUCAT, the online catalog of Indiana University Library holdings, will soon be going through a makeover. However, in the meantime the Law Library has initiated a small change in the default functionality of the current version of IUCAT for law students and faculty.

Those of you who are power users of IUCAT may have noticed that, until recently, your searches were automatically limited to the holdings of the Law Library. This default setting was established on the assumption that law students and faculty would be served best by searching the Law Library’s holdings first. Of course, users could change the default to broaden their searches. For example, one could search “Blmgtn – All Bloomington Libraries” or all Indiana University Libraries (listed on the drop-down menu as “ALL”). These are just the two most popular alternatives among many available.

Now the default has been changed for law students and faculty to “Blmgtn – All Bloomington Libraries,” and you will have to change the default in order to search just the Law Library’s holdings. In large part, we initiated this change because there are now so many valuable electronic sources available to the entire Bloomington campus through the Wells Library. Unfortunately, one would not find these sources in IUCAT if the search were limited to the Law Library’s holdings, and we don’t want our patrons to miss finding records for any databases that might be of use to them! Hence, the change.

As mentioned above, bigger changes are coming to IUCAT. But this one small change has already taken effect, and hopefully it will improve your ability to take advantage of the huge variety of electronic sources available to you.

Brevier Legislative Reports digital version released

The Law Library and the Digital Library Program are pleased to announce the release of the digital version of the Brevier Legislative Reports. The set is available on the Law Library website under Digital Collections, and on the Digital Library Program website under Collections & Resources. A press release discussing the Brevier’s historical significance, including a quotation by Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard, is available here.

HeinOnline Adds Official Canada Supreme Court Reports

HeinOnline recently added the official Canada Supreme Court Reports to its basic subscription, beginning with volume one (1876). While the entire collection is of potential interest, volumes published since 1982 are of particular interest to constitutional law comparativists. In that year Canada “patriated” its constitution, formerly the British North America Act, 1867, and added to it the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is analogous to the U.S. Bill of Rights. The new constitution conferred on the Canadian Supreme Court the power to interpret the provisions of the Charter, leading to the advent of constitutional judicial review, previously unknown in the British Commonwealth.  The Canadian Supreme Court’s subsequent jurisprudence is of great interest to American comparativists because it addresses many of the same issues that have come before the U.S. Supreme Court during the same period. Full Story »

Happy Bill of Rights Day!

On December 15^th, 1791 the Bill of Rights was ratified and came into effect. It’s tough to imagine our country without it. There are various ways to celebrate Bill of Rights Day, including by reading the Bill of Rights, and you can sign a pledge to that effect. Or you could read more about the creation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Or you could take one of the many Bill of Rights quizzes online like this one, or for a slightly harder one devoted entirely to the first amendment, try here.  In any case, it doesn’t hurt to take a break from studying for you finals to appreciate the significance of the laws you are studying.  Happy Bill of Rights Day!

Law Library Carrels Go “Green”

The Law Library has 300 carrels that all have lights built into them.  For several years we have been struggling to keep the lights in working condition, not to mention the constant need to replace the light bulbs. Thanks to funding from the University, the carrels now all have new LED lights! These lights use far less energy and provide almost twice the light of the old fixtures.  Not only are they more efficient, but they will be maintenance free for many years to come.

New International Law Databases

The Library recently added the Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law (CC) to its HeinOnline subscription. Published since 1923, and containing lectures presented at the Academy’s summer courses on international law, this title comprises a massive and authoritative encyclopedia of both public and private international law subjects. Currently the title runs to almost 350 volumes.

As part of the HeinOnline platform, the CC can be searched via the familiar field and advanced search interfaces. In particular, this allows the researcher to search titles and full text, using both Boolean and proximity connectors. In addition, it is possible to search by author, and through a very extensive set of subject headings which are easily browsed and combined with other search methods. As with any good encyclopedic source, the CC can be used either as a source of information itself or as a source of further bibliographic information.

The Library also recently added a database to its HeinOnline subscription, entitled History of International Law. This collection includes more than 500 monographic titles dating back to 1690, and greatly expands the depth of sources available to researchers interested in historical topics, such as, e.g., the Nuremberg trials, the Hague Peace Conferences, or the advent of the League of Nations. The database is searchable through HeinOnline itself, but bibliographic records will be available through IUCAT as well.

Comparative Constitutional Law Databases

The Law Library has two databases that can help those doing research in foreign and comparative constitutional law. Each provides full text access to national constitutions in English translation, together with additional information and commentary. Full Story »