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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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 »

The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP) has been published since 1960 and is a selective, English-language index of law reviews published around the world. Therefore, it is an important tool for researchers interested in comparative law topics. An electronic version of the database, including contents 1985-, has been available through various platforms for many years, most recently through OVID.  The Law Library subscribes to the electronic version of the IFLP, and those of you who have used the current OVID platform will agree that it is somewhat difficult to use, though quite powerful. Full Story »

Today President McRobbie will be delivering the annual State of the University address at 2 PM.  Students are encouraged to watch the address.  You can attend in person in the Frangipani Room at the Union.  It will also be broadcast on local television and radio stations, or you can watch it streaming live from wherever you happen to be.  For more information and a complete list of ways to see the address check out the IU Homepages page on it.

Today we welcome a fresh 1L class.  Law school can be wonderful, frustrating, exciting, and challenging, all rolled into one.  We very much look forward to being with you through all of it.  We hope that you think of the Law Library as a comfortable and welcoming place for studying, researching, or whatever you need.  Don’t hesitate to ask us any questions. Welcome to the IU Maurer School of Law, and to the Law Library!

Reporting from the foreign and international desk of the Law Library newsroom, I am happy to inform new and returning law students that the Library added a number of significant and interesting databases over the summer break, related to various aspects of foreign and international law. Subsequent blog entries will describe these databases (and others) in greater detail; the purpose of today’s entry is just to provide a thumbnail overview of these shiny new sources that await your discovery. Full Story »