Jumpstart Returns!

The extremely popular Jumpstart research program returns to the Law Library. Jumpstart sessions will be available April 9th-April 17th. The program, designed by the reference librarians, will again work towards preparing law students for summer clerkships and the first year of practice. During last year’s sessions, a number of students learned the necessary research skills for dealing with materials such as legislative history, administrative law and the regulatory process, and computer-assisted legal research.

Following the formula established in previous years, each of the Jumpstart sessions will begin with a brief review of the basic legal resources so that every student has a complete grasp of the legal research process. The librarians will also provide information about more specialized types of reference books, including practice aids and form books. The Jumpstart sessions will then focus on individual student problems and questions about legal research, with an emphasis on the type of practice student participants will be seeing in the summer.

If you have any questions about the Jumpstart programs, be sure to drop by the Reference Office and speak to a reference librarian. We’d especially like to hear from those of you who already know in what jurisdiction you’ll be working this summer and any special areas of law with which you’ll be dealing. We tailor the Jumpstart sessions to your particular needs in order to make the program a continuing success.

He said what?! How to Research Congressional Members’ Statements

Did you hear what Senator John McCain said on Monday about bombing Syria?  If you were anywhere near a TV, newspaper or the internet, you might have noticed that McCain called for a U.S.-led airstrike against Syria.

If you wanted to know more about what McCain said, to find his entire statement, or how to cite it in an official source, would you know how to begin this research?

When researching statements made by members of Congress, look at the context of the statement for clues.  Where was the member speaking . . . on the floor of the U.S. House or Senate, in a committee meeting or hearing, at a press conference, at a public event?  Who was the audience?  What was the date?  These clues will lead you to the correct source. Full Story »

Where to find recent Congressional testimony

Georgetown University Law School student Sandra Fluke has made news headlines for her recent testimony on the subject of women’s health at a hearing held by the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on February 23rd.

Congressional committees generally hold hearings for legislative, investigative, or oversight purposes.  At a legislative hearing, witnesses are invited to provide testimony on behalf of or against legislation and the bill’s sponsor is expected to appear to defend his or her proposed legislation.

Official printed hearings contain transcripts of the proceedings of Senate and House committee meetings, member statements, question and answer sessions, and prepared statements submitted by those testifying before the committee.  Official hearings are published by the Government Printing Office and can take anywhere from three months to three years to be published (if published at all!). It is entirely up to the discretion of the congressional committee (or subcommittee) to even publish a hearing. Full Story »

Lawyers Suing Lexis and Westlaw

Two attorneys recently brought an unusual suit.  They are suing Westlaw and Lexis for providing access to their briefs, claiming copyright infringement.  One of the two lawyers, Edward White, has obtained copyright registration for some of his briefs, and plans to be representative of others like with copyright.  The other plaintiff, Kenneth Elan, has not.  They argue that the briefs are their own work, and Lexis and Westlaw make money off them.  On the other hand, briefs become publicly available during the case.  What do you think?  Are Westlaw and Lexis infringing?  For more take a look at the complaint itself, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, the ABA Journal, the Volokh Conspiracy, or Above the Law.

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 »