how to conduct free legal research online

How to Conduct FREE Legal Research Online: Overview for the

ABA 2013 Midyear Meeting

Matthew Braun Acting Reading Room Coordinator

Law Library of Congress February 8, 2013

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Magna Carta Magna Carta is often thought of as the corner-stone of liberty and the chief defence against arbitrary and unjust rule in England. In fact it contains few sweeping statements of principle, but is a series of concessions wrung from the unwilling King John by his rebellious barons in 1215. However, Magna Carta established for the first time a very significant constitutional principle, namely that the power of the king could be limited by a written grant. King John's unsuccessful attempts to defend his dominions in Normandy and much of western France led to oppressive demands on his subjects. Taxes were extortionate; reprisals against defaulters were ruthless, and John's administration of justice was considered capricious. In January 1215 a group of barons demanded a charter of liberties as a safeguard against the King's arbitrary behaviour. The barons took up arms against John and captured London in May 1215. By 10 June both parties met and held negotiations at Runnymede, a meadow by the River Thames. The concessions made by King John were outlined in a document known as the 'Articles of the Barons', to which the King's great seal was attached, and on 19 June the barons renewed their oaths of allegiance to the King. Meanwhile the royal chancery produced a formal royal grant, based on the agreements reached at Runnymede, which became known as Magna Carta (Latin for the 'Great Charter'). Four copies of this original grant survive. Two, including this one, are held at the British Library while the others can be seen in the cathedral archives at Lincoln and Salisbury.

Today’s Presentation The Library of Congress

• Mission • Overview

The Law Library of Congress • Mission • Overview • Digital resources

• Foreign legal resources • U.S. legal resources

• Ask a Librarian • Social Media

Other Legal Resources Questions

The Library of Congress

Mission

To support the Congress in fulfilling its constitutional duties and to further the progress of knowledge and creativity for the benefit of the American people.

The Library of Congress

Overview Oldest U.S. federal cultural institution Serves as the research arm of the U.S. Congress Has a permanent staff of about 3,600 employees Largest library in the world

• Contains more than 144 million items in 420 languages including: 22 million books 3 million sound recordings 12.5 million photographs 5.3 million maps 64 million manuscripts

www.loc.gov

The Law Library of Congress Overview Established by law in 1832 as a

separate department of the Library of Congress Largest law library in the world

• Over 2.84 million volumes that include U.S. state and Federal materials, foreign codes, constitutions, official gazettes, law reports, treatises, serials, and laws from all historical periods

• Covering some 267 existing nations and jurisdictions • Working reference collection of approximately

30,000 volumes in the public reading room • Global Legal Research Center – staffed by foreign law

experts who do foreign law reference and research and help build the foreign law collections

The Law Library of Congress

Mission The mission of the Law Library of Congress

is to provide research and legal information to the U.S. Congress as well as to U.S. Federal Courts and Executive Agencies, and to offer reference services to the public.

Public Services Division

Collection Services Division

Global Legal Research Center

Global Legal Research Center

Argentina Brazil Canada China Eritrea European Union France Germany Greece India, Pakistan

Israel Japan Lebanon Mexico New Zealand, Australia Nicaragua Russian Federation United Kingdom of Great

Britain and Northern Ireland

Foreign Law Specialists,

Principal Jurisdictions

Augmented by Contract Foreign Law Specialists and Senior Legal Research Analysts

Global Legal Research Center Sample of Secondary Jurisdictions

China Hong Kong

Eritrea Ghana Nigeria Botswana

France Belgium Haiti

Germany Austria Liechtenstein Switzerland

European Union

Greece Cyprus

India Pakistan Nepal Sri Lanka

Japan North and South Korea

Russian Federation Armenia Azerbaijan Bosnia and Herzegovina

United Kingdom Channel Islands Isle of Man British Virgin Islands Malta

The Law Library of Congress

Online Resources • Guide to Law Online: www.loc.gov/law/help/guide • Current Legal Topics: www.loc.gov/law/help/current-topics.php • Global Legal Monitor: www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news • THOMAS: www.thomas.gov • Congress.gov: http://beta.congress.gov • A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw

http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide

http://www.loc.gov/law/help/current-topics.php

http://www.thomas.gov/

http://beta.congress.gov/

www.law.gov

Guide to Law Online http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide.php

Legal Portal of over 9,000 links • Annotated compilation of Internet links • Organized by jurisdiction and topics • Multinational, international, U.S. and state

materials • Full text of laws, regulations, and cases • Legal commentary

Current Legal Topics www.loc.gov/law/help/current-topics.php

• International Issues • Legal commentary • Historical Events • Commemorative Observations • Bibliographic resources

Global Legal Monitor www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news

• Worldwide legal news • Frequently updated • Can be searched by topic, country,

keyword, author, or date • Persistent URLs

THOMAS www.thomas.gov

Launched on January 5, 1995 Content:

• Bill summaries: 1973 –> • Bill text 1989 –> • Congressional Record 1989 –> • Congressional Committee Reports 1995 –> • Treaties • Presidential nominations Subscribe via RSS feeds, Share/Save Law Library manages content

http://www.thomas.gov/

www.thomas.gov

This is the “Advanced Search”

beta.congress.gov

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw

U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates • March 16, 1998 debut • Content (1774-1875): Continental Congress Constitutional Convention Journals of Congress Debates of Congress Statutes and selected bills and reports

• TIFF format

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw

May limit sources searched here

The Law Library of Congress Social Media

• In Custodia Legis Blog: http://blogs.loc.gov/law • Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lawlibraryofcongress • Twitter: http://twitter.com/LawLibCongress • You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/LibraryOfCongress#g/c/96401BE3402149B9

• iTunes U: http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/law-and-the-library/id386017780#ls=1

http://blogs.loc.gov/law

www.facebook.com/lawlibraryofcongress

http://twitter.com/LawLibCongress

www.youtube.com/user/LibraryOfCongress#g/c/96401BE3402149B9

http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/law-and-the-library/id386017780#ls=1

Ask A Librarian Overview OCLC QuestionPoint Software Library of Congress – June 2002 Law Library of Congress – December 2004 250-300 queries per month

E-mail or web account Available worldwide

www.loc.gov

www.loc.gov/rr/askalib

www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-law.html

Other free & trustworthy sources • Federal Digital System (FDsys):

www.gpo.gov/fdsys • U.S. House of Representatives, Office of

the Law Revision Counsel: http://uscode.house.gov

• Regulations.gov: www.regulations.gov • USA.gov: www.usa.gov (official portal) • Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law

School: www.law.cornell.edu • HG.org: www.hg.org

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys

http://uscode.house.gov/

http://www.regulations.gov/

http://www.usa.gov/

http://www.law.cornell.edu/

http://www.hg.org/

Other free & trustworthy sources (con’t)

• FindLaw: http://lp.findlaw.com • Justia: www.justia.com • LexisWeb: www.lexisweb.com • NOLO Laws and Legal Research:

www.nolo.com/legal-research • The American Presidency Project,

University of California, Santa Barbara: www.presidency.ucsb.edu

• Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com

http://lp.findlaw.com/

http://www.justia.com/

http://www.lexisweb.com/

http://www.nolo.com/legal-research

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/

http://scholar.google.com/

QUESTIONS?

Contact Information:

Matthew Braun Acting Reading Room Coordinator

Law Library of Congress 101 Independence Ave, SE

Washington, DC 20540 E-mail: [email protected]

V: (202) 707-3190

mailto:[email protected]