The Law Library of Congress
Christine Sellers, Legal Reference SpecialistRobert Newlen, Assistant Law Librarian for
Collections, Outreach and ServicesLaw Library of Congress
February 2011
Today’s Presentation
The Library of Congress• Mission• Overview
The Law Library of Congress• Mission• Overview• Digital 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
The Library of Congress
Online Resources• General information• Resources for specific audiences• Digital Collections• World Digital Library• Online Catalog• Inter-Library Loan
www.loc.gov
www.loc.gov
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 2.78 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
65,000 volumes in the public reading room • Has a staff of about 20 attorneys with law degrees
from various countries who build the collection and use it to respond to research/reference requests
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
The Law Library of Congress
Online Resources
• Current Legal Topicshttp://www.loc.gov/law/help/current-topics.php
• Global Legal Monitor http: //www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news
• Guide to Law Online http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide• Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) http://www.glin.gov• THOMAS http://thomas.loc.gov• Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/
www.loc.gov/law
www.loc.gov/law
Current Legal Topicshttp://www.loc.gov/law/help/current-topics.php
• International Issues• Legal commentary• Historical Events• Commemorative Observations• Bibliographic resources
www.loc.gov/law
Global Legal Monitorhttp://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news
Launched in May 2006• Worldwide legal news • Frequently updated• Can be searched by topic, country, keyword,
author or date• Persistent URLs
www.loc.gov/law
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
www.loc.gov/law
Global Legal Information Network
A cooperative, not-for-profit federation ofgovernment agencies and institutions that contribute national legal information to the GLIN database
Database contains statutes, regulations and related legal materials that originate from countries around the world
www.glin.gov
Global Legal Information Network
Authoritative – Official – Current – Complete Four modules: statutes, regulations, and
ordinances; legal writings; judicial decisions; and legislative records
Full text of 180,000+ legal instruments from 50jurisdictions
Searchable by subject terms and legal conceptsthrough the use of a centralized thesaurus
www.loc.gov/law
www.glin.gov
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nationhttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/
U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates• March 16, 1998 debut• Content (1774-1875):
Continental Congress Constitutional ConventionJournals of CongressDebates of CongressStatutes and selected bills and reports
• TIFF format
www.loc.gov/law
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/
THOMAS http://thomas.gov
Launched on January 5, 1995 Content:
• Bill summaries: 1973 –>• Bill text 1989 –>• Congressional Record 1989 –>• Congressional Reports 1995 –>• Treaties• Presidential nominations
Subscribe via RSS feeds, Share/Save Law Library manages content
www.loc.gov/law
www.loc.gov
www.thomas.gov
2010 THOMAS Updates• Bookmarking and sharing toolbar• Top bills w/email alert and RSS feed• Tip of the week w/email alert and RSS feed• Bills Presented to the President email alert and RSS feed• Increased timeout interval from 5 to 30 minutes• Improved headers and navigation• Added more browse options and more search options pages• Mobile-friendly homepage• Social media box with all the ways to connect with the Law Library
of Congress• State legislature page• Converted GPO Access link to FDsys links• Metadata enhancement for Bill Summary and Status pages
www.thomas.gov
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/state-legislatures.html
www.thomas.gov
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/
http://www.facebook.com/lawlibraryofcongress
http://twitter.com/LawLibCongress
http://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
http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/
www.loc.gov/law
http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-law.html
Other Free Legal Resources
FDSys http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ Cornell LII http://www.law.cornell.edu/ FindLaw http://lp.findlaw.com/ Justia http://www.justia.com/ Avalon http://avalon.law.yale.edu/
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/
http://www.law.cornell.edu/
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/
http://lp.findlaw.com/
http://www.justia.com/
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/
QUESTIONS?
Contact Information:
Robert NewlenAssistant Law Librarian for
Collection, Outreach and Services
Law Library of Congress101 Independence Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20540-3000E-mail: [email protected]
V: (202) 707-4313
Christine SellersLegal Reference SpecialistLaw Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave, SEWashington, DC 20540-3000
E-mail: [email protected]: (202) 707-1708
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