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Library
New & Notable on the Web
April 2008
Taxing Times…
It’s that time of year again! You can get PDF fill-in tax forms at the IRS website. Links to state tax forms are available at the National Association of Computerized Tax Processors. Of course, you can always go the automated route at places like this.
Earth Hour
"On March 31 2007, for one hour, Sydney made a powerful statement about the greatest contributor to global warming – coal-fired electricity – by turning off its lights...In 2008, 24 global cities participated in Earth Hour at 8pm on March 29." Even Google went "dark" in commemoration. Get more information about the Earth Hour movement.
National Library Week - April 13-18
“First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support.”
The American Association of Law Libraries sponsors a “National Legal Research Teach-In” during National Library Week.
Justice Talking
Justice Talking is a weekly National Public Radio program about “law and American life.” It is produced by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Each one hour shows focuses on a legal issue “that capture[s] the headlines,” such as stem cell research, privacy and the war on terror, and immigration policy. From: Cornell Law Library - InSITE
March 2008
Presidential Candidate Websites/ Project Vote Smart
As we go into the home stretch of the primary season, the websites to watch are http://www.hillaryclinton.com, http://www.johnmccain.com, and http://www.barackobama.com. Information about the candidates, including their voting records, can be found here.
Legal Blue Book Online
The venerable Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is now in an electronic format at http://www.legalbluebook.com. Search or browse for all of those tough citation questions you have been saving for this day. Seriously, the ability to search is a real enhancement over the print, as anyone who used the Bluebook’s print index can attest to.Members of the Villanova Law community can obtain the username and password from one of the reference librarians.
Thelegaldirectory.com
As part of our print subscription we now have access to the Philadelphia Legal Directory on the web. You can search by name, legal specialty, and county. Members of the Villanova Law community can obtain the username and password from one of the reference librarians.
National Procrastination Week!
Do you celebrate National Procrastination Week (2nd week in March) every day? Get some organizing tips from http://www.onlineorganizing.com. Click on “holidays” to get to their “anti” procrastination week materials
February 2008
HeinOnline – US Congressional Documents Library
HeinOnline (available from the law library search databases page) is adding new materials at a fast clip. One of their latest additions is the US Congressional Documents Library, which includes the Statutes at Large from 1789-2005 and the Congressional Record Bound edition (and various predecessor publications) from 1789 to 2003. It also includes the Congressional record daily edition from 1994 to present. A particularly useful feature is their Congressional record daily to bound citation search which covers 1994 to 2003. For these years you can retrieve the Congressional Record daily edition with the citation from the bound edition and vice versa.
PA General Assembly Statute Search
The Pennsylvania General Assembly has recently added the unofficial Purdon’s Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Annotated to their website. Powered by Westlaw, you can either search (click the link in the top right corner) or browse the table of contents (expand the + symbols). Also included are links to the Pennsylvania Code, and the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
Multistate Surveys
A common (and often unwelcome) request is to find and summarize the laws from all 50 states on a topic, such as automobile lemon laws. This can be difficult to search on a state by state basis, as each state may refer to the statute by a different name/concept.
Westlaw has a fifty state survey (SURVEY) database, which includes the text of National Survey of State Laws. You can also get a link to the SURVEY database while looking at any statute. Note that the SURVEY book and database are selective. A survey may not have been done on your topic.
Lexis has recently added 50 state surveys (available from the main search menu).
Consumer Information Center National Contact Center
If you are having difficulties finding a document, or don't know what federal agency handles your issue, try the Consumer Information Center National Contact Center - 1 (800) 333-4636 (http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/call/ncc.htm ). It will find someone at a government agency who can answer your question about Federal programs, benefits or services.
January 2008
Dennis Kennedy awarded his 2007 "Blawggie" awards. At number nine on the list is one of our very own: Best Law Professor Blog - Jim Maule's Mauled Again!.
Heinonline (available via the law library search databases page) has added a Federal Agency Library which includes PDF versions of: the Administrative Decisions under Immigration and Nationality Laws, Vols. 1-23 (1940-2006); the Reports of the Tax Courts of the United States, Vols. 1-127 (1942-2006); Reports of the United States Board of Tax Appeals, Vols. 1-47 (1924-1942) All Published; the Securities and Exchange Commission Decisions and Reports, Vols. 1-55 (1934 -2002); and Securities and Exchange Commission, Judicial Decisions, Vols. 1-5 (1939-1948) All Published.
Religion and Law International Document Database
“The lead group of RLRC is the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at the Law School of Brigham Young University. ReligLaw is an ever-growing database that seeks “to provide the world’s largest online library of religious freedom documents.” Documents in the database include constitutions, laws and draft laws, judicial decisions, regulations, treaties, government reports, and secondary sources.” From Cornell Law School InSite.
BlawgSearch- Blawg-only search tool. Several sites enable you to search the content of blogs, but they offer no way to limit your search to law-related blogs. A new tool solves this search shortfall by indexing only the content of legal blogs. Called BlawgSearch, it is the creation of Tim Stanley, cofounder of the original FindLaw, and his team at the Web site design company (and legal information resource) Justia. From Robert Ambrogi's LawSites.
Martin Luther King Day (January 21st) will be celebrated at Villanova University with a variety of programs, including an entire “freedom school” day of sessions on Thursday, January 24th. See more details here. A general overview and links to sources can be found here.
Election 2008
Yahoo News aggregates content from major news outlets in their special coverage of the 2008 presidential election and the candidates here. Also note the Yahoo Full Coverage section for news on specific issues such as the environment and politics.
To view the New and Notable on the Web Archives - Click here.
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