Google Docs

My new favorite Google tool is Google Docs. You can use your Google account (which is the same as your pride account) to share Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. This means if you are working with a study group on an outline and you all want to contribute, you can put the outline on Google Docs. The edit functions work pretty much the same as Word and you can read and edit simultaneously.

If you log into your pride account, you should see Documents on the upper left of your screen. Otherwise, go to http://docs.google.com . Once you upload your document, you can share it with whomever you choose.

There are lots of other good uses - so if you have suggestions, post a comment - especially if your idea involves sharing your cans of tuna fish with your favorite virtual cat.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Congressional Hearings Digitization Project

The Law Library of Congress contains approximately 75,000 volumes of printed Congressional Committee Hearings. Committees hold hearings for a variety of purposes on legislative proposals, the functioning of government programs, subjects of controversy, and other matters.

The Law Library of Congress has recently undertaken a collaborative pilot project with Google to digitize the entire collection of hearings and make it freely available. To date, three collections have been selectively compiled as a sort of beta test:

Census: U.S.
Freedom of Information/Privacy
Immigration.

These selected hearings, presented as PDF files, are samples of a larger group that will be digitized and made available as a result of this project. Ultimately, both the Library of Congress and Google plan to provide full-text access to the larger group of hearings


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Useful Tips During Exam Period

Are you looking for additional resources to help you through exam period? Take a look at Study Guides. The Guide lists study aids available in the Library and it is organized by subject and series title.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

U.S. Presidential Transitions: Resources

The transfer of power from one President to another is a tremendous and complicated affair. Resources have been developed to assist with the orderly transfer. Here are some resources of interest:

Change.gov: Office of the President Elect offers the latest news, events, and announcements pertaining to the formation of the Obama Administration.

GSA Presidential Transition offers GSA's role in the transition, laws and regulations, information for appointees and additional resources.

The Plum Book is used to identify presidentially appointed positions within the Federal Government.

The CRS Report Issues Involving Outgoing and Incoming Administrations highlights some of the political issues of the transition.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Nuremberg Trials Project

The Nuremberg Trials Project from the Harvard Law School Library is an incredible source of information for those researching the Nuremberg trials. The project's goal is to digitize and make available documents from the Harvard Law Library's Nuremberg Trials Collection--this collection includes approximately one million pages of trial transcripts, briefs, document books and evidence files from the trials.

Currently, the website provides access to materials from Case 1 (the Medical Case) of the trials.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

The New President and the Courts

It is now just a few days after the election, and people are already speculating about what changes President-Elect Obama will bring to the federal judiciary with his court appointments. Of course, most lawyers are curious to see who Obama will appoint if any justices step down from the Supreme Court, but as these National Law Journal and AP articles point out, Obama will immediately have fourteen circuit court seats to fill and about four dozen total federal court openings to fill. This could move a number of courts from having more Republican-appointed judges to having more Democratic-appointed judges. Although, as people know, it can sometimes be hard to predict what a judge will do once he or she is given a lifetime appointment.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat