Babbage

What could be more timely or relevant than a blog devoted to the "intersections between science, technology, culture and policy?"  The Economist has a very good one called Babbage (named after a Victorian mathematician, philosopher, inventor, and engineer), which offers daily news features, videos, and commentary on everything from internet privacy to antibiotics, space exploration, stem cell experiments, and the environment. While U.S. topics are covered, the range and perspective is global.  Enjoy. Non-subscribers to The Economist can register to view up to six articles per week.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Introducing LibCal: Start Reserving Your Study Room Online Line on October 1!

Commencing October 1, make your study room reservations online!  Just click, book and confirm!   The Circulation Desk will no longer accept paper reservations after September 30.  If you already have room reservations scheduled after October 1, they will be transferred to the LibCal room booking system by the circulation team.  You will receive an email when the reservation is transferred; be sure to follow the confirmation link to confirm your reservation.  Click here for more information about LibCal.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Library Elf

No, as much as I wish I had, I did not invent that name.  Library Elf is a service that helps you keep track of your library materials to avoid those overdue fines.  The free (basic) service allows you to track one library card and will give you overdue email alerts for that one account.  With the premium service ($20 per year) you can track multiple library accounts and can customize, including getting text alerts and have iCal integration.

Hat tip to ProfHacker

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

GPO Mobile

As a follow-up to last Thursday’s blog post about the Constitution app, this is a reminder to have a look at GPO Mobile. Here, you will find an array of mobile apps derived from a large number of government publications, including apps for the federal budget and for the current Congress.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

CA Bill Gives Minors Greater Online Privacy

On Monday, Governor Brown signed into law a children’s online privacy bill,  SB-568 Privacy: Internet: Minors .  The law “compels online companies and app developers to give minors (defined as anyone younger than 18 years old) the ability to remove any of their online content. The law also says that it's acceptable for a website to allow minor users the ability to file a request for content deletion.”  It  becomes effective as of January 1, 2015. 

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Tired of Your Browser? Try These Alternatives

Have you wondered if Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome are your only browser choices?  There are actually many others to try.  Find some browser alternatives here, such as SRWare Iron, a security enhanced browser based on Chromium.  Another alternative is the privacy conscious browser DuckDuckGo, which promises not to track or report your internet information.  Read more about typical browser tracking here and why DuckDuckGo is different.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Have you looked at HeinOnline recently?

Journal students learn about HeinOnline because of the Law Journal Library.  This Library is contains more than 1,800 law and law-related periodicals. Coverage is from the first issue published for all periodicals and goes through the most-currently published issues allowed based on contracts with publishers.

But there are many more subscribed libraries available to our students.  Some of the other libraries are:
U.S. Statutes at Large
United States Code
Federal Register Library
U.S. Congressional Documents
U.S. Presidential Library
U.S. Supreme Court Library
U.S. Federal Legislative History Library
New York Legal Research Library

and these are only a sample of the libraries.   In most cases the libraries go back to the date of inception of a publication.  BNA Bloomberg - LexisAdvance - WestlawNext do not.  The documents are in PDF.

HeinOnline is a tremendous resource and you should remember it.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat