WLH: Women's Legal History

Today is the half-way mark in Women's History Month, and a great time to explore the Women's Legal History (WLH) website, created by Law Professor Barbara Babcock and the staff of the Robert Crown Law Library at Stanford University. The site focuses on describing and documenting the accomplishments and challenges of America's pioneering women lawyers. It features primary source material for those interested in the history of women in the law, with links to biographies, articles, speeches, case law and related websites containing materials on the more than 2,000 women lawyers featured. Holding a special place among these pioneers is Clara Foltz, California's first woman lawyer and a trial attorney as well as legal reformer and the first to suggest the creation of public defenders as a counterweight to prosecutors.  In 2011, Professor Babcock published a book, Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz. You can find it in the Law Library at call number KF368.F585 B33 2011.  

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

3/14 or Rational Irrationality

Happy Pi Day.  Yes, it is 3/14 or, as preferred by mathematicians, 3.14 .  

Lest you wonder what the legal connection is, Pi has been of legal interest for a long time.   Back in 1897, there was a bill in the Indiana legislature said to fix the value of Pi.  (Or not, if you read the Legislating Pi chapter of Mathematical Cranks by Underwood Dudley).  More recently, Congress has officially declared March 14 “Pi Day” in 2009 by H Res 224.  

For more fun with Pi, visit PiDay.org - and work out the rational irrational.  Would that be circular reasoning?  

On a wonderfully coincidentally(?) related note - it is also Albert Einstein's birthday.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Congressional Reports On FDsys

Need to find a recent Congressional Report (i.e., reports that originate from Congressional committees and treat proposed legislation and issues under investigation) quickly? Then don’t forget the U.S. Government Printing Offices’ FDsys, where you can find Congressional Reports from the 104^th Congress (1995-96) to date freely available here.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Deep Web Research and Discovery Resources 2014

Marcus P. Zillman’s report and guide is designed to give you the resources you need to better understand the history of the deep web research, as well as various classified resources that allow you to search through the currently available web to find those key sources of information nuggets only found by understanding how to search the “deep web”.
This Deep Web Research and Discovery Resources 2014 guide is divided into the following sections:

• Articles, Papers, Forums, Audios and Videos
• Cross Database Articles
• Cross Database Search Services
• Cross Database Search Tools
• Peer to Peer, File Sharing, Grid/Matrix Search Engines
• Presentations
• Resources – Deep Web Research
• Resources – Semantic Web Research
• Bot and Intelligent Agent Research Resources and Sites
• Subject Tracer Information Blogs"

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

New Book: Adventure and the Law

What happens at the intersection of thrill-seeking and the unexpected? Find out in Adventure and the Law by Cecil C. Kuhne III.

Chapters are each devoted to litigation involving risky pastimes like heli-skiing, car racing, snowboarding, mountain biking, bungee jumping and more.

Read it now! LAW KF1290 .S66 K84

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Hein Online Search Tip: Proximity Search

Support for finding words which are a within a specific distance away. To do 

a proximity search, use the tilde symbol, "~", at the end of a phrase.  Example:

To search for a "watershed" and "planning" within 10 words of each 

other in a document use the search:"watershed planning" ~10

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

CRS Reports on HeinOnline

Congressional Research Service reports (CRS) are now available on HeinOnline.  CRS is a division of the Library of Congress that conducts research and analyses on a wide range of topics such as national policy, taxation, bankruptcy and more.  HeinOnline has acquired over 880 reports, you can see the full title list here.  The reports are available both in the Taxation & Economic Reform in America Parts I & II and History of Bankruptcy: Taxation & Economic Reform in America Part III libraries.  To learn more the CRS reports click here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat