21st Century Library: U.S. legislative research

Need to find the Congressional intent behind a statute (legislative history)? Read the testimony of a witness (such as Barry Bonds) in a Congressional hearing? Discover who the experts are and what they have to say about specific issues (global climate change).

Congressional Universe is one of the best research tools around to sort through Congressional bills, reports, hearings, and prints. 21st Century Library is holding a workshop next week to demonstrate Congressional Universe. It has material that is not on Lexis or Westlaw. If you are writing a paper this is one resource you don't want to miss.

You have choice of days to attend as we are giving 3 classes. You do not have to sign up. Just Come! All workshops are held in the lower level computer lab.

Monday, Sept. 26 at 5:10 PM
Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 12:10
Thursday, Sept. 29 at 1:10

See you next week!

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

A Quick Way To Decipher Legal Abbreviations

Do you have your notebook computer handy, and need quickly to check the meaning of a legal abbreviation? Then point your browser to the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations. Simply type the abbreviation into the box, click "search", and the Index will offer you the following information: The preferred abbreviation, any alternative abbreviations, the full title that the abbreviation represents, and the jurisdiction of the country of the publication. Clicking the link to the title will take you to further information about that title. Perhaps best of all, the Cardiff Index of Legal Abbreviations covers the legal publications of all countries, so it is very useful for deciphering foreign abbreviations.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

GlobaLex

GlobaLex is an electronic legal publication dedicated to international and foreign law research. Published by the Hauser Global Law School Program at NYU School of Law,

GlobaLex is committed to the dissemination of high-level international, foreign, and comparative law research tools in order to accommodate the needs of an increasingly global educational and practicing legal world.

The information and articles published by GlobaLex represent both research and teaching resources used by legal academics, practitioners and other specialists around the world who are active either in foreign, international, and comparative law research or those focusing on their own domestic law. The guides and articles published are written by scholars well known in their respective fields and are recommended as a legal resource by universities, library schools, and legal training courses. The tools available in GlobaLex will continue to expand to cover international law topics, countries and legal systems thus providing a coherent and encompassing research tool for all constituencies. (All of the above cut&paste from their site)

GlobaLex is a worthy addition to the foreign and international reseach tools available on the Internet. My opinion.

What they didn't tell you in the "about GlobaLex" is the link to the "Lighter Side" that shows the movie "Weapons of Manhattan Distraction"a totally subjective, unscientifically proven, completely biased guide of things to see and places to go in New York City (once again their words). With a flash plugin you can play the movie, or you can simply browse such items as "Manhatton 101" and "Higher Ground: Roof Top Bars".

So, this is a website that provides guidance in NYC and abroad.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Responses to Your Comments

As always, it is good to hear from you.

1. Comments re: Temperature
Some of you have mentioned the chilly temperatures in the Library. Due to the way the building was constructed, we have no control over the temperature. We CAN contact the Plant department to ask them to make adjustments. So, if you are uncomfortable, let us know at the front desk and we will contact Plant right away. Make sure to say something - with a virtual fur coat, I am not a good judge.

2. Comments re: Parking
Yes, I know. This is a constant topic of conversation for everyone. Believe me, if I could have done something about it and become the University feline phenom, I would have!!! All I can say is that the University makes all parking policies - not the Library or Law School. Contact Public Safety with your concerns.

3. A crepe stand???
Sounds yummy, but I am territorial, and do not want to share the Library with any creepy crawlies or other furry creatures !! Seriously, we have had both varieties of unwanted pests as a result of food in the Library, so you will have to make your crepe stand recommendation to the folks in charge of Dining services.

For these and other frequently raised issues, I have created an FAQ. You will also find a link to it on the sidebar on the right, toward the bottom.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Yahoo Instant Search

If you want even quicker Internet searching, try Yahoo Instant Search, where results appear as you type. While you type, a bubble will appear containing relevant information. You can either click on it or ignore it and wait for the regular list of search results to appear as usual. Yahoo Shortcuts has been incorporated into Instant Search, so that when you are just looking for a quick answer, such as "Hempstead weather" the answer will pop up in the bubble before you finish typing and you don't have to click anything. When reading Yahoo's description of Instant Search, you will notice the rivalry between Yahoo and Google - Yahoo asserts "Why feel lucky when you can be right".

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

NerdTV

PBS has launched Nerd TV, broadcast television's first entirely downloadable series. This series consists of tech pundit Robert X. Cringely interviewing the the biggest (although most not entirely familiar) names in high tech.

The complete list of NerdTV guests includes the first Macintosh operating system programmer Andy Hertzfeld, Pay Pal co-founder Max Levchin, Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy, Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak, internet publisher Tim O'Reilly, Autodesk co-founder Dan Drake, TCP/IP inventor Bob Kahn, computer mouse inventor Doug Engelbart, former Lotus chief scientist Jerry Kaplan, Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle, former Apple chief scientist Larry Tesler, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and the father of Linux, Linus Torvalds.

NerdTV is distributed under a Creative Commons license so viewers can legally share the shows with their friends, post them on their own websites, or even edit their own versions. From the Nerd TV website: "If not THE future of television, NerdTV represents A future of television for niche audiences that have deep interest in certain topics".

Viewers will be able to choose the content or format they download to their computer: MP4 video of the whole program, MP4 video of the juicy excerpt (for a more general audience wanting just a nugget) and MP4 video of the nerdy excerpt (for a more technical audience wanting just a nugget). In addition, a subtitled/captioned version and a variety of audio-only formats will be available. There are also downloadable, portable podcasts. If you find all the tech options overwhelming, print transcripts are also available.

Be sure to check this series, which Wired News describes as "smart people talking at length about important stuff". Could this really be the future of TV? Let me know what you think...



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

The Constitution on the Web

While Hofstra Law School marks Constitution Day (see our "Constitution Day" post, 9/6/2005), explore a few of the best free online resources on the U.S. Constitution. GPO Access: Constitution Main Page, provides quick access to the text in various formats and a publication by the Congressional Reference Service analyzing and interpreting the Constitution through annotations of Supreme Court cases (to June 2000). The National Archives site features high resolution images of the original document and biographies of the delegates. The Library of Congress and Yale Avalon Project present a wealth of historical documents related to the Constitutional Convention and the ratification process. The Constitution comes alive at the National Constitution Center, an independent, non-partisan organization established by act of Congress in 1988. Their interactive exhibit, Centuries of Citizenship: A Constitutional Timeline allows visitors to view news stories, debates, and explore “Can You Vote?” at points along more than 200 years of constitutional history.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Finally, I can be Googled!

Thanks to Google's new blog searching capability, you can now Google me (try searching for ernster virtual cat) or any of your other favorite blogs. Go to Google Blog Search to find out what bloggers are saying about Katrina relief, the Judge Roberts hearings and any other item of interest.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

The Invisible Web: Review and Resources

An excellent article in the Wisconsin Lawyer, found here, outlines the advantages of expanding one's online search skills to troll the invisible Web, which contains information that is irretrievable using a general search engine, such as Google.

The invisible Web is of great potential use to those in the legal profession, as it includes a vast amount of legal and governmental documents. This includes case law, statutes, bills, regulations, patents, briefs, census data, government reports, treaties, and more. Extensive business and corporate data also are available on the invisible Web, including SEC filings, stock quotes, company profiles, and the like. Links to resources to assist you in taking advantage of the invisible Web appear here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Bathrooms are open!

The bathrooms in the library are now open again. Some minor touch-ups still need to occur, but you no longer need to leave the library to use the bathroom.

Thanks for your patience during the university construction.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat