When 2¢ = $50

Congratulations to Jennifer Calamia. She is our winner of an Apple $50 gift card for participating in the summer research survey.

Thanks to everyone who participated.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Organize Your Online Legal Resarch: Lexbox

Lexbox is a free Google Chrome extension that helps you organize and monitor your online legal research.  It enables you to assemble legal information from various online sources, and to create personal alerts

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Women, Business and the Law 2016

How do 173 countries across the globe, including the United States, compare in terms of legal barriers to women's employment and business activity?  The latest Women, Business and the Law report by the World Bank Group provides national comparisons over a wide range of related areas, from restrictions on women in establishing credit, making contracts, and holding certain jobs, to parental leave laws and the criminalization of domestic violence. Released this month, "Women, Business and the Law 2016: Getting to Equal" is an excellent source for comparative law research in business, economic development, and women and the law. Both the full report and a summary of key findings are available here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

New on Hein Online - State Reports: A Historical Archive

Attention source gatherers looking for old case law.  Hein Online now has the full text of historical state reporters.  Go to the state you want and you can drill down through the titles or search by citation.  Sometimes it is faster to drill down to find your document unless you are very sure of the abbreviation for the title of the reporter.  Historical (Nominative Reporters) are named after the person who collected and compiled the courts' opinions.  It can be tricky.  Have fun!

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Heinonline: Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals Database Coverage Expansion

HeinOnline has recently expanded coverage of the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP) database to include the year 1984. This additional indexing has added 9,700 records including journal articles, collection articles and book reviews. IFLP can be searched by subject, country subject, region, and more.  To learn more about the enhancement and a refresher on how to search IFLP, click here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Stay awake without caffeine

Ever feel like the critter pictured here when trying to get your work done?  As the semester gets busy, you may find yourself needing help staying alert.  Although I heartily endorse naps, you may not always be able to indulge.  Check out your Virtual Cat-approved  Four Chemistry-Approved Ways to Stay Awake Without Caffeine .


Hat-top to ProfHacker
Photo “I’m Getting Sleepy” by Flickr user Takashi Hososhima / Creative Commons licensed BY-SA–2.0
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Drone Law, Redux

Further to our earlier post speculating about Drone law, here is a link to an interesting infographic recently published on the subject. It summarizes the laws currently on the books in entertaining visual form.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Fastcase No. 1 According to ABA Tech Survey

LawSites by Robert Ambrogi reports that the Fastcase legal research app is the most popular legal app among lawyers according to the 2015.  Click here to read more.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

FDsys: Free Federal Resources

With legal employers looking for cost-efficiency in their new employees, an official government website with free documents in PDF is one you'll want to bookmark and remember.  FDsys, the U.S. Government Printing Office's Federal Digital System, provides easy access to Congressional bills, hearings, and reports, the U.S. Code, the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations, as well as Presidential documents and other materials.  Some of the materials on FDsys are not available on HeinOnline, and all of them are accessible to anyone with internet access. Be sure to note the date coverage for each of the resources, which varies.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Need a Refresher? Check out our Webcasts!

The new semester generally has several workshops and orientations that all students must attend.  Did you recently attend one and need a quick refresher on what you learned?  Then take a look at the Library's webcasts page here.  Any research workshop or session conducted by the Library is recorded and provided on the site for all students to access.  Check back periodically as the listings are updated regularly.  The handouts that were given out at the session along with any other presentation materials are linked as well.  In addition, we have a number of research tips and tutorial videos that can help you with your other research needs. 

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat