The Law Library of Congress Christine Sellers, Legal Reference Specialist Robert Newlen, Assistant Law Librarian for Collections, Outreach and Services Law Library of Congress February 2011

Today’s Presentation  The Library of Congress Mission Overview  The Law Library of Congress Mission Overview Digital resources Ask a Librarian Social Media  Other Legal Resources  Questions

The Library of Congress Mission To support the Congress in fulfilling its constitutional duties and to further the progress of knowledge and creativity for the benefit of the American people.

The Library of Congress Overview  Oldest U.S. federal cultural institution  Serves as the research arm of the U.S. Congress  Has a permanent staff of about 3,600 employees  Largest library in the world Contains more than 144 million items in 420 languages including:  22 million books  3 million sound recordings  12.5 million photographs  5.3 million maps  64 million manuscripts

The Library of Congress Online Resources General information Resources for specific audiences Digital Collections World Digital Library Online Catalog Inter-Library Loan

The Law Library of Congress Overview  Established by law in 1832 as a separate department of the Library of Congress  Largest law library in the world Over 2.78 million volumes that include U.S. state and Federal materials, foreign codes, constitutions, official gazettes, law reports, treatises, serials, and laws from all historical periods Covering some 267 existing nations and jurisdictions Working reference collection of approximately 65,000 volumes in the public reading room Has a staff of about 20 attorneys with law degrees from various countries who build the collection and use it to respond to research/reference requests

The Law Library of Congress Mission The mission of the Law Library of Congress is to provide research and legal information to the U.S. Congress as well as to U.S. Federal Courts and Executive Agencies, and to offer reference services to the public.

Public Services Division

Collection Services Division

Global Legal Research Center

The Law Library of Congress Online Resources Current Legal Topics Global Legal Monitor http: // Guide to Law Online Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) THOMAS Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation

Current Legal Topics International Issues Legal commentary Historical Events Commemorative Observations Bibliographic resources

Global Legal Monitor  Launched in May 2006 Worldwide legal news Frequently updated Can be searched by topic, country, keyword, author or date Persistent URLs

Guide to Law Online  Legal Portal of over 9,000 links Annotated compilation of Internet links Organized by jurisdiction and topics Multinational, international, U.S. and state materials Full text of laws, regulations, and cases Legal commentary

Global Legal Information Network  A cooperative, not-for-profit federation of government agencies and institutions that contribute national legal information to the GLIN database  Database contains statutes, regulations and related legal materials that originate from countries around the world

Global Legal Information Network  Authoritative – Official – Current – Complete  Four modules: statutes, regulations, and ordinances; legal writings; judicial decisions; and legislative records  Full text of 180,000+ legal instruments from 50 jurisdictions  Searchable by subject terms and legal concepts through the use of a centralized thesaurus

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation  U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates March 16, 1998 debut Content ( ):  Continental Congress  Constitutional Convention  Journals of Congress  Debates of Congress  Statutes and selected bills and reports TIFF format

THOMAS  Launched on January 5, 1995  Content: Bill summaries: 1973 –> Bill text 1989 –> Congressional Record 1989 –> Congressional Reports 1995 –> Treaties Presidential nominations  Subscribe via RSS feeds, Share/Save  Law Library manages content

2010 THOMAS Updates Bookmarking and sharing toolbar Top bills w/ alert and RSS feed Tip of the week w/ alert and RSS feed Bills Presented to the President alert and RSS feed Increased timeout interval from 5 to 30 minutes Improved headers and navigation Added more browse options and more search options pages Mobile-friendly homepage Social media box with all the ways to connect with the Law Library of Congress State legislature page Converted GPO Access link to FDsys links Metadata enhancement for Bill Summary and Status pages

The Law Library of Congress Social Media In Custodia Legis Blog Facebook Twitter You Tube B9 iTunes U library/id #ls=1

Ask A Librarian Overview  OCLC QuestionPoint Software  Library of Congress – June 2002  Law Library of Congress – December 2004  queries per month  or web account  Available worldwide

Other Free Legal Resources  FDSys  Cornell LII  FindLaw  Justia  Avalon

QUESTIONS?

Contact Information: Robert Newlen Assistant Law Librarian for Collection, Outreach and Services Law Library of Congress 101 Independence Ave, SE Washington, DC V: (202) Christine Sellers Legal Reference Specialist Law Library of Congress 101 Independence Ave, SE Washington, DC V: (202)