1. The Law Library of Congress: Overview for the ABA 2011 Annual Meeting Matthew E. Braun, Legal Reference Specialist Law Library of Congress August 5, 2011

2. Today’s Presentation  The Library of Congress Mission Overview  The Law Library of Congress Mission Overview Digital resources Foreign legal resources U.S. legal resources Ask a Librarian Social Media  Other Legal Resources  Questions

3. 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.

4. 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

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

6. www.loc.gov

13. 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 30,000 volumes in the public reading room Global Legal Research Center – staffed by foreign law experts who do foreign law reference and research and help build the foreign law collections

14. 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.

15. Public Services Division

16. Collection Services Division

17. Global Legal Research Center

18.  Argentina & Brazil & Canada & China & Eritrea & European Union & France & Germany & Greece & India, Pakistan & Israel & Japan & Lebanon & Mexico & New Zealand, Australia & Nicaragua & Russian Federation & United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Foreign Law Specialists, Principal Jurisdictions Augmented by Contract Foreign Law Specialists and Senior Legal Research Analysts

19. Global Legal Research Center Sample of Secondary Jurisdictions & China & Hong Kong & Eritrea & Ghana & Nigeria & Botswana & France &Belgium &Haiti &Germany &Austria &Liechtenstein &Switzerland & European Union &Greece &Cyprus & India & Pakistan & Nepal & Sri Lanka & Japan & North and South Korea & Russian Federation & Armenia & Azerbaijan & Bosnia and Herzegovina & United Kingdom & Channel Islands & Isle of Man & British Virgin Islands & Malta

20. The Law Library of Congress Online Resources Current Legal Topics: www.loc.gov/law/help/current-topics.php Guide to Law Online: www.loc.gov/law/help/guidewww.loc.gov/law/help/guide Global Legal Monitor: www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news Global Legal Information Network (GLIN): www.glin.gov THOMAS: www.thomas.govwww.thomas.gov A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw

21. www.loc.gov/law

23. Current Legal Topics www.loc.gov/law/help/current-topics.php International Issues Legal commentary Historical Events Commemorative Observations Bibliographic resources

24. www.loc.gov/law

27. Guide to Law Online http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide.php  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

28. www.loc.gov/law

32. Global Legal Monitor www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news  Launched in May 2006 Worldwide legal news Frequently updated Can be searched by topic, country, keyword, author or date Persistent URLs

33. www.loc.gov/law

35. 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 www.glin.gov

36. 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

37. GLIN Guiding Principles  Governments have the duty to make their laws accessible to their citizens  Law is one of the best instruments for balanced, peaceful, and productive relations among peoples and nations  Nations share common areas of interest and are aware of a mutual interdependence  The texts of laws must be delivered according to the highest standards of reliability

38. GLIN Characteristics  Global  Inter-governmental  Non-profit  Multilingual  Cooperative  Standards

39. GLIN Reliability Standards  Official  Authentic  Current  Complete

40. GLIN Database Elements  Full Text of Original Sources (original language)  Summary (English & original language)  Legal Thesaurus (English & original language)

41. GLIN Benefits  For countries without national legal information systems: GLIN can serve as the primary repository for legal information (e.g. GLIN is the only online source of law for Dem. Rep. of Congo and Saudi Arabia) GLIN itself is a resource for additional information and advice GLIN offers samples of legislation from various countries for those considering legislation on new topics

42. GLIN Benefits  For countries with existing legal information systems: GLIN complements the efforts of nations by offering another tool for them to disseminate their laws through a system that allows multilingual access and facilitates comparative legal research oFacilitates transparency oProvides models for other countries GLIN itself is a resource for additional information and advice GLIN offers samples of legislation from various countries for those considering legislation on new topics

43. Democratic Republic of the CongoTunisia RussiaBrazil

45. GLIN Contents Legislative Records Statutes Regulations Ordinances Judicial Decisions Legal Literature Primary Sources Secondary Sources

47. www.glin.gov

64. THOMAS www.thomas.gov www.thomas.gov  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

66. www.loc.gov

67. www.thomas.gov

68. 2010 THOMAS Updates Bookmarking and sharing toolbar Top bills w/email alert and RSS feed Tip of the week w/email alert and RSS feed Bills Presented to the President email 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

69. www.thomas.gov

70. http://thomas.loc.gov/home/state-legislatures.html

89. www.thomas.gov

96. A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw  U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates March 16, 1998 debut Content (1774-1875):  Continental Congress  Constitutional Convention  Journals of Congress  Debates of Congress  Statutes and selected bills and reports TIFF format

97. www.loc.gov/law

98. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw

106. www.loc.gov/law/find/web-archive/legal-blawgs.php

109. The Law Library of Congress Social Media In Custodia Legis Blog: http://blogs.loc.gov/law Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lawlibraryofcongress Twitter: http://twitter.com/LawLibCongress You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/LibraryOfCongress#g/c/964 01BE3402149B9 iTunes U: http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/law-and-the- library/id386017780#ls=1

111. http://blogs.loc.gov/law

114. www.facebook.com/lawlibraryofcongress

115. http://twitter.com/LawLibCongress

116. www.youtube.com/user/LibraryOfCongress#g/c/96401BE3402149B9

117. http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/law-and-the-library/id386017780#ls=1

118. Ask A Librarian Overview  OCLC QuestionPoint Software  Library of Congress – June 2002  Law Library of Congress – December 2004  250-300 queries per month  E-mail or web account  Available worldwide

119. www.loc.gov

120. www.loc.gov/rr/askalib

121. www.loc.gov/law

122. www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-law.html

124. Other Free Legal Resources  FDSys: www.gpo.gov/fdsys  Cornell LII: www.law.cornell.edu  FindLaw: http://lp.findlaw.com  Justia: www.justia.com  Avalon: http://avalon.law.yale.edu

125. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys

126. www.law.cornell.edu

127. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode

128. http://lp.findlaw.com

129. www.justia.com

130. http://avalon.law.yale.edu

131. QUESTIONS?

132. Contact Information: Matthew E. Braun Legal Reference Specialist Law Library of Congress 101 Independence Ave, SE Washington, DC 20540 E-mail: mbra@loc.govmbra@loc.gov V: (202) 707-3190