1. 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

2. 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

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 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

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

19. www.loc.gov/law

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

22. www.loc.gov/law

25. Global Legal Monitor http://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

26. www.loc.gov/law

28. 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

29. www.loc.gov/law

37. 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

38. 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

39. www.loc.gov/law

40. www.glin.gov

57. 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

58. www.loc.gov/law

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

67. THOMAS http://thomas.gov http://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

68. www.loc.gov/law

69. www.loc.gov

70. www.thomas.gov

71. 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

72. www.thomas.gov

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

92. www.thomas.gov

99. 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/96401BE 3402149B9 iTunes U http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/law-and-the- library/id386017780#ls=1

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

107. http://www.facebook.com/lawlibraryofcongress

108. http://twitter.com/LawLibCongress

109. http://www.youtube.com/user/LibraryOfCongress#g/c/96401BE3402149B9

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

111. 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

112. www.loc.gov

113. http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/

114. www.loc.gov/law

115. http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-law.html

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

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

119. http://www.law.cornell.edu/

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

121. http://lp.findlaw.com/

122. http://www.justia.com/

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

124. QUESTIONS?

125. Contact Information: Robert Newlen Assistant Law Librarian for Collection, Outreach and Services Law Library of Congress 101 Independence Ave, SE Washington, DC 20540-3000 E-mail: rnewlen@loc.govrnewlen@loc.gov V: (202) 707-4313 Christine Sellers Legal Reference Specialist Law Library of Congress 101 Independence Ave, SE Washington, DC 20540-3000 E-mail: csel@loc.govcsel@loc.gov V: (202) 707-1708