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Posts Tagged ‘Research Delaware’

New International Law Collections on HeinOnline

June 15th, 2011 No comments

heinonline_logoHeinOnline has just added two more collections to its digital resources.  The  History of International Law Collection and the Hague Academy of Collected Courses are two new collections of international law materials. The History of International Law in includes classic books from famous authors such as Hans Kelsen, Samuel Pufendorf and James Brown Scott. It also includes significant serials such as the International Law Studies Series [U.S. Naval War College], International Conciliation, Studies in Transnational Legal Policy, and many others.

The Hague Academy of Collected Courses includes the official publications of the Hague Academy dating back to 1923. For more information on the new collections see Hein’s blog.

To access the new libraries go to HeinOnline from the Widener Law Library’s webpage and look for the new libraries in the list under “Subscribed Libraries.”

Prepare to Practice Program Handout

April 15th, 2011 No comments

We had a great turnout for Prepare to Practice: Free Online Legal Resources and Research Tips for New Associates, Summer Associates, Interns, Clerks, Law and Paralegal Students. Did you miss it? Don’t worry the handout for this informative program is now available:  Free Legal Resources Handout [pdf]

LexisNexis Congressional Now ProQuest Congressional

April 6th, 2011 No comments

ProQuestHeaderLogoOne of my favorite sources for congressional and legislative history research LexisNexis Congressional, has been been sold to ProQuest and will now be know as ProQuest Congressional. So far there have been no changes to the product except for the name but a press release from ProQuest implies that major change to the platform will be coming.

Congressional Research Services Reports

April 5th, 2011 No comments

logo_crsCRS Reports

The Congressional Research Service is a group of researchers who produce research reports for Congress. The research reports they produce can be very useful and informative. Some of the topics they cover can be helpful for law school research. They do not easily make their reports available to the public however, which has caused some controversy. One early WikiLeaks release was of 6,780 CRS reports.

Open CRS

Fortunately for researchers many CRS reports are freely available and easy to search at Open CRS. Some sample law related CRS reports are: Closing the Guantanamo Detention Center: Legal Issues, Compulsory DNA Collection: A Fourth Amendment Analysis, and Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 – 2010: Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President.

Statistical Abstract to be Eliminated

April 1st, 2011 No comments

statabstractInformation Today reports that the latest Census Bureau budget calls for the elimination of several publications including the popular Statistical Abstract.  The Census Bureau apparently feels that the Statistical Abstract only contains data that is found elsewhere on the internet so it should be canceled.

“Save the Statistical Abstract” awareness programs have sprung up, including one from the American Library Association

I often use the Statistical Abstract as a starting place when I’m not sure which federal agency would have the statistics I need. It’s a convenient one stop shop for statistics of all sorts.

So check out the Statistical Abstract online while it still exists. We even have the paper version in the library.

PACER

March 31st, 2011 No comments

pacerPACER provides online access to federal appellate, district and bankruptcy court dockets and documents.  Widener Law Library does have a subscription to PACER in case you need a copy of a federal complaint or brief. Because PACER charges by the page we do not make the password publicly available. If you need something from PACER please ask at the reference desk and we can do the search for you.

Other sources for dockets

Both Lexis and Westlaw have some docket info although not everything is available on an academic subscription. Usually you can look at the docket but you can’t download documents.

A good free starting point for federal dockets is Justia. Justia lets you search for cases on the federal dockets and sometimes has full text documents available. If they don’t have the documents they include a handy link to PACER.

Prepare to Practice: Free Online Legal Resources and Research Tips

March 22nd, 2011 No comments

Prepare to Practice: Free Online Legal Resources and Research Tips for New Associates, Summer Associates, Interns, Clerks, Law and Paralegal Students

Thursday, April 14th at 12:15pm and again at 5:15pm in the Library’s Special Collections Room

The cost of subscription based legal information continues to rise as courts, firms and non-profits are looking for ways to cut costs. All legal professionals should be aware of the resources that are available for free online.

As part of the Legal Information Center’s National Library Week Celebration (April 10th – 16th), come learn about all of the free primary legal materials available online. We’ll cover Federal, State and Local legal resources available for free on the Internet as well as advanced searching techniques that will help you in “the real world.”

Note: This is an abridged version of the library’s popular CLE , Free and Low-Cost Online Legal Research. Presenters will be librarians Maggie Stewart Adams and Mary Alice Peeling. For more information contact Maggie Stewart Adams – mmstewart@widener.edu

Irish law sources

March 17th, 2011 No comments

Just a few links for a law related celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.

Researching Irish Law – from Harvard Law School

Irish Law Site at University College Cork

Guide to Irish Law

Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor – Ireland

HeinOnline’s World Constitutions Illustrated – Ireland

Index to Legal Periodicals

March 4th, 2011 No comments

Index to Legal Periodicals is a great source for finding law review articles. You can do a keyword search for your topic and find a list of related law review articles. To find a full text copy of your article click on the LinkSource logo 0000113011_sfxwhich will connect you to our A to Z Electronic Journal List and will find the full text for you.

If you are looking for older information be sure  to tick the box for Legal Periodicals Retro which covers legal articles published from 1908-1981.

JSTOR Brings You High Quality Academic Scholarship

February 18th, 2011 No comments

jstor_logo

JSTOR provides access to scholarship published in high quality academic journals. It can be very helpful if you’re doing interdisciplinary research or need articles in a non-legal field. Need articles on economics, history, health policy, psychology or other fields? JSTOR has them.

JSTOR, like most of the databases Widener Law Library subscribes to, can be accessed off-campus by entering your name and Widener ID barcode number.

Finding Journals, Newspapers Easy with A to Z Electronic Journal List

February 10th, 2011 No comments

Imagine you need an article from Air and Space Lawyer or The Economist. You know Widener Law Library must have an online subscription to the journal but where to look. Is it on Lexis or Westlaw? Or maybe even EbscoHost? Just look the journal up in the A to Z list and you’ll find it in no time.

Type the title of the journal or newspaper you are looking for in the search box on the A to Z list. You’ll get a list of every database Widener subscribes to that has your journal.  Click on the name of the database you want to use and you’ll be taken directly to the journal.

There is a handy link to the A to Z list right on the main Widener Law Library web page. It’s right under Research Tools.

World Constitutions Illustrated

January 26th, 2011 No comments

HeinOnline‘s World Constitutions Illustrated was recently named one of the Outstanding Academic Titles of 2010 by Choice. World Constitutions Illustrated provides access to contemporary and historic constitutions from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, as well as law review articles and other scholarly commentary on the constitutions. HeinOnline can be accessed from the law library database page.

Other 2010 Outstanding Titles owned by the Widener law library are:

The Annotated U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, ed. by Jack N. Rakove. Belknap, Harvard, 2009.

Changes in law and society during the Civil War and Reconstruction: a legal history documentary reader, ed. by Christian G. Samito. Southern Illinois, 2009.

Encyclopedia of human rights, ed. by David P. Forsythe. Oxford, 2009.

Johns, Adrian. Piracy: the intellectual property wars from Gutenberg to Gates. Chicago, 2009.

Shesol, Jeff. Supreme power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court. W.W. Norton, 2010

Drakeman, Donald L. Church, state, and original intent. Cambridge, 2010.

Epp, Charles R. Making rights real: activists, bureaucrats, and the creation of the legalistic state. Chicago, 2010

Gordon, Sarah Barringer. The spirit of the law: religious voices and the Constitution in modern America.

Mendelson, Richard. From demon to darling: a legal history of wine in America. California, 2009.

Sample Moot Court Briefs on HeinOnline

October 13th, 2008 No comments

You may already be using HeinOnline for access to law reviews and journals. But there’s more to Hein than the law journal library. One of the many other collections from HeinOnline is the National Moot Court Competition. This collects the briefs of each year’s finalists in the competition held annually in New York. If you’re considering entering any moot court competition, take a look at the briefs in the collection to see what a winning brief looks like.

New Look for BNA Databases

October 1st, 2008 No comments

BNA has given all of their web databases a new look. Take a look at U.S. Law Week to try out the new format. Don’t forget you can sign up to have BNA newsletters on topics from antitrust law to health law to workplace law emailed to you. U.S Law Week is the most popular BNA email newsletter bringing you the latest news on all important legal topics and the U.S. Supreme Court.

See a complete list of all BNA databases and sign up for the newsletters on the Law Library’s webpage.