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.
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.
The first floor of the Legal Information Center can be entered from the first floor level of the Law Building as well as from the stairwells on either side of the Library itself.
- There are 24 computers on the lower level of this floor and six in the adjacent Computer Assisted Legal Research (CALR) Lab.
- A Help Desk staffed by students is by the door.
- There are two copy machines that also function as printers plus a computer connected to a scanner.
- The CALR Lab contains two Westlaw printers and two Lexis/Nexis printers, where print jobs sent by students are printed out. Student representatives then file the printouts for students to pick up.
- Near the Help Desk is a door to Media Services, where Reza Amin can re-set ID card numbers when problems occur.
- There are bookshelves next to the ramp to the upper level of this floor that contain duplicate copies of Atlantic Digests and Atlantic Reporters plus the American Digest, containing case summaries from 1658 to 1896, and the Decennial Digests containing case summaries from 1897 to 1991.
- On the upper level there are study carrels along the walls and tables in the middle of the room. Microform cabinets, a microform reader/printer/scanner, sets of print indexes, treatises in call numbers L to Z (including education, literature, science, and health), and print journals in compact rolling shelving are all housed in this area.
The third floor of the Legal Information Center is the smallest and quietest floor. Here are things that can be found there:
- Books classified in Library of Congress call numbers A through KE, including philosophy, history, economics, sociology, political science, and international law.
- The Historical Collection of case reporters and digests, including the early series of the National Reporter System, some in fragile condition.
- The Marshall Dennehey Room, or MD Room, used for seminar classes, meetings, and occasional social gatherings.
- Eight group study rooms of various sizes, from a two-person room to a conference room for 10 or 12. Room #8 may be reserved by signing up at the Circulation Desk and retrieving the key. Groups of students always take precedence over individuals for use of these rooms.
- The Video Room, containing DVDs and VHS tapes on legal topics, plus a small TV for viewing. Headphones are available from the Circulation Desk. A computer in this room has a scanner attached.
- Restrooms, tables and carrels near the windows, and groupings of sofas and chairs. Dictionaries, a paper cutter, and a copy machine that does not use allocation accounts.