The Law Library of Congress

Christine Sellers, Legal Reference SpecialistRobert Newlen, Assistant Law Librarian for

Collections, Outreach and ServicesLaw 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

www.loc.gov

www.loc.gov

www.loc.gov

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 Topicshttp://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/

www.loc.gov/law

www.loc.gov/law

Current Legal Topicshttp://www.loc.gov/law/help/current-topics.php

• International Issues• Legal commentary• Historical Events• Commemorative Observations• Bibliographic resources

www.loc.gov/law

Global Legal Monitorhttp://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

www.loc.gov/law

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

www.loc.gov/law

Global Legal Information Network

A cooperative, not-for-profit federation ofgovernment 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

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 50jurisdictions

Searchable by subject terms and legal conceptsthrough the use of a centralized thesaurus

www.loc.gov/law

www.glin.gov

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nationhttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/

U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates• March 16, 1998 debut• Content (1774-1875):

Continental Congress Constitutional ConventionJournals of CongressDebates of CongressStatutes and selected bills and reports

• TIFF format

www.loc.gov/law

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

THOMAS 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

www.loc.gov/law

www.loc.gov

www.thomas.gov

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

www.thomas.gov

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

www.thomas.gov

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/96401BE3402149B9

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

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

http://www.facebook.com/lawlibraryofcongress

http://twitter.com/LawLibCongress

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

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

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

www.loc.gov

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

www.loc.gov/law

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

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/

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

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

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

http://lp.findlaw.com/

http://www.justia.com/

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

QUESTIONS?

Contact Information:

Robert NewlenAssistant Law Librarian for

Collection, Outreach and Services

Law Library of Congress101 Independence Ave, SE

Washington, DC 20540-3000E-mail: rnewlen@loc.gov

V: (202) 707-4313

Christine SellersLegal Reference SpecialistLaw Library of Congress

101 Independence Ave, SEWashington, DC 20540-3000

E-mail: csel@loc.govV: (202) 707-1708