The Law Library of Congress: Overview for the ABA 2011 Annual Meeting

Matthew E. Braun, Legal Reference SpecialistLaw Library of Congress

August 5, 2011

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

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

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

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

Global Legal Research Center

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

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

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/guide • Global Legal Monitor:

www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news• Global Legal Information Network (GLIN): www.glin.gov• THOMAS: www.thomas.gov • A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation:

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

www.loc.gov/law

www.loc.gov/law

Current Legal Topicswww.loc.gov/law/help/current-topics.php

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

www.loc.gov/law

Guide to Law Onlinehttp://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 Monitorwww.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

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

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

GLIN Characteristics

Global Inter-governmental Non-profit Multilingual Cooperative Standards

GLIN Reliability Standards

Official Authentic Current Complete

GLIN Database Elements

Full Text of Original Sources (original language)

Summary (English & original language) Legal Thesaurus

(English & original language)

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

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

o Facilitates transparencyo Provides 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

Democratic Republic of the Congo Tunisia

Russia Brazil

GLIN Contents

LegislativeRecords

StatutesRegulationsOrdinances

JudicialDecisions

LegalLiterature

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

www.glin.gov

THOMASwww.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

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

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

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

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

www.facebook.com/lawlibraryofcongress

http://twitter.com/LawLibCongress

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

www.loc.gov/rr/askalib

www.loc.gov/law

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

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

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys

www.law.cornell.edu

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

http://lp.findlaw.com

www.justia.com

http://avalon.law.yale.edu

QUESTIONS?

Contact Information:

Matthew E. BraunLegal Reference SpecialistLaw Library of Congress

101 Independence Ave, SEWashington, DC 20540E-mail: mbra@loc.gov

V: (202) 707-3190