[Posted to LLSDC and Law-Lib listservs]
Dear LLSDC members and other law library colleagues --
Just in time for NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK, I'm happy to announce that the
latest electronic issue of Law Library Lights is now available. You can
link directly to the issue at http://www.llsdc.org/lights/pdf/50_3.pdf.
The theme of the Spring 2007 issue is Researching Special Areas. The
articles cover a wide -- but by no means exhaustive! -- variety of the
areas a law librarian may be asked to research on any particular day. I
hope you'll find this issue useful and that you'll print out a copy to
keep handy for reference purposes. Please feel free to share the issue
with your colleagues and to distribute it widely.
Here's a summary of our feature articles:
"Patent Searching on the USPTO Web Site"
Joanne Dugan
Joanne Dugan is Assistant Director for Public Services at the University
of Baltimore Law Library, which recently became a Patent & Trademark
Depository Library. As a result, Joanne has been exposed to a great
deal of training on the USPTO's patent resources. In this article, she
shares some tips for patent searching with a particular focus on prior
art searches.
"An Introduction to Election Law Research"
Sara Sampson
Thanks to the past few Presidential elections, we all know more about
election law than we did previously, but would you know where to turn if
an attorney came to you with an election law question? Sara Sampson's
article will lead you through the complexities and major resources that
you'll need for conducting election law research.
"An Introduction to Federal Communications Law Sources"
Sara Kelley
Federal communications law covers a wide variety of media, from your
television to your telephone. Despite the breadth of the FCC's mandate,
researching federal communications law is much easier if you acquaint
yourself with a few basic resources. Sara Kelley helps to demystify
these essential tools for the novice communications researcher.
"National Criminal Background Checks: Myths, Realities & Resources"
Jackie Walters
I think most law firm librarians are faced with periodic requests for
criminal record information. Jackie Walters' extremely helpful article
outlines exactly what types of criminal record information are available
(and more importantly, what's not!), and tells you what resources you
can use to find the information that is accessible.
"Federal Government Contracts Research Guide"
Ellen M. Callinan and Marielena Fina
Governement contracts are very complex, and there are many different
sources for information depending on exactly what you're looking for.
Ellen M. Callinan and Marielena Fina have combined their experience to
introduce us to a broad cross-section of the materials available for
government contracts research.
"A Guide to Resources Concerning International Development Banks, with a
Particular Focus on the World Bank Group"
Laura Lalime-Mowry and Christian Tomas
Do you know what an "international organization" is? Did you know that
the World Bank is actually made up of multiple international development
banks, which are considered to be international organizations? In their
article, Laura LaLime-Mowry and Christian Tomas of the World Bank
explain how international organizations are established, and tell you
how to locate the invaluable resources that the World Bank Group and
other international development banks have to offer.
"Manual Research: It Doesn't Have to be Puzzling"
Beth Maser and Donna Cavallini
Just a few decades ago, virtually all of a librarian's research was
manual research. Just as they now know electronic resources, librarians
back then knew exactly what print resources to turn to. Beth Maser and
Donna Cavallini remind us that manual research is not completely dead,
and in some cases, is still the only way to obtain information to answer
particular research requests.
"Advanced Interlibrary Loan Research"
Larry Guthrie
Larry Guthrie is a colleague of mine here at Covington & Burling LLP.
He's our interlibrary loan library, and he's in charge of locating those
materials that the research librarians haven't been able to track down
using our typical resources. I specifically asked Larry to write this
article to help non-ILL librarians understand some of the complexities
involved in obtaining outside materials. If you didn't appreciate your
ILL librarian or specialist before, you will after reading this article.
In addition to these wonderful feature articles, the Spring 2007 issue
of Lights includes a column by LLSDC President Billie Jo Kaufman, a
serials update from Susan Chinoransky, a book review from Karen Silber,
member news from Amy Taylor, and a not-to-be-missed Tech Talk column by
Roger Skalbeck on recommended law and technology podcasts.
I hope you enjoy the issue and the convenience of the PDF format.
Please e-mail me with your comments and suggestions for improvement.
Happy National Library Week, everyone!
Dawn Bohls
2006-2007 Editor of Law Library Lights
Senior Research Librarian
Covington & Burling LLP
1201 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington DC 20004-2401
*202.662.6180
C&B Global Library. Your Information Connection.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 14 2007 - 20:46:54 PST