How to Conduct Free Legal Research Online Powerpoint Presentation

114 Pages·2013·9.78 MB·English

How to Conduct FREE Legal Research Online:
Overview for the
ABA 2013 Midyear Meeting

Matthew Braun
Acting Reading Room Coordinator
Law Library of Congress
February 8, 2013
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
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 2.84 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