Legal Research

What's Old is New

Posted on October 12, 2009
I have to admit, I'm a little surprised I remembered my Blogger password. I just decided I needed to post something other than information about July 10th. Yikes.Unfortunately, I don't have anything terribly exciting to mention. I just want to remind law librarians to join the Law Librarian Group on LinkedIn...

Happy Julio Day!

Posted on July 10, 2009
So, how is Julio Day gaining momentum? Well, apparently because of me. It turns out it had a little momentum before my Julio Day post 2 years ago. The person who first dubbed Julio Day (at least so far) turns out to be a fellow Illinoisan name Doug Bradley...

Julio Day is Gaining Momentum

Posted on July 09, 2009
Stay tuned....

Newly Revised CIA World Factbook

Posted on June 08, 2009
As of today, the CIA World Factbook has a new look. It includes user-friendly interactive maps, quick links to country comparison rankings, photos, and easy-to-print maps. The World Factbook isn't just limited to country profiles. You can also learn about places like the oceans and, for that matter, the entire world...

To access blog feed reader register for free. (You will also learn about new ways to read and access the freshest law blogs.)

THOMAS Gets An RSS Feed

Posted on May 01, 2009
One. Well, that's a start. THOMAS now has its first RSS feed and it's for the Congressional Record Daily Digest. Here's the feed: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/rss/dd.xml.You can keep an eye out for future additions here: http://www.loc.gov/law/news/rss...

Just a Reminder...

Posted on March 26, 2009
I realize my posts have been dwindling a bit. Between being extraordinarily busy and working on a new blog project, I'm afraid AbsTracked is getting the short end of the stick. I just wanted to remind you that I tend to post my Twinks (Twitter links) more often...

LinkedIn Groups Now Offer RSS Feeds & Job Info.

Posted on March 20, 2009
LinkedIn has added a feature allowing Group managers to add feeds for their Group members to read. I haven't tested it out, but it sounds like a good idea. Also, there is a new "Jobs" tab for Groups (I have enabled this for the Law Librarians Group)...

Mario Day

Posted on March 09, 2009
Once again, March 10th is here and with it brings my wish for you (whether or not you are a Mario) to have a very happy Mario Day! For those of you new to Mario Day, here's a refresher:Mario Day, March 10, 2005I'm Sorry Marios, March 10, 2008Mario Day Redux, March 11, 2008Fans of Mario Day will be happy to know you can now join Mario Day Fans on Facebook and celebrate Mario Day as a Facebook event...

DC Court Dockets Online

Posted on February 27, 2009

CRS Reports

Posted on February 12, 2009
If you search this blog, you'll find at least 7 posts about Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and where to find them for free on the Web. Well, here's one more. I need to thank my friend Monica for pointing out this Washington Post article about wikileaks...

Current US Federal Court Rules Now Available

Posted on February 03, 2009
The current (December 1, 2008) US federal court rules are now available online. You'll find:Federal Rules of Appellate ProcedureFederal Rules of Civil ProcedureFederal Rules of Criminal ProcedureFederal Rules of EvidenceThey are avaialble at the House Judiciary Committee's Procedural Documents page and at GPO's House Committee on the Judiciary: Committee Prints page.

Groundhog Day

Posted on February 02, 2009
If he sees his shadow - six more weeks of winter.If he doesn't see his shadow - early spring.Here's more from the Washington Post.Here's more from the Official Site of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.Update: He saw his shadow this morning.

New White House Blog and New WhiteHouse.gov

Posted on January 20, 2009
With a new U.S. president comes a new WhiteHouse.gov and a new blog. You can read more about the new site at the blog post, "Change has come to WhiteHouse.gov" and grab the new blog feed here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/feed/blog/

PACER Now Has RSS Feed

Posted on January 16, 2009
The PACER Service Center now provides RSS feed. According to the site, "The PACER RSS feed contains information such as upgrades to local courts CM/ECF software and PACER announcements." You can grab that feed here: http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/pacerrss...

1809-2009 Some Great Beginnings....

Posted on January 12, 2009
The upcoming (extended) weekend is a pretty exciting one in the U.S. On Monday we will commemorate Martin Luther King Day with celebrations all over the country. Of course, Tuesday is the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. There are loads of activities around DC for the inauguration, including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian's Out of Many: A Multicultural Festival of Music, Dance, and Story...

New Year, New Blog

Posted on January 02, 2009
Former Virginia Governor, and Richmond City Mayor, Doug Wilder has started a new blog. It is called WilderVisions. Wilder says it "will cover a variety of both local and national topics."You can sign up for the RSS feed here: http://wildervisions.blogspot...

2008 Supplement to the Analysis and Interpretation of the Constitution

Posted on December 07, 2008
You can check out the 2008 supplement to the 2002 edition of The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation at GPO. The 2008 supplement contains the analysis of cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court to June 26, 2008.GPO has a lot of interesting current documents online...

New Financial Crisis Page on FindLaw

Posted on December 04, 2008
WestBlog announces that FindLaw has a new Financial Crisis page. The page includes news, documents, agency profiles, and more.

ALR Returns to LexisNexis

Posted on December 04, 2008
Last year I noted that the American Law Reports were leaving Lexis. Now Bonnie at WisBlawg informs us that their back. You can learn more by checking out the LexisNexis Source Information.

US Federal Court Rules Changes

Posted on December 03, 2008
The following U.S. federal court rules changed on December 1, 2008:Bankruptcy Rules 1005, 1006, 1007, 1009, 1010, 1011, 1015, 1017, 1019, 1020, 2002, 2003, 2007.1, 2015, 3002, 3003, 3016, 3017.1, 3019, 4002, 4003, 4004, 4006, 4007, 4008, 5001, 5003, 6004, 7012, 7022, 7023...

Blawg Republic?

Posted on December 03, 2008
After months of being down, the Blawg Republic has resurfaced. I'm not sure what happened, and I can't say that it's new and improved. But it's back. So, there you have it. I think I'll e-mail them....

2008 Plum Book Online - 7,000+ Job Openings

Posted on November 18, 2008
The Plum Book, also known as the United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions, is published every 4 years (shortly after each Presidential election). The latest Plum Book is now available online from GPO as a single PDF (1.26MB) or broken into separate sections...

Take a Survey About the "Legal Recession"

Posted on November 18, 2008
The ABA Journal would like law students, judges, and attorneys to take a 2-minute survey regarding the job market and the current state of the economy. Survey results will be published in the January ABA Journal.

Free Donuts & Ice Cream on Election Day

Posted on November 04, 2008
Get out and vote today and then celebrate with free star-shaped donuts from Krispy Kreme and a free scoop of ice cream from Ben & Jerry's. WTOP has a list of those and a few more freebies.

Cricket Anyone?

Posted on October 13, 2008
If you've read this blog for a while, you know I love gross things...and dead things. Here's a way to get both! Michaelle at Adventurous Women Blog is giving away "Salt N' Vinegar" (my favorite flavor) edible crickets. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on her Edible Cricket post...

CRS Reports on the U.S. Congress

Posted on October 12, 2008
You can find a nice selection of Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports related to the U.S. Congress housed on the House Committee on Rules' Web site. The free, online reports are listed under the following categories:Congress: The HouseIntroduction & Origin of Legislative Measures House Committees Congress: The Senate Relations With The Senate Presidential Relations House Floor Proceedings Special Rules and the Rules Committee Budget ProcessLooking for CRS Reports on a Different Topic?Don't forget, Open CRS is a great place to start when looking for CRS reports on a wide variety of topics...

Yearbook of the United Nations Online for 1946-2005

Posted on October 09, 2008
The University of Michigan Documents Center points out that you can now obtain free access to the Yearbook of the United Nations for 1946 - 2005. You can browse or search the online versions.

Rumsey Historical Maps Integrated Into Google Maps

Posted on October 01, 2008
Elisabeth Grant at the American Historical Association's AHA Today points out that there is a Google Earth/David Rumsey Historical Map Collection mashup. The mashup puts the historical map on top of the current Google map.For example, you can see what Washington, DC looked like in 1851 on top of Washington, DC today...

Georgetown Law Library Links

Posted on September 29, 2008
I hadn't looked at the Georgetown Law Library site in quite a while. I just checked it out and found lots of pages well worth a look. Here are a few:Tutorials covering a range of basic legal research topics Legal research definitions Research guides for U...

U.S. Courts Web Site Now Has RSS Feeds

Posted on September 27, 2008
Hip, hip, hooray! Now I can delete the page2rss feeds I've been using for them. Here are the feeds the U.S. Courts site is offering:NewsroomVideo News ArchiveThe Third Branch: Newsletter of the Federal CourtsFederal RulemakingHurricane Season 2008: Court Status Updates Here's the feed page: http://www...

Compilations of U.S. Laws

Posted on September 27, 2008
If you're looking for compilations of U.S. laws, you can find two nice, linked lists at the Library of Congress's Web site. Check out:Compilations and Other Law-Related Congressional Committee Prints andCompilations in the Law Library Reading RoomYou can also browse GPO's Congressional Committee Prints currently available in electronic format for the 110th Congress which (as of the time of this post) includes three law compilations...

LinkedIn Groups Now Have Discussions

Posted on August 30, 2008
Now anyone in the Law Librarians Group at LinkedIn can start and engage in a discussion. I did a little test and I think it looks pretty cool.

Sessions of Congress

Posted on August 28, 2008
If you have to work with U.S. congressional materials, you probably find yourself having to convert congressional sessions into years. That's fine if you're dealing with the past 20 years, but beyond that, you may have to start staring at the ceiling to do the math...

Unbelievable List of UK Government Feeds

Posted on August 26, 2008
Scott Vine at InformationOverlord has created quite an amazing list of "UK Central government departments, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies with rss feeds." I'm excited.

Feed of the Week - CIA

Posted on August 25, 2008
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has several good feeds. You can grab feeds for:CIA LibraryWhat's New on CIA.govCIA Press Releases & Statements CIA Featured Story CIA CareersCIA Speeches and Testimony CIA.gov Kids' Page Updates From the What's New on CIA...

It's Time to Take Another Look at LII's U.S. Code Collection

Posted on August 25, 2008
I recently took a new look at Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute's (LII's) U.S. Code Collection and I have to say, I'm very impressed. You may have heard that they now have RSS feeds to alert you to recent changes to the U.S. Code...

404 Alert - U.S. Federal Court Rules

Posted on August 19, 2008
The House Judiciary Committee has a revised Web site. Unfortunately, it appears that they have removed the U.S. federal court rules in the process. So, if you link to them, you are now providing 404 errors to your visitors (like those you see when you click on these rules links)...

It's the Economy, Stupid

Posted on August 13, 2008
Or so it seems. And if all this talk of economic woes has you worried, you might want to read what the blogs are saying. A nice way to find those blogs is via economist Aaron Schiff's Economics Blog Directory & Ranking. As of the time of this post, he lists 268 economics blogs in Technorati rank order...

Digital Page Turners

Posted on August 11, 2008
If you love the availability of digital collections, but miss the comfort of being able to turn pages, fear not. The University of Minnesota Libraries allows you to do both. You can see what I mean by clicking on the "Next Page" of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...

Official Olympic Reports

Posted on August 05, 2008
You can access digital copies of Official Reports of Olympic Games and Olympic Winter Games going back to 1896 at the LA84 Foundation's Web site. You can even search the reports, along with many other sports/Olympic-related materials, including oral histories...

Newfoundland Links & Tips

Posted on August 02, 2008
I recently returned from a 2 week trip to Newfoundland. It would have been great if I?d found one small page on the Web that had all the information I needed, but, alas, there was no such page. So, I?ve decided to share what I found while preparing for the trip...

Law Librarian Survey 2008

Posted on August 01, 2008
This new survey focuses on the role law firm librarians play in competitive intelligence. You'll also find some interesting information regarding negotiating vendor contracts. The part that really surprised me is that only 18% of those polled say they manage their firm's intranet...

Photos of Beijing, China

Posted on July 31, 2008
In honor of the 2008 Olympics (beginning in just a few days - 08/08/08), my sister has put a slideshow of pictures from our October, 2006 trip to Beijing on the right side of her Adventurous Women Blog.Because she was busy training (and her camera was having issues) and because I was wandering around by myself, about 95% of those pictures were taken by yours truly (she says 90%...

Criminal History Check with Free, Detailed Results

Posted on July 29, 2008
'Sounds implausible, right? I thought so too. So did Paul M. Bush over at Legal Dockets Online (he blogged about this yesterday). The truth is that CriminalSearches is providing just that. I tested it out and the results look good. However, there doesn't appear to be any contact (though you can fill out an e-mail form to inquire about partnering with them) or "About" information on this site...

The Virtual Chase to Close Shop

Posted on July 28, 2008
I just returned from vacation and was very shocked (and more than just a little dismayed) to find out that Genie Tyburski will be closing down The Virtual Chase. The (faint) silver lining is that it looks like she will continue to post for several more months...

Overview of the Development of U.S. Congressional Committees

Posted on July 09, 2008
An Overview of the Development of U.S. Congressional Committees has been significantly revised (originally featured in two parts in Law Library Lights back in 2004) and just added to LLSDC's Legislative Source Book.This 21 (PDF) page document was written by Michael Welsh, Senior Legislative Librarian at Pillsbury LLP with assistance from Ellen Sweet, Legislative Reference Specialist, Tax Division, U...

LinkedIn Groups Searchable This Friday!

Posted on July 08, 2008
Finally, the "groups" at LinkedIn will be searchable. For far too long, there has been a message on LinkedIn that says,"The groups directory is not currently open. We are working on creating a searchable directory for all groups. If there are groups you wish to join, you may click on the group logo from the profile of a group member and request to join...

Foreign Exchange Rates

Posted on June 12, 2008
I was just checking foreign exchange rates and noticed that none of the converters show the same rate. I checked the Euro versus the U.S. Dollar at xe.com, Yahoo! Finance, CNNMoney, and Oanda.I finally went to the daily foreign exchange rates online from the U...

Feed of the Week: Adventurous Women Blog

Posted on June 08, 2008
Finally, someone in my family has joined me on the blogosphere. I thought this day would never come, but it has...in the form of adventure. My sister, Michaelle, has started the Adventurous Women Blog. In her own words,"This blog is for those of us with even a little bit of adventure in our souls...

Join the Law Librarians Group!

Posted on June 02, 2008
I have just set up a Law Librarians group at LinkedIn. If you are a law librarian with a LinkedIn profile, all you have to do is click on this link to join. You'll also get this nifty logo on your profile. It's just another chance to network with your peers.

Feed of the Week: FriendFeed

Posted on June 01, 2008
So many of us are all over the Internet these days. We're using Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, StumbleUpon, Flickr, LinkedIn, LibraryThing, mag.nolia, Digg, last.fm, and the list goes on. How can you keep track of it all? FriendFeed is one good possibility...

Law Libraries and Librarians Social Network

Posted on May 29, 2008
In case you haven't heard (but it looks like an awful lot of you have), Jim Milles is at it again. He has set up a new social network site for Law Libraries and Librarians on Ning. If you don't yet have a Web presence, now's your chance. You can post questions, comments, or even photos...

Law Library Stuff?

Posted on May 29, 2008
He's been hinting for a while now, but in Steven Cohen's latest post, he more than hinted that there is a big change afoot for his Library Stuff blog. He wrote:"I?m in a similar boat for my blog. I need to move on too. Starting tomorrow, the main content for LS will be different...

Feed of the Week: Editor & Publisher Breaking News

Posted on May 12, 2008
Do you want to keep track of what's happening in the North American newspaper industry? If you do, you should check out Editor & Publisher. They've been around since 1884 (when John and Mary were most popular), but they've done a good job keeping up with the times...

Check Out How Popular Your Name is in the U.S.

Posted on May 12, 2008
The Social Security Administration just released its Top 10 Popular Baby Names for 2007. Emily and Jacob are in 1st place. Sadly, Abigail is still in the top 10. My full name isn't Abigail, but since all of those Abigails are called Abby (or Abbie or Abbi or Abbey or...

2008 Top Doctors

Posted on May 10, 2008
For years I, like many people in the DC area, have relied on Washingtonian Magazine's "Top Docs" issue to find doctors in the Washington, DC area. I always used outdated versions that were available for free on the Web. The top doctors don't really change all that much from year-to-year...

2008 AmLaw 100 Now Available Online - for Free!

Posted on April 30, 2008
You can register for free and access the just-released 2008 AmLaw 100. In case you don't know, this provides articles and charts about the 100 top-grossing law firms in the United States. The charts available cover:Profitability IndexGross RevenueRevenue Per LawyerValue Per LawyerRank Comparisons for 1998 & 2007

New Sentencing Guidelines Manual Supplement

Posted on April 29, 2008
The new supplement to the current 2007 Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual is now available and becomes effective May 1, 2008.

Free Ice Cream Tuesday & 31 Cent Scoops Wednesday

Posted on April 28, 2008
It's nice to know some things never change. Ben & Jerry's is continuing its annual Free Cone Day celebration on Tuesday, April 29th. It's not just happening in the U.S. & Canada either. You can also get free cones in:The United KingdomFrancePortugalSwedenIrelandjust to name a few...

Feed of the Week: BuzzTracker

Posted on April 26, 2008
BuzzTracker (which was sold to Yahoo! late last year) aggregates the most popular news stories on over 1,000 topics and monitors 90,000 blogs to see who is talking about them. The site is currently in Beta and has a lot more to offer than just the feed...

Wanna Win a Bluebook?

Posted on April 25, 2008
Et Seq. points out that you might win a print copy of the 19th edition of the The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, plus a one year subscription to the online version, by helping out the Bluebook editors. To have a crack at being one of the lucky 10 (OK, couldn't they make it at least 20?) all you have to do is take their survey by June 30th, 2008...

Feed of the Week: New Urban Legends

Posted on April 21, 2008
I realize this is a bit late. I'm also not really sure which week this is covering, but hey, better late than never. Right? Right!The New Urban Legends feed is basically the "What's New" feed for Snopes.com. Snopes is the site that answers the question, "Is this for real?" So, if you get one of those multi-forwarded e-mail messages that sounds a little odd, scary, or unbelievable, you can check it out at Snopes...

National Library Week: Another Freebie

Posted on April 14, 2008
Paul Bush of the Legal Dockets Online Blog is providing a login and password for everyone to access Legal Dockets Online for free until April 20, 2008. He's doing this in honor of National Library Week. The best part is that you don't have to fill out any forms or provide any information about yourself...

Free for National Library Week 2008

Posted on April 11, 2008
Next week (April 13 - 19) is National Library Week (NLW). In years past, that has always meant freebies. This year appears to be no exception. Running a quick search, here's what I found (Granted, some of these aren't really related to NLW, but the timing's good!):Ovid's Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals - This is actually free for the entire month of April...

Feed of the Week: AbsTracked Twinks

Posted on April 11, 2008
Yes, I finally succumbed to the land of Twitter. However, I'm not "tweeting" about my every life experience. I'm never going to understand that concept, I'm afraid. Actually, I'm not afraid. I'm really, really glad that doesn't make sense to me. If it ever does make sense to me, I hope one of my friends or relatives will seize my computers and dislocate my FiOS...

Legal Definitions 101: Ab Initio

Posted on April 10, 2008
The blogosphere takes itself far too seriously, so here is MiniMulvi to provide you with the legal definition for ab initio.MiniMulvi has expressed an interest in occasionally providing additional legal definitions on AbsTracked. This should prove interesting as MiniMulvi continues to lose front teeth.

2008 U.S. Manual for Courts-Martial

Posted on April 07, 2008
The 2008 edition of the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (928 PDF pages) is now available via the Web site of the Federal Research Division (FRD) of the Library of Congress. The FRD site is sponsored and funded by the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Legal Center & School (TJAGLCS) Library (--TJAGLCS need to update their Web site security certificate--) and has been updated with 54 new documents.

Feed of the Week

Posted on April 05, 2008
At some point 3-4 years ago, I stumbled across a pre-defined Daily Rotation feed. Not knowing what the heck it was, I naturally subscribed to it. It has always been one of my favorites. It's a science/tech feed that produces such fabulous headlines as:Microsoft Windows XP Dies June 30, as PlannedApple Attacks the Big Apple Why the Demise of Civilisation May be Inevitable Eyedrops that Probe the Brain'Alien-' Type Viruses to Treat Staph Infections Chicago Beats Ice with Beet Juice It's a heck of a lot easier than trying to set up your own Daily Rotation feed...

Follow U.S. House & Senate Floor Action on Twitter

Posted on April 03, 2008
Thanks to Jim Milles for pointing out that you can now follow floor proceedings of the U.S. House of Representatives and Roll Call votes of the U.S. Senate on Twitter. Who knew? Well, other than Jim, apparently the 164 Twitterers who are currently following SenateFloor and the 247 following HouseFloor...

Top Law Schools for 2008

Posted on April 01, 2008
You can check out U.S. News & World Report's 2008 Best Law Schools here.

Geeky Fools

Posted on April 01, 2008
Since it's April Fool's day, I thought I'd provide you with a link to Lifehacker's Top 10 Harmless Geek Pranks.Oh, and if you like upside down text, check out Flip from David Faden.

1926-1991 Bluebooks Online in PDF Format!

Posted on March 17, 2008
I think this is great! You can view the 1st - 15th editions at Et Seq. (Harvard Law School Library Blog) here.

Ultimate Irish Traditional Music Reference Book

Posted on March 16, 2008
Anyone who is familiar with Irish traditional music, knows that O'Neill's Music of Ireland is a "must have." The book of 1,850 tunes was originally published in 1903 by Captain Francis "Frank" O'Neill with the assistance of a group of trad musicians he gathered together as members of the Chicago/Irish Music Club...

Feed of the Week

Posted on March 15, 2008
The Consumerist is this weeks featured feed. Their tag line is "Shoppers Bite Back." The Consumerist is published by Gawker Media who also brought you (among other things) Wonkette and Lifehacker.To put it in the words of The Consumerist editors, they're "biased towards the consumer and favor bad company stories over happy customer tales...

Dancing In and Out of the Jungle

Posted on March 13, 2008
Jim Milles who blogs at Out of the Jungle (OOTJ), Buffalo Wings and Toasted Ravioli, and with me over at law.librarians, invited me to post at OOTJ. I felt quite honored and a little intimidated since I felt like I had to be on my best behavior.I just published out my first OOTJ post...

Resources for Legal Self-Help Programs & Self-Represented Litigants

Posted on March 12, 2008
Selfhelpsupport.org is a site that serves as a network for practitioners of self-help programs. Membership is free and allows access to their Library, Newsletter, Network of Pro Se Practitioners, 3 e-mail groups, and training resources.While it is not geared toward self-represented litigants, themselves, it does offer a list of resources (which includes LawHelp...

Rules for Judicial-Conduct and Judicial-Disability Proceedings Approved

Posted on March 12, 2008
In January I mentioned that the Draft Rules for Judicial-Conduct and Judicial-Disability Proceedings would be considered by the Judicial Conference of the United States on March 11, 2008. The rules were approved and will become effective 30 days after promulgation (April 10)...

Your Online Reputation

Posted on March 11, 2008
There are two great articles (hot off the virtual presses) that deal with building a quality online reputation:"Who Do You Think You Are?" by Stem Legal principal/founder, and Vancouver Law Librarian Blog author, Steve Matthews. It focuses specifically on attorneys' online reputations and lawyer branding...

Mario Day Redux

Posted on March 11, 2008
It has come to my attention that the South Florida Sun-Sentinel believes that Mario Day is a day to honor Super Mario. This is blatant commercialization of Chicago Mario's day ; ). Let's set the record straight. Chicago Mario claimed this day. End of story.

I'm Sorry Marios

Posted on March 10, 2008
I'm sorry for two reasons:Not getting my Mario Day post up this morning.The reason I didn't get my Mario Day post up this morning.This is what I had planned on posting this morning:"I first wrote about Mario Day in 2005. I stopped posting for most of 2006 and half of 2007, but did manage to sneak in a mention of Mario Day on July 10, 2007...

Feed of the Week: DVICE

Posted on March 08, 2008
When I first started AbsTracked, I used to have a Feed Link Of The Day. And I gave it the fabulous acronym of FLOTD. Brilliant. Later, it became Feed Link Of the Week. At least FLOW was a better acronym.Well, I've decided to go back to featuring a feed each week...

Proposed Revisions to the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges

Posted on March 07, 2008
The Committee on Codes of Conduct of the Judicial Conference of the United States is taking public comments (which must be received by April 14, 2008) on proposed revisions to the Code of Conduct for United States Judges.For more information, see today's U...

Why DC Area Residents Need to Go Out to Dinner on March 6th

Posted on March 05, 2008
If you live in the Washington, DC area, you should go out to dinner tomorrow night. Why? Because you deserve it, darn it! And so do others. Thanks to the efforts of Food & Friends:"On Thursday, March 6th, 150 restaurants in the Washington metropolitan region will join together to raise awareness and funds for men, women and children facing HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-challenging illnesses...

Feature-by-Feature Comparison of Office Live Workspace & Google Docs

Posted on March 04, 2008
Microsoft's Office Live Workspace is now available to the public in Beta. ReadWriteWeb has a feature-by-feature comparison of Office Live Workspace and Google Docs.

LII Introduces Two New Blogs

Posted on March 03, 2008
Thomas R. Bruce, the co-founder and director of the Legal Information Institute (LII) at the Cornell Law School, has a new blog that is currently ? nameless for now ?. He promises a copy of The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions (Paperback), edited by Kermit L...

Irish-American Heritage Month, 2008

Posted on March 01, 2008
President Bush proclaimed March 2008 Irish-American Heritage Month.The Library of Congress has an interesting site devoted to Irish immigrants in the U.S. The site includes a timeline, a flash-animated map showing the pattern of Irish immigration in the U...

Do You Want to Be a Diplomat?

Posted on February 28, 2008
If you do, you may be interested in U.S. Diplomacy's list of Useful Websites. If you're looking for something to read during your commute, check out the U.S. Department of State's Foreign Service Officer's Suggested Reading List.

Encyclopedia of Life Lives!

Posted on February 28, 2008
After crashing and burning on Tuesday (due to receiving 11.5 million hits in 5.5 hours), when it was unveiled to the public, the collaborative Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) appears to be alive and well. And well on its way to documenting all species of life on Earth...

FY 2007 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics

Posted on February 27, 2008
You can now access the 12th ed. (fiscal year 2007: October 1, 2006 - September 30, 2007) of the United States Sentencing Commission?s Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics as well as the Commission's FY 2007 Annual Report.

Help Examine Lost JFK Files

Posted on February 23, 2008
The Dallas Morning News is asking for your help in reviewing recently found documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The documents, which consist of transcripts, personal and official letters, newspaper clippings, lists of jurors, police reports, rap sheets, autopsy reports, trial notes, police notebooks, photographs, and more, were found in a vault in Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins's office...

The Truth About Visiting DC

Posted on February 22, 2008
It's Friday evening and I refuse to do anything worthwhile. So, I thought I'd comment on Fodor's 25 Things We Love to Do in Washington, D.C. After all, I will have lived here for 20 years this July (I think I'll pretend that was a typo.).If you want links or useful information on these places, you can check out Fodor's article...

Ask BILL!

Posted on February 20, 2008
Ask BILL! - The Best Internet Law Library is a great site for online legal resources. It is produced by the Library of the U.S. Courts of the Seventh Circuit.What's really amazing is how current it is. We've only just recently been hearing about bulk...

Beijing Sculpture A.K.A. AbAtar

Posted on February 20, 2008
OK, a few people have asked what the heck my avatar is over at law.librarians. Since it is a little small over there, I thought I'd try posting a bigger version of the full photo. The photograph is of a sculpture in a Beijing park (I took the photo 10/2006)...

Law Library of Congress - New RSS Feeds

Posted on February 16, 2008
ResourceShelf reports that the Law Library of Congress has new RSS feeds. You can grab feeds for:News & Events Research Reports Webcasts Global Legal Monitor

DC Court of Appeals - New Rule 49

Posted on February 14, 2008
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals Rule 49 (Unauthorized Practice of Law) was amended and became effective yesterday. Since I think they're a little challenging to find, I thought I'd link to the two versions on the Court's site:Compare Version (additions are underlined, deletions are lined-through)Clean Version of Rule 49 as Amended

A Chance to Win a $10,000 Scholarship by Submitting a Google Doodle

Posted on February 13, 2008
Google announced the launch of "Doodle 4 Google" today. Kids in participating K-12 schools are invited to submit a Google doodle inspired by the question, "What if...?" The winning doodle (logo) will be displayed on Google May 22, 2008 and the doodler will win a $10,000 college scholarship plus a $25,000 technology grant for their school...

Free U.S. Federal Cases Online

Posted on February 12, 2008
Thanks to lo-fi librarian for mentioning that the long-awaited U.S. federal cases are beginning to appear at public.resources.org. You can now access:Federal Reporter 2d (F. 2d)Federal Reporter 3d (F. 3d)U.S. ReportsThe collection is located here.

Ask a U.S. Government Information Librarian

Posted on February 12, 2008
GPO is announcing the Ask a Librarian service at Government Information Online under their "What's New" section, however, the service has been around since 2004. Free Government Information (FGI) (here's the blog feed) has more about the service's evolution here...

law.librarians

Posted on February 06, 2008
lo-fi librarian has started a fun blogging experiment with many law librarian bloggers. You can check it out at http://lawlibrarians.wordpress.com/. For more information, see lo-fi's post here.Oh, and here's the feed: http://lawlibrarians.wordpress.com/feed/

Free, Recycled PACER Docs

Posted on February 06, 2008
Bonnie Shucha of WisBlawg has a great post about Public.Resource.org's PACER recycling page. You can upload your old PACER court documents so others can get them for free. You can access the recycled documents at bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/pacer.

Official U.S. Federal Court Rules Now on House Judiciary Site

Posted on February 05, 2008
The House Judiciary Committee has finally posted the current (December 1, 2007), official U.S. federal court rules on their site. Here are the links:Federal Rules of EvidenceFederal Rules of Criminal ProcedureFederal Rules of Civil ProcedureFederal Rules of Appellate ProcedureRelated AbsTracked posts:U...

FY 2009 U.S. Budget - Mapped by State

Posted on February 05, 2008
The Budget of the U.S. Government for Fiscal Year 2009 is now available online. You can view the state-by-state budget information here.

NYCRR (& More) Available On Web

Posted on February 05, 2008
Last September I mentioned that a link to the complete, unofficial copy of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (NYCRR) would soon be posted on the New York Department of State Website and now it is, at http://www.dos.state.ny.us/info/nycrr.htm. Thanks to Steven Cohen at Library Stuff for pointing this out...

Crime Reports for Your Neighborhood

Posted on February 02, 2008
CrimeReports.com is working with law enforcement agencies to let citizens know where and what kind of crimes are occurring in their neighborhoods. You can enter any part of your address to get a map with current crime report details. By clicking on "Crime Types/Sex Offenders" you can search which crimes you want to see listed (including "Show All")...

Finding Cheap Airfare Online

Posted on February 01, 2008
There's little that thrills me more than finding great travel deals. Over the years I've become quite good at it. However, I'm always on the look-out for something I've missed. For example, Scott over at InformationOverlord had a post not long ago that mentioned the flight search engine Momondo...

New Draft Rules for Judicial Conduct & Disability

Posted on January 31, 2008
The U.S. Courts Web site has posted the 1/23/08 Draft Rules for Judicial-Conduct and Judicial-Disability Proceedings. The Rules now await consideration by the Judicial Conference on March 11, 2008.

Online Directory of History Departments and Organizations

Posted on January 31, 2008
The American Historical Association has an Online Directory of History Departments and Organizations in the United States and Canada. You can search or browse to find the contact information and Web sites for 848 college and university history departments and historical organizations.

Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act

Posted on January 29, 2008
Nicholas G. Karambelas, a partner at Sfikas & Karambelas LLP has written an interesting feature on RULLCA for the February 2008 edition of Washington Lawyer.You can access a copy of the the Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act (RULLCA) via the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) here.

Free Online Teleprompter - No Downloading

Posted on January 27, 2008
eHub always has great posts, but I especially liked Matthew Murphy's mention of CuePrompter. This site turns your browser into a teleprompter.All you have to do is write or paste your text into the box and press "Start Prompter." You can choose the speed at which your text scrolls...

Where's George? Where's Willy?

Posted on January 22, 2008
Have you ever wondered where your dollar came from or where it's going? I hadn't until I received a $20 with a wheresgeorge.com stamp on it. That was the first I'd ever heard of this bill-tracking (that's dollar bill-tracking) service. It turns out that my $20 came from North Carolina 250 days ago...

In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted on January 21, 2008
Today marks the Martin Luther King, Jr., U.S. Federal Holiday. In honor of Dr. King, a truly amazing human being, I thought I'd provide a few useful links to information about and by him. The following are from Stanford University's The Martin Luther King, Jr...

Newly Revised Online Legislative Source Book

Posted on January 17, 2008
I'm very happy to see that the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C. (LLSDC) has updated almost all parts of the Legislative Source Book. It is a tremendous, easy-access resource. The principal editor, Rick McKinney is the Assistant Law Librarian at the Federal Reserve Board Law Library and definitely knows his legislative research...

National Zoo Ringtones!

Posted on January 17, 2008
For $2.99, you can now download a ringtone of your favorite Zoo animal. You can download the voices of famous pandas, Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and baby Tai Shan as well as a wide variety of other Zoo and wild animals. The Zoo says they receive 40% of the proceeds from purchases of Zoo animal sounds and 25% for sounds from the wild...

Web 2.0: Add Tags to LC Photo Collections

Posted on January 16, 2008
The Library of Congress (LC) has posted some photos with "no known copyright restrictions" on Flickr and is asking you to help describe them. On LC's Flickr account, The Commons, it says,"The best way to get involved is to contribute some tags to the photos provided by the Library of Congress account! If we can show that this is a useful, productive endeavor, we can expand the program to include all sorts of collections!"For more information, read Matt Raymond's post, My Friend Flickr: A Match Made in Photo Heaven.

2008 Index of Economic Freedom Released

Posted on January 15, 2008
The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation released the 2008 Index of Economic Freedom today. The Top 10 countries ranked as having the greatest economic freedom are:Hong KongSingaporeIrelandAustraliaU.S.New ZealandCanadaChile SwitzerlandU.K...

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Gravesites

Posted on January 14, 2008
Anyone who read AbsTracked back in 2005, knows that I am plagued with a love of the morbid. However, I have managed to blog for several months now with only one mention of dead bodies. So, I think it's time for another.Today, Mary Persyn at The Valpo Law Blog mentioned that you can get a nice (Google) map to U...

LexisNexis Digital Congressional Record & Freebies on the Web

Posted on January 10, 2008
LexisNexis announced that they will be adding the following U.S. congressional debate volumes to their Congressional Digital Collection:Annals of Congress (1789-1824)Currently available for free on the Web here Register of Debates (1824-1837)Currently available for free on the Web hereCongressional Globe (1833-1873)Currently available for free on the Web hereCongressional Record (1873-to date)Currently 1873-1875 for free on the Web here, and 1989-present for free on the Web here (you can also access the Congressional Record for free at GPO, but it only goes back to 1994)What Lexis is doing is unique because right now there is no one place to access and search all of these online at once...

Links: Identity Theft and Other Financial Crimes

Posted on January 10, 2008
PInow.com has a useful list of links in yesterday's post entitled, Top 10 Resources Every Victim of Identity Fraud Should Have. That list goes along nicely with USA.gov's updated list of Financial Crimes and Scams U.S. government links.

Library of Congress's Digital Future 2008-2013

Posted on January 10, 2008
The Library of Congress's Office of Strategic Initiatives (OSI) has just issued a Strategic Plan for 2008-2013 (PDF)."The plan is intended as a living document that will guide OSI as it develops programs, plans and strategies for the Library of Congress's digital future...

Time's 50 Best Web Sites

Posted on January 08, 2008
Thanks to Quick Online Tips for pointing out that Time has put out a 50 Best Websites 2007. You'll find the complete list here.

Cool Health Tools

Posted on January 08, 2008
MayoClinic.com has some great online health tools. They have a very good Symptom Checker (one for adults and one for kids), an A-Z list of Diseases & Conditions, and a First Aid Guide to help with medical emergencies (I'm not sure I'd be calm enough to browse through through that one...

History of U.S. Presidential Primaries 1912-2004

Posted on January 03, 2008
Bob Benenson, CQ Politics Editor, has written an 8 part series entitled, "A History of U.S. Presidential Primaries." The parts are divided as follows:Part One: 1912-64Part Two: 1968-72Part Three: 1976-84Part Four: 1988Part Five: 1992Part Six: 1996Part Seven: 2000Part Eight: 2004

Improved SOPR Search for Lobbyist Filings

Posted on January 03, 2008
Bill Lowrance of the Private Investigators Association of Virginia blog mentioned, today, that the U.S. Senate Office of Public Records has made improvements for finding Lobbying Disclosure Act filings. It looks like the changes were made on January 1, 2008...

TV Converter Box (Analog to Digital) Coupon Program

Posted on January 03, 2008
Thanks to my brother, Steve (who doesn't have a blog to which I can link ... that I know of .... Steve?) for being the first to point out dtv2009.gov to me. It's a U.S. government site that provides information on what consumers need to know about the event that will take place on midnight, February 17, 2009...

Google's New Year's Doodle

Posted on January 01, 2008
Did you happen to notice Google's 2008 New Year's doodle (I think it should show up here after today)? If you clicked on it, you saw that it was not only for the new year, but also for the invention of TCP/IP.Did you also notice what was written in confetti underneath? It says "Syn Syn Ack Ack...

Top 100 Alternative Search Engines of the Year

Posted on January 01, 2008
Charles Knight at AltSearchEngines.com has listed the Top 100 Alternative Search Engines of 2007 as downloadable lists in PDF or Excel (scroll down the page for the full lists). You can also download the lists of the 227 that appeared in his monthly Top 100 during the past year...

Law Librarian Blogs Tie for "Best Legal Blog Category"

Posted on December 31, 2007
It's terrific to see attorneys recognize the value of law librarians. You can witness it first-hand at Dennis Kennedy's blog. Law Librarian Blogs tied with Non-US Legal Blogs and Solo Lawyer Blogs for "Best Legal Blog Category" in his 2007 Blawggies. More importantly, Kennedy says, "I have to be one of the biggest fans of law librarian blogs there is...

Law School Musical

Posted on December 30, 2007
WTOP has an article about University of Maryland law school student, Owen Jarvis, who made a video called Law School Musical. Here's the article. Here's the video on YouTube.

Auld Lang Syne Karaoke

Posted on December 30, 2007
It's hard to want to write about legal and law library stuff this time of year. So, let's turn to the obvious alternative. Karaoke.I checked out 4 online Auld Lang Syne karaoke tracks, but I think the one below is the best. One had a lot of bizarrely translated words, another had a ball that was never bouncing on the right word, and the third had to be downloaded to your PC...

Learn to Draft, Change, & Challenge a Legal Will

Posted on December 29, 2007
Charles W. Bryant at HowStuffWorks has written How Wills Work. Bryant says the article will teach you "how to draft, change and challenge a legal will." He also provides examples of Famous and Outrageous Wills. Bryant's sources are listed at the bottom of this page.

Find & Share Public Records Databases on the Web

Posted on December 29, 2007
PublicRecordsWire is an open access system for adding and sharing free and fee-based online public records databases. You can add information linking to databases, conduct searches, browse tags and categories, and check out what's new and popular.The site is currently in Beta and seems a little bit buggy...

Streaming Audio & Video from Times Square

Posted on December 27, 2007
Maybe that title should say, "Screaming Audio...." Anyway, if you want to watch NYC usher in the New Year, you can do so online from multiple camera angles at earthcam.com. Here's what it looks like now (the calm before the storm). You have 16 camera angles from which to choose...