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Public Library Resources

Public libraries provide access to non-legal databases that can be useful to attorneys. Highlighted below are some of those we suggest when searching for information that may be tangential to the law. You can search them from your desk using your county public library card number to log-in. These Gale/Cengage Learning resources are located here: http://gowyld.net/dbases.cfm.

• Business and Company Resource Center - brings together company profiles, corporate/sibling relationships, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies and periodicals. Also includes original SEC filings and consumer marketing data.
  
• Criminal Justice Collection - a collection of 150 journals covering homeland security, law enforcement, paralegal and legal work.
• Environmental Studies and Policy - includes almost 200 journals on the subject of environmental issues from multiple viewpoints.
• General Business File ASAP - allows the researcher to analyze company performance and activity, industry events and trends. Includes access to broker research reports, trade publications, newspapers, journals, and company directory listings.
• Insurance and Liability Collection - provides access to articles from leading industry journals.
  
• LegalTrac - use this database to find articles in all major law reviews, law journals, specialty law and bar association journals and legal newspapers. Included are articles on federal and state cases, laws and regulations, legal practice, and taxation. Journal titles such as: American Criminal Law Review, American Journal of Family Law, American Journal of Law and Medicine, Harvard Law Review, and Stanford Law Review.
  
• Small Business Resource Center - learn how to start, finance or manage your small business. Resources include: sample business plans, how-to guides, articles and websites.

Consider the potential of the public library databases for filling in the gaps in your legal, and not so legal, research.

Full post as published by Law Library Letter on March 05, 2010 (boomark / email).