CIA Reading Room, the Scoop on Congressional Travel, and a Network of 47 European Libraries: Tips and Treats from the Moritz Law Library
The following research tips and stories of interest are excerpted from the Moritz Law Library's newsletter for faculty, Opinio Juris summer issues. For more information about other legal research topics, please visit the Library's blog.
CIA Electronic Reading Room
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Electronic Reading Room provides "an overview of access to CIA information, including electronic access to previously released documents." It includes collections in areas such as Vietnam and China, and specific documents such as a report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978
The Library has added Making of the Modern Law's U.S. Supreme Court
Records and Briefs, 1832-1978, to its database collection. The database
contains nearly 11 million digitally scanned pages of records and briefs
brought before the U.S. Supreme Court during the years 1832-1978. Numerous
search options are available, including full-text searching, which make
these records more accessible than ever before. U.S. Supreme Court
Records and Briefs, 1832-1978, can be accessed here.
opensecrets.org: 2008 Presidential Election
The web site opensecrets.org (from the Center for Responsive Politics) has a section of the site dedicated to the 2008 Presidential Election. The candidate profiles on the site contain information about total funds raised and spent, cash on hand, debts, and a breakdown of sources of the funds (such as individual contributions). It also includes week-by-week comparisons, a donor lookup, contributions by industry and other data.
Association of Religion Data Archives
The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) attempts to "democratize access to the best data on religion." Data included in the ARDA are submitted by top religion scholars and research centers. The ARDA is housed in Social Science Research Institute at the Pennsylvania State University and is funded by the Lilly Endowment, the John Templeton Foundation, and the Pennsylvania State University.
New York Times Image Edition
The Library has added the New
York Times Image Edition to its collection. This resource provides
an exact digital reproduction of current and recent print editions of
the Times. All pages, including advertising, photos and graphics,
are included.
Copyright & Fair Use Web Site
The Copyright & Fair Use web site from Stanford University Libraries provides an overview of basic copyright and fair use information, including discussion of issues such as acquiring copyright permission, public domain and academic use of copyrighted materials. The web site also links to relevant primary law, including case law and pending legislation.
Proceedings of the Old Bailey
The "Old Bailey" was London's felony court. The Proceedings of the Old Bailey Online is "[a] fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court." The resource is a searchable, digitized collection of Old Bailey Proceedings from 1675-1834.
Economist Online Style Guide
The Economist has a nice Online
Style Guide. The guide is obviously intended for use by journalists,
but it's helpful for anyone who needs a little assistance avoiding common
solecisms and other writing pitfalls.
Congressional Travel Database
LegisStorm's Congressional Travel Database is intended to make government more transparent by providing information about the specifics of privately financed congressional trips. The database provides details on 27,102 privately financed trips costing $57.1 million taken by members of Congress and their staff since the beginning of 2000. This information was obtained from the disclosure forms members of Congress and their staff are required to file after taking a privately-funded trip.
The European Library
The European
Library is the web project of 47 participating European national libraries.
The website,
available in 20 languages, allows users to search through the resources
of 30 of the 47 national libraries involved in the project. Resources
can be both digital or bibliographical (books, posters, maps, sound recordings,
videos, etc.). Currently The European Library gives access to 150 million
entries across Europe.
Drug Court Clearinghouse
The Drug Court
Clearinghouse Project is a joint project between American University
and the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance. It
is a nationwide clearinghouse for drug court information and activity.
The Clearinghouse maintains a reference collection of drug court-related
documents. Other sections of the web site feature training announcements,
fact sheets, a FAQs section, "Drug Courts in the News," and an interactive
"Drug Court Activity Map." This site provides a good way to locate useful
information about the increasingly popular drug courts.
Law Professor Blogger Census
George Washington University Law School Professor Daniel Solove has updated and posted his 2007 Law Professor Blogger Census. Based upon the census results, there are 307 law professor bloggers.
