Legal Research

New Credit Crisis Victim: Bar Loans

Posted on February 18, 2009
Law.com is reporting that the newest victims of the credit crisis are some law students who seek bar exam study loans.  Criteria for obtaining a bar study loan has apparently tightened, causing more applicants to be denied than in the past.  The WSJ Law Blog has also commented on the article...

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Posted on February 17, 2009
Pres. Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act today. To assist citizens to understand this act a website was created to explain the act and to permit tracking of the money spent. Recovery.gov is a one stop site for this important piece of legislation...

Free Federal Court Docs

Posted on February 15, 2009
There was an article in the New York Times last weekend about public.resource.org, which has taken a large number of federal court documents and made them free and available on the general internet, rather than downloadable for 8 cents per page on Pacer...

Presidents' Day

Posted on February 13, 2009
In honor of Presidents' Day and President Lincoln - this year being President Lincoln's 200th - I will be prowling the Library from 10am-6pm (which coincidentally, is when the Library will be open). For those interested in the Lincoln bicentennial, check out the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library...

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Military Personnel Statistics

Posted on February 12, 2009
Those who are interested in finding the latest numbers for American military personnel on active duty, whether by rank or by region, will find the Department of Defense page for Military Personnel Statistics to be helpful. Just click "personnel" after following the previous link...

Stay Up-to-Date with TicTOCs

Posted on February 11, 2009
If you are have difficulty staying up-to-date with content from your favorite scholarly journals, try ticTOCs. TicTOCs, a table-of-contents aggregator, is a free service which provides the most recent table of contents for more than 11,000 scholarly journals...

Forms from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts

Posted on February 10, 2009
Finding appropriate legal forms is sometimes difficult, so it is a great help that the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has prepared and made available some basic forms for use by practitioners. The forms can be found here. Note that there is a link to Bankruptcy forms on this page...

Kindle 2

Posted on February 09, 2009
Amazon unveiled the Kindle 2 today--a "new and improved" version of its e-reader. The event took place at the Morgan Library and included a guest appearance and reading by Stephen King. I understand from several news sources (for example, here and here) that it was a well attended event...

The Lighthouse in the Bronx

Posted on February 08, 2009
You know when you asked a librarian to help you find law review articles, and they sent you to some database that's not Lexis or Westlaw? That database was probably the Index to Legal Periodicals. It's owned by H.W. Wilson, which has had offices in the Bronx since 1917...

Where Does the Money Go?

Posted on February 07, 2009
Whether for school-related or personal interest, you can now see at a glance which banks have received federal bailout funds--and how much--under TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program approved by Congress. ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit organization that produces investigative journalism in the public interest, has created a user-friendly "Show Me the TARP Money" page, with a map and a running count of where this money has gone...

Check out the Library Webcasts

Posted on February 06, 2009
The Library is now webcasting our research workshops. If you are writing a paper this semester and could not make the Paper Writing Resources workshop (see Tuesday's post), go to Paper Writing Resources webcast on the Library's webcast page. In order to coordinate the audio and visual components, we use a system called WIMBA...

American FactFinder

Posted on February 05, 2009
American FactFinder allows you to obtain data in the form of maps, tables, and reports from a variety of U.S. Census Bureau sources. Popular links to information include the following:Fact Sheet for quick access to basic demographic, social, and economic data about your city, town, county or state, or ZIP Code...

New Borrowing Period for Materials Held on Reserve

Posted on February 04, 2009
As you requested, to increase access to materials maintained on Reserve, WE HAVE CHANGED OUT BORROWING PERIOD.Commencing Monday, February 9, ALL RESERVE ITEMS MAY BE BORROWED FOR THREE HOURS. Patrons may request one renewal.Shortened loan periods for high demand materials:Provide support to the needs of our studentsOptimize accessOffer intensive library use of reserve material for studentsClick here for additional information about the Library's borrowing/Circulation policies...

Paper Writing Resources workshop

Posted on February 03, 2009
The 1st presentation of the Paper Writing Resources workshop was a success and the workshop will be repeated this Thursday, Feb. 5th, 4:10 to 5:00 PM in room 038N. The workshop is an overview of resources you want to consider when researching a scholarly paper with some research tips thrown in at appropriate moments...

Breadlines and Champagne

Posted on February 02, 2009
For a fascinating, in depth look at depression era entertainment, check out Breadlines and Champagne--a series of depression era movies that will be screened at the Film Forum from February 6-March 5. The series will screen 50 movies over the course of four weeks, many of which deal with issues that are particularly relevant today: unemployment, corruption and banking crises...

Civ Pro on the MBE?

Posted on February 01, 2009
More on rumors about future bar exams. The National Law Journal reports that Civil Procedure may be added to the Multistate Bar Exam.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Tracking Labor and the Economy

Posted on January 31, 2009
With the current state of the economy, here's a reminder about the best official source of U.S. economic and labor market statistics. The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, has a user-friendly site that provides law students and attorneys with data for everything from class assignments and research papers to business decisions and career planning...

111th Congress

Posted on January 30, 2009
The 111th Congress has begun its work. If you want to keep up with the documents produced, including the latest laws signed by the President, there are two web sites to check. First, the one I mentioned yesterday, GPO Access , will have Congressional bills, Reports and other Congressional documents...

Daily Compilation Of Presidential Documents

Posted on January 29, 2009
Effective with the change in presidential administrations on January 20, 2009, the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents has been replaced by the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents. The Daily Compilation includes such documents as executive orders, presidential proclamations, speeches, and press conferences...

New Policy for Library Fines Begins February 1

Posted on January 28, 2009
To better serve the Hofstra Law School Community, there will be a change in the Library's fine and borrowing policies. Effective February 1, 2009, borrowing privileges may be revoked once a patron has accumulated at least $25 in unpaid fines. Remember to return borrowed materials in a timely manner to avoid the accumulation of fines and your ability to check out additional materials...

Paper Writing Resources workshop

Posted on January 27, 2009
Are you writing a paper this semester? If you are we have the workshop for you "Paper Writing Resources". You want effective and efficient research so that you can spend more time writing your paper. This workshop will give you some research tips and point out sources both legal and multi-discipline so you can find what you need quickly...

Happy Chinese New Year

Posted on January 26, 2009
Happy Chinese New Year! 2009 is the year of the Ox.Take a break and and learn some Cantonese new year's greetings. One nice one is "hohk yihp jeun bouh"--wishing you progress in your studies.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

U.S. Code on HeinOnline

Posted on January 25, 2009
You can now access and download PDF images of the United States Code on HeinOnline! This should relieve many law journal members of carrying 30-40 pounds of books back and forth between the library and their offices a few times each year. (It may not immediately improve life for anyone else...

The New Congress in Profile

Posted on January 24, 2009
With so much media attention on the new President in the past week, it's easy to forget that we also have a Congress in transition. Membership of the 111th Congress: A Profile is a brief Congressional Research Service (CRS) report that provides a fascinating snapshot of the new House and Senate membership by selected category--age, gender, ethnicity, education, religion, prior occupation (from NFL football player to casino dealer), foreign birth and military service...

The new White House on the Web

Posted on January 23, 2009
As of shortly after noon on Tuesday, President Obama joined me in the virtual world and presented a totally new whitehouse.gov web site. On that site you can find the new executive orders issued , including the closure of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facilities...

How To Do Statistical Research

Posted on January 22, 2009
As a follow-up to last Thursday's post about the 2009 Statistical Abstract of the United States, here is an excellent tutorial from American University that teaches the concepts involved in basic statistical research.Because even disciplines such as legal analysis increasingly require a quantitative approach, the tutorial linked above should be of value to those who wish to learn the fundamentals of statistical research...

Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States: Barack Obama

Posted on January 20, 2009
Did you miss the inauguration events? You can view here on CNN a number of videos, other news and additional inauguration activities.Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

The UBE

Posted on January 18, 2009
The National Law Journal reports that the bar examiners in up to 19 states are considering incrementally implementing a Uniform Bar Exam. In the story, the chairwoman of the New York State Board of Law Examiners says that New York would consider using such an exam, which could offer attorneys greater mobility...

Introducing "Obama's People"

Posted on January 17, 2009
Inauguration Day is almost here. Along with a new president, a whole new group of powerful cabinet members, lawmakers, White House staff and presidential advisers will be making their mark on the news and the direction of the country. An easy way to get acquainted with them is by visiting the New York Times online, where you will find "Obama's People,"a gallery of 52 engaging photos with brief biographies taken from a special inauguration issue of the New York Times Magazine...

Martin Luther King Day hours

Posted on January 16, 2009
Yes, the Library is open on Martin Luther King day. Our hours are 10am - 6pm. A reference librarian will be here during those hours as well. Stay warm!! I plan to get to know the Library radiators very well. We virtual world inhabitants feel the cold too...

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