Westlaw has recently announced that spring 2013 graduates will be able to enjoy access to the full range of content on WestlawNext and Westlaw Classic through the end of November – perfect for those studying for the bar or job hunting.

Graduating students can extend their access by registering for Westlaw's Grad Program. Once registered, May graduates will retain access to Westlaw through November 2013. Although all content is included, please note that this extension will be limited in the number of hours allowed per month. All graduates will also automatically retain access to a number of career-related databases for 18 months following graduation.

Continuing students involved in academic or non-profit research can also take advantage of full Westlaw access through the summer by registering for a password extension.

See the library's page on Lexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law for details on summer and new grad extended access on all of these platforms.

In November, we posted about the IRS's digital release of 10 years' worth of tax-exempt organization returns, which contained more than 6.5 million documents.

ProPublica, a news organization that "produces investigative journalism in the public interest," has now launched an easy-to-use search engine for these returns. You can search by keyword, state, non-profit category, and organization type (e.g., 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4))

For example, if you're interested in the current IRS controversy, searching on "Tea Party", "constitution", or "patriot" will pull up information on numerious 501(c)(4) orgainizations and links to pdf scans of their Form 990 returns.

The Tax Analysts database (http://0-services.taxanalysts.com.gull.georgetown.edu/Login) provides electronic access to back issues of their publications. (Please be sure to use the proxy link from the library rather than go to the website directly --- even when on campus.)

To access the back issues, you can “browse archives by date” or do an advanced search. Be sure when doing an advanced search to change the date range from the default (2008) to the years you are interested in.

Tax Analysts enables searching on the entire publication run of their newsletters from the first issue.

“Browse archives by date” lets you read full issues of:

• Tax Notes: 2001 -

• Tax Notes Today: 2012 -

• Tax Notes International: 2001 -

• Worldwide Tax Daily: 2012 -

• State Tax Notes: 2000 -

• State Tax Today: 2012 -

The Library also has a nearly complete collection of the back issues of Tax Notes (starting from volume 4) and full runs of the back issues of Tax Notes International and State Tax Notes in print.

The CQ Electronic Library, a product of Congressional Quarterly publishing, has added three new resources to their already rich collection.

• World at Risk is a sourcebook of global issues which features indepth reports on topics such as human trafficking, international criminal justice and climate change. The reports can be searched by keyword or browsed in full-text.
• CQ Press State Stats is a data resource of state statistics on topcis such as crime rates, employment and environmental health. Researchers can browse by state or topic and search by keyword.
• The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biography 1789-2012 includes detailed biographical information on all justices of the U.S. Supreme Court since its inception.

With summer just around the corner, the Library wants to be sure you’re aware of the options and requirements for continuing to use your student accounts with Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law. A summary of the relevant policies and procedures is below and can also be found at www.law.georgetown.edu/library/about/services-policies/lexis-westlaw.cfm.

Of course, you’ll also want to check with your supervisor or librarian at your place of employment to understand any institutional policies or preferences they may have for using these platforms for your research over the summer.

Westlaw:

Westlaw passwords will automatically remain active over the summer for a limited number of hours of research each month. Students can get full access over the summer if they have a valid educational need under one of the following provisions:

• Summer School
• School-Related Research Assignment
• Moot Court Research
• Law Review or Journal Research
• Working as a Professor's Research Assistant
• Non-Profit Externship (receiving academic credit AND unpaid)
• Unpaid Internship/Externship (receiving academic credit AND unpaid)

If one of the above describes your summer activities, please apply to extend your full access at Westlaw's Password Extension page. If you take no action, your account will remain active but limited in the number of hours for June and July. Live Chat support on WestlawNext will remain active throughout the summer.

Graduating students can extend access while studying for the bar by registering for Westlaw’s Grad Program. Once registered, May graduates will retain access to Westlaw through November 2013. Please note that this extension will be limited in the number of hours allowed. All graduates will automatically retain access to a number of career-related databases for 18 months.

Questions can be directed to our Westlaw account representative, Pedro de Lencastre, at pedro.delencastre@thomsonreuters.com.

Lexis:

For summer 2013, Lexis offers students unlimited use of Lexis Advance for any research purpose, educational or commercial/job related. No additional steps are necessary for access besides registering your Lexis Advance ID (please contact the Reference Desk if you need an ID).

Lexis.com will also remain active over the summer, and may be used to access materials (e.g., international legal materials) that are unavailable on Lexis Advance. To use Lexis.com over the summer, you may log in the same as during the school year at www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool using your Lexis.com ID, until the consolidation of IDs into a single Lexis Advance ID/password and portal in late June or early July. After this, Lexis.com will be accessible by logging onto Lexis Advance and selecting the Lexis.com link in the system.

Questions can be directed to our Lexis account representative, Lori Sorenson, at lori.sorenson@lexisnexis.com.

Bloomberg Law:

Bloomberg Law accounts remain fully active over the summer for registered law students, including access for research conducted during summer employment. For additional information, contact Georgetown's Bloomberg Law representative, Beth Goldfinger, at egoldfinger@bloomberg.net.

In a recent discussion with Georgetown law graduates working in a D.C. law firm, many commented that they wish they had become more familiar with databases other than Westlaw and Lexis. A bulk of their research has turned out to be interdisciplinary in nature. ScienceDirect is one of those databases provided by the library, which supports interdisciplinary research in both the physical sciences and the social sciences.

Now, there is even a mobile app available for researchers using ScienceDirect. Once members of the Georgetown Law community connect to ScienceDirect,  look in the QuickLinks box for a link to the ScienceDirect Info Site.

On this site, there is a direct link to Go Mobile!

You will then be able to select the appropriate mobile app for your device.

Use ScienceDirect to access journal articles on psychology, decision making, business management, as well as pharmacology and environmental science.

Preparing your own taxes? Several resources in the Bloomberg Law Tax Practice Center that may be of particular interest for your own return preparation are "BNA Bloomberg Fast Answers: Federal Tax" and the "Tax Practice Series." Fast Answers provides quick, brief, explanations of common tax issues, and the Tax Practice Series provides additional detail in an easy-to-use format.

If you get audited, Bloomberg Law also has the "IRS Practice Adviser" with helpful instructions on the audit and appeals process, calculating interest and penalties, and collection.  

All three resources are in the "BNA Portfolios and Analysis" section of the Tax Practice Center.  

Although some of these same materials are available in the Bloomberg BNA Library database, the interface is significantly easier to use on Bloomberg Law.  

Students and faculty interested in requesting an account on Bloomberg Law may obtain one by following the instructions available in the Library's catalog.

Beginning this month, Bloomberg Law will hold training sessions open to all students, staff, and faculty here at Georgetown Law.

Also called “BLaw” for short, Bloomberg Law is a comprehensive online research platform that includes primary legal materials, detailed business information, helpful practitioner tools, and timely news and current awareness resources. On BLaw, you can search across databases for federal and state court opinions, dockets, statutes, and regulations, learn about areas of law in many major treatises, law reviews and other secondary sources, access real-life examples of litigation forms and transactional documents, and perform career research through company and firm news and people profiles.

If you haven’t already, visit http://about.bloomberglaw.com/lawschools to activate your free account and learn more. Also be sure to sign up for on-campus Bloomberg Law Introductory Training by clicking on any session below. If you have questions, please email bloomberglaw@law.georgetown.edu or contact a reference librarian.

Thursday, February 21:
11:30am-12:20pm (Williams CLC)
3:30pm-4:20pm (Williams CLC)
8:00pm-8:50pm (Williams CLC)

Friday, February 22:
10:00am-10:50am (Williams CLC)
11:00am-11:50am (Williams CLC)
12:00pm-12:50pm (Williams CLC)

Monday, February 25:
9:30am-10:20am (Williams CLC)
11:30am-12:20pm (Williams CLC)
3:30pm-4:20pm (Williams CLC)

Tuesday, February 26:
11:30am-12:20pm (Williams CLC)
3:30pm-4:20pm (Williams CLC)
8:00pm-8:50pm (Williams CLC)

If you need help using Google Forms,  iMovie or Office for Mac, members of the Georgetown University community can now access software training videos through our subscription to Lynda.com. This resource features over 1500 online tutorials covering an extensive array of software packages. The topics featured include Business (Excel, Word, etc.), Audio (ProTools, Logic Pro, etc.), Video (Final Cut, iMovie, etc.) and Photography (PhotoShop, etc.). You can review the courses offered by subject or software title, as well as search by keyword.

Access is through the main campus library subscription, so law students, faculty and staff will need to sign in with your Georgetown netID and password to begin using this resource.

On Tuesday, February 12 at 5 pm in the Williams Library CLC, Ben Snipes of Bloomberg Law will demonstrate the Bloomberg Law Tax Practice Center. This new feature of Bloomberg Law provides ready access to primary tax legal materials, Tax Court decisions and dockets, transactional forms and agreements, and secondary legal materials including the BNA Tax Management Portfolios and Practicing Law Institute treatises.

All interested students and faculty are invited to attend. If you have any questions, please contact Jason Zarin. Students and faculty interested in requesting an account on Bloomberg Law may obtain one by following the instructions available in the Library's catalog.