During this past summer, Georgetown Law reference librarians worked in tandem with the electronic services librarian to update the library’s Legal Research & Writing tutorials. The LRW tutorials, which are designed for first-year students, focus on:

• Statutory Research
• Case Law Research
• Secondary Sources Research
• Administrative Law Research

It’s also believed that upper-level students and non-U.S. trained LLM students will find these tutorials a useful review of the basics of legal research.

The newly released tutorials are found on the library’s website as embedded HTML5 videos that can be viewed by students on any computer or mobile device. Narration was also added to the tutorials, broadening their appeal to auditory, as well as visual learners.

As Lexis & Westlaw continue to introduce new research platforms, librarians worked to incorporate both WestlawNext and Lexis Advance demonstrations throughout the tutorials to familiarize students with the design of these new legal research platforms.

The LRW tutorials have been well received by students, faculty and fellow librarians. They have set a new standard for legal research tutorials. Librarians from other law schools have contacted the Georgetown Law Library reference department requesting advice on how to incorporate tools such as these in their law school community.

Thanks to all who were part of the great turnout for Monday’s special screening of The Dhamma Brothers in Hart Auditorium, co-sponsored by the Friends of Georgetown Law Library, Contemplative Law Society, and Lawyers in Balance. What an inspirational, thought-provoking film.

In the panel discussion that followed, Professors Gretchen Rohr and Jane Aiken addressed a range of ideas and questions on mindfulness, meditation, and alternative methods for criminal corrections and rehabilitation. I was fortunate to moderate the talk, and as a result of several audience requests and my own new interest in the topic, I’ve compiled a brief bibliography of resources that I hope you’ll find helpful as starting points for researching the facts and themes presented in the film and our discussion.

Please contact me (Andrew) or my colleagues in the Library with any questions at libref@law.georgetown.edu.

Books:

• Charles N. Alexander et al., Transcendental Meditation in Criminal Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention (2007) (preview on Google Books).
• Bo Lozoff, We’re All Doing Time: A Guide for Getting Free (1985).
• Fleet Maull & Dharma Prison Network, Dharma in Hell: The Prison Writings of Fleet Maull (2005).

Films:

• Changing from the Inside (University of California, 1998) (preview at Dhamma.org).
• Doing Time, Doing Vipassana (Karuna Films 1997) (watch on YouTube).

Articles:

• Mark A. Hawkins et al., Re-enlivening and Fulfilling the Criminal Justice Rehabilitative Ideal through the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programs: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Prevention, 17 J. Soc. Behavior & Personality 443 (2005).
• David L. Magill, Cost Savings from Teaching the Transcendental Meditation Program in Prisons, 36 J. Offender Rehab. 319 (2003).
• Rose Parks & Charlotte Bilby, The Courage to Create: The Role of Artistic and Spiritual Activities in Prisons, 49 How. J. Crim. Just. 97 (2010).
• Richard Quinney, The Life Inside: Abolishing the Prison, 9 Contemp. Just. Rev. 269 (2006).
• Maxwell Rainforth et al., Effects of the Transcendental Meditation Program on Recidivism Among Former Inmates of Folsom Prison: Survival Analysis of 15-Year Follow-Up Data, 36 J. Offender Rehab. 181 (2003).
• Lila Rucker, Yoga and Restorative Justice in Prison: An Experience of "Response-Ability to Harms", 8 Contemp. Just. Rev. 107 (2005).

Government Publications:

• U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Enforcing Religious Freedom in Prison (2008).

News:

• Lydia Polgreen, Rehabilitation Comes to a Prison and to Its Inmates, N.Y. Times, July 18, 2011.

Organizations and Other Resources:

• Barre Center for Buddhists Studies, www.bcbsdharma.org.
• Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, www.contemplativemind.org.
• Center for Mindfulness & Justice, www.mindfulnessandjustice.org (focusing on criminal justice professionals).
• Insight Meditation Society, www.dharma.org (meditation retreat organization).
• Insight Prison Project, www.insightprisonproject.org (San Quentin State Prison, CA).
• Mind Body Awareness Project, www.mbaproject.org (focusing on incarcerated youth).
• Prison-Ashram Project, www.humankindness.org/prisonashramproject.html.
• Prison Mindfulness Institute, www.prisonmindfulness.org.
• The Vipassana Fellowship, www.vipassana.com (online meditiation courses and support).

A new "Big Data" resource of tax material has recently been made available. On October 30, Public.Resource.Org made available 10 years' worth -- nearly 6.5 million -- Exempt Organization Form 990 returns filed by exempt organizations and private foundations as well as unrelated business income (UBIT) returns filed by these organizations. The data set contains returns from January 2002 through September 2012, and will be updated monthly.

At this time, these returns are only available in pdf format, but Public.Resource.Org plan to extract the underlying data from these returns to make them more amenable for data analysis.

These records and more information about the data set are available at https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/readme.html.

Would you like to improve your online legal research skills? The Library is offering two classes for any interested LLM or JD students. These are the same classes we provide to the first-year JD students in the Legal Research and Writing classes.  In the “Terms and Connectors” class you will learn the nuances of terms and connectors (Boolean) searching and how to execute an effective search on WestlawNext and Lexis Advance. In the “Research Strategies” class students will learn different research strategies and how to formulate and follow a research plan.

To sign up for a class, please click on a date and time below or visit our Legal Research Classes page.  Each class is offered 3 times to accommodate schedules. The sessions are held in the Williams Library CLC (Computer Learning Center) and last 55 minutes. If you have any questions, please contact the Reference Desk.

Terms and Connectors Searching Class:
• Wednesday Oct. 24, 5:00pm
• Friday Oct. 26, 10:00am
• Friday Oct. 26, 12:00pm

Research Strategies Class:
• Wednesday Nov. 7, 5:00pm
• Friday Nov. 9, 10:00am
• Friday Nov. 9, 12:00pm

In September, the Library of Congress, in collaboration with the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives and the Government Printing Office (GPO), unveiled a new free beta website for accessing federal legislative information: Congress.gov. 

The new website will incorporate the resources researchers have come to rely on from THOMAS, the Library of Congress’ public legislative website and Legislative Information Systems (LIS), Congress’ internal website. The Congress.gov website will be in beta form for approximately one year as they work to add materials (e.g., Congressional Record, committee reports, nominations, treaties and communications) and seek user feedback. Both THOMAS and LIS will continue to be available while Congress.gov is in development.

Currently the Congress.gov site includes federal bills and bill status and summary information (2001-current) and member profiles (complete coverage 1973-current; selective coverage 1947-1972), but more documents will be added over time. See Coverage Dates for Legislative Information  for a comparison of what is available on Congress.gov and THOMAS.gov. The new beta site was developed using best practices for creating a comprehensive and user-friendly system for searching and displaying information on various platforms, including mobile devices.

Researchers looking for congresional publications, such as hearings, committee reports and prints will notice that ProQuest Congressional has a new look. Unveiled recently, the new interface features a Basic Search, Advanced Search and Search By Number option.

While the Basic Search searches full text, titles and all bibliographic data, the Advanced Search capability allows users to restrict their search to a specific date range or Congress, as well as publication type providing more focused results.

The Search by Number feature is best used with a known citation, such as 107 S. Rpt. 5. Users should also make use of the "How Do I?" feature in the right hand column, which will direct them to the best search form for legislative histories.

Please feel free to ask a reference librarian if you have any questions about the new ProQuest Congressional interface!

The Bluebook is now available for iPad and iPhone users for $40 to download for use in the app called rulebook, from Ready Reference Apps. This contains the full text of the entire 19th edition of the book, which is fully searchable.  You can bookmark sections, add notes and highligt sections. There's been an online version of the Bluebook for a while, but this is the first time this content is available in a native mobile app.  You can't get it on an Android or Windows Phone device, but if you own an iPhone and an iPad, you can get it on both devices with a single purchase, as long as they share the same iTunes account.

Because it's available as an app, this version of the Bluebook gets you easy access to the book's contents.  Searches are quick, and it should be easy to get to find what you need. Following is a view of the search results for "parallel citation" with the iPhone and iPad results shown together. Text in the iPhone display is understandably truncated, but it shows rule number or bluepage reference.  By comparison, the web-based version of the Bluebook lets you sort search results by table, rules, bluepages and personal notes.  Both are pretty easy to scan.

In terms of pricing, the Bluebook app cost is comparable to the other electronic version.  For $40, you get the 19th edition to keep. By comparison, current price for the other version is: $32 for 1 year, $42 for 2 and $50 for 3 years. On that system, you get access to the 18th and 19th edition, and there are differences to the way materials are browsed and searched. In print, it costs around $34.

The app version is very useful, but there are a few small features not yet fully implemeted. Though you can highlight text, you cannot copy and paste it yet.  The app designer says that this feature is expected in an update soon. This will be especially helpful if you use this app platform for other content, such as court rules.

One quirk to the rulebook app is that moving from section to section isn't a smooth reading experience, like you find in a Kindle or iBooks.  Sometimes it works to browse from one section to the next, but the app is a bit finicky right now. Admittedly, the Bluebook isn't exactly a "pager turner" kind of publication, so this is probably okay.   Also, this might be something addressed in a future update to the rulebook app.

If you use an iPhone or iPad and have to reference the Bluebook, consider this app as an option.  To explore the rulebook app platform before buying, you can dowload the free app and get a version of the Federal Rules of Evidence for free to try the platform.

Georgetown Law students are reminded that we've got a comprehensive Bluebook Guide to help understand many of the features of this citation resource.

Need help finding a case on Lexis or Westlaw? The library has two basic video tutorials that demonstrate how to locate and print a case using Lexis and Westlaw. These tutorials can be found on our Resources for New Students page. All first years will receive more detailed instruction on these computer assisted legal research platforms as part of their Legal Research & Writing classes, but these videos will get you started.

Recent changes to interface and sorting options make it easier to find and evaluate documents in Google Scholar’s ever-growing free database of court opinions and legal materials.

Earlier this month, Google Scholar added the option to sort legal search results by date, with the most recently published cases and articles appearing first. The new sorting option can be used in combination with jurisdiction and date restrictions, so you can view only results from specific time ranges or courts.

And in case you missed it, since March, Google Scholar has included graphical indicators in the “Cited by” list of subsequent opinions citing a case – from zero to three bars, depending on the depth of treatment – and like the general results list, the “Cited by” list can now be limited by date and jurisdiction. As before, the “How cited” feature also displays excerpts from the most relevant parts of the citing cases.

Longtime Google Scholar users may have also noticed enhancements since May to display and print options, including a cleaner, streamlined look and improved browser-based printing for legal opinions.

Not new but worth noting is the “Create email alert” link at the bottom of any Google Scholar search results page – click it to set up notifications for newly added documents citing any case or article, or corresponding to a specific search you’ve run.

You can access Google Scholar through the Law Library catalog. To get the most out of your searches, remember to log in to your Library Account before using Google Scholar off campus – this allows direct access to article results from Georgetown’s subscription databases.

The screenshot below highlights useful features on the “Cited by” page for Ferguson v. Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, 69 P. 3d 965.

LexisNexis recently released a new version of Lexis Advance.  The new version includes a number of significant updates, such as the ability to browse sources and search a specific source.  New content was also added, including American Jurisprudence 2d and state legal encyclopedias. 

To learn more about Lexis Advance, visit http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/ and log in to view videos, tutorials, and research guides.