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 library will be holding two orientation training sessions for new faculty research assistants.  In the orientation, RAs will learn about library services and policies and will gain an introduction to our databases and to best research practices.

The sessions will be:

• Thursday, May 30, 2013, from 11 am to noon
• Wednesday, June 5, 2013, from 11 am to noon

 All sessions will be held in EB Williams Library Room 520.

Research assistants should RSVP to Morgan Stoddard (mms237@law.georgetown.edu) and indicate which session they would like to attend.

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 Government Accountability Office is known as the “Congressional watchdog,” since they monitor how the federal government spends its money and report back to Congress with their findings. On a daily basis, the GAO produces in-depth reports on all aspects of the government and federal law. They also issue legal decisions on “bid protests, appropriations law and other aspects of federal law.” In the past few months alone, the following reports were issued:

• Federal Employees' Compensation Act Case Examples Illustrate Vulnerabilities That Could Result in Improper Payments or Overlapping Benefits. GAO-13-386, Apr 3, 2013
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Standards Needed to Improve Identification of Racial and Ethnic Overrepresentation in Special Education, GAO-13-137, Feb 27, 2013
• International Religious Freedom Act State Department and Commission Are Implementing Responsibilities but Need to Improve Interaction, GAO-13-196, Mar 26, 2013

GAO reports and legal decisions are freely available on their website, through Facebook, and on their mobile app.

Consider borrowing the Library's latest-acquired TV series on DVD: Garrow's Law. This BBC courtroom drama is based on the life of Sir William Garrow (1760--1840) and features trials based on actual Old Bailey trial transcripts. The three-season series is a short twelve episodes, perfect for a study break.

Willliam Garrow was a pioneering criminal defense lawyer during a period in British history in which defendants (and their counsel) had few rights. Evidence rules were scant; defense lawyers were not permitted to address the jury; and defendants could not make their own defense. Cross-examination was the only the only tool available. Through his strenuous and agressive advocacy both in and outside the courtroom, Garrow helped transform the British criminal justice system (and influenced the US's) into one with a more-developed law of evidence, a clearer set of rights for felony criminal defendants, and a presumption of innocence until convicted by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

 (photo from Amazon.com)

To supplement this spring's successful Equal Justice Film Festival and encourage further research and exploration, the Georgetown Law Library has compiled a brief bibliography of resources, including books, scholarly articles, and other films on related topics.

You can view or download it in PDF: Georgetown Law Library Equal Justice Film Festival - A Concise Bibliography.

For more information about the films and speakers that were part of the series, see the Film Festival website at www.law.georgetown.edu/library/about/125/filmfestival.cfm.

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.

Please join the Friends of the Law Library, National Equal Justice Library, The Innocence Project, Georgetown Criminal Law Association, the Georgetown chapter of the National Lawyers’ Guild, and Law Docs at the latest co-sponsored Law at the Movies event, part of the ongoing Georgetown Law Library Equal Justice Film Festival:

Movie: West of Memphis (2013)
Date: Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Time: 6:00pm (refreshments & seating), showtime 6:30pm
Location: Hart Auditorium, Georgetown University Law Center

This screening is free and open to the public - map and directions.

A 2012 Sundance selection, West of Memphis tells the infuriating, inspiring story behind an extraordinary and desperate fight to stop the State of Arkansas from killing an innocent man. The film lays bare the flawed police examination into the 1993 murders of three 8-year-old boys, and goes on to uncover new evidence surrounding the arrest and conviction of the three teenagers who spent 18 years in prison for the crimes, one facing execution and two life-imprisonment, until released in 2011.

After the screening, stay for a discussion of the film and the real cases it portrays with Stephen Braga, Georgetown Law alumnus, adjunct professor, and lead attorney in representing the "West Memphis Three."

For information on other upcoming events in the Georgetown Law Library Equal Justice Film Festival, visit www.law.georgetown.edu/library/about/125/filmfestival.cfm.

To learn more about the Friends of the Georgetown Law Library program and the benefits of becoming a member, visit www.law.georgetown.edu/library/visitors/friends.

Please join the Friends of the Law Library, National Equal Justice Library, The Innocence Project, Georgetown Criminal Law Association, the Georgetown chapter of the National Lawyers’ Guild, and Law Docs at the latest co-sponsored Law at the Movies event, part of the ongoing Georgetown Law Library Equal Justice Film Festival:

Movie: Gideon's Army (2013)
Date: Friday, April 19, 2013
Time: 6:00pm (refreshments & seating), showtime 6:30pm
Location: Hart Auditorium, Georgetown University Law Center

This screening is free and open to the public – map and directions.

A 2013 Sundance award winning documentary by Georgetown Law alumna Dawn Porter, Gideon's Army follows the personal stories of three young public defenders in the Deep South challenging the assumptions that drive a criminal justice system strained to the breaking point. 50 years since the landmark Supreme Court ruling Gideon v. Wainwright that established the right to counsel, can these courageous lawyers and their colleagues revolutionize the way America thinks about indigent defense and make “justice for all” a reality?

After the screening, stay for a discussion of the film and its context, led by:

• Jo-Ann Wallace, President and CEO, National Legal Aid & Defender Association
• Abbe Smith, Director, Criminal Defense & Prisoner Advocacy Clinic; Co-Director, E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship Program; Professor of Law
• Alec Karakatsanis, Attorney, Special Litigation Division, Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia

For information on other upcoming events in the Georgetown Law Library Equal Justice Film Festival, visit www.law.georgetown.edu/library/about/125/filmfestival.cfm.

To learn more about the Friends of the Georgetown Law Library program and the benefits of becoming a member, visit www.law.georgetown.edu/library/visitors/friends.

The FY2014 Budget of the United States was released yesterday and is available through FDSys.gov, but did you know that you can actually review the federal budget back to 1923 through the Federal Reserve archive, known as FRASER? This resource provides a PDF version for each year and is already updated to include the 2014 release.