On my drive to work at the end of last week I heard the joyful news on the radio that singer Katy Perry and British actor/comedian Russell Brand have announced that they are going to get married. Wonderful! The second part of the announcement was that Katy Perry loves the UK so much that she wants …
When you walk into the Reading Room of the Law Library of Congress, you might notice something you haven’t seen in a while. A card catalog that is still in use, though no new cards have been added since December 1980. The Library of Congress Classification (LCC) is a classification system that was first developed …
We’ve been busy the last few weeks prepping and enhancing THOMAS for this week. I’ve enjoyed watching the message spread about the changes to THOMAS. I was fortunate enough to be able to do my first radio interview discussing our enhancements from this year for the DorobekInsider on Federal News Radio. (How many places besides …
I just returned from the International Association of Law Libraries annual course on International Legal Information and Law. The title of this year’s course was Dutch Gateways to International Law with three main themes: the broad reach of international law, the evolution of international law with a focus on The Hague as world capital of …
Residents of Christchurch, the second largest city in New Zealand, continue to have sleepless nights and worry-filled, emotional days as the aftershocks keep coming – nearly a week after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck at 4:35am on Saturday, September 4, 2010. Apart from all the shaking, there’s also the worry about the amount of time …
The recent one year anniversary of the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, the man convicted in 1999 of the Lockerbie bombings, prompted me to to delve a little further behind the headlines. Al-Megrahi was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds after doctors diagnosed him with terminal prostate cancer. I thought …
Australia and New Zealand are like a couple of squabbling siblings most of the time. We make jokes at each others’ expense, including our different accents (they really are different!), and we love to beat each other at sports. You would have seen plenty of references to this rivalry if you ever watched the Flight …
August 26, 2010, was the 90th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote in the United States. The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the House of Representatives on May 21, 1919, by a vote of 304 to 89. The Senate passed the amendment on June 4, by a vote of …
Over the past couple months I, along with the great THOMAS team here at the Library of Congress, have been working hard on the latest set of enhancements. Thankfully, we’ve been able to finish them before Congress returns from August recess. User feedback is continuing to drive our newest update. We collect feedback through OpinionLab …
As you can see from my previous post on researching Al Capone’s jury, some of the questions that come through “Ask A Librarian” can be quite fascinating. Some on their face appear simple, but upon further research, reveal hidden depths. A recent question involved a private law from the 71st Congress (1929-1931).* Private laws affect …