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University of Pittsburgh School of Law – Pic of the Week

February 1, 2013 by Andrew Weber

On a recent drive back to DC from Indiana, I made a detour through Pittsburgh. I love to stop and visit the city where I went to law school. During the visit, I snapped this picture of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law surrounded by a blanket of snow.

The Barco Law Library occupies the top three floors of the building. It is a Federal Depository Library like the Albright Memorial Library featured in Jeanine‘s recent blog post. I still remember one of the recruiting pitches was how the professors’ offices lined the outside of the library. I thought direct access to professors sounded terrific and didn’t really think at the time how that meant studying in an area without windows. They fixed this with a coffee shop in the library with a great view of the Cathedral of Learning.

The library runs a blog, Barco 2.0, and occasionally posts on what we are doing here at the Law Library of Congress, including when we launched Congress.gov.

Pomp, Ceremony and the Simplicity Befitting a Republic – Pic of the Week

January 25, 2013 by Nathan Dorn

The idea of republican simplicity is a relic from the age of the American Revolutionary War. To get at its meaning, it’s easiest to meditate on its opposite. Think to yourself: How do I address a king? Am I meant to bow/curtsey? How low? What do I do with my hands while I bow? Do …

Construction of the Inaugural Platform Continues – Pic of the Week

January 18, 2013 by Robert Brammer

Construction of the inaugural platform continues as January 21st draws closer. This picture was taken on December 25, 2012. Here is another inauguration-related trivia question: How many times in our nation’s history has Inauguration Day fallen on a Sunday, and how has this scheduling issue been handled?

Card Catalog Storage – Pic of the Week

January 11, 2013 by Jeanine Cali

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my hometown library, the Albright Memorial Library, in Scranton, Pennsylvania and its participation in the Federal Depository Library Program. As described in the post, I have a card catalog from the library in our home. My colleague, Elizabeth Moore, stopped by my office last week to ask whether …

Dutch Translation of the U.S. Constitution from 1788 – Pic of the Week

January 4, 2013 by Robert Brammer

The Law Library of Congress houses approximately 60,000 rare items, 25,000 of which are housed in our climate controlled vault. The Law Library’s rare books collection is managed by our Rare Books Curator, Nathan Dorn. For an item to be considered rare, it typically must have been published prior to 1801. This 1788 translation of the U.S. …

Qatar’s Legal Portal – Pic of the Week

December 28, 2012 by Donna Sokol

This is a guest post by Janice Hyde, Program Officer for the Global Legal Information Network. My colleague, George Sadek, and I had the privilege of accompanying Law Librarian David Mao on a recent trip to Doha, Qatar, where David offered opening remarks at a ceremony inaugurating a new portal that provides access to Qatar’s legal …

Consolation for the Disappointed 2012 Believer – Pic of the Week

December 21, 2012 by Nathan Dorn

We at In Custodia Legis are sensitive to the fact that some of our readers may be disappointed that the Mayan Apocalypse of 2012, predicted for today, has turned out to be a bust. In order to soothe your nerves, we thought it would be courteous to invite you to look at a couple of scenes …

Take a Book, Leave a Book – Pic of the Week

December 14, 2012 by Robert Brammer

We have written about many different kinds of libraries in the past, from libraries abroad to libraries on wheels, but this has to be the smallest library we have ever discussed. Situated on North Limestone Street in Lexington, Kentucky, this colorful box houses a small assortment of books, including a legal thriller by John Grisham. …

Mwalimu Julius Kambrage Nyerere – Pic of the Week

November 30, 2012 by Margaret Wood

A friend’s son, who lived in Tanzania for a year, gave me this lovely cloth which hangs in my office. The centerpiece is a picture of Julius Kambrage Nyerere who is considered the father of modern Tanzania. Mwalimu is the Swahili term for teacher which was President Nyerere’s first profession before he entered politics.

Transparency – Pic of the Week

November 23, 2012 by Donna Sokol

We’ve had an update to the Law Library of Congress physical spaces. The front doors to our main office were recently replaced with glass doors. We often talk about transparency in government, and the doors are our small symbolic contribution to making our inner workings “see-through.” The glass also lets visitors see into the …