For me the Library of Congress exhibition, Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor, actually began on November 5th, a day before the exhibit was open to the public. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be docents for the exhibit had the privilege of meeting with Christopher Woods, director of the British National Conservation Service, and also the man responsible for transporting and working with the Lincoln Cathedral Magna Carta. A witty and informative speaker, he was able to provide us with information about the document and its condition which helped to enhance our presentations to visitors at the exhibition. I was thrilled when I learned he had agreed to give the final gallery talk on the closing day of the exhibit, January 19th. The talk was fascinating as Mr. Woods focused on issues of document preservation and techniques used to mend parchment documents. For me it was a great way to end the exhibit as well as to give my family and friends a chance to enjoy Mr. Woods’ erudition and wit.
Archive for January 2015 (19 posts)
Euthanasia under Israeli Law
For some time now, I have been interested in the subject of medical ethics. With the development of science and technology, it is now possible to create life where it was once impossible. We are certainly capable of extending life. And to me, most importantly, is our ability to improve quality of life. These amazing achievements often raise complex, ethical dilemmas that reflect and […]
Shelf Improvement: Tips for Improving Your Writing and De-stressing at Your Desk
January is traditionally the time when a large number of people take stock of their activities from the previous year and vow to make changes in their lives. They work to quit old habits or adopt new ones. Recently two new books crossed my desk that relate to the law and self-reformation, and I wanted […]
FALQs: Cuban Legal System
The following is a guest post by Gustavo Guerra, a foreign law specialist covering a number of Spanish-speaking jurisdictions at the Law Library of Congress. It is the second post in our “Frequently Asked Legal Questions” series, following on from our post yesterday on French terrorism laws. As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions […]
FALQs: Terrorism in France
Today we start a new series on In Custodia Legis! “FALQs” are “Frequently Asked Legal Questions.” We will briefly discuss interesting and useful information on laws and legal issues related to events from around the world. Please feel free to let us know in the comments if there are particular global events or issues that […]
Norwegian Constitution – Pic of the Week
The following is a guest post by Brian Kuhagen, now the law serials cataloger in the Collection Services Division at the Law Library of Congress. Brian mostly works on classifying older serial titles in our foreign law collections. In mid-December, I traveled to Oslo for the holiday season. While there, I was able to take […]
Magna Carta Lecture Series: Law in the Lives of Medieval Women
The lecture delivered by Professor Ruth Mazo Karras, medievalist and chair of the Department of History at the University of Minnesota, was the fourth of the Law Library’s series of complementary lectures to the exhibition: “Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor.” The focus […]
A Congress.gov Interview with Kelly Yuzawa, Specialist in Legislative Information Systems Management
Kelly Yuzawa is a specialist in legislative information systems management within the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. Kelly works with Amy, who was interviewed last week, in CRS. This continues our Congress.gov interview series that also included Meg, Rich, Barry, Rohit, Andy, Val, and Stephen. Describe your background. I grew up in California and Oregon. I was a Japanese/Asian Studies […]
Legislative Data Challenges, One Year Later
The following is a guest post by Jim Mangiafico. Jim is the winner of our Legislative Data Challenges and has been working with our partner, the National Archives of the United Kingdom, for the second challenge to further the work he began during our challenges. He has graciously agreed to provide an update on his […]
Our Reading Room Redo Continues
The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) has been very busy gutting our old Reading Room. In the last update, the furniture and shelves had been removed. Now the carpet and ceiling tiles are gone. It is starting to be easier to imagine what the new space might look like. They have started to install new ports […]