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Archive for the Ask A Librarian Category (21 posts)

Ask-a-Librarian: We Are Here for You

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This guest post is by the chief of the Law Library’s Public Services Division, Andrew Winston. Andrew has written several posts for the blog, including The Constitution Annotated–Impeachment Clauses, Federal Courts Web Archive Launched, A Visit to the Peace Palace Library, and The Revised Statutes of the United States: Predecessor to the U.S. Code.

Anna Price, legal reference librarian, at the Law Library of Congress Reading Room reference desk. Photo by Barbara Bavis. [Note: the photo is for illustrative purposes only; no staff are currently working in the Reading Room.]

Anna Price, legal reference librarian, at the Law Library of Congress Reading Room reference desk. Photo by Barbara Bavis. [Note: the photo is for illustrative purposes only; no staff are currently working in the Reading Room.]

Our reading room is closed, college campuses are quiet, and schools are empty. Learning, however, still continues. The Law Library wants to make sure that researchers know that we are still here for you, albeit online (and, alas, without the benefit of access to our print collection at the present).

If you’ve never taken advantage of our Ask-a-Librarian service, allow us to introduce you!

Through our online reference service, we can help you with:

  • Legal and legislative research assistance for US federal and state, foreign, international, and comparative law
  • Queries on resources unique to the Law Library of Congress

We typically respond within five business days (often faster!).

We can assist you by directing you to resources that may help answer your question or advance your research. However, there are a few things we cannot help you with:

  • Providing legal advice, interpretation, or analysis which could be interpreted as the practice of law (that includes interpreting pending or enacted laws and how they affect you)
  • Performing research for you or compiling bibliographies or legislative histories
  • Providing answers for student assignments

If you can’t find a resource on the Law Library website on your own, consider reaching out to us via Ask-a-Librarian. We’re here to help!

By the way, our colleagues in other parts of the Library of Congress are also here to help! Reference librarians from across the Library are monitoring all the Ask-a-Librarian sites and welcome your questions on other topics, too.

Wrap Up: 15th National Book Festival

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The Law Library of Congress was delighted to engage with attendees again this year at the Library’s National Book Festival. We had 11 staff members volunteer at the festival from our Global Legal Research Directorate, Global Legal Collection Directorate, Public Services Division and Legislative and External Relations Office. We discussed our collection, legal research products and unique expertise in foreign […]

Budget Resolutions and Authorizing Legislation

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I have previously written about the budget process and appropriations.  Now, I am turning to authorization legislation. In theory, process for funding the government is an orderly one in which each year the President proposes a budget; the U.S. Congress passes appropriations legislation; the enrolled bills are sent to the President for signing; and voila, government agencies […]

Do You Have to Actually be Present on Your Wedding Day in The Gambia?

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Here at the Global Legal Research Center we receive many interesting foreign law inquiries.  Questions about laws that govern matters of personal status, including customary and religious laws, arise frequently from many of the African jurisdictions I cover.  One of the issues that I have had the opportunity to research is the legality of proxy […]

Introduction to Canon Law – Global Legal Collection Highlights

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The following is a guest post by Dante Figueroa, a Senior Legal Information Analyst at the Law Library of Congress.  Some of Dante’s recent posts include Resources and Treasures of the Italian Parliamentary Libraries, The Italian Legislature and Legislative Process: A Recent Institution in an Ancient Legal System, and  A Fresh Update on the Canonical […]

Presidential Signing Statements

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The following is a guest post by Shameema Rahman, Legal Reference Specialist in our Public Services Division.  Shameema is a frequent contributor to In Custodia Legis; her most recent post was entitled Where Can I Find a Congressional Bill? Law Library patrons often approach us with inquiries on presidential statements.  Examples of these types of inquiries include: […]

Where Can I Find a Congressional Bill?

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The following is a guest post by Shameema Rahman, Legal Reference Specialist in our Public Services Division.  Her most recent post was: Using Secondary Legal Resources to Locate Primary Sources. As a Law Library of Congress reference librarian I am often asked this question by our patrons.  THOMAS and the Government Printing Office’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) website are great sources […]