Articles Posted in General Legal Research Resources

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Rarely does a day go past without someone coming into our law libraries frustrated as can be: “I just spent #$% hours online and I can’t find what I need.” In the law librarian version of “breathe deeply,” we talk and walk the attorney through the search, more often than not taking them back to the origins of the West Digest System.*

Say what you will about the business-customer (vs. business-shareholder) side of Thomson-Reuters print and online services (and I surely won’t stop you), the legal research premise (or taxonomy, to be more precise) on which the original West Digest System is based is a thing of beauty. (See also West Digest System, from Wikipedia.)

The West Digest taxonomy (as remarkable as Roget’s Five Classes, the periodic table of the elements, and our 26 letters of the alphabet or even the Ten Commandments) is comprised of only seven topics – amazing:

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Do you need to research Oregon writs of mandamus?

(Related search-words to use when researching writs generally: original jurisdiction, writs, petitions, injunctive relief, mandamus, habeas corpus, quo warranto)

Consult the following primary sources, but take a look also at 1 & 2 for some useful guidance:

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(Not really, but anything is possible in the wild, wacky world of Senate Judicial Committee nominations, so give this post an April First dateline.)

Supreme Court nominees and their (judicial hearing) handlers are mere amateurs when compared to public law librarians who are masters at Answering a Question without Answering the Question.

This is a skill we practice every day, in every way, unlike legislators and judges who are required to give their opinions day in and day out and have a devil of a time not telling people where to go, what to do, and What the Law Is.

Collectively, public law librarians are asked hundreds of thousands of questions about the law every year and each and every time we state some variation on these themes:

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For those who are waiting (breathlessly, perhaps) and wondering whatever happened to Law dot Gov, especially given how fast all those other new dot gov sites have popped up, this is for you:

Google Group for Law dot Gov

The Law dot Gov Google Group is comprised of those on the Law dot Gov frontlines, but updates and commentary on the initiative will also appear on a variety of law librarian and lawyer blogs.

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… in the OC Lawyer Magazine, Criminal Waste of Space column: Carpentry Without Tools, by Justice William W. Bedsworth

Excerpt: “My father was a casketmaker. He taught me not to judge the carpenter if you don’t know his tools. It was just a homey tradesman’s adjuration not to be judgmental, and I remember as a boy being unimpressed by it as a mantra. But I sure appreciate it now. It has helped keep my blood pressure in check for many years.

I think of it often when I encounter an opinion I do not think is the author or panel’s best work. I remind myself that I don’t know how good the briefing was, I don’t know what the record was like, and—perhaps most important—I haven’t sat down and struggled with the cases cited….”(Link to full article.)

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Legislators and judges, among others (e.g. Humpty Dumpty in “Through the Looking Glass”), have the right to define words, assuming there is a need for them to do so.

Court clarifies the definition of “tampers” as it is used in ORS 164.345(1):

State of Oregon v. Terry Dean Schoen, (TC 04494) (CA A129669) (SC S057652)

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When legal memos are one and the same with the “content” of the Internet, is there any hope for the future?

“Cats, Frogs, and [don’t spam me please*] Women,” by Justice William W. Bedsworth:

Excerpt: “Sitting on the library table in my chambers is a memorandum from the Judicial Council entitled, “Information for Implementing New Rules of Court Regarding Public Access to Judicial Administrative Records.” It is, sadly, not the page-turner its title would lead you to expect….

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Did you know there was a repository for government comics? I sure didn’t, but others did, including some law librarians. It doesn’t surprise me that such a repository exists, and someone should let Mr. Mankoff know (if he doesn’t already), but not everyone has my idea of a dream job, which is to be head honcho in a Comics Library (aka the Funny (Biblio) Farm). I’m still working on a secret identity, but might stick with my previous choice of Miss Knowitalia (from Cul de Sac, an excellent cartoon).

See the Law Librarian Blog post from April 1, 2010 (but no joke, at least not entirely). The link to the repository is priceless.

Excerpt: “…Did you know that the University of Nebraska-Lincoln maintains an online collection of government comics? Me neither so a big hat tip to Free Government Information. My favorite, so far, is Johnny Gets the Word. It’s supposed to be about STDs but I’m in a Johnny Westlaw frame of mind at the moment….” (Link to full LLB post.)

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In an era of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (which for some of us began in the 1970’s), lawyers and law librarians also look for ways to dispose of law books green-fully, so to speak.

Here are some new book recycling ideas, which are terrific supplements to my 2006 guide on How to Dispose of Used Law Books:

From the Law Librarian Blog post: What To Do With the Debris of the Shed West Era, visit:

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If you’ve never viewed the short film-clips at the TED Conference, here’s a link to one that is Business-Related, rather than just inspirational, funny, provocative, or otherwise highly watchable:

Four Ways to Fix a Broken Legal System: 2010 TED Video of Philip Howard’s Presentation

Visit TED on a rainy, snowy, sunny, icy, warm, hot, cold, or just plain any old afternoon for some addictive idea-mongering:

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