Blog Archive: 2012

Return of Statistical Abstracts of the United States

The Statistical Abstract of the United States is a comprehensive collection of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States, with recent data for states and metro areas, as well as some on foreign countries. Beginning in 2012, this former government publication is available through ProQuest.

New Books in the Law Library

The Behavior of Federal Judges: A Theoretical & Empirical Study of Rational Choice by Lee Epstein, William M. Landes, and Richard A. Posner (Harvard University Press, 422 pp.)

This book is an attempt by a political scientist (Epstein), an economist (Landes), and a judge (Posner) to employ statistical methods to understand how federal judges make their decisions. Are they machines who objectively apply the law to the facts set before them? Are they enrobed ideologues who use the bench to shape society to their ends? The authors provide “a unified theory of judicial decision-making” to make sense of what is actually going on in the process. There are separate chapters, each saturated with tables of data, on the Supreme Court, federal courts of appeals, and federal district courts.

Early American Case Law - New on HeinOnline

HeinOnline has added a collection of early federal and state case reports. It includes "the entire Federal Cases 30 book series (1894-1897) which contains more than 20,000 cases. Also included is the Trinity Series, which includes American Decisions, American Reports, and American State Reports." Cases range from as early as 1760 to 1912.

Attention, News & Observer readers!

Attention, News & Observer readers!

The newspaper has announced that beginning on December 19, 2012, non-subscribers will only be able to access a limited number of articles for free without being asked to subscribe. You can get a print-alone subscription (daily, Friday-Sunday, or Sunday only), an on-line only subscription, or a print-and-online subscription.

Please note, however, that you have always been able to access the paper for free through the UNC Library system as follows:

News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C. : 1894)

• From 1880 to 1899 in 19th Century U.S. Newspapers
• From 1880 to 1899 in Gale NewsVault
• From 01/01/1991 to present in America's News

You will still be able to do so, of course, after December 19.

New Books in the Law Library

The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin (Doubleday, 325 pp.)

Jeffrey Toobin has written about the Supreme Court before in his 2007 book, “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court” (also available in the law library). “The Oath” is Toobin’s examination of the sometimes contentious relationship between President Obama’s administration and Chief Justice Roberts’ Supreme Court. Toobin provides insightful sketches of Obama, Roberts, and other key figures. He also focuses on various cases before the Supreme Court (e.g., Citizens United and the health care reform law) that are of high interest both to the administration’s policy aims and the Court’s legacy. Toobin shows how the subjects of his book unite and divide on the major issues of the moment.

Superfund Information Service - New Environmental Law Database

This comprehensive, fully searchable EPA Superfund document database contains complete document detail for virtually every Superfund Consent Decree and Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) issued from the inception of the EPA Superfund program to date.

Practising Law Institute publications removed from Westlaw & limited on LexisNexis

Practising Law Institute (PLI), a prolific provider of Continuing Legal Education materials, has been removed from the Westlaw databases (Westlaw Next & Westlaw Classic). While LexisNexis & LexisNexis Academic still have some PLI materials, they no longer include recent PLI treatises. Law students and faculty should instead access PLI publications on Bloomberg Law, using their individual passwords. Patrons should also check the library's online catalog for recent print PLI titles.

Law Library Coffee Break

Don't let research be SCARY!!!
Come to the Library Coffee Break
for Coffee and Cookies
Tuesday, October 30th beginning at 1:45 p.m.
In the Library Reading Room

Statistics Resources and Big Data on the Internet

Statistics Resources and Big Data on the Internet is a new resource available on LLRX. It is a comprehensive listing of statistics and big data resources and sites on the Internet.

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations - new website

The U.S. Government Printing Office has moved its electronic version of the CFR (e-CFR) to a new web address, eCFR.gov. The e-CFR updates regularly with information added from the Federal Register, making it more up-to-date than the print (though e-CFR remains unofficial).