I’ve previously written about finding aids on the Law Library’s website, including our Guide to Law Online, Current Legal Topics, Finding U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, and How Do I Find…?.
The Law Library of Congress also offers a Databases and eResources page to help patrons find electronic materials that are contained within databases or websites. The sources provide legal and legislative information for the U.S. and around the globe.
These sources can be sorted alphabetically by title or by topic. Some topics include: Constitutions and Treaty Information; Finding Legal Periodicals; Foreign, Comparative and International Law; Historical Legal Documents; and Legislative and Statutory Resources.
Say you are looking for documents related to the Civil Rights Movement. From the Databases and eResources page, you could access the Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights from the Thurgood Marshall Law Library at the University of Maryland School of Law, which is available to anyone from anywhere. Alternatively, you could find the “official documentary historical record of major United States foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity” through the Foreign Relations of the United States from the Office of the Historian at the U.S. State Department.
However, the Databases and eResource page does lists two types of databases: those available for free to patrons anywhere and those the Law Library subscribes to that are only available in our Reading Room. You should check the availability for each item for more information.
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