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Archive: October 2015 (20 Posts)

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Tribes within Mexico have been added to the Indigenous Law Portal

Posted by: Robert Brammer

We are excited to announce a new addition to our Indigenous Law Portal – Mexico! Thanks to the hard work of many interns, Jennifer, Tina, Jolande, Robert, and others around the Library, this completes the North American portion of the Indigenous Law Portal. The Indigenous Law Portal, which debuted in July of 2014, combines historical information from the …

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Drop! Cover! Hold On! The Great ShakeOut

Posted by: Jennifer Davis

Prior to the 5.8 magnitude earthquake in the DC area in August 2011, it would have been a safe bet to say that most local long time residents didn’t think about earthquakes often. Although that earthquake was considered “fairly run-of-the mill”, according to USGS, it certainly got everyone’s attention in the District, Maryland and Virginia. …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Recap of the IALL 2015 Conference in Berlin

Posted by: Jenny Gesley

I recently returned from the annual conference of the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL), which took place in Berlin, Germany from September 20 to September 24, 2015. This year’s conference, “Within and in between: German Legal Tradition in Times of Internationalization and Beyond,” was held at the Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin), which is …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Modern Illuminated Manuscript – Pic of the Week

Posted by: Donna Sokol

From the exhibition label: The Apostle’s Edition of the Saint John’s Bible. For the new millennium, Saint John’s University and Abbey in Minnesota commissioned an illuminated, handwritten Bible, the first of its kind since Gutenberg printed the Bible in 1454. This contemporary Bible is at once old and new: a masterpiece of the ancient crafts …

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Mazel Tov! I Now Pronounce You Husband and Wife (Under Israeli Law)

Posted by: Ruth Levush

Israelis believe in marriage. According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2013 95 percent of all Israeli couples living together were married. The proportion of unmarried couples living together was relatively low in comparison to the percentage in some other OECD countries, which ranged from 7% (Italy) to 27% (Norway). Unlike Italy and Norway …

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Now over 1,000,000 Items to Search on Congress.gov: Communications and More Added

Posted by: Andrew Weber

This has been a great year as we continue our push to develop and refine Congress.gov.  There were email alerts added in February, treaties and better default text in March, the Federalist Papers and more browse options in May, and accessibility and user requested features in July.  With this October update, Senate Executive Communications from …

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Joint Sessions and Meetings of Congress

Posted by: Margaret Wood

On September 24, 2015, Pope Francis delivered a speech before a joint meeting of Congress.  I thought it would be interesting to provide some information about joint sessions and meetings of Congress–what they are, how they occur and where one can find historical information about joint sessions. The Senate website defines a joint session as …

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An Interview with Debbie Shrager, Legal Reference Librarian

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

This week’s interview is with Debbie Shrager, a legal reference librarian with the Public Services Division of the Law Library of Congress. Describe your background. I grew up in the Philadelphia area and still love cheesesteaks, hoagies, and “the shore.” I’ve also lived in New York, Chicago, and Edinburgh, Scotland. Northern Virginia has been home for …