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Nonprofit Organizations: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

Nonprofit organizations have become a critical part of American culture.  Not only is the nonprofit sector one of the “fastest-growing part[s] of the U.S. economy,” but also, as a recent study by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Public Policy has shown, nonprofit workers make up approximately 10.2% of the total U.S. workforce. It is no …

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Asylum Law: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

This post was co-authored by Robert Brammer and Barbara Bavis, Legal Reference Librarians. In the recent public debate regarding immigration reform, some groups have called for a change to our current method of granting asylum to those who fear returning to their country of origin due to “persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on …

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Patent Law: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

For the next entry in our Beginner’s Guide series, I will touch upon patent law, an area of law that, despite its seeming need for specialization and technical knowledge, holds a large amount of interest for the public at large. The Law Library of Congress receives many questions regarding patent law, particularly with regard to …

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Congressional Voting Records: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

For the next installment of the Beginner’s Guide series, I turn to a subject that is of recurring interest to our patrons—how to find congressional voting records (also called roll call information). This topic presents more challenges than may be readily apparent, because researchers must not only determine what resources cover the period of time …

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Employment and Labor Law: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

This post is co-authored by Barbara Bavis and Robert Brammer, Legal Reference Librarians. Continuing with our Beginner’s Guide series, we turn next to labor and employment law.  This area of the law has been prominent in the news over the past several months, particularly in light of the union stronghold of the Midwest, Michigan, becoming …

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Immigration Law: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

While for years immigration has been a much-debated political topic, several issues have caused a recent increase in press attention, including: (1) numerous attempts to pass the DREAM Act in Congress; (2) the recent success of Question 4 in Maryland; and (3) the June 15, 2012 memorandum by Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security …

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Executive Orders: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

Although they are not specifically mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, Executive Orders have been considered one of the President’s powers since George Washington’s administration.  Executive Orders are exactly what they sound like—orders produced by the President, as head of the executive branch, that are “generally directed to, and govern actions by, Government officials and agencies.”[1]  …

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Research Guides in Focus – How to Trace Federal Regulations: A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by: Barbara Bavis

The following is a guest post by Anna Price, a legal reference librarian at the Law Library of Congress. For this latest installment of Research Guides in Focus, we are presenting an overview of one of the Law Library’s newest additions to our Research Guide collection – How to Trace Federal Regulations: A Beginner’s Guide. …

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An Index to In Custodia Legis Legal Research Guides

Posted by: Robert Brammer

The Law Library of Congress blog,  In Custodia Legis, is celebrating its seventh year in operation! During this time, we have published many research guides for both foreign and domestic law. I thought it would be useful to go back and revisit those guides in order to organize them into a basic index. Are there any …