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Posted by: Jim Martin
In the fall of 1848, a one-term congressman from Illinois returned home from Washington, D.C.,via a trip through the Great Lakes. While on the Detroit River, Congressman Lincoln observed the crew of a steamer that had run aground wedge empty casks and barrels under the vessel’s gunwales to increase its buoyancy. The attempt worked and gave …
Posted in: Education, Law Library
Posted by: Kelly Buchanan
I recently saw a tweet from the Twitter account of the New Zealand Parliament regarding the launch of an electronic petitions system. I’m not sure if the Australian House of Representatives social media people also read that tweet, but the next day I saw its account had sent a tweet reminding people that a new e-petition platform had …
Posted in: Global Law, Gov 2.0
Posted by: Jennifer González
Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of welcoming three interns from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to Washington, D.C. on their spring break. They are graduate students pursuing a master of science degree in library and information science. These future librarians have been volunteering remotely on several different metadata projects of the Law Library …
Posted in: Law Library, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Jim Martin
The following is an interview with Theresa Reiss, who is currently working at the Law Library of Congress as a reference librarian in the Law Library Reading Room. Describe your background I am originally from Scottsdale, Arizona. But during my adult life, I have lived in Arizona, California, Illinois, and Virginia. I am a part-time …
Posted in: Interview, Law Library
Posted by: Jennifer Davis
The picture of the week is Edith Spurlock Sampson, the first African American female judge by election in the United States.
Posted in: African American History, Law Library, Pic of the Week, Women's History
Posted by: Donna Sokol
Describe your background. I grew up in Chicago, Illinois. When I was growing up, I would always find my way to a local Chicago Public Library branch. My favorite was the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library on 95th and Halsted, which became a kind of refuge for me. I hung out so much at my …
Posted in: Interview
Posted by: Kelly Buchanan
The following is a guest post by Peter Roudik, director of legal research at the Law Library of Congress. Peter has written a number of posts related to Russia and the former Soviet Union, including posts on the Soviet investigation of Nazi war crimes, lustration in Ukraine, Crimean history and the 2014 referendum, regulating the …
Posted in: Global Law, Guest Post
Posted by: Jennifer Davis
The following is a guest post by Brandon Fitzgerald, project manager of a Law Library staffing contract, writer and student of poetry and literature. Upon first reading the news of Justice Antonin Scalia’s recent passing, I recalled a 2015 study crowning him the most literary justice among current justices for citing notable authors 39 times …
Posted in: Guest Post, Law Library
Posted by: Jennifer Davis
For National Poetry Month, we remember James Weldon Johnson, an educator, lawyer, statesman, poet, and song-writer.
Posted in: African American History, Law Library