Reference at Newman Library

Resource Shelf covers the addition of legal materials to Google Scholar at http://www.resourceshelf.com/2009/11/17/… .  The advanced search option allows targeted searching by jurisdiction and type of document (federal or state case, patent, article).   As noted by Resource Shelf, many  of these materials are already available on the web (Justia offers federal cases linked to Pacer dockets and there are several free sources for patents, including the U.S. Patent Office) but now  these materials are part of the Google Scholar database.   Google Scholar is also linking to materials (e.g. law review articles)  in propriety databases, including Lexis and HeinOnline.

A class has been instructed to use the U.S. Government Manual to identify officials in the current administration,  but the most current edition of that book, which is behind the reference desk, is not up-to-date.  A better source is The Almanac of American Politics 2010 (Ref JK 1012 .A44).