Volume 5, Issue 4

Library News

Law Library Shift

Nassif Branch Library Rightsizes Print Collection; Provides Online Access to Resources

In order to prepare for the move to the new DOT headquarters building, the Library undertook a major rightsizing project this summer. A few familiar law titles may be gone from the shelves or moved to a new location, but the material can be accessed online from your desktop or with the help of a reference librarian.

The print format of West’s regional reporters has been discarded, as well as most of the Shepard’s Citation Service volumes. Selected law reviews have also been discarded. The DOT Library provides access to these products through Westlaw, Lexis, and Hein Online’s Law Journal Library. Several practice materials have also been converted from looseleaf to electronic format, including CCH’s Aviation Law Reporter (and archives) and the Government Contracts Reporter. The online versions of these CCH databases can be found on the Library’s RIDER database collection (dotlibrary.dot.gov).

After the "weeding" was completed, part of the Library’s law collection was moved from the plaza side of the Library to the church side. By early August, this shifting project was completed but additional sections along the hallway had to be removed to allow for ADA compliance. As a result, materials in adjacent sections were moved temporarily to aisles which previously held periodicals. These displaced titles are now being returned to the legal collection.

Coast Guard Library Also Rightsizes Print Collection; Prepares for Move

In order to increase the available space at the Coast Guard Law Library branch, the Library has also been engaged in weeding portions of its print collection. The print format of portions of several regional reporters have been discarded. Selected journals as well as the Federal Register collection have also been removed to increase shelf space and take advantage of their access electronically. The "weeding" and shifting of the regional reporters is an ongoing project, all the more important with the expected move of the library to a new, somewhat smaller location in the Transpoint Building.

Selected Law Library Acquisitions

Headquarters:

Constitutional Analysis in a Nutshell (2003). T.E. Baker, J.S. Williams. St. Paul, MN: Thomson/West. [LAW KF 4550.9 W53]

Federal Jurisdiction in a Nutshell (1999). D.P. Currie. St. Paul, MN: Thomson/West. [LAW KF8858.Z9 C87]

Freedom of Information Act Source Book: Legislative Materials, Cases, Articles (1974). U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. [LAW KF5753.A25]

Manual for Complex Litigation, fourth (2004). Federal Judicial Center. St. Paul, MN: Thomson/West. [LAW KF8820.A313 M636]

The Service Contract Act: Course Manual (2004). Falls Church,VA: Federal Publications Seminars [LAW KF850.G56]

Coast Guard:

Federal Yellow Book: Who’s Who in Federal Departments and Agencies (Spring 2004). New York: Leadership Directories, Inc. [REF JK6.F45]

History of the United States Capitol: A Chronicle of Design, Construction, and Politics (2001). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. [REF F204.C2 A458]

---

Research and Reference Corner

Digitization of the Legacy Government Documents Collection

Anyone who has worked with old crumbling government publications or tried to locate a copy of an 1854 federal geological survey knows that these are challenging projects. In order to help address both the problems of preservation and access to government publications, the GPO is collaborating with the Federal Depository Library community to digitize the U.S. government document legacy.

This is no mean undertaking. The document collection is estimated to consist of approximately 2.2 million print publications, or 60 million pages, not including microfilm. The project is being undertaken with the hope that legacy collections now available only in print or microfilm at a handful of libraries will be compiled together in an electronic federal depository library collection of the future. The initial digitization of items would create preservation copies from which multiple access copies could be derived for customers. This is a complicated project that will involve the establishment of minimal digitization standards and metadata standards as well as asking various Federal Depository Libraries to make their collections available. The establishment of standards is important both because of the growth of digitization and because a portion of the work involved in bringing this collection online will be farmed out to various institutions. As the GPO has explained it, this initiative will be like the development of a quilt by a community. The work will be done in a number of places and consist of many pieces, but the final product will be a standardized, cohesive collection available to anyone with Internet access. The GPO hopes to finish this ambitious task within the next two years.

For more information on this project see http://www.gpoaccess.gov/about/reports/preservation.pdf

Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management

The DOT Library has recently acquired a subscription to this peer-reviewed electronic journal. This innovative and groundbreaking publication includes articles, book reviews and notes from the field which combine information from the fields of emergency management and homeland security. Articles range over a number of topics both practical and theoretical. The most recent issue includes articles about the ideology of homeland security and its political implications along with an article about the detection of biological weapons.

To access:

• Go to: http://dotlibrary.dot.gov/
• Click on DOT Library Electronic Journal Database
• Type the title in the “Find” box
• Click on “bepress” to access the journal

---

Website to Watch

Oceans and Law of the Sea

http://www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm

The United Nations website includes a section dedicated to the Law of the Sea Convention and related agreements. In addition to documentation for the Convention found at this site, there is also a section entitled “New Developments and Recent Additions” which offers the user a handy timeline of recent events related to the Law of the Sea Convention with embedded links to referenced sites and documents.
The site also includes information on the bodies established by the Convention and the settlement of disputes as well as information about the relationship between the Convention and the General Assembly.

---