The Goodson Blogson

Today, the Library of Congress unveiled the beta version of Congress.gov , which provides free access to congressional bills, enacted legislation, and member directories. This new site will eventually replace THOMAS , the Library's current legislative information portal. Read the announcements on the Library of Congress blog and the Law Library of Congress blog, In Custodia Legis . Like THOMAS, Congress.gov features the text of current and past bills and legislation , dating back to 2001 (compared to THOMAS's 1990, though the developers will be adding all historical THOMAS content into the new site over the next two years). Congress.gov also includes some new features, like biographies of current as well as past members of Congress (dating back to 1947) and an expanded collection of tutorials on the legislative process. The most noticeable changes, though, are the slick design (which is more compatible with mobile devices), improved search functionality, and the use of p...

Time flies when you're having fun! Monday, September 17 marks the 225th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution's signing. "Constitution Day" was established in 2004, piggybacking on the existing federal recognition of September 17 as "Citizenship Day." See 36 U.S.C. § 106 (2006) . As part of the effort to commemorate this important day, the National Constitution Center offers a "Pop Quiz" of 10 questions about the U.S. Constitution’s content and history. In 2011, the Christian Science Monitor prepared a similar quiz of constitutional trivia . More advanced con law scholars can also test their Constitution IQ with the Questions & Answers: Constitutional Law multiple-choice format study aid in the library's collection. Celebrate Constitution Day at the Goodson Law Library by picking up a free pocket Constitution at the library service desk, while supplies last. (Reading from afar? You can also print your own pocket Constitution from t...

Are you curious to see what all this iPad fuss is about before committing to buy one of your own? Or are you an experienced iPad user who just needs temporary access to a device? Either way, the Duke Law School's new iPad Loaner program may be able to help. Duke Law students can check out iPads and selected accessories from the Academic Technologies Help Desk. Why is this potentially useful? According to Digital Initiatives Librarian Hollie White , "There are many reasons to check out an iPad. On an iPad, notes can be taken , either by hand or using the keypad. Being very portable, iPads can also be used to store important documents using cloud applications. Four of Duke Law’s classrooms and the Digital Initiatives Lab have Apple TVs , which can be used with an iPad to project relevant content in meetings or with a study group." The loaner iPads come pre-loaded with a set of standard productivity, video, and legal research apps , such as Pages, Skype, Kindle, ...