Trivia Contest Answers: Name That Clause
by Cheryl Nyberg
Here are the correct answers to last week's trivia contest:
| 1.Commerce Clause |
g. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 |
| 2.Full Faith and Credit Clause |
d. Article 4, Section 1 |
| 3.Speedy Trial Clause |
a. 6th Amendment |
| 4.Interstate Commerce Clause |
j. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 |
| 5.Establishment Clause |
c. 1st Amendment |
| 6.Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause |
i. 8th Amendment |
| 7.Privileges and Immunities Clause |
b. Article 4, Section 2 |
| 8.Advice and Consent Clause |
e. Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2 |
| 9.Indian Commerce Clause |
f. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 |
| 10.Origination Clause |
h. Article 1, Section 7, Clause 1 |
A Yankee Doodle Dandy website for answering such questions is The United
States Constitution Online,
http://www.usconstitution.net/. In addition to the list of "Popular
names of sections and clauses,"
http://www.usconstitution.net/constpop.html, the site contains the text
of historical documents, links to major sites, a constitutional timeline, an
extensive FAQ page, and other information. Check it out!
[Web editor's note: See also our guide on
Constitutional Clauses & Their
Nicknames.]
A Theory of Plate Mnemonics *
by Vicky Santana, Reference Intern
A library is above all a place; it has a geography that patrons become
used to moving around in. Part of the geography is the furniture, the
tables, desks, chairs, and shelves, but the most important part, in terms of
locating information, is the classification system.
You find a book in the catalog, which looks like it meets your needs; you
get the call number, find the book on the shelf, and there, as if by magic,
are other books on the same topic and related topics. This is no accident;
it is one of the most useful features of a classification system. The system
is designed to meet information needs by arranging the books not just by
subject, but by subjects that blend into other subjects, making browsing the
shelves a useful way to find the information you need.
There are many topics in law. The Library of Congress classification
system, which started its development in 1889, published the K
classification that is used for legal materials in 1968. Until then law
books were squeezed into other categories, but as the geography of law
libraries was determined by huge reference sets of reporters, digests, etc.,
law librarians by and large did not miss having a classification system. The
K class is now the largest one in the system; it is mainly arranged by
country, with KF being American law.
The recent shifting of books, both in the Classified Stacks (upstairs)
and the Reference Stacks (2d floor), was due to the reclassification of
international legal materials by the Library of Congress. Reclassification
is necessary when the logic of the classification letters or numbers no
longer works to help people find the materials. The JX class was designed in
1910, before World Wars I and II, before the United Nations, and far before
today's proliferation of international organizations. As the JX class grew
to be less and less "marginally serviceable," the decision to reclassify was
postponed until the K classification for all countries in the world was
completed. Once that was accomplished in 1991, work to rethink the ideas in
international law began.
First released on May 1, 1997 (Law Day), in draft form, the new
classification provides a way to split materials into the broad classes of
Political Science (JZ) and Law (KZ). With incredible detail, reflecting
painstaking work, the new classification will make shelf-browsing
international materials appear intuitive. Now you can easily browse through
the international commons, the law of the sea, and the law of space, areas
which were particularly difficult before.
Many shelves were changed, books actually moved to other floors. It will
happen again in your lifetimes, KZ is only the tenth in the series of
schemes applied to the various systems of law under the letter K, more will
come. JX is dead! Long live KZ!
*Thanks to Cheryl Nyberg for the title.
[Web editor's note: See also our guides on
Library of Congress Call Numbers and
Call Numbers for Foreign Law.] |
