Nov. 15, 2004
Mary Whisner, Editor
Videos
Did you miss an interesting lecture by a visitor to the law school? The Law Library has many
lectures on videotape, for example:
- Tort law reform: medical malpractice & jury award caps : the impact on Washington's health care /
Maureen A. Callaghan -- KFW196.2 .C35 2003 at Reference Area
- Globalization and political communication: changing trends in citizenship and democracy / Lance Bennett --
HF1359 .B46 2001 at Classified Stacks
The Law Library also has some commercially-produced tapes on legal topics, such as:
- Unconstitutional: the war on our civil liberties / Robert Greenwald -- JC599.U5 U62 2004 at Classified Stacks
- Preparing for and taking depositions: the right way; the ethical and unethical way -- KF8915.Z9 V57
1994 v.2 at Reference Area
How can you find videos?
In the Law Library catalog,
choose keywords search. Use the "Material Type" pull-down menu to restrict your
search to "video record."
Each group study room has a VCR.
Videos -- Fun Ones
OK, the serious videos have their place. But you can also use the library to get videos and DVDs that
can give you a break from all this serious law stuff!
Summit is a combined catalog that has the holdings of dozens of college and
university libraries in Washington and Oregon. Many of those libraries collect
Hollywood feature films -- as well as independent films -- and will lend them
through Summit.
Again, use a keywords search, and restrict it by "Material Type." This time the menu option if
"Videos/Films." When you find something you'd like to borrow, just click on
"REQUEST THIS ITEM."
If don’t want to take too
big a break from law, there are plenty of movies on legal themes. For example,
Summit has A Few Good Men, The Firm, A Civil Action,
Erin Brockovich, 12 Angry Men, Legally Blonde, and The
Paper Chase.
Book of the Week: The United States Government Manual
-- Mary Whisner
What’s the General
Accounting Office?
Where’s the nearest regional office of the Environmental
Protection Agency?
Is the Employee Benefits Security Administration an
independent agency or part of some bigger executive agency?
What’s the
statutory authorization for the Consumer Product Safety Commission? What
statutes does it implement?
All of these questions and
more can be answered by The United States Government Manual, a terrific
compendium published by the Office of the Federal Register. It includes
organizational charts, agency descriptions, addresses, phone numbers, website
addresses, and more.
The current edition is
kept in the Reference Area and the Reference Office (call number JF421 .U57).
Do you like history? Or do you have need to find out how an agency was
structured at some time in the past? The Law Library has editions going back to
the first one – in 1935, at the start of the New Deal.
Web versions are
available, starting with the 1995-96 edition, at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gmanual/index.html.
By the way, the answers to
my questions above:
- The General Accounting Office is
the investigative arm of the Congress and is charged with examining all matters
relating to the receipt and disbursement of public funds.” p. 48 [Page
references are to the 2004-2005 edition.] Note: The GAO became the Government
Accountability Office, effective July 7, 2004.
- The EBSA (formerly Pension Welfare Benefits Administration) is part of the Department of Labor. p. 283.
- The EPA’s Region X office is in downtown Seattle (1200 6th Ave.). p. 384.
- The CPSC was established by the
Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. §2051 et seq.). It implements the
Flammable Fabrics Act, the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970, the Federal
Hazardous Substances Act, and the act of Aug. 2, 1956, which prohibits the
transportation of refrigerators without door safety devices. p. 374.
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