Our newest addition, Art Law and Cultural Property offers the researcher two highly specialized databases:

“International Cultural Property Ownership and Export Legislation (ICPOEL) and Case Law and Statutes (CLS)—will help users navigate the increasingly complex and abundant body of legislation and case law regarding the acquisition and ownership of artworks.”

ICOPEL “contains legislation governing the export and ownership of cultural property from dozens of countries.” Its “links connect foreign legislation to relevant U.S. case law. There are also links to relevant international conventions and bilateral agreements. Also included is “Country Contacts,” information on the government official(s) in each country to whom a query regarding the legality of acquiring a work can be addressed.”

CLS ” contains an extensive body of primarily U.S. case law, including both litigated cases and, notably, hard-to-find, out-of-court settlements. The material is organized under eight topics: World War II-Era/Holocaust Related Art Loss; Cultural Property (Antiquities) Disputes Over Non-United States Property; United States Cultural Property; Art Theft (other than World War II and cultural property looting); Other Ownership Title Disputes/Claims Including Conversion and Breach of Contract; Art Fraud, Attribution, Authenticity, Forgery, Libel, and Defamatory Statements; Valuation/Appraisal; and Copyright, Moral Rights and Other Issues”

Check it out!  (Extra-credit if you can name the repository of Modern Art shown above….)

Despite the name of this app, it has nothing to do with a 4th grade class where you learned the history of whatever state you grew up in.  Lexis Social Studies attempts to bring you the best of Facebook, Google Drive, and LexisAdvance to help you organize your study group in one place.

How does it work?  After signing away your Facebook rights (allowing Lexis to post statuses and go into your notifications), you are asked to provide your Google identifier to match up with your Google Drive account.  From there, you can create your group: make it public or private, invite friends, etc.  Once you have your group set up, you can create documents that are stored on Google Drive (and have all of that functionality).  Additional features include the ability to create polls to determine the best time to meet and the ability to make comments on your group page.

Journals, think this would be a great place to put your source coordination documents?  It may be in the future, but not just yet.  PDF uploads are currently not supported.  Right now, you are limited to files that can be reformatted as Google Docs.

One thing I could not figure out is how to delete a file after uploading it.  I tried to delete it from Google Drive in my “Shared with Me” folder, but when you upload documents to the app, Lexis Social Studies is considered the author on Google Docs, not you, so that doesn’t work.  There is an arrow at the end of the file on the group page, implying there should be a dropdown (and maybe that’s where delete is hiding), but right now it is not functioning.

Want to learn more about Lexis Social Studies?  Check out the promotional video or get started creating your own group here.

Ali Delforoush (Law ’13) has recently published a fascinating and hard-hitting look at life inside Iran today.  The story is rendered through moving and confronting personal stories and narratives that, while at times difficult to read, ultimately tell the story of the universality of hope under crushing oppression.

Click on the book cover to be taken to a recent BU Today article interviewing Ali.

(Please check with the Circulation Desk if you would like to borrow our copy.)

Congratulations Ali!

Were you dreaming of a clerkship instead of sugarplums over the holiday?  Check out a couple of new titles we have on the judiciary:

• The Behavior of Federal Judges: A Theoretical and Empirical Study of Rational Choice (Annex KF 5130 .E46 2013)
• Young Thurgood: The Making of a Supreme Court Justice (Annex KF 8745 .M34 G55 2012

For our aspiring transactional lawyers, we have added The Three and a Half Minute Transaction: Boilerplate and the Limits of Contract Design (Annex K 845 .S7 G86 2012).

Check out brief descriptions of these books and more on the Featured New Books page.

The featured books for December include three titles from our faculty: The Ponzi Scheme Puzzle by Tamar Frankel, Laws of Creation: Property Rights in the World of Ideas by Ronald Cass and Keith N. Hylton, and Ordered Liberty: Rights, Responsibilities, and Virtues by James Fleming and Linda McClain.  There are also interesting titles on the economics of inequality and same-sex marriage.  All of these books can be checked out at the Annex.

Just a few days ago the Library of Congress unveiled its new and greatly improved replacement site for THOMAS, its first-generation site for all things Congressional (read: legislative history).  The new site is being called congress.gov First inspection reveals a much more modern design and enhancements including Member of Congress profiles and improved searching functions.  While still in its beta stage, ultimately all of the information on THOMAS will be migrated over and the older site will  taken down.

Here’s a preview of the improved design:

We know and love THOMAS as our free source for federal bills and bill tracking. Those awesome features are now included on Congress.gov.  In addition to legislation going back to 2001, this site includes information on the current members of Congress, the calendars of both houses, and a review of the legislative process.  It also provides helpful links to the Congressional Record, FDsys, and information on congressional hearings and reports.  Be sure to check it out next time you’re looking for legislative information!

Welcome back! We hope you have all had a productive and energizing Summer.

Your Library is ever-vigilant in our efforts to bring you the most comprehensive tools available to assist you in the development of your practical and research skills.

Courtroom View Law School is one of our newest databases and this interactive site allows you to watch and download video and audio files of courtroom proceedings and trials with commentary and best-practice tips.  The site even allows you to browse by subject area, judge or jurisdiction…

Click HERE to link to instructions for setting up your own personal username and password.

I know some of you cannot stand to be parted from your beloved Bluebooks.  Your suffering can now come to an end because there’s a Bluebook app (for iPhone and iPad), which can be downloaded through rulebook.  For just $39.99, you and the Bluebook never have to be apart.  Some of the features of this app include the ability to bookmark rules and keep multiple rules open at the same time to flip back and forth (which could be helpful when combining Rule 18 with the underlying source rule to create the appropriate Internet citation).  Hat tip to the University of Wisconsin Law Library.

The PTO provides the last year’s worth of Official Gazettes for both patents and trademarks as well as official gazette notices back to 1995.  What if, however, you want to look at older Gazettes?  HeinOnline now provides access to the Official Gazette of the U.S. Patent Office from 1912-1930, the Official Gazette for Patents from 1972-1993, and the Official Gazette for Trademarks from 1989-1993.