RESEARCH GUIDE
The main purpose of this research guide and bibliography is to assist students who are doing research in the area of Education law. The bibliography includes treatises, periodicals, reporters, and other materials that can be found in the Sheely-Lee Law Library. Please note that there are many possible topics in this area. The bibliography is as inclusive as possible, but there may be relevant items (depending on the research topic) which are not listed.
The titles on the bibliography that are preceded by a classification number can be found with the treatises on the second floor of the library. Those without classification numbers are either reporters (whose locations are pinpointed on the library map) or periodicals. Bound periodicals are on the second floor. Current periodicals are shelved in the Reserve Area on the first floor of the library.
As you begin your research, remember that the library has the following materials to help you.
An excellent way to begin the research process is to consult a pathfinder or guide on the subject in question. Materials on relevant issues can be found in the most unlikely publications and places. The following items may offer some guidance.
The two most widely used sources are Legal Resources Index and Index to Legal Periodicals and Books.
Index to Legal Periodicals and Books (ILP) is the traditional source for legal periodical indexing. This title and its previous editions cover a wide variety of publications back to the late eighteenth century. In our library, it can be found in paper (on the first floor of the library) and on LIAS E-Resources (from 1981-present).
Legal Resources Index (LRI) is a computerized, cumulative index covering periodicals from 1980 to date. It indexes more periodical titles than Index to Legal Periodicals. However, since LRI only began in 1980, any search for law review articles before that year would be limited to the paper version of Index to Legal Periodicals. LRI is available in our library from three different sources - LegalTrac (on the DSL Library web page select Legal Research Resources, select Databases & Reference Sources, then select LegalTrac), LEXIS, and WESTLAW. If you are unfamiliar with how to use LegalTrac please ask anyone on the library staff for assistance.
The most up-to-date periodical indexing can be found in the Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP), published weekly by the University of Washington Law Library. This publication is intended to keep the indexing up-to-date for current periodicals until the printed Index to Legal Periodicals volumes are available. It is available on WESTLAW.
Obviously, electronic sources such as LEXIS, WESTLAW, Loislaw, and Findlaw, can make case research quicker, and sometimes more efficient. However if you are unable to sufficiently narrow your electronic research, you may find print resources helpful. All the traditional sources for finding cases are available to you. For general case research the Eleventh Decennial Digest, Part 1 is completed covering 1996 to 2001. For more recent West topics or topics not cumulated in the Eleventh Decennial Digest, you will need to consult West's General Digests, 2001-. If you wish to focus on federal cases only, the Federal Practice Digest 4th and its predecessors provide the most comprehensive coverage. For state appellate cases, you can consult West's regional digests: Atlantic Digest, North Western Digest, Pacific Digest, and South Eastern Digest. However, the most in depth indexing of state case law is found in the individual digest for each state. The Library has state digests for the following states: Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Depending on your research interests, there are several subject specific case reporters that may be of interest to you. A major advantage of subject oriented reporters is that most include administrative decisions, as well as federal and state court opinions. The following set is especially noteworthy:
West's Education Law Reporter and its companion digest cover U.S. Department of Education decisions in addition to federal and state court opinions. Each issue also includes several case comments or articles on subjects that are of current interest to the educational community. For example, articles in recent issues dealt with hate speech and crimes, racial harassment policies, and affirmative action.
To find which treatises the law library has in a specific subject area, you can conduct a subject or keyword search of the library's online catalog. The bibliography which follows lists items from a wide variety of subject headings such as:
Depending upon your paper topic, you may find it advantageous to consult the library catalog under other relevant subject headings. If you already know the name of the author or title of the book that you want, look up the name or title with an author or title search of the online catalog and note the classification number.
To significantly expand your search for treatises, you can consult the LIAS system which provides access to The CAT, Penn State University Libraries online catalog, and access to the other "Big Ten" university library catalogs, as well. Although the primary focus of these library collections is nonlegal, it is likely that they would include some materials relevant to your research. You can access LIAS at the "LIAS workstations" situated throughout the law library, in the computer labs, or via the Internet at www.lias.psu.edu. If you are unsure how to use LIAS, one of the librarians will assist you.
ACLCP is a consortium of over twenty Central Pennsylvania college and university libraries. A single database comprising all of their library catalogs is available for searching over the internet at http://aclcp.library.net. If your research encompasses political, social, economic, scientific, or nonlegal issues, this website could be quite useful. A complete list of the member libraries can be found at the ACLCP website. Because some of the libraries are located nearby, you may find relevant items that you can obtain very quickly.
As a result of the U.S. government's involvement in a broad spectrum of legal issues, these documents can be a rich source of information, for an historical perspective or for a modern viewpoint. The law school is a selective depository for U.S. federal government documents, which means that we get a small percentage of what the government publishes. We have documents in both bound form and on microfiche. In order to retrieve a document, it is almost always necessary to have a full government document number. If you cannot find what you are looking for, please ask one of the librarians because these documents can be tricky to locate.
Access to government documents is available in our library through various sources:
DSL Online Catalog: The Law Library catalogs many, but not all, of the government documents that we receive. You can search for them by author, title, subject, or keyword. Once a title is located you will need the government document number (sudoc. no.) or library call number to locate the item.
The CAT, is the Penn State University Libraries online catalog, which can be accessed via LIAS (www.lias.psu.edu). The University Library is a full U.S. Government document depository and they have cataloged most of the titles they receive from GPO. Once a title is located you will need the government document number (sudoc. no.) or library call number to locate the item in the DSL library or in another location.
Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (Monthly Catalog) is an index which provides access by either, title, subject, or keyword to most government documents published since 1976. It is available in print, cd-rom, or on the Web with each providing different dates of coverage.
CIS Index provides subject access primarily to legislative documents such as bills, reports, hearings, etc. It is located on the second floor of the library. There is an electronic counterpart to CIS Index, entitled Congressional Universe, and it is available through LIAS (Choose E-Resources, then click on Congressional/Legislative Resources.)
GPO Access provides online access to the Congressional Record, the Federal Register, the full text of bills introduced in Congress, the Congressional Record Index, the History of Bills, the U.S. Code, Public Laws of the Congress, and, through the Federal Bulletin Board, more than 6,000 other files from 25 Federal agencies. It is available via the Web at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs.
The major purpose of several agencies and committees is to create and carry out U.S. policy. These bodies can be a valuable source of information. Some of the most relevant are listed along with examples of the publications they issue and the abbreviated Superintendent of Documents number assigned to their documents.
United States Commission on Civil Rights. SuDoc: CR 1.1: - 1.16:
United States Congress. SuDoc: Y 1.1
United States Department of Education. SuDoc: ED 1.1: -
United States General Accounting Office. SuDoc: GA 1.1: - 1.34:
The Congressional Research Service conducts intensive research at the request of Congress. Their reports are published as CRS Major Studies and Issue Briefs and contain extremely valuable information due to the high quality expertise of the CRS researchers. The library regularly receives these reports as part of a microfiche collection of CRS documents. The reports are indexed by subject and author in pamphlets (shelved in the Microforms Room on the second floor) that accompany that set. Selective reports have been placed on various websites, dating back to 1994, and can be accessed by name, number, or subject from the following websites:
Some of the most current, "cutting edge" information is available from specialized research centers, associations and organizations. Most of these groups publish newsletters, newspapers, journals or reports that can be quite valuable. Since the focus of these groups is concentrated in one narrow area, their members usually have a great deal of expertise in that subject. For a comprehensive listing, you can consult the Associations Unlimited (also known as Encyclopedia of Associations), an annual directory of organizations arranged by subject. Each entry provides the organization's name, address, phone, size of membership, activities of the group, and a list of publications. [Available in paper in the Reference collection, or electronically via LIAS or WESTLAW(EOA)]
To enhance and refine your research, the library is constantly expanding your access to computer databases. In addition to the traditional LEXIS service, you also have access to selected files in the NEXIS database. The NEXIS database permits you to conduct searches in a variety of non-legal publications such as newspapers (including the Christian Science Monitor, New York Times, L.A. Times), news wire services, business and financial journals, newsletters, magazines and patents. Via WESTLAW, in addition to traditional legal resources, you can access a wide range of nonlegal databases similar in scope to NEXIS. For example, the Westlaw newspaper database now includes quite a few local and regional newspapers (Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, York, etc.) that might provide a fresh perspective to your research. In addition, WESTLAW provides several excellent education-related databases - Academic Index and ERIC - that may be beneficial to your research. The ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) database is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and contains references to reports, bargaining agreements, research papers, and journal articles.
Both of these online services (LEXIS and WESTLAW) are rapidly expanding to keep pace with events that are unfolding worldwide. They are adding newspapers and periodicals in full text too rapidly to supply you with an accurate listing here. Instead, both services provide an online guide to the titles that are in their databases. So, if we do not own the item that you need, check LEXIS and WESTLAW, too. Also, if your paper topic is in an area that is currently in transition, you should be able to track the latest developments on one of these online services.
The LIAS system also includes access to over 350 electronic databases and resources. Most of the databases are nonlegal, however, they may contain pertinent legal and nonlegal information valuable to your research. You can enhance your research by consulting the "E-Resources" list found on the LIAS Web page. The list of databases does increase as new resources are acquired by the University Libraries. Some databases that might be of interest are:
The following Resource Guides, prepared by librarians at University Libraries, may be helpful in your research.
The Internet is especially valuable for locating government information and documents. Many governments and organizations have created user-friendly Web sites which contain abstracts, full text documentation, press releases, and other relevant information. Some of the most reliable Web sites and springboard sites are listed here:
The library staff is happy to obtain materials (that we don't own) from other libraries. If you find a citation to a book or periodical that we don't have, and that you need, fill out an interlibrary loan request form at the circulation desk. We will try to fill your request as quickly as possible, but if the item can only be borrowed from a distant library, it can sometimes take over two weeks to receive the item in the mail. For this reason, you would be well advised to begin your research early so we can guarantee that you will get the material you need in time to write your paper.
As a Penn State graduate student, you have library privileges at all university libraries. The policies may differ somewhat from library to library, however, at most campuses you should be given full borrowing privileges and access to the library collection and LIAS databases. If asked, you must present your law school ID to qualify for university library services.
You are permitted to use the Dickinson College library, the U.S. Army War College library, and any ACLCP member library as long as you are an enrolled student at Dickinson School of Law. In some cases this will include on-the-spot borrowing privileges. Please make sure you have your law school ID card when you arrive at either of these facilities, also.
The nearby Dickinson College library has numerous resources available including periodical indexes and treatises. While the emphasis of their collection would not be legal, they may have material that can help you. Most noteworthy are several indexes that can supply you with relevant references: the Education Index, the PAIS Index, and the Social Science Index. If you are working on a topic that has recently been in the news, the College library has back issues of the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, and Wall Street Journal on microfilm and has indexes for all three newspapers.
The U.S. Army War College library has a comprehensive collection of materials from foreign countries, including foreign newspapers and periodicals from selected areas. They also have back issues of the daily Foreign Broadcast Information Service Reports. Depending on your paper topic, this library could be a valuable repository for relevant materials.
The ACLCP member libraries are all located on college campuses within Central Pennsylvania. Our membership entitles DSL students to borrowing privileges and interlibrary loan services from all other members. Our membership entitles DSL students to borrowing privileges and interlibrary loan services from all other members.
The H. Laddie Montague Jr. Law Library is staffed with a professional librarian from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday; and with virtual reference assistance available through the Common Plea Reference Service.
