Finding Books, Electronic Books, Web Sites, and Audio-Visuals

Use the LSCS Library Catalog to find books, e-books, internet sites, and A/V materials on law and related fields. Our catalog searches over 2.5 million items housed at LSCS campuses, and the Harris County and Montgomery County libraries. You can access the catalog from the library computers or from home by going to our homepage. One of the easiest and most comprehensive ways to search is by “Keyword”. This search will look for your “Keyword” anywhere in the title, author, and description.

Library of Congress System

K	Law
KF	Law of the United States
KFT	Law of Texas

Dewey Decimal System                            

341	International Law
343	Military, Defense, public property, finance, tax, trade
344	Labor, Social Service, Education, Cultural Law
346	Private Law
348	Laws, regulations, cases
349	Laws of specific regions and jurisdictions

 

 

Finding Articles in Electronic Format - Using the Databases

To access the legal databases go to the library’s web page.

1. Select Research Databases
2. Search options from this page are shown and include Subject Categories, Find Databases by Title, and the A to Z Journal Locator.
3. Click on the Criminal Justice & Law subject category.  The most useful databases will be listed along with additional suggestions.A second search strategy is possible if you know the name of the database.  Begin your search by clicking on the Find Databases by Title. One of the LSCS database for articles related to law is the Legal Collection. Clicking on the icon below will navigate the page to an alphabetical listing of databases for selection. Select Legal Collection to begin an article search in this legal database.
4. Legal Collection is located in EBSCOhost. Upon entering EBSCOhost the user interface contains a search box for your search terms. Notice that various limits, including full-text and scholarly/peer reviewed articles, are possible with your initial search query.
5. When search results appear you can view an article by clicking on HTML or PDF file.
6. This library subscribes to over 650 law related magazines, newspapers, and journals. You can search for specific journals in the A-Z Journal Locator found on our homepage.   
7. Articles can be printed, downloaded, or e-mailed and also be accessed from home or any computer that is connected to the Internet. If you are accessing the databases from off-campus, you will need the barcode from your library card. 

Web Sites

Texas Materials

http://www.sll.state.tx.us/research/research.html                             Texas State Law Library

 

Federal Materials

 

	http://www.firstgov.gov/		Official website for searching the U.S. Government
	http://thomas.loc.gov/		Full text of legislation, amendments, committee reports, bill summary and status.
	http://www.house.gov/house/govsites.html		House of Representatives Internet Law Library: federal law, law of states by subject. With links to state codes.
Federal Register http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html		Key word search.

US Code

 

http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml	U.S. Code
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode	Includes full text of US code. Access by key word search.

Statutes At Large

 

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsl.html

U.S. Statutes for the first 43 Congresses (1789-1875)

Code of Federal Regulations

 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr	National Archives and Records Administration site. Includes: Federal Register, Public Laws, Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, and more.
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/cfr	A browse-able front end to the CFR materials on the GPO Access site. May work a bit better; easier to navigate, and understand than the GPO site.

Federal Courts

 

http://www.uscourts.gov/

Has links to US Supreme Ct., Ct. of appeals, District Ct. & Bankruptcy Ct. Sites. Includes information on court structure, electronic filings, history, etc.

U.S. Supreme court

 

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/index.html	Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court; 1990 - present, current term, & selected cases; 1937- 1975, vol. 300-422 U.S. Reports
http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/resources.html	Search and view full text of Supreme Court Decisions issued since 1893

U.S. Court of Appeals

 

http://www.uscourts.gov/links.html

the Federal Courts links

U.S Court of Appeals 5th Circuit

 

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/

the 5th Circuit

 

 

 

Other Starting Points

 

Legal research site for non-attorneys

 

http://www.law.cornell.edu/	Comprehensive research site
http://www.lib.umich.edu/government-documents-center/explore/	University of Michigan Federal Documents Center.
http://www.loc.gov/law/public/law.html	Law Library of Congress, International Legal and General Information.
http://www.martindale.com	National lawyer directory
http://www.findlaw.com	Legal research on many U.S. topics
http://www.hg.org	Hieros Gamos - International resources