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Library of Congress Quietly -- and Slowly -- Harvesting Legal Blawgs
It could just be the result of my living in the Washington, D.C., area for decades, but I've always assumed that the existence of the "Library of Congress" is pretty well-known to lawyers and others. For any of you not familiar with this amazing resource, it is "the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress." It is also "the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections," with a mission "to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations."
Okay, so you knew about the Library of Congress. But did you know that the LoC has its own "Law Library of Congress" (and has had it since 1832)? Oh, you knew about that, too? I confess I was not aware of that, despite the fact that the Law Library claims to be the world’s largest law library, "with a collection of over 2.65 million volumes spanning the ages and covering virtually every jurisdiction in the world." The Law Library is even on YouTube.
But here's the real challenge: Did you know that since 2007, the LoC's Law Library has been quietly, in its own words, "harvesting legal blawgs?" The LoC says that its "Legal Blawgs Web Archive is a selective
collection of authoritative sites (associated with American Bar
Association approved law schools, research institutes, think tanks and
other expertise-based organizations) that contain unique, born digital
content. These blogs contain journal-style entries, articles and
essays, discussions, and comments on emerging legal issues, national
and international."
The LoC boasts that its "collection" of legal blawgs has now grown in number to ... wait for it... "more than one hundred items." Now, its not really my place to tell the the largest library in the world how to grow its collection, but, um, a hundred!? Start "harvesting legal blawgs" faster, people!
(via Computational Legal Studies)
Posted by Bruce Carton on April 9, 2010 at 11:11 AM | Permalink
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