Welcome to our first Tech Tuesday, a blog series where we’ll highlight a new tech tool, share useful tips and hacks, and debunk a few tech myths!
This Tech Tuesday is about HeinOnline, a great place to find legal scholarship. But there’s so much more than law review articles on HeinOnline.
When Should I Use HeinOnline?
There are many uses, but HeinOnline is useful when you’re:
- Writing a seminar paper or journal article.
- Looking for historical legal materials.
- Comparing constitutional or international law.
- Finding older legal sources that may not be available elsewhere.
You can access HeinOnline through the library’s website or you can log in using your W&L credentials (search for Washington and Lee in the “Access Through Your Institution” box and log in).
What Can I Find on HeinOnline?
Here are a few databases worth exploring (you have access to 92!):
- U.S. Federal Legislative History Library—Includes comprehensive federal legislative histories (including committee reports, hearings, and other legislative materials).
- LexBlog Library–In this new library, you can find legal commentary in the form of blogs and articles.
- World Constitutions Illustrated–Access constitutions from countries around the world, along with constitutional histories and related documents.
- Legal Classics –Read rare legal items only found in a handful of libraries around the world.
- Civil Rights and Social Justice–Read about the expansion of civil rights in America through documents including government publications, legislation, and Supreme Court briefs.
- Pentagon Papers–Contains the U.S. Department of Defense History (of US involvement in Vietnam) from 1945 to 1967.
We’ve also pointed out a few other new collections this year in a previous blog post:
- Subject Compilations of State Laws–Helps you locate articles, books, government documents, court opinions, surveys, and other sources that compare state laws across thousands of subjects, making it useful for 50-state surveys and comparative law research.
- Air and Space Law–Collects materials on aviation and outer space, including aviation regulation, air traffic, aviation safety, drones, NASA, satellites, space commercialization, international cooperation, and national security.
- Environmental Law and Policy–U.S. and international primary-source materials on conservation, pollution, climate change, environmental risk, treaties, and national and international responses to environmental issues.
- Water Rights & Resources–Covers state and federal laws governing water use and protection, including the Clean Water Act, drought, groundwater, drinking water, hydropower, tribal water rights, and water management.
Need Help Finding the Right Collection?
With so many databases available, it can be hard to know where to start. If you’re not sure which database or collection is the best fit for your research, ask a law librarian! We can help you choose the right tool and point you to the collections that will save you time. Stop by the library or reach out to us at lawref@wlu.edu.