Books
Chase Law Library
https://chaselaw.nku.edu/current-students/library.html
It is best to use the “advanced search” option and then look for a book by title or author.
Steely Library
https://inside.nku.edu/library.html
Use the “Books & Media” tab and then search by title or author.
Worldcat
Worldcat.org
This is a database of combined library records from around the world. Use Worldcat when you cannot find a book on campus. Worldcat will let you see if a book is held nearby. Any book found through Worldcat can be requested through our interlibrary loan service.
Articles
Articles in law journals & law reviews
Heinonline: heinonline.org
Hein provides access to the vast majority of legal periodicals published in the U.S. Coverage generally begins with volume one. Some journals have an “embargo” period for very recent issues. In that situation, contact interlibrary loan if you need a scanned version of the article.
Non-legal articles
Steely Library provides a number of databases providing access to journal articles in many different disciplines. Some of the most useful are:
Academic Search Ultimate. This is an EBSCO database that provides full-text access to over 18,000 sources, primarily from 1980 forward. The database will often provide a pdf image of the article.
JSTOR. This database provides deep coverage of articles from many disciplines. There is also selective access to book chapters. Coverage sometimes goes back to volume one for some journals.
You can also search by journal title. Steely provides access to online journal contents, arranged by date, for a large number of publications. Steely may also subscribe to the print version as well.
U.S. Primary Law
Heinonline provides excellent access to federal law publications. It provides scanned images back to volume one of the following publications.
United States Reports (opinions from the U.S. Supreme Court)
United States Code (statutory code of federal statutes)
U.S. Statutes at Large (session laws)
Code of Federal Regulations (regulatory code)
Federal Register (daily register)
Access to state primary law material can be much more challenging. For caselaw, you can use Westlaw which generally provides a pdf file of cases it publishes through its National Reporter System. Heinonline does provide selective access to state statutes and regulations.
LLMC Digital (llmc.com) is a good source for historical federal and state publications. Its coverage of state and federal primary law and government publications is sometimes more extensive than Heinonline.
Legislative History Material
Congress.gov is a good free resource for federal legislative history material for the past few decades. It will provide pdf versions of bill texts, committee reports and Congressional Record references. It does not provide access to Congressional hearings
ProQuest Congressional is the premiere federal legislative history database. Its historical coverage will be deeper than Congress.gov. For enacted federal legislation, it is recommended that you use the “Legislative Insight” link which then permits very easy searching of any federal Act. For any particular federal Act, “Legislative Insight” provides a complete legislative history with links to the full-text of all bill versions, committee reports, committee hearings and Congressional Record references.
For state legislative history documents, this is much more challenging, since state legislatures typically do not publish committee reports or floor debate. It is best to begin your research by visiting the state legislature’s website and see what is offered.
