Included in the research trials and tribulations of a law clerk can be the occasional assignment to compile a legislative history of an act (with Public Law or bill number in hand) for finding the purpose and intent of the representatives in passing that law. In many instances, such a request cannot be successfully accomplished; in Alabama, as well as many other states, the state statutes have no supporting documentation such as committee reports, hearings, debates, etc., to compile any sort of meaningful history. However, federal legislation does have the records available to compile such a history. The means of obtaining those records, however, can be quite complicated and vary depending upon the time period that the needed history was produced. Below is a description of suggested resources at the Law Library, Samford University Library or other local libraries which are the most beneficial to your searching for each time period.

Legislative Histories Pre-1970

Finding legislative documents for laws passed prior to 1970 can be a considerable challenge. A general rule is that the older the statute, the more difficult the task of finding a legislative history.

United States Code Congressional and Administrative News

For those statutes passed after 1940, United States Code Congressional and Administrative News is always a good starting point. In the “Legislative History” section (originally called “Congressional Comments”) of this annual publication, the publisher usually provides one congressional report for prominent acts of that year’s Congress as well as a citation to the other chamber’s report. In earlier years’ volumes, the only means of finding the documents in USCCAN is through an alphabetized subject list of statutes entitled “Table of Legislative History Included”. In later volumes, these histories are clearly organized by the statute’s Public Law number.

Congressional Record Index’s “History of Bills and Resolutions” with CIS US Serial Set Index

Congressional Record Index (found at Samford University Library, Government Documents) provides a volume near the end of each annual set entitled “History of Bills and Resolutions” which allows the researcher who knows a particular bill number¹ and session of Congress (or year) to find the history of that bill. This information includes applicable Congressional Record page numbers detailing the legislative steps. More importantly, it includes the numbers of any congressional reports arising from that bill. With this information (along with Congressional session information) the researcher can then go to CIS US Serial Set Index (found at Samford University Library, Government Documents) and find a listing for that report that translates the report number into a volume and serial number citation for the actual document’s text in the U.S. Serial Set or American State Papers.²

Another option that may be much less time consuming for this time period is finding a legislative history that has already been compiled. Two bibliographic sources for lists of compiled histories are Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories: A Bibliography of Government Documents, Periodical Articles, and Books, 1st Congress -105th Congress (KF/42.2/1979) and Union List of Legislative Histories, 7th Edition (KF/4/.L4/2000.)

Legislative Histories 1970-1983

United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (shelf 122, First Floor)

Though there are more thorough sources for legislative histories for this time period, use of USCCAN is still an easy, quick method of finding a committee report of more prominent congressional legislation.

CIS Index and Abstracts

The Congressional Information Service began publication of CIS Annual Index and Abstracts (KF49/.C62/Reference) in 1970. From 1970-1983, this published service provided a legislative history in the back of the Abstracts volume (where top pagination displays “PL”) for each year’s CIS/Annual. This listing would provide CIS citations to hearings and reports that are a part of a law’s documented history. These citations (e.g., H621-27 or S623-3) can be used in two ways; they can be used to look up a further description of the document in the appropriate year’s CIS Abstract volume or, more importantly, they can be used as a locator for finding the actual document on CIS microfiche. ³

Statutes at Large

Beginning in 1975, Statutes at Large provides a short list of legislative history documents at the end of each public law.

Legislative Histories 1984-Present

CIS Print Publications & Congressional Universe

In 1984, CIS began publishing a separate volume for CIS Annual Index and Abstracts entitled CIS Annual Legislative Histories of U.S. Public Laws which eliminated the need to search various sections or volumes of the set; all citation and description information that the service provides for finding a legislative history is found in one location of the volume. However, the publisher now has gone one step further by providing a database, Congressional Universe, which not only provides a more thorough list of legislative history documents, but also allows the researcher to instantly access most of those documents with the click of a mouse. Instant access is available on this service for most Congressional documents beginning 1984. Access to this database is available from the Samford University Library home page (click on Articles & More). (While legislative histories before 1984 are available on Congressional Universe as far back as the original annual printed volumes of 1970, the information provided online until 1984 requires the researcher to still consult the CIS microfiche or the CIS Abstract volume in order to locate the document). To access legislative histories from the home page of Congressional Universe, click on “CIS Index” as an initial step. Then the researcher will be given the option of accessing legislative histories by number (if you have the Public Law number, Statutes at Large citation or bill number) or by keyword (if you know the popular name of the act or the subject). The results should show you the names of any statutes or bills which meet your search criteria. You will then click on the title of the appropriate entry which should result in a screen display showing citations for a full legislative history of the bill or statute. It will also highlight most of these document citations, allowing the researcher to click for a full-text display. As a result, the search for documents in the federal legislative history process for this time period is almost effortless. This database is truly an innovation!

If you have any questions concerning how to find legislative history documents, please contact Ed Craig or Brenda Jones in the Law Library.

¹ In the event that the researcher does not have a bill number, what are they to do to get started during this publication period? One source of bill numbers is Statutes at Large where it can be found in the margin at the top of the statutory text. Also, Legislative Reference Checklist: The Key to Legislative Histories from 1789-1903 (KF49/.L43/1982) allows the researcher to find the bill number with a Statutes at Large or Public Law citation between 1789 and 1903.

² Samford University Library Government Documents holds many of these volumes, but according to their librarians, coverage is somewhat “spotty”. Birmingham Public Library, Central Branch holds this set back to the middle 1920's. The Government Documents sections at both UAB Sterne Library and University of Alabama’s Gorgas Library have the U.S. Serials Set and the American State Papers going back to the First Congress.

³ The Law Library holds CIS Index microfiche for years 1970-1986 and 1996 (available in the Multimedia Room, Room 031B). The CIS microfiche 1970 to current edition can be viewed in the Government Documents Department of Birmingham Public Library’s Central Branch.

The Law Library has begun receiving the new title:

Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics

The following journals have changed titles:

Cardozo Studies in Law & Literature is now Law & Literature.

Dickinson Journal of International Law is now Penn State International Law Review.

Journal of Corporate Taxation is now Corporate Taxation: CT.

There is a new link to “Symposium Issues” on the Law Library Serials Guide webpage : http://lawlib.samford.edu/serials/symposium.htm.

This page lists the titles of symposium issues of journals recently received in the Law Library. These issues can be found in the Periodicals section on the Lower Level shelved in alphabetical order by journal title.

Four new Dell laptops are now available for law students to check out at the Law Library’s Circulation Desk. These laptops are replacing the four Toshibas which are several years old and are slowing down. The operating system on the new laptops is Windows ME. The new laptops all have CD drives as well as floppy drives. A power cord, network cable, and headphones will be provided for checkout with all of the laptops. Students may access the Internet from the laptops by connecting the network cable to an outlet at any one of the Law Library’s carrels or conference rooms. Laptops may be checked out for three hours and may not leave the Law Library. Students may also print from the laptops to any of the printers in the three labs in the Law Library. Students’ print accounts will still be charged for printing.

Each laptop is loaded with the same software as computers in the Law Library labs: WordPerfect, Word, CALI, IE, Netscape, as well as many other programs. Logging in and shutting down work just like they do in the labs. Please report any problems you may experience while using the laptops to Grace Simms (glsimms@samford.edu.).

In the next few weeks, the Lower Level lab computers will be replaced by new Dell Optiplex GX240s. The operating system these computers use is Windows XP. Logging into an XP computer is a little different. Students will still need to type their user ID and password into the Novell login. A second login box will then pop up. The ID is Student and it will already be filled out in the second Novell login. Students will not need to type in a second password – just hit the enter key. New versions of Word and CALI will be installed on the new Dells. These computers will also be equipped with WordPerfect, Simeon, QuickTime, FTP, Adobe Acrobat Reader, IE, Netscape, WinZip, McAfee, as well as several other programs.

New HP Scanjet 4400c scanners will replace the older Plustek scanners in the Lower Level lab. The new scanners work well with XP and are easier to use. They may be used to scan text and images. New headphones will be placed in the Lower Level lab as well.

If you have any trouble with the new equipment or questions about how to use them, please contact Grace Simms (glsimms@samford.edu.). or C’helle Vann (dmvann@samford.edu.).

The Law Library staff sends e-mails regarding library information and e-mails that notify students about updates to our web page. For example, an e-mail is sent each month that announces an update to our Law Library Publications web page. This tells law students of the monthly Selected List of Recent Acquisitions that lists new titles added to our library collection. This bibliography has a subject index at the beginning that can help a user find the a new book on their needed topic. The web site is: http://lawlib.samford.edu/slral. Check it out!

Law students that need help setting up laptops for use in the Law Library should contact Grace Simms (glsimms@samford.edu.) or C'helle Vann (dmvann@samford.edu.).

Students may access the Internet at any of the Law Library's carrels. Please be sure the laptop is equipped with an ethernet card and network cable. Students will not be able to print from their own laptops to the lab printers. Save documents to a disk or CD and print them after logging into a Law Library Lab computer.

On Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the date that will live in infamy, folklorists from the Library of Congress hit the streets with sound recorders, collecting the half-thoughts and fears of a nation reeling from a major blow. On Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the date that inaugurated the most uncertain time since Pearl Harbor, the nation’s Library again put out the call for folklorists to record “man on the street” interviews. The Library of Congress has on exhibit material it has collected – photographs, drawings, Web sites, recordings and newspapers from around the world. An overview of their collection can be viewed at: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/911.

Philip Kennicott, Fragile Memory; When More Time Has Passed, How Will Sept. 11 Be Recalled?, Washington Post, September 11, 2002, LEXIS, News Library, News Group File.

One more issue of CHECK IT OUT will be published this semester. If you have any ideas or suggestions for articles, contact Becky Hutto at rmhutto@samford.edu. We welcome any new ideas!