Starting July 1, the Law Library will offer its patrons two new databases from EBSCO: Legal Information Reference Center and Legal Source. Legal Information Reference Center offers access to almost 300 self-help legal titles, including many that are part of the library’s print self-help collection, in a digital format that features downloadable forms. Users can browse popular sources or search by category. Categories include: Business & Corporations; Family Affairs & Divorce; Immigration & Travel; Money & Financial Planning; Patents, Copyright & Trademarks; Property & Real Estate; Rights & Disputes; and Wills & Estate Planning.
The Legal Information Reference Center also features Legal Forms by U.S. State. For Texas, this means that users will have access to forms available from Texas courts as well as federal district courts located throughout the state. Users can also browse through more than 20,000 popular multi-state legal forms.
In addition to the Legal Information Reference Center, the Law Library will offer access to Legal Source, an extensive collection of full-text journals and other research documents. The collection includes open access journals as well as peer-reviewed non-open access journals and full-text law reviews. Subjects include: administrative law, business law, constitutional law, criminal law, estate planning, family law, landlord/tenant law, probate, and much more.
Searching the databases is easy. Just enter your keywords (or choose from the suggested keywords that pop up once you begin typing) and click on on the Search button. Users can also employ the Advanced Search feature by entering keywords and selecting the fields that they want to search, such as author, title, subject terms, and text. Users can also limit their searches to specific publications and document types and publication dates.
These databases will be available on all public computers in the library. Remote access is also available. Click here for access to the Legal Information Reference Center and here for access to Legal Source. If anyone has questions about the databases or how to access them, please contact us by Ask(ing) a Librarian.