Top Ten Court Websites announced
Justice Served looked at over 900 websites worldwide to select this year's Top Ten sites. And the winners (including one WI site) are …

Cases at a Glance
Cases at a Glance provides a brief statement of issues for cases to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. Once the decision has been handed down, a link to its full text is provided. Coverage dates from 1999.

New WI AG opinions issued
Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager has issued two formal opinions. They are available on the DOJ website. At some point the opinions will be added to the Revisor of Statutes Bureau's OAG database.

Tap the Power
Each month Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau staff compile an annotated bibliography on a specific topic. These materials are available at LRB's library and are often available on the web. Recent Tap the Power bibliographies include: Aging Parents: Resources for Caregivers; Concealed Weapons; Health Care Workforce Needs; and Privacy, Civil Rights, & Homeland Security. For a complete list of bibliographies, visit the Tap the Power webpage. For more information about the LRB collection, visit their library catalog.

Legal Scholarship Repository established
In mid-October, NELLCO (New England Law Library Consortium) announced its Legal Scholarship Repository, a scholarly publishing initiative to provide free access to working papers, reports, lecture series, etc. To date, faculty from five law schools (Cornell, Yale, Fordham, Suffolk, and University of Connecticut) have posted papers. Learn more about the repository in this press release.

The Founders' Constitution
The Founders' Constitution, a 5 volume set edited by Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner and published by University of Chicago, is now available online. This annotated Constitution includes numerous primary source materials. View it online or use WSLL’s print copy at call number KF4502 .F68 1987.
Many documents important to American constitutional history are also provided as part of the Avalon Project at Yale Law School.

With Football Season in full swing...
Just how much do those NFL players make? Find salaries for the 2000 through 2002 seasons... and more.

If Reading is your interest...
Project Gutenberg has just released its 10,000th free electronic book. Books in the project are generally published pre-1923 and include a variety of authors such as: Aesop, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Darwin, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sigmund Freud, T.S. Eliot, Hermann Hesse, Harry Houdini, James Joyce, Shakespeare, Sophocles, and hundreds more. Non-fiction, such as the Human Genome Project, is also included. Search by author or title, or view a complete list.

Having Fun with Windows
PCWorld.com contains dozens of tips and tricks for using Windows. Here are a few favorites you may wish to incorporate into the computing skills you use every day.

Utilize the Windows Key. The Windows Key is located on the bottom row of your keyboard and has the Windows icon or symbol on it. It can be used alone or in combination with other keys to fly through Windows tasks. Some examples: the Windows key used alone will open the Start Menu. Press Windows-F1 to display Help; Windows-E to open Windows Explorer and (most helpful) Windows-M to minimize all Windows in a flash.

Get a better view on the Web. You can quickly maximize your screen view by pressing the F11 key. This shrinks the toolbars and hides the taskbar leaving extra space for the webpage you are viewing. In Internet Explorer, the address bar is also hidden but the Netscape browser displays the address bar, as well as the navigation tools. Click F11 again to go back to your normal view.

Take a shortcut to your favorite application or file. Windows allows you to create a keyboard shortcut to open applications or files. This trick takes several steps, but it is well worth the effort. Here’s how I created a keyboard shortcut to open Microsoft Word.

1. Right mouse click on the Start button in the lower left corner of your screen, and click Open.
2. Double click on the Programs folder to open it.
3. Create a new folder within the Programs folder. To do this, right mouse click anywhere in the folder box and choose New, then Folder; OR use the folder’s pull down File menu, choose New, then Folder.
4. Give the new folder a Name. PC World suggests Keyboard Shortcuts.
5. Using the right mouse button, drag the desired application or file into the Keyboard Shortcuts folder, and choose “Create shortcut(s) here” from the menu that appears. For example, drag the Microsoft Word icon from your desktop onto the folder icon. This will create a shortcut icon in the folder.
6. Now open the new Keyboard Shortcuts folder (double click on it), right mouse click on the Shortcut icon and click on Properties. Under the “Shortcuts” tab in the Properties window, you will see a field called “Shortcut key.” Initially, this field says “None.”
7. Place your cursor in the “shortcut key” field, and press either the Ctrl or the Alt key and any letter on the keyboard. For example, Ctrl m to open Microsoft Word.
8. Click the Apply button at the bottom of the box, then click OK.

Now you can open Word by keystroke; in this case, by pressing Ctrl + Alt + m.

Hint: instead of choosing a Ctrl + Alt sequence, you can choose a function key or number from your number pad and shorten the keyboard shortcut to just one key, such as F1, or number 7.

Send your suggestions for future legal research Tech Tips to the editor.

The Dane County Law Library has a new name! On September 29 a press conference was held to announce the renaming of the Dane County Law Library. The new name, Dane County Legal Resource Center, was chosen because it better reflects the services provided to the citizens of Dane County.

State Law Librarian Jane Colwin was invited by the American Association of Law Libraries Access to Electronic Information Committee to serve as a court website evaluator at the 8th National Court Technology Conference (CTC8) sponsored by the National Center for State Courts. The law librarians provided interested court personnel with tips, ideas and feedback on how to keep their court websites informative, user-friendly and responsive to citizens' needs.

Jane also presented a workshop entitled Using the Internet for Legal Research at the Wisconsin Judicial Conference held at Chula Vista in the Wisconsin Dells, October 15-17.

Connie Von Der Heide, Reference/Outreach Services Librarian, teamed up with Paula Seeger, Dane County Legal Resource Center Librarian, to present the program Legal Research: How to Find and Understand Legal Information in Wisconsin at four locations in the Madison area in October. The classes are designed for people with little or no legal background or understanding of legal concepts. The class will be offered again at the City County Building, 210 MLK, Jr. Blvd. in downtown Madison on Tuesday, December 9. Call 608-266-6316 for more information and to register.

The staff of the State Law Library extends a warm welcome to our new neighbors, the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB). In October the LRB moved right across the street into what was WSLL’s temporary location (from December 1999 until January 2002). The LRB’s new address is One East Main Street, Suite 200.

NEW CLASS: Wisconsin Briefs Online
Wednesday November 5, 2003 8:30-9:30 a.m.
Streamline your search for briefs! This class covers Wisconsin Briefs available on the Internet. Learn how to identify the briefs filed in an appellate case, as well as basic searching techniques and TIFF file manipulation.
FREE Class. Registration is limited to 8.

Using Wisconsin Legal Resources on the Internet
Wednesday November 19, 2003 8:30 a.m. – Noon
This popular half day hands-on course focuses entirely on locating and using web-based Wisconsin legal and government information. It is appropriate for attorneys, paralegals, and legal assistants.
Fee: $125.00. Registration is limited to 8. CLE credits applied for.

NEW CLASS: Help! I Need a Law Review Article
Wednesday December 3, 2003 8:30-9:30 a.m.
The key to finding legal articles is knowing where to look. Learn about print and electronic resources available at the State Law Library, and find out what is and isn’t available on the Internet. Explore two full text databases, HeinOnLine and Wisconsin's own BadgerLink. Delve into Shepardizing law review articles and searching periodical indexes such as LegalTrac.
FREE Class. Registration is limited to 8.

Odds 'n' Endings -- Connie Von Der Heide

Notables for November

November 4: Election Day (USA). Always the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Title 2 U.S. Code, section 7

November 11: Veterans Day. Observed on the anniversary of the signing of the World War I Armistice in 1918.

November 19: Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, 1863.

November 27: Thanksgiving Day. Observed the 4th Thursday in November. Learn more about the history of the Thanksgiving holiday, the annual presidential pardon of the turkey, and other turkey facts from the folks at InfoPlease.com.

150 Million and Growing
comScore Media Metrix, an Internet audience measurement service, has reported that in September of this year, the total number of U.S. Internet users passed the 150 million mark for the first time ever. Further, the total amount of time spent by Americans on the Internet grew by 3 percent that month, although September is one day, or 3 percent, shorter than August. The increase in time spent online is attributed almost entirely to the university population returning to campus and their computers. For more, see the October 21 press release.