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The Latest on Legal Research

Tara Calishain is the co-author of Official Netscape Guide to Internet Research, 2nd Edition, and author or co-author of four other books. She is the owner of CopperSky Writing & Research.

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COLD


COLD, the California On-Line Directory at http://www.cold.ca.gov, is
dedicated to providing California citizens better access to the information and services of state government. From this site, citizens are invited to download a state organizational chart that includes the name, title and telephone number of contacts within each  state's agency.

The Directory also features White Pages and Yellow Pages searching on the lower portion of the page. (There's also a very short "red pages" download, with information on what to do in an emergency and how to contact state agencies.) Use the White Pages if you are looking for contact information of a state employee. Search options include last name with first name, the last name
alone, or the first four characters of the last name. Search results provide the employee's name, agency, city and phone numbers as well as an e-mail address if available.

The Yellow Pages provide details of each state agency. Click on the Agency Information Selector for a drop-down menu of agency names. The selected agency will open with an extensive list of names and contact information including information on people within sub-divisions. Not quite sure about which state agency to search? Use the Yellow Pages' Keyword search tool. My search for car registration took me straight to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

SEC Releases CEO, CFO List

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has posted, at
http://www.sec.gov/rules/extra/ceocfo.htm, the list of companies from which it wants CEO/CFO sworn statements. The CEO group is listed first, followed by the CFO list. You can browse the entire list or narrow your search alphabetically. Additional columns provide due dates, received dates and, if available, the statement in Exhibit A form. (Most of the corporations' statements are due on August 14, so there's not a lot here yet.) The date received is a link to the actual documentation, which can be downloaded as a Adobe Acrobat PDF file.

LC Authorities

The Library of Congress has an Authorities file posted at http://authorities.loc.gov/. This database includes over 5 million name authority records and 265,000 subject authority records with references and scope notes. The service has recently been released to the public for free access as a trial and they are still resolving a few system problems. You will get more details on the known problems and what is not included when you access Search Authorities from the front page.

Authority Headings can be searched by Subject, Name, Title or Name/Title. Searching tips are listed on the search page. Names are searched with last name first, such as Hitchcock Alfred. The listed records indicate which are Authorized Headings and how many bibliographic records are under each heading. Records include a LCCN and the fields listed by number. A selected
record can be printed, saved or e-mailed.

LA County Will Post Sex Offender Locations

Reuters News Agency: July 31, 2002. The Los Angeles County Web site will soon start posting a Regional Sex Offender Pin Map. The map will indicate, within a half-block radius, the residence of sex offenders after being released from prison. Concerned residents would then be able to obtain more information on the offender by going to the sheriff's station. Read the whole story at http://makeashorterlink.com/?V24E12C61.

Citation Styles

Online! has a page of citation styles online at
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/citex.html. Styles include MLA, APA, Chicago and CBE. Each style details citing information from such Internet locations as Web sites and discussion forums as well as newsgroup, listserv or e-mail messages. Citing of Telnet, FTP and gopher sites are also included. Each headings lists the information that should be included and then illustrates the proper format.

Spyonit.com On Hiatus

Monitoring site Spyonit.com (http://www.spyonit.com) went on hiatus as of July 26. The site, according to a spokeswoman, is overhauling the underlying architecture and doing some site maintenance.

At the moment they're targeting late fall of this year for a relaunch. There are no plans to reopen the Spyonit developer's program (unfortunately). Nor are there any plans to charge for the program; this is just a maintenance
closing.

NoodleBib 3.0 Launches in Beta


NoodleBib 3.0 launched in Beta on July 22, and will be available free as a beta product until the end of August.

NoodleBib is available at http://www.noodletools.com/members/noodlebib3; you'll need
to use the name "guest" and the password "guest" for the free beta period. You'll have to have JavaScript enabled for NoodleBib to work.

What NoodleBib does is create MLA or APA-style source lists. Don't bother to try it with Opera; NoodleBib says it has "issues" with Opera and boy does it. Mozilla seems okay.

You start the process by choosing a citation type (MLA or APA.) Once you do that you'll be presented with a page with a menu across the top. Use the menu to choose what you want to cite (you have over a dozen choices, divided into
categories.)

Once you've made your choice NoodleBib walks you through a wizard where you answer several questions about the item you're citing. NoodleBib then returns you to the front page with the item, in properly cited format, on your list. From the Options menu at the top of the main page you can save
your bibliography, e-mail it, change the header, save it, or create a new one. Simple to use, worth at least an exploration during this free period.