HEALTH, LAW,
BUSINESS, &
GOVERNMENT
RESOURCES
Paige Asmann
LI 802
OBJECTIVES:
 Explain the difference between the ALA RUSA and the ALA BRASS
 Be able to identify at least two key business or health databases
 Be more familiar with resources listed both in the Government Printing Office
(GPO), and other government resources including information on all three
branches of the government: legislative, judicial and executive
 Identify basic types of legal resources including legal texts, journals, and electronic
databases
 Distinguish between primary and secondary resources used in legal research
 Without having prior knowledge of the databases presented, answer a question
in one of the areas covered using a new resource
LEGAL RESOURCES
 Primary Legal Sources
 Categories of legal texts created by legislative bodies, courts, and
agencies that taken together are the legal authorities that constitute
"the law."
Ex: statutes, codes, cases, regulations
 Secondary Legal Sources
 Resources that comment on the law or help a researcher find or
interpret the law, and which may influence a legal outcome, but do
not control the outcome.
Ex: treatises, law journal articles, annotations
LEGAL DATABASES AND INDEXES
 Lexis Nexis
 Provides customers with access to billions of searchable
documents and records from more than 45,000 databases of
case law, state and federal statutes, administrative codes,
newspaper and magazine articles, public records, law journals,
law reviews, treatises, legal forms and other information
resources
 Westlaw
 Information resources on Westlaw include more than 40,000
databases of case law, state and federal statutes, administrative
codes, newspaper and magazine articles, public records, law
journals, law reviews, treatises, legal forms and other
information resources
LEGAL DICTIONARIES &
ENCYCLOPEDIAS
 Blacks Law
 the most cited legal dictionary in print
 West’s Encyclopedia of American Law
 West's Encyclopedia of American Law provides current
information on more than 5,000 legal topics in 13
volumes. This authoritative reference includes completely
revised articles covering important issues, biographies,
definitions of legal terms and more. Legal issues are fully
discussed in easy-to-understand language
LEGAL ONLINE RESOURCES
 Thomas (Library of Congress) Classification and
Subjects
 The leadership of the 104th Congress directed the
Library of Congress to make federal legislative
information freely available to the public. The scope of its
offerings include Bills, Resolutions, Activity in Congress,
Congressional Record, Schedules, Calendars,
Committee Information, Presidential Nominations,
Treaties, Government Resources.
LEGAL TREATISES
 A scholarly legal publication containing all the law relating
to a particular area. There is no fixed usage on what books
qualify as a "legal treatise," with the term being used broadly
to define books written for practicing attorneys and judges,
textbooks for law students, and explanatory texts for
laypersons
 Restatements of Law
 A set of treatises on legal subjects that seek to
inform judges and lawyers about general principles of
common law.
QUESTION 1
What is the most legally cited dictionary in print?
A. White’s Law
B. West’s Encyclopedia of American Law
C. Black’s Law
D. Restatements of Law
Answer: C
HEALTH DICTIONARIES
 Stedman’s Medical Dictionary 28th Ed.
 Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary 31st Ed.
 Melloni’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary
 Black’s Medical Dictionary – British dictionary of medical terminology
 Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary –medical terminology, tables,
illustrations. “Feature Finder” helps locate a particular anatomical part
 Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science and Medicine
 Lexikon: Dictionary of Health Care Terms, Oraganizations, and
Acronyms
 Current Med Talk –medical terms, slang and jargon
HEALTH ENCYCLOPEDIAS
 General:
 The American Medical Association Family Medical Guide
 Magill’s Medical Guide: Health and Illness
 Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine
 Specialized:
 Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine
 Encyclopedia of Cancer
 The Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine
 Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine
HEALTH HANDBOOKS AND
MANUALS:
Handbook of Clinical Drug Data
Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment
2000
Lippincott’s Cancer Chemotherapy
Handbook
American Handbook of Psychiatry
The Alternative Medicine Handbook
HEALTH DATABASES AND INDEXES:
 PubMed
 EMBASE
 Health Reference Center Academic
 Health and Wellness Resource Center
 Health Source
 CINAHL
 Dialog
 Medline
HEALTH INFORMATION SITES:
 MedlinePlus
 www.cancer.gov and www.cancer.org
 www.drugdigest.org
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health
 www.library.nhs.uk
 BMJ (British Medical Journal)
 The Lancet
 The WWW Virtual Library: Medicine and Health
 Internet Public Library’s Health and Medical Science Resources
 BUBL LINK
 Hardin Meta Directory
HEALTH STATISTICS:
Atlas of United States Mortality
AHA Hospital Statistics
Statistical Record of Health and
Medicine
The National Center for Health
Statistics
QUESTION 2
PubMed is what kind of resource?
A. Encyclopedia
B. Handbook
C. Dictionary
D. Database
Answer: D
BUSINESS DATABASES
AND INDEXES:
ABI/INFORM Complete (ProQuest)
Business Full Text (Wilson)
EBSCO’s Business Source
Factiva (formerly Dow Jones Interactive)
Gale’s Business and Company ProFile ASAP
Mergent Online
BUSINESS DICTIONARIES
 Barron’s Educational Series Dictionary of Accounting
 Barron’s Educational Series Dictionary of Business Terms
 Barron’s Educational Series Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms
 Barron’s Educational Series Dictionary of Insurance
 Barron’s Educational Series Dictionary of International Business Terms
 Barron’s Educational Series Dictionary of Marketing Terms
 Business Dictionary – free online at www.businessdictionary.com
 The Economist Series Dictionary of Business
 The Economist Series International Dictionary of Finance
 Oxford University Press’s A Dictionary of Business and Management
BUSINESS DIRECTORIES AND
HANDBOOKS:
 Brands and Their Companies – part of the Gale Directory Library,








subscription database
Hoover’s Handbook of American Business – online paid subscription
Hoover’s Handbook of Emerging Companies – online paid subscription
Hoover’s Handbook of Private Companies – online paid subscription
Hoover’s Handbook of World Business – online paid subscription
LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations “Who Owns Whom” – CD-ROM titled
LexisNexis CorporateAffiliations PLUS and as a fee-based online
subscription
Standard & Poor’s Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives –
online paid subscription
Thomas Register of American Manufacturers – free online
Thomas Register of Global Manufacturers – free online
BUSINESS INVESTMENT GUIDES:
 Big Charts – free online
 Street.com Ratings Guides on Banks and Thrifts
 Street.com Ratings Guides on Bond and Money Market Mutual Funds
 Street.com Ratings Guides on Common Stocks
 Street.com Ratings Guides on Exchange Traded Funds
 Street.com Ratings Guides on Health Insurers
 Street.com Ratings Guides on Life and Annuity Insurers
 Street.com Ratings Guides on Property and Casualty Insurers
 Street.com Ratings Guides on Stock Mutual funds
 Street.com Ratings Guides Ultimate Guided Tour of Stock Investing
 Value Line Investment Survey – online paid subscription
 Yahoo! Finance – free online
AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION /
REFERENCE AND USER SERVICES
ASSOCIATION
 The Reference and User Services Association is
responsible for stimulating and supporting excellence in the
delivery of general library services and materials, and the
provision of reference and information services, collection
development, readers’ advisory, and resource sharing for all
ages, in every type of library http://www.ala.org/rusa/
BUSINESS REFERENCE
AND SERVICE SECTION
BRASS is the Business Reference
and Services Section of ALA's
Reference & User Services Association
(RUSA).
http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/brass
BUSINESS REFERENCE AND
SERVICES SECTION (CONT.)
 Selected Core Resources
 Accounting
 Advertising and Marketing
 Banking
 Company and Industry Research
 Insurance
 International Business
 Investment and Finance
 Jobs and Human Resources
 Small Business
 Taxation
BUSINESS REFERENCE AND SERVICE
SECTION (CONT.)

Best of the Best Business Websites (Free Resources)

Accounting and Taxation

Advertising and Marketing

American Corporations

Banking

Business Ethics

Economics

Electronic Commerce

Financial Markets and Investments

General Management

Hospitality

Human Resource Management and Labor Relations

Insurance

International Business

MIS and Knowledge Management

Real Estate

Small Business
QUESTION 3
Which is NOT a selected core resource topic of The Business and Services
Section of the ALA’s Reference and User Services Association?
A. Accounting
B. Company and Industry
C. International Business
D. Real Estate
Answer: D
GOVERNMENT RESOURCES: GPO
(U.S. GOVERNMNET PRINTING
OFFICE))
 Accessible from only certain libraries if you do not have
internet access: (KS listings)
http://catalog.gpo.gov/fdlpdir/FDLPdir.jsp?flag=searchp&st_1
2=KS
 Browse through collections:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectiontab.action
 Information on topics such as health, business, careers, the
military, science, technology, travel, nutrition, and more
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING
OFFICE (CONT.)
 Contains:
 Books, maps, microfiche, journals, periodicals, and more
 Historical publications dating back to the early days of
the republic
 Expert reference assistance from Government
information librarians
 Access to online Government information resources
 A network of librarians to facilitate access to materials
located at other libraries
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING
OFFICE (CONT.)
Manages publications of all three branches of
the federal government, including Congress,
the White House and other federal agencies,
and courts.
Documents are available from two types of
sources: Federal depository libraries and the
Federal Digital System (online).
ADDITIONAL GOVERNMENT
DOCUMENTS
 USA.gov: free access to government information
 Library of Congress, Thomas: congressional bills past and present, the
Congressional Record and other information on Congress.
 CIA World Factbook: provides information on the history, people, govt,
economy, geography, communications, transportation, military &
transnational issues of 267 countries.
 Library of Congress: houses the reference library for the Congress,
however anyone can use it. Collections include: American History, Arts &
Culture, Govt, Politics & Law, Maps & Geography, News & Journalism,
Religion & Philosophy, Science, Technology & Business, Sports & Leisure,
World History & Cultures
 The United States House of Representatives: directory of representatives,
committees, legislative activity
QUESTION 4
What does G.P.O. stand for?
A. Government Printing Office
B. Government Publishing Office
C. Government Production Office
D. Government Printing Organization
Answer: A
OBJECTIVES:
 Explain the difference between the ALA RUSA and the ALA BRASS
 Be able to identify at least two key business or health databases
 Be more familiar with resources listed both in the Government Printing Office
(GPO), and other government resources including information on all three
branches of the government: legislative, judicial and executive
 Identify basic types of legal resources including legal texts, journals, and electronic
databases
 Distinguish between primary and secondary resources used in legal research
 Without having prior knowledge of the databases presented, answer a question
in one of the areas covered using a new resource