General Bibliographic Sources

Abstract

This chapter examines general bibliographic sources. In developing a search strategy, an awareness of general bibliographic tools and online searching strategies and procedures is useful. Just as each book is indexed and organized differently, each online database works differently. These differences factor into the development of search strategies. In addition, almost any research project will employ library catalogs and bibliographies. Library catalogs may include the collection of a single library or of many libraries, and bibliographies range widely in scope and size. National bibliographies are an important research resource, and those that cover discrete periods of time are often very useful. Meanwhile, many publishers, historical societies, scholars, libraries, and individuals have created websites that contain material of interest to legal researchers. When considering such sites, researchers should think about how to locate them, how reliable they are, whether they will exist in the future, and how they can be used.