Jenkins Blog

American Association of Law Libraries (AALL)

December 17, 2019

Understanding Legal Search Algorithms

Ever wonder why the same search across different legal databases can produce results with different relevancy rankings? It's because of the unique algorithms each database uses. In order for researchers to better understand how the databases cultivate their specific algorithms, representatives from...

Statutes

December 12, 2019

Purdon's Master Disposition Table

Since 1970, the Pennsylvania legislature has worked on a project to group all of the Pennsylvania statutes by subject. The project consolidates the laws into Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes (Pa.C.S.) titles that are organized by subject. Prior to 1970, all Pennsylvania statutes were...

HeinOnline

December 10, 2019

Celebrating International Human Rights Day, 2019

“[R]ecognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…” These words, from the first sentence of the Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , embody the spirit of...

Court Rules

December 5, 2019

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Criminal Rules - Rescission, Amendment and Adoption

President Judge General Court Regulation No. 14 of 2019 rescinds, amends and adopts Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Criminal Court Rules. The changes went into effect December 2, 2019. To take a look, see President Judge General Court Regulation No. 14 of 2019 (clean version begins on p. 57 of...

News & Events

December 3, 2019

Amendments to Pennsylvania's Telemarketer Registration Act

Today, December 3, 2019, the amendments to Pennsylvania's Telemarketer Registration Act go into effect. Act 73 of 2019 amends the 1996 Act by "further providing for definitions, for unlawful acts and penalties, for blocking of caller identification and other telemarketing screening products or...

Statutes

November 26, 2019

It’s Back: Unofficial Purdon’s Pennsylvania Statutes from Westlaw!

Many legal researchers - whether attorneys, law librarians, or self-represented litigants - may have noticed that the Unofficial Purdon’s Pennsylvania Statutes from Westlaw website was temporarily unavailable this year. Jenkins is happy to spread the news that, thanks to the Pennsylvania...

Philadelphia Bar Association (PBA)

November 25, 2019

Low-Income Tenants’ Right to Counsel in Philadelphia

UPDATE: On November 14th, Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed the Legal Representation in Landlord Tenant Court bill, making Philadelphia the fifth city in the nation to pass such historic legislation. According to a press release from the Philadelphia Bar Association , Chancellor Rochelle...

HeinOnline

November 21, 2019

HeinOnline LibGuides Offer Collection Specific Tips

HeinOnline is a great resource with many collections, including the Law Journal Library , Code of Federal Regulations , Legal Classics , Session Laws Library , U.S. Congressional Documents , and more. To help users navigate these collections, HeinOnline developed database specific guides using the...

Westlaw

November 19, 2019

Happy Birthday to the ALR!

Congratulations to the authors and editors of the American Law Reports (ALR) on its 100-year anniversary. The first article of this unique legal resource was published in 1919. Many articles, several series and hundreds of volumes later, this set continues to help researchers today. The attorney-...

Legal Dictionaries

November 14, 2019

Understanding the Editions of the Oxford English Dictionary, Part 2

On Tuesday we explored the history of the Oxford English Dictionary from its 1857 origins to the publication of the Second Edition in 1989 . Though the Second Edition is the last edition available in print , the OED is continuously being updated on its online platform . In fact, not only are new...

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