Legislative Histories - Compiled and Ready to Use

HeinOnline, known for its extensive collection of law reviews, has branched out into compiled federal legislative histories.

A compiled legislative history reproduces the full text of key Congressional documents, saving researchers the time and effort of having to find and copy the documents themselves. Many compiled legislative histories also include an introductory essay tracing the development of the law in question.

HeinOnline is launching their "U.S. Federal Legislative History Library" with a small but impressive collection of histories that covers: the ADA; ERISA; the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; NAFTA; the USA PATRIOT Act; the Copyright Acts of 1909 and 1976, and copyright legislation of the 105th Congress; and the Clean Air Act. HeinOnline plans to add dozens more compiled legislative histories soon.

The Federal Legislative History Library also includes "Sources of Compiled Legislative History Database," a digital version of Nancy Johnson's Sources of Compiled Legislative History (available in print at the Zief Library, KF 42.2 1979 Law Reference Desk). This tool lists existing legislative histories, and gives full citations so that you can find them in the Zief Library or another library.

Related to the Legislative History Library is HeinOnline's new "U.S. Statutes at Large Library." U.S. Statutes at Large is the official chronological publication of U.S. federal legislation (and also includes many important foreign and Indian treaties.)

All these new HeinOnline products use HeinOnline's new "Lucerne" search engine — which will soon be available for all other HeinOnline materials (including their popular law review library)

USF researchers have access to HeinOnline both on and off campus. To use the compiled legislative histories, first connect via the HeinOnline start page. Select the "U.S. Federal Legislative History Library" link and then the "U.S. Federal Legislative History Title Collection" link.