Year: 2005

Check out today’s Wisconsin State Journal – Daybreak section – for an article about free wireless Internet access at the Madison Public Library’s Central branch. According to the article, the Central Library has offered access since the first week of January. Eight other Madison branches are expected to offer access by the end of March. …

Not exactly news – it’s been around as long as Google itself. But did you know that Google Uncle Sam is a specialized tool for searching government (.gov) and military (.mil) web sites? Google Uncle Sam is one of the tools I use when I search for information that I’m guessing is out there on …

The February issue of the MBA Messenger contains experts from a statistical report prepared by the Milwaukee County Clerk of Court Administrative Support Division staff. According to the report, Milwaukee Co. Circuit Court experienced a 6.8% decrease in total cases filed between 199-2003. For breakdowns by division, see the full article.

Not exactly your typical legislative history. Odd Wisconsin gives us another tale of bloodshed – this time from Wisconsin’s own territorial legislature. Frustration and animosity is said to be running high among legislators these days, but at least they’re not shooting each other. That’s what happened on February 11, 1842, during a dispute in the …

It is an interesting time in the legal publishing industry – Big Guys (Lexis, Westlaw) v. Little Guys (Loislaw, Versuslaw, etc.) & Print v. Online. This month’s issue of Washington Lawyer has an excellent article entitled, Web Wars: Online Legal Research at the Crossroads which offers some insights on the status of the legal publishing …

How do the top search engines stack up? What type of content do they search? What are their features? Infopeople has recently updated its useful Best Search Tools Chart. In addition to providing information about the contents of search tools such as Google, Yahoo, Teoma, etc., the chart advises searchers of available Boolean connectors (and, …

The Legislative Reference Bureau has recently published three guides to Wisconsin legislators in their Wisconsin Briefs series. Compensation of Wisconsin Legislators (Brief 05-2) Profile of the 2005 Wisconsin Legislature (Brief 05-3) Wisconsin Women Legislators – A Historical List (Brief 05-5)

As anyone who has performed this type of research knows, searching for government information can be tricky. But thanks to Government Information Online (GIO), it just got a little easier. GIO is a national pilot project that will connect users online with reference librarians who are knowledgeable about government information. To initiate a live chat, …

The Legislative Reference Bureau has prepared some information publications about Wisconsin officers and electronic officials. The first is a listing of state officers with contact information. The second offers brief biographical information about each state officer. The third is a listing of salaries for Wisconsin’s elected officials.

Today’s Odd Wisconsin reminds us that things sometimes got a bit heated – and bloody – on the floor of the U.S. Congress back in the 1800s. A bloody melee broke out on February 8, 1858, that brought fame to Wisconsin congressman John F. Potter . The House was engaged that day in a heated …