The Holman Library has an excellent reference collection including many subject-specific encyclopedias, statistics books, etc. Reference books can provide excellent background information to help you narrow your topic. Two recommended reference books for Criminal Justice research are:

R 340.03 L496 2002 v. 1-4     Legal Systems of the World: a Political, Social, and Cultural Encyclopedia.  Each entry – the arrangement is alphabetical by country name – includes “Country [or General] Information,” “History,” “Legal Concepts,” “Specialized Judicial Bodies,” “Current Structure,” “Staffing,” and “Impact.”  Also includes topical essays such as “Capital Punishment” and “Prosecuting Authorities.”

 R 311.3 S819 2007     The Statesman’s Year Book.  An annual publication that provides concise and up-to-date information on all of the countries of the world.  The entries are arranged alphabetically, and the URLs for official government web sites are listed at the end of the “Current Administration” section.

 LOOKING FOR BOOKS?

• Find books located within the GRCC Library by searching the GRCC Library Catalog.

• Students at the Enumclaw and Kent campuses can request books be sent from the GRCC Library to the Enumclaw and Kent campus (http://www.greenriver.edu/library/libinfo/remote.htm).

• Books can be borrowed from other libraries by using the GRCC Library Interlibrary Loan service. Please ask at the circulation or reference desks at Holman Library. Allow approximately seven days for delivery.

The following two resources can be accessed from the library catalog:

World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems.  “Narrative descriptions of the criminal justice systems of 45 countries around the world.”  Forty of the essays were written in 1993; the other five in 2002.  Also available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/wfcj.htm.

 CIA World Factbook.  Detailed, thorough, and up-to-date information on every nation of the world.  Capsule descriptions of the world’s legal systems may be found at https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2100.html.

The following titles are available for overnight checkout in the library’s Reserve Collection:

 364 F461c 2005     Comparative and International Criminal Justice

340.2 G558c 1999     Comparative Legal Traditions

341.2422 F671e 2005     European Union Law

349.51 C552L 2003     Legal System of the People’s Republic of China

342.73087 C214a 2004     American Indian Law

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 LOOKING FOR ARTICLES?

You won't find articles by looking in the library catalog. Instead, you will need to search in some of the Research Databases which index journal articles. Some databases provide access to "full text" (complete) articles. Others simply provide the citation or abstract. In this case, check the Journals List to see if we subscribe to the journal or have it available in full text through another database. If not, consider ordering the article through the GRCC Library Interlibrary Loan service. Please ask at the circulation or reference desks. Allow approximately five days for delivery.

Your topic will determine the appropriate databases to search, but a good place to start is:

• Academic Search Premier Includes articles from magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals on a wide range of topics.

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SEARCHING THE WEB

Google (www.google.com) is the premier search engine on the Web, with the largest database, quickest response, and (usually) most relevant results.  Use the Advanced Search interface – accessible through the Advanced Search link to the right of the search line – for the best results.

 To search for a phrase (two or more words that have a specific meaning apart from the individual words themselves, such as criminal justice), enter it in the line following with the exact phrase.

 To limit your results by Domain, enter the domain suffix in the line following “Only return results from the site or domain.”  gov will limit your results to government web sites; org will limit your results to non-profit web sites; edu will limit your results to educational web sites (mainly colleges and universities).

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ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED WEB SITES

http://lib.law.washington.edu/research/research.html#for: a list of web-based legal resources on “Foreign Countries and International Organizations” compiled by the Gallagher Law Library at the University of Washington.  Recommended links include

 http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/services/research/guides/international/web_resources/: “ILS [International Legal Studies] Web sites” provided by Harvard Law School.  Scroll down to “Foreign Law” and use the alphabetical links to find individual countries.

 http://www.loc.gov/law/guide/index.html: a “Guide to Law Online” from the Library of Congress.  Click on Nations of the World for links to individual countries.

 http://www.findlaw.com/12international/countries/index.html: “Resources by Jurisdiction” from FindLaw, a major provider of legal information on the Internet.

 http://www.law.uh.edu/libraries/fi/foreignlaw.html: sources of “Foreign Primary Law on the Web” (many of them not in English) collected by the O’Quinn Law Library at the University of Houston.

http://wings.buffalo.edu/law/bclc/resource.htm: “Criminal Law Resources on the Internet” linked alphabetically by country name.  Maintained by the Buffalo Criminal Law Center.

 http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/crimjust/stats.htm#international: a compilation of web sites (from Michigan State University) that provide “Non-U.S. or International Crime Statistics.”

 www.state.gov: the web site for the U.S. Department of State.  For a list of countries where travel may be dangerous, click on the Travel & Business tab just below the header and then click on Travel Warnings, the second item in the list of links on the left.  Note the link to Consular Information Sheets; many of these include information on “Safety and Security.”  Travel warnings are also linked from http://travel.state.gov.

 www.humanrightswatch.org: click on “Info by Country” in the menu on the left for an assessment of human rights progress (or lack thereof).

 http://devdata.worldbank.org/wdi2005/table2_5.htm: tabular data on poverty rates from the World Bank.

 http://www.worldbank.org/research/projects/edattain/edattain.htm: statistics on educational attainment (linked by country and year) from the World Bank.

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Accessing GRCC Libraries remotely

Students doing library research remotely (e.g.: from home or from the Kent and Enumclaw campuses) should be able to access most of the electronic sources that can be accessed in the library. However, in order to access restricted sources (e.g.: Expanded Academic ASAP database), you must enter your student identification number. If you are experiencing problems, contact the reference desk for assistance at (253) 833-9111 ext. 2091.

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