EBSCO is part of the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM). ELM resources are licensed by the MINITEX Library Information Network with state appropriations to the Minnesota Higher Education Services Office (MHESO) and the Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning.

• Academic Search Premier (academic journals covering biology, chemistry, education, engineering, humanities, physics, psychology, religion, sociology, etc)
• Business Source Premier (scholarly journals covering marketing, management, accounting, finance, economics, etc.)
• Regional Business News (regional business publications such as St. Paul Legal Ledger, Minnesota Lawyer, and Finance and Commerce)
• MasterFILE Premier (general reference, business, health, education, general science, etc.)

The EBSCO databases are available in the Law Library on the public computers or through remote access for subscribers with a barcode.

Go to the Nonlegal Journal Indexes page for a more detailed description of what is contained in each of these databases, and for information on getting a barcode.

HCLL now offers access to HeinOnline, an expanding database of legal information that includes four major library collections:

• The Law Journal Library (full text of over 500 legal journals since their inception)
• The Federal Register Library (full text from 1936-1995 with 1996-2000 coming soon)
• The Treaties and Agreements Library, including the full text of both official and unofficial sources as well as indexes
• The U.S. Supreme Court Library (U.S. Reports images of court opinions from 1754 to date)

All of these libraries are image-based and fully searchable, meaning that they provide full text search capability and exact page images that enable the researcher to view all pages as they originally appeared in hardcopy, including all charts, graphs and photographs.

The Law Journal Library includes pre-1980 journals that are not generally available on Westlaw or Lexis.  The collection navigation panel allows the user to retrieve articles by citation, author, title or keywords or phrases in the full text.

The Federal Register Library also allows researchers to perform key word searches of administrative rules, proposed rules, notices of federal agencies and organizations, and executive orders and other presidential documents.  Some online services provide post-1980 coverage of the Federal Register (mostly in text format), but only HeinOnline provides coverage from the 1936 inception of the Federal Register in both an image-based and searchable formats.

HeinOnline’s Treaties and Agreements Library includes all treaties to which the United States is a party -- whether currently in-force treaties, expired treaties, or yet-to-be published treaties, plus explanatory documents issued by the Department of State spelling out the ramifications of each as they are officially published.  This collection includes the official United States Treaties and Other International Agreements set (commonly referred to as “the blue set.”), the Treaties and International Acts Series (TIAS), and all unpublished treaties that the publisher has been able to obtain through the Freedom of Information Act.  The Library also includes earlier treaty sets (such as Bevans’ Treaties and Other International Agreements), treaty guides and indexes (including the complete set of Treaties in Force).  Multiple searching options enable the researcher to search for a treaty using a number of criteria, including treaty number, country, parties to the agreement and signature date.

The U.S. Supreme Court Library provides an image-based, fully-searchable backfile of all the official U.S. Reports volumes and all preliminary print volumes and slip opinions, which remain in the database even after they have been published in the official bound volumes.

HeinOnline’s intuitive, web-browser-based user interface is designed to be used with very little training.  Documents can be printed or downloaded.  There is no direct e-mail function.

HeinOnline is available at no charge on the public computers in the Law Library. Remote access is available via the HCLL Web page (click on Legal Journal Indexes) to subscribers from law firms of fewer than 50 attorneys. Contact the Reference Desk at 612-348-2903 for further information, or e-mail ll.reference@co.hennepin.mn.us.

Start with Minnesota Statutes chapter 145C for the Minnesota requirements.  For answers to frequently asked questions, try the Minnesota Senior Federation site or the Minnesota Department of Health site.

There are also several web sites with sample Health Care Directive forms.  Try the Minnesota Board on Aging for the form, instructions, and suggestions for completing the Health Care Directive.  The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office page has the basic form, and there is a very helpful page on the University of Minnesota Extension Service site.

Included in the retired collection and having the location “Retired” in our catalog, are the superseded statutes in hard copy for all 50 states and for the federal government, the older court rules for state and federal courts, and a complete set of the Code of Federal Regulations back to its first edition, in force on June 1, 1938.  Our collection of superseded state statutes dates back to the 19th century for many states.  For all states we have session laws on microfiche back to 1900.  So, if your current problem is a case that arose under an old statute or regulation, we will have the older version.

Also in the retired collection are older publications from the various Minnesota continuing legal education providers as well as “classic” treatises. Both may help you when you need interpretation or commentary on older laws.  We have earlier versions of the basic Hornbook titles published by West Publishing Company on a variety of topics.  We also own earlier editions of the standard works by Couch, Corbin, and Collier.

In some cases, the first authors are still the best.  Thompson and Tiffany still are useful to re-read on real property; Joyce still covers the entire law of damages; Pomeroy still speaks on the specific performance of contracts; it remains Gray’s rule against perpetuities and Griswold’s spendthrift trusts; and Story’s commentaries on equity jurisprudence continue to be relevant.  All of these titles and more are in HCLL’s “retired collection.”