Spotlight
Introducing 360 Search
The Law Library is pleased to introduce 360 Search, providing one-click searching of over 40 of our top legal research databases. Finding articles, books and more is easier than ever as our new 360 Search enables you to search across multiple databases in one place with one search.
Many of the Boley Law Library's favorite databases are included, such as Legal Periodicals Full Text, LegalTrac, HeinOnline Law Journal Library, Academic Search Premier, Making of Modern Law, and much more. Search by subject, combine databases, or search all of these databases at once. 360 Search is a great first step on your research trail.
Search by Subject
For the first time you can search databases covering the same subject in one search. Looking for law review articles? Try our Articles and Journals - Legal category and search the five leading legal article databases, along with Google Scholar.
Branching out beyond the law? Our Articles and Journals - Nonlegal category provides access to 28 databases and titles often missed by researchers. Among our other subject compilations of databases are Books and Catalogs (including the Boley Law Library catalog), Business, Government, Medical and Reference.
Not sure where to start? Try a search in the Quick Search category, containing our top 10 databases, from HeinOnline to WorldCat to Google.
Search One or More Databases
360 Search gives you the power to search by database, allowing you to search one specific database at a time if you wish, or combine them in any combination that you see fit. This can be helpful if you are getting too many results using any of the subject collections of databases, wish to narrow your search to just a few key databases, or need to create your own temporary collection of databases that our categories don't cover (for example, newspapers or psyc articles).
To do so simply click on the search by database link at the top of the 360 Search page, and click in the checkboxes next to the databases you wish to combine into one search. Click on the title of a database to use their native, and more powerful, search interface.
Not all of our databases are included in 360 Search. Some key resources may only be searched through their own search interface, including Westlaw, LexisNexis, the BNA All collection, LexisNexis Congressional, the tax databases (RIA Checkpoint and CCH Tax Online), and others. Find links to those from our Databases and Indexes page.
Advanced Search
360 Search provides some advanced search features. Use quotes for searching phrases (ex. "global warming") in basic or advanced search. Limiting your terms to certain fields enables you to finely narrow your search. Fields include keyword (the default), title, author and subject. Title is particularly useful if you find that keyword is returning too many off-topic results. Use the Advanced Search page to combine search terms, fields, and to limit by year of publication.
Sort Your Results
You'll quickly discover that 360 Search is most useful when you sort or narrow your results following your initial search. There are a number of options for post-search sorting. These include:
- Clustered Results
Be sure to give this a try! 360 Search examines your search results and breaks them into groups based on what the articles, etc. are about. For example, search for the term hearing in the legal articles category and your clustered results will group results for due process, courts, legislation, commission, and more. - Results By Source
Click on a source (database), and only the search results from that database will be presented. Quite helpful when certain databases return more pertinent results then others in your search. - Full Text Filter
Click on the box in the top-right and you'll find only links to full-text articles in your results. Remember, however, that the results that aren't full-text may be just what you are looking for. Don't worry if 360 Search doesn't provide the direct link to the full-text -- just click on the Boley Article Finder link (see below). - Limit by Date, Journal, Author, more
Plenty of other options. Sometime being able to limit the results by date, journal or author will provide the focused results you need to advance your research.
Full-Text via the Boley Article Finder
Full-text not available directly through 360 Search? No problem. Just click the Boley Article Finder link. A new window will open telling you if the library has online access to the full text of that journal, magazine or book. Even if we don't have access online, we may well own that article in print. The Boley Article Finder will let you know.
Have a citation? Now you can go directly into the Boley Article Finder and pull up the full-text of the article as long as the Law Library has access through an online subscription or in print.
Remote Access
360 Search is available from on-campus to all, and from off-campus to Lewis & Clark Law School students, faculty and staff using their L&C e-mail usernames and passwords. Law school alums and the members of the College and Graduate School will find full access to 360 Search at the legal research stations available in the Boley Law Library.
Give 360 Search a try, either from our 360 Search page or straight from our new homepage.
Questions and comments? Read our 360 Search FAQ, or just stop, call or email the Reference Desk.
