Website Refresh

Notice something a little different at cslib.org? We’ve been “refreshing” the look of our web pages. We’ve added more persistent and consistent navigation aids in the form of menus at the top of most of our web pages. This is just the beginning of our work to improve the usability and management of our site. If you have any suggestions or feedback, we’d love to hear from you. You can either comment on this blog entry, at the CSL Webmaster’s Forum blog, (comments are moderated to avoid spam, so there may be a short delay in the appearance of your comment on the forum) or you can send email to webmaster@cslib.org. Thank you for visiting!

Acts Effective 10/1/07

Many new laws take effect on October 1 each year. See Acts Effective 10/1/07 for this year’s list. Passed by the Connecticut General Assembly during the 2007 session, the Acts include PA 07-168, banning pesticide use on school grounds; PA 07-116, appointing conservators and setting their powers; and PA 07-163, creating a new crime of firearm trafficking and requiring stolen or lost firearms to be reported within 72 hours of discovery.

Connecticut Public and Special Acts Effective 7/1/07

The list of new laws that became effective as of July 1, 2007 is now available on the Connecticut State Library website at http://www.cslib.org/07actsJul.htm The list includes the title of the act with a link to the actual law, and its House or Senate bill number.

Public Policy & Elections in CT Research Aids

Our reference librarians have been busily creating an array of new online research aids. These ”pathfinders” are focused on public policy issues ranging from property tax relief for the elderly to highway congestion. They are available at: http://www.cslib.org/pathfinders/publicpolicy.htm. As part of our public policy coverage, we’ve also added a pathfinder on the Elections in CT.

iCONN’s New History & Science Reference Centers

iCONN is now offering History & Science Reference Centers to the state’s residents. The new HRC database offers full text for more than 270,000 entries from a myriad of historical sources (from primary sources, as well as magazines, journals, and other reference materials, even streaming video!). The Science Reference Center contains nearly 640 full-text titles from leading scientific encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals, biographies & images. Go to www.iconn.org to try them out!

Subject Index to 2006 Public & Special Acts Now Available

The Subject Index to 2006 Connecticut Public & Special Acts is now available at http://www.cslib.org/indexing/psindex06/. The index covers 196 Public Acts & 10 Special Acts. It is organized alphabetically by the main subjects of the acts.

CSL Brings Home the Prize

The brochure entitled “Your… Connecticut State Library” (PDF) - which provides an overview of services offered by the library - won a “Best in Show” award in the “Swap and Shop” p.r. materials competition at the 2006 ALA Conference. The brochure has been added to our website - see http://www.cslib.org/pub.htm. For more about the competition and the official press release, go to: http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=news&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=130266

iCONN Remembers

With a recent upgrade, the barcode login screen for users accessing iCONN (the Connecticut Digital Library) from home can now remember a library card number… See http://iconnoutreach.blogspot.com/2006/06/iconn-remembers.html for more

Just in time for the 4th of July!

…we’ve added an entry on legislation concerning fireworks (to see this entry, go to http://www.cslib.org/law.htm#fireworks) to our CT law & legislation page
[a reminder: both the Library & the Museum of Ct. History will be closed on Tuesday, July 4th]

Connecticut Law & Legislation Updates: June 2006

We’ve updated and added pages about Connecticut legislation and legislators.

• Don’t forget to check out our Connecticut Law & Legislation page (hot topics include adoption legislation)
• The CSL Bill Room page: http://www.cslib.org/billroom.htm tracks legislative action in CT
• A listing of the 2006 CT Public & Special acts (effective on 7/1/06) is now available at http://www.cslib.org/06actsJul.htm
• The Connecticut General Assembly database has been updated (see http://www.cslib.org/connga.asp)