Law & Government

State of California Department of Justice

On June 1, 2022, the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans issued its interim report to the California Legislature. The interim report surveys the ongoing and compounding harms experienced by African Americans as a result of slavery and its lingering effects on American society today. The interim report also includes a set of preliminary recommendations for policies that the California Legislature could adopt to remedy those harms. A final report will be issued before July 1, 2023.

This website, focused on Black Freedom, features select primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history. its intention is to support a wide range of students, as well as independent researchers and anyone interested in learning more about the foundation of ongoing racial injustice in the U.S. – and the fights against it. 

The Black Women’s Suffrage Digital Collection is a collaborative project to provide digital access to materials documenting the roles and experiences of Black Women in the Women’s Suffrage Movement and, more broadly, women’s rights, voting rights, and civic activism between the 1850s and 1960. From the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)

Free online assistance for veterans and their families.

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Grants.ca.gov is managed and hosted by the California State Library, opens a new window. The California Grants Portal is your one destination to find all grants and loans offered on a competitive or first-come basis by California state agencies. 

Explore CalMatters explainers that provide the data-driven context you need to make sense of big issues confronting California. 

CalMatters is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization bringing Californians stories that probe, explain, and explore solutions to quality-of-life issues while holding our leaders accountable. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a national public health institute in the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Its main goal is to protect public health and safety through the control and prevention of disease, injury, and disability in the US and internationally.

Concise cultural information on countries around the world. (Grades 3-12).  CultureGrams offers:

• World Edition: Experience the world with cultural information on more than 200 countries and territories.
• Kids Edition: Get a kid's-eye view of daily life in countries around the world.
• States Edition: Explore all the U.S. states in colorful, engaging reports.
• Provinces Edition: Tour all the Canadian provinces and territories in 13 image-filled reports.

IN LIBRARY USE ONLY

This collection includes two eBooks:
How to Do Your Own Divorce in California in 2019 by Ed Sherman
Make Any Divorce Better by Ed Sherman

Only Fold3 Library Edition by Ancestry combines official military records with deep first-person content, including bios, photos, letters, and more. More than 500 million searchable records span hundreds of years.

Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints is designed for high school students and draws on a variety of sources including the acclaimed social issues series published by Greenhaven Press, to offer pro and con articles, statistics, topic overviews, and primary documents related to controversial topics. Also included are resources for the National Debate topic. 

Contains scholarly journals, magazines, and reports covering all aspects of past and present military affairs. Updated daily, content supports key subject areas, such as governmental policies, the socioeconomic effects of war, the structure of the armed forces, and more.

Gale OneFile: War and Terrorism contains millions of articles to help researchers gain valuable insight into conflicts and their causes, impact, and perception on a global scale. This definitive collection is intended for analysts, risk management professionals, and students of military science, history, and social science

Homework Central gives student researchers access to five resources: 

• CultureGrams: Offers unique, concise cultural information, multimedia, and vital statistics on the countries of the world, US states, and Canadian provinces. (Grades 3-12)
• eLibrary: Offers a collection of multidisciplinary periodical and digital media content, designed for beginning and intermediate researchers. (Grades 6+)
• ProQuest Research Companion: eLearning platform offering multimedia-based lessons on information literacy principles including finding, evaluating, and using information. (Grades 8+)
• SIRS Discoverer: Selected content for novice researchers, especially elementary and middle school students and educators. (Grades 3-9)
• SIRS Issues Researcher: Curriculum-aligned database of content organized by complex issues, ideally for middle and high school students and educators. (Grades 6+)

This resource is available courtesy of the California State Library.

This is a partnership between the Alameda County Law Library and the Alameda County Library.

Database collection includes: 

• Dissomaster
• OnLaw
• Nolo Press eBooks
• WestLaw (New!)
• Trellis (New!)
• Divorce Solutions California by Nolo Press Occidental (available inside all Alameda County Library branches)

This is a partnership between the Alameda County Law Library and the Alameda County Library.

Database collection includes: 

• Dissomaster
• OnLaw
• Nolo Press eBooks
• WestLaw (New!)
• Trellis (New!)
• Divorce Solutions California by Nolo Press Occidental (available inside all Alameda County Library branches)

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever.

Those valuable records are preserved and are available to you, whether you want to see if they contain clues about your family’s history, need to prove a veteran’s military service, or are researching a historical topic that interests you

Native Land offers an interactive map of the territories of Indigenous nations and includes territories, language maps, and maps of treaties. The site also includes teaching guides, resources, a guide to territory acknowledgment, and morel

The Census Bureau's mission is to serve as the nation's leading provider of quality data about its people and economy.

The US Copyright Office offers services and support to creators and users of creative works. Use the site to research, register a copyright, or record a document.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the federal agency for granting U.S. patents and registering trademarks.

Voter’s Edge California (VEC) is a joint project of MapLight and the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund (LWVCEF).  Voter’s Edge California is a comprehensive, nonpartisan online guide to elections covering federal, state, and local races in the state of California.  Also available in Spanish.

This reference resource, produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), offers almanac-style information about the countries of the world.