About Law Dawg Blawg

Welcome to the Law Dawg Blawg, brought to you by the law librarians at Southern Illinois University. We decided to start this blawg primarily as a way to share research tips, library announcements, news, and links to interesting articles, web sites, and blawgs with members of the SIU Law School community. We also hope it will be of interest to alumni and other members of the legal and library communities. Click to read the whole story -->

First, we should explain the name. A weblog, or blog for short, is like an online journal. It is frequently updated with short items of interest to the bloggers. Blawg is a term used to describe a law-related blog. Dawg comes from the fact that the mascot of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale is the saluki, a breed of dog. And Law, because our intended audience is the law school community.

Salukis were the royal dog of Egypt and are believed to be the oldest known distinct breed of dog. Southern Illinois has long been referred to as "Egypt." According to Baker Brownell in The Other Illinois, "Although the legend probably was invented after the fact, it is persistent. There was a drought in the northern counties (of Illinois) in the early 1800's . . . the wheat fields dried up, the streams died in their beds. But in southern Illinois rain fell and there were good crops, and from the north came people seeking corn and wheat as to Egypt of old. Thus, the name ‘Egypt.’" See also Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois by Charles Neely. For more information on the Saluki breed, see what the American Kennel Club has to say; for a more extensive discussion of SIUC’s mascot, see What the Hell is a Saluki?

We will be posting items on the following topics: Research Tips; Writing Tips; Web Sites for Legal Researchers; Blawgs; News Related to Law, Law Schools, and Legal Education; Warnings about Viruses and Scams; Legal & Library Miscellany; and Library Announcements.

We have ATOM and XML feeds for those wishing to subscribe using a blog aggregator or reader such as Bloglines. After you sign up for a free Bloglines account at http://www.bloglines.com and log in, right click on the ATOM or XML link above or toward the bottom of the Law Dawg Blawg sidebar and choose "Copy Shortcut" from the menu that pops up. In Bloglines, click on the My Feeds tab in the left frame, then click on "Add" right below the tab. Right click in the "URL" box that comes up in the right frame, then click the Subscribe button. On the next screen choose the options you want and click "Subscribe" again. That's all there is to it.

To avoid the problem of comment spam, we have made this a moderated blog. If you want to suggest something for inclusion or want to comment on this blawg, e-mail us at llibweb@siu.edu. For more information about our law library, visit the Southern Illinois University School of Law Library site.