October 1 typically marks
the beginning of a new federal fiscal year.
This year, however, it marks the beginning of a federal government
shutdown. Many websites offer lists of
impacts in light of the shutdown (see the Washington
Post, for example).
The shutdown is
already affecting legal research. The website
of the Library of Congress
are not accessible, except for legislative information on Thomas.gov and its successor
site congress.gov. Researchers cannot access the research guides,
digital collections, or the library catalog, for example, removing a free,
authoritative information source from their repertories.
This internet glitch
underscores potential instabilities in the world of online research. One more reason to learn a bit about print
research! As we have discussed before,
print still matters!