Training Sessions

The Interior Library offers regular training sessions to introduce Department of the Interior employees and others to its services and to the information sources it makes available, either on employees' desktops or in person. Training sessions are presented via webinar.

Additional training sessions will be posted as they are scheduled. Please check this page regularly for changes or updates.

To register for a future training session, please use our Training Session Registration Form. If the registration form does not work at your location, you may use the Library's contact form. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Interior Library by e-mail at library@ios.doi.gov or by phone at (202) 208-5815

Webinar recordings of recently completed Interior Library programs are available upon request. Please contact the Interior Library by phone at (202) 208-5815 or via the Library's contact form for more information.
 

Upcoming Programs

Settling the Old West: The Legacy of the Homestead Act
Thursday, January 16, 2025, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

The Homestead Act has been called one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Signed into law in 1862 by Abraham Lincoln after the secession of southern states, this act turned over vast amounts of the public domain to private citizens. Some 270 million acres, or 10% of the area of the United States was claimed and settled under this act.  Settlers from all walks of life including newly arrived immigrants, farmers without land of their own from the East, single women and former slaves came to meet the challenge of "proving up" and keeping this "free land". Each homesteader had to live on the land, build a home, make improvements and farm for five years before they were eligible to take full legal ownership. Please join DOI Library Head of Reference Services Jennifer Klang as she takes a look at the legacy of the Homestead Act and how this legislation transformed the American west.

Please note: This program is only being offered as a simultaneous online webinar. Please contact the Library to obtain webinar information for this program.
 

Introduction to Westlaw 
Thursday, January 30, 2025, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET

Powered by state-of-the-art artificial intelligence that’s built upon more than 100 years of attorney-edited annotations, the Westlaw legal and legislative research platform brings together a full suite of AI-powered legal research tools. These tools include: 1) WestSearch Plus, which uses Artificial Intelligence to help users quickly access relevant resources, as well as offering suggested answers to many legal questions; 2) Litigation Analytics, which provides data-driven insights on judges, courts, attorneys, law firms, and case types; 3) KeyCite Overruling Risk, which provides a citator warning to caution users when a point of law in a case has been implicitly undermined without being explicitly overruled, a situation that traditional citators do not identify; and 4) Statutes Compare and Regulations Compare, which allows users to compare two versions of a statute or federal regulation to identify changes over time. Please join us as a Westlaw trainer will review these and other features of this online database.

Please note: This program is only being offered as a simultaneous online webinar. Please contact the Library to obtain webinar information for this program.
 

Introduction to ProQuest Congressional
Wednesday, February 12, 2025, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET

The ProQuest Congressional database provides users with efficient, targeted access to the most comprehensive collection of historic and current congressional information available anywhere online. This collection includes full text copies of congressional publications, finding aids, a bill tracking service, as well as the full text of public laws and other research materials to enable both researchers to complete many types of projects using a single, newly updated interface. Attendees to this class will learn how to navigate ProQuest Congressional’s interface to find and use digitized collections of these materials; featuring searchable access to current and historic Congressional reports, Congressional hearings, Congressional Research Service reports, as well as Congressional Committee Prints. Those in attendance will also learn helpful search techniques that can be used to locate digitized copies of materials essential in conducting thorough legislative history research. This program will be conducted by a Clarivate/ProQuest trainer.

Please note: This program is only being offered as a simultaneous online webinar. Please contact the Library to obtain webinar information for this program.
 

The Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Digital Library
Tuesday, February 25, 2025, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Digital Library (fws.gov/images) is a searchable collection of selected images, historical artifacts, and publications most of which are in the public domain. In 2024, the collection is launched on a brand new platform integrated with the Fish and Wildlife Service website. The collection includes digital still images, offering a visual representation Service’s mission and publications including reports, brochures, texts, and oral history transcripts. Coming soon are podcasts and audio files. Fish and Wildlife Service Historian Mark Madison and Fish and Wildlife Service National Librarian Megan Burdi will examine the current holdings of the Fish and Wildlife Service Digital Library, look at plans to expand its holdings and review the best ways to search through this impressive collection.  

Please note: This program is only being offered as a simultaneous online webinar. Please contact the Library to obtain webinar information for this program.
 

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Publications Warehouse
Thursday, March 6, 2025, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Publications Warehouse (https://pubs.usgs.gov) is the authoritative catalog and publicly accessible location for accessing USGS peer-reviewed scientific publications. Users can access metadata about and links to more than 180,000 publications authored by USGS scientists over the century-plus history of the bureau, as well as obtain free online access to full-text publications published by the USGS. Please join USGS Data Scientist Kelly Haberstroh as she provides an overview of the content available in the Publications Warehouse, features of the website, and searching tips and best practices.

Please note: This program is only being offered as a simultaneous online webinar. Please contact the Library to obtain webinar information for this program.
 

Compiling a Federal Legislative History: A Step-by-Step Example for Beginners
Wednesday, March 19, 2025, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm ET

In order to find the legislative intent of a bill or public law, researchers need to compile reports, testimony, debate, and other materials related to that piece of legislation to find keys as to what Congress hoped to accomplish bypassing the bill. The final compilation of all these materials provides the researcher with a "legislative history" of the bill or law in question and hopefully will answer the question of what Congress intended with this legislation. Those inexperienced with legal research in general but interested in learning the process involved in compiling a federal legislative history will find this program invaluable. A specific Public Law will be the focus of a step-by-step piecing together of a legislative history using electronic resources available through the DOI Library such as the ProQuest Congressional database, HeinOnline, Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.  This class will be presented by DOI Reference Librarian Shyamalika Ghoshal.

Please note: This program is only being offered as a simultaneous online webinar. Please contact the Library to obtain webinar information for this program.