Collection Development and Cataloging
- Brevier Legislative Reports Digitization Project
The Brevier Legislative Reports are a verbatim transcription of the proceedings of the Indiana General Assembly from 1858 to 1877. Spanning 22 bibliographic volumes and 8,000 pages, the reports are rich with detailed firsthand accounts that reflect the conditions of the times and aid in the understanding of the issues present in Indiana in the mid-19th century. Our digitization project scanned and ran Optical Character Recognition for the entire set, then followed with XML mark-up using the Text Encoding Initiative to provide access to the content by date, session number, topical heading, and content type. The project has received widespread publicity and praise. Retired Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard has said that the project represents “a magnificent contribution to the body of knowledge about nineteenth century legal history... The Maurer School’s librarians and the Digital Library Program have rescued from virtual oblivion a rich legal treasure of national proportions.”
This poster session will detail the significance of the Brevier Legislative Reports, the digitization project itself, and the end result of the development and release of the website www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/law/brevier/.
Michael Maben, Indiana University Maurer School of Law Library
- Building Digital Collections Without Digitization: Using Personal Digital Archives and ILL Requests to Build a Digital Repository
St. Mary’s University School of Law’s Sarita Kenedy East Law Library recently launched an institutional repository. The law school and library had no preexisting digital collections. In order to quickly acquire appropriate content, the law library focused on locating born-digital materials, such as law school publications that had not been formally archived. The law library also identified digitization performed as part of routine library operations and assessed digitized material for long-term archiving. An online collection for the repository was quickly and efficiently built by collecting preexisting born-digital material and assessing for inclusion material provided digitally to professors after conversion from legacy formats, such as microfilm and audiotape.
This poster session will present how interdepartmental collaborations provided the framework to populate a digital collection in the absence of resources dedicated specifically to digitization.
Brian Thomas Detweiler and Wilhelmina Randtke, St. Mary’s University School of Law, Sarita Kenedy East Law Library
- Creating a Seamless Catalog
To improve patron service and resource sharing, the staff at the New York Law Institute has created a “Seamless Catalog.” The goal was to embed NYLI’s sizeable print and digital bibliographic records within a member’s OPAC, providing direct access to NYLI’s collection, while still keeping the member’s holdings private. The Seamless Catalog is a two-part project. In the fall of 2012, NYLI’s OPAC was integrated seamlessly with members who were EOS users. Additionally, a new e-book initiative has changed the dimensions of this project and enhanced the Seamless Catalog’s value by expanding the focus from strictly an ILL delivery component to desktop access, to a robust e-book collection. The next phase of the project is to incorporate a vendor-neutral SharePoint widget.
Eileen Dolan and Ellyssa Kroski, New York Law Institute
- ERM...Not Just an Utterance! Lessons Learned from ERM Implementation Within a Shared Catalog
At the University of Memphis, the Humphreys School of Law Library and McWherter (undergraduate) Library began joint implementation of ERM last fall, sharing the Innovative Interfaces ILS (III) and Serials Solutions. Several decisions had to be made in cooperation, including: how to allocate responsibilities and workload, whether to create separate bibliographic records for electronic resources instead of attaching the electronic resource information to the existing print records, what to call the resources, and even how the catalog’s icon would appear. The extra staff time it takes to make ERM work efficiently and cost-effectively within a shared environment has been a smart tradeoff, and the joint effort has strengthened collaboration across the university library system. The process is continually evolving (and moving to Sierra) and we learn more with each coverage load, but the end result of locating titles and holdings in the ILS without having to consult separate databases makes it all worthwhile.
Ruth Stolarick Smith, University of Memphis, Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law
- Maximizing Your Catalog
Add useful features to your catalog that allow users to find much more than they are accustomed to in a traditional catalog. Users can peruse and search tables of contents, and quickly locate legislative concordances, published forms, precedents, and leading resources on a subject.
Geeta Rooplal, Stikeman Ellliot
- The Weekly Weeder
Faced with new responsibilities in an unfamiliar area, collection development space limitations, and an increasingly unreliable memory, I needed an easy but effective tool to help make and track weeding decisions. Traditionally, our main library had acquired material on a wide range of topics, but branch libraries, which had focused on core subjects, were the better location for many titles. Space limitations were another impetus to downsize and decentralize the collection. A quick, low-tech solution was a “Weekly Weeder,” a regular list of titles to consider for removal or relocation. The list is kept short for quick action, and it is sent to branch subject experts for their advice. Thus, the Department of Justice libraries can make more informed decisions on what materials to keep, move, update, or discard.
Janet L. Oberla, Department of Justice Library Staff
General or Core Programs
- Law Libraries and the FDLP: Still a Winning Partnership
The AALL Federal Depository Library Task Force has been studying the role of law libraries in the depository program, in policy and practice. Come see what we’ve discovered. Find out what we learned from a survey of depository librarians and supporters. See the spectrum of collection development policy treatment of depositories, and review some model language. Also, check out some great photographs from this year’s special “Day in the Life” category!
Kate Irwin-Smiler, Wake Forest University Professional Center Library; Sarah G. Holterhoff, Valparaiso University Law School Library
- The 2013 LAB-rary Experience
The poster session will showcase the Oklahoma City University Law Library’s first LAB-rary event. Learn about what sparked the idea, how we made it our own, marketing and planning the event itself, survey data from participants, and general information about the LAB-rary event, held last March. The inaugural LAB-rary event, “Civility - A Conversation in Honor of Professor J. William Conger,” was a multi-format, multi-day event that allowed participants from the law school and local Oklahoma legal community to join in discussions on various aspects of civility and civil behavior in the legal community. Participants contributed comments on Twitter, a LibGuide created for the event, a large dry-erase board in the library’s lobby, and at a panel discussion.
Kathleen Brown, Lee F. Peoples, and Jennifer L. Prilliman, Oklahoma City University Law Library
Information Technology
- Marketing and Discovery for Law School Digital Collections
Institutional repository platforms provide an attractive web interface for visitors to browse library collections. In addition, repository platforms can share metadata with search engines. This underused functionality can put repository content in a researcher’s search results. Being indexed in search engines greatly increases the chances that researchers will find your material.
This poster session will explore ways to share metadata using the OAI-PMH repository functionality built into all leading repository platforms. Learn how to get to this functionality in your repository platform and how to share your material with directories and search engines that index academic and legal material.
Wilhelmina Randtke and Fang Wang, St. Mary’s University School of Law, Sarita Kenedy East Law Library
Library Management
- Assessing for the Future: Using LSSSE Consortium Questions for Comparative Evaluation
The upcoming revisions to ABA Standard 601 require the law library to engage “in a regular planning and assessment process including written assessment of the effectiveness of the library in achieving its mission and realizing its established goals.” With this in mind, librarians at Duncan School of Law worked with law library directors and the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE) to develop a series of questions available as an add-on to the LSSSE survey. The survey was designed to assess student engagement as they develop information literacy skills in accordance with the revisions to Interpretation 605-1, as well as their use and satisfaction with library services. By integrating with LSSSE, libraries can compare with peer institutions to see their strengths and weaknesses, and then use that feedback as context for understanding their internal assessment process.
This poster presentation will demonstrate how the LSSSE library questions can be combined with internal assessment instruments, as part of a comprehensive self-assessment system.
Joshua Pluta and Gordon Russell, Lincoln Memorial University, Duncan School of Law; Jordan Jefferson, Yale Law School Lillian Goldman Library
- Neutrality: The Law Library as Switzerland
Academic law libraries can be the focal point of many law school activities, from student life, to academic pursuits, to law college budgets. How the library interacts with students, faculty, and law college administration can have a significant impact on the library’s future. One approach to maintaining good relations with all of the library’s patrons is to remain neutral in its dealings. Some examples include:
1. Keeping a “commercial-free zone” in the library, void of any commercial, political, or student election advertisements.
2. Offering library services to students, faculty, and organizations, without favoritism or judgment.
3. Actively offering services to all law college administrative units, such as admissions and career services.
4. Librarians with voting rights, consider abstaining from certain contentious, divisive, or hot-button law faculty votes.
5. Creating a neutral library environment to gain trust from students and faculty.
The Taggart Law Library has enjoyed a strong relationship with students, faculty, and law college administration, in part, due to its neutrality in the greater law college environment. This poster session will show how this strategy can help improve the environment in any academic law library, supporting the interests of the law library, students, and faculty and administration of the law college.
Brian Daniel Anderson and Andrea M. Alexander, Ohio Northern University, Taggart Law Library
Reference, Research, and Client Services
- California Reports Volume 1: The Backstory to a Constitutional First
In the earliest days of California statehood, Eugene Casserly and George Fitch battled for the office of state printer, which was created by the second law passed in the first session of 1849-50 by the California legislature. The legal publishing business in California was as contentious and competitive then as it is today. The California Supreme Court decision settling the dispute between Casserly and Fitch was published in Volume 1 of California Reports. Three different editions of that volume were produced. One was published in 1851 by Casserly, claiming the title of state printer. Another was published two years later by Fitch, claiming the same title. Finally, a “second edition” was published in 1872 by Sumner Whitney and A. L. Bancroft Co. The Bancroft-Whitney company would go on to become a legal publishing juggernaut in California and nationwide.
This poster session will include images of the title pages of the three editions, photographs of Casserly and Fitch, and other archival documents gathered during the research process.
Ramona Martinez, University of California School of Law Library
- Climate Adaption Research: Recent Developments and Resources
From cataclysmic events such as superstorms and record droughts, to more subtle yet similarly alarming effects such as sea levels rising and increased proliferation of illnesses due to warmer temperatures, the changing climate substantially impacts our daily lives in many ways. Adapting and responding to climate change is a major concern of not only international organizations and nations, but also of state and local governments.
This poster session will describe some of the recent developments in climate adaption on the state and local levels, as well as highlight key resources for researching climate adaption law and policy, and finding climate studies and data.
Morgan Stoddard and Esther Cho, Georgetown University Law Library
- Enhancing Citator Reports with User-Added Content
I am working on a paper that proposes that vendors add user data to their citator products to make citator reports easier to use. Lexis and Westlaw released new flagship platforms in recent years in response to users wanting easier search interfaces but citators remain difficult to use and interpret efficiently and correctly for all but the most skilled legal researchers. I worked at Lexis for almost ten years and I know that Shepard’s editors provide detailed customer-facing explanations of complex citator report issues. My proposal is to include these explanations as well as editor-approved explanations from customers in citator reports to help attorneys use these reports more efficiently.
Rachel E. Gordon, Mercer University Law Library
- The Law and BLANK Interdisciplinary Trends and the Legal Research Implications
This poster presents the findings of the author’s curricular survey of a representative sampling of ABA-approved law schools. It identifies specific trends in interdisciplinary research including the most pervasive discipline pairings.
Then it examines the corresponding impact of interdisciplinary concentrations on patron needs instructional strategies and collection development. Finally it proposes a few critical foundational principles for ensuring that your library is responsive to users engaging in this type of research.
Michelle Marie Botek, Indiana University Maurer School of Law
- Put Your Library on the Map!
Engaging law library users whether they are students, faculty members, or pro ses can be an uphill battle. We live in a time where users walk into and out of libraries and rarely look up from a screen whether it’s on a tablet or smart phone. With Google Maps Floor Mapping and a little creativity law libraries can make their space and collections interactive and viewable on a variety of devices. This poster will show the steps in uploading library floor maps to Google and what can be done to an interactive library environment accessible to all user types.
Ashley Krenelka Chase, Stetson University College of Law
- The Importance of Law Reviews in Practice
Researchers usually assume that law review articles are overlooked and underutilized by practicing attorneys and judges. They have been likened to “instant mashed potatoes” - something to be avoided by gourmet chefs in all but the most dire circumstances. Are law review articles really legal outliers?
To explore this question we examine Ohio and West Virginia Supreme Court cases from the last ten years to see if they look to law review articles for legal guidance. We present our results and analyze the how, when, and why these courts utilize law review articles in their opinions. It is our hope to spotlight the importance of law reviews to not just law schools and law students but the legal community as a whole.
Amy Burchfield, Cleveland State University, Cleveland Marshall College of Law Library; Brian Edward Cassidy, West Virginia State Law Library
- The Many Faces of Reference
Reference librarians add value to the law school community. We serve on university and law school committees, judge moot court competitions and first-year oral arguments. We locate resources for units within the law school, and reach out to adjunct faculty and alumni. We answer questions, teach, soothe frayed nerves, and explain how to use the Bluebook.
Law librarians assist professors and students with cite checks, as well as teach them how to use our electronic resources. When junior faculty prepare for promotion, we assist them in finding the number of times their publications have been cited by others. We develop presentations to fit a course’s specific needs. Our liaison librarians work closely with professors and monitor services and select books related to their research. We offer assistance with Lexis and TWEN course pages, and coordinate the administration of TWEN exams.
This poster session offers a snapshot of the many faces of reference at Saint Louis University School of Law Library.
Margaret McDermott and Lynn K. Hartke, Saint Louis University, Omer Poos Law Library
- Using Interlibrary Loan for Campus Book Delivery
At American University, the law library and the main campus library are independent entities with different ILS systems. A formal document delivery system does not exist between the two libraries, but we decided to experiment with using interlibrary loans to facilitate book borrowing between the two libraries. Previously, loans between the libraries remained ILL material throughout the loan period. Patrons were often confused to receive an ILL from their own school, especially because they could go to the main campus library and check out the book.
In the new system, loans between the libraries start out as ILLs, but once the borrowing library receives the item, the lending library is notified and completes the ILL transaction. The borrowing library then checks out the item to the patron’s account in the respective ILS system. The pick-up and drop-off location for the item remain the same for the patron. Additionally, an inserted bookmark explains the new system. The patron now has the book for a longer loan period and can renew it online. Each library now has both ILS systems, and librarians can answer questions about patron accounts and check in books as soon as they are returned.
Amy Taylor and Shannon Melissa Roddy, American University, Washington College of Law
Teaching
- Critical Information Literacy and Legal Research
For the past few decades librarians have increasingly taken on instructional and pedagogical work. Law librarians have developed several approaches and standards for teaching information literacy that are “functional” in nature—meaning they address how and why students should use information in client representation. This poster session aims to present a critical layer to information literacy approaches in legal research instruction. A critical legal information literacy approach would encourage law students to develop a critical consciousness about legal information and help them to understand legal information beyond its uses in client representation. It will help them appreciate their own role in promoting social justice and advocating for changes in the law.
This poster session will present ideas for engaging students with questions about those who provide access to and organize legal information. It aims to help legal research instructors teach students to become lawyers with a critical consciousness about legal information.
Yasmin Sokkar Harker, CUNY School of Law Library
- Differential Instruction for Law Students: Techniques for Tailored Instruction in an Understaffed World
Engaging all of the students in your class at the same time can be difficult because they all come with different knowledge, either from their undergraduate or first-year courses. This poster session will show techniques that will help you keep the law review student engaged, while reaching those at the bottom of the class, without teaching 30 different classes—and driving yourself insane in the process.
Rebecca Rich, Nova Southeastern University
- Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About: How the Law Library Can Reach Out to New Law Graduates with a Research Training Program
The Outreach Services team at Nova Southeastern University Law Library is working on a research training certificate program for recent law graduates. In September 2012, a recent graduate of the law school approached the reference desk and asked for research training to continue to develop her skills. At the same time, library staff became more aware of the problems facing law schools and the proposed solutions, many of which included shifting the focus in legal education to practical skills. Because of this student’s request, library staff was inspired to create a formal instructional program for recent law graduates, which will be offered in the fall when many new lawyers will actively be seeking jobs. Data obtained from student research workshops was used to develop the program. In addition, law firm expectations for research skills of recent law graduates were incorporated. Program participants will be trained in research, and job-seekers will have a productive experience to talk about in an interview.
The poster session will provide an overview of our program, including class subjects, program partners, and marketing methods. We hope this poster session will encourage discussion about how law libraries can best serve new law graduates.
Alison Rosenberg, Rob Beharriell, and William E. Owens, Jr., Nova Southeastern University
- Title Prize Buckets, Pop Culture Shots, and Other Ways to Remind Students Legal Research Is All Business Upfront and All Party Down the Back!
From Suri Cruise to Carmen Sandiego, from Buckets of Buried Treasure to a CFR sheet cake, legal research does not have to be dry and boring! Discover a few tips to make your introductory and advanced legal research classes all business up front, all party down the back (while keeping it classier than a mullet).
This poster session will include successful examples from the poster’s creators, as well as tips and instructions for creating your own materials to inject a shot of fun into your legal research classes.
Ellen Richardson, Boston University, Pappas Law Library; Deborah Schander, Georgia State University College of Law Library; Jordan Jefferson, Yale Law School Lillian Goldman Library
- Using Research Plans as a Method of Evaluating Student Performance in Legal Research
Legal research instructors at the Mississippi College Law Library use a research plan each semester to evaluate student performance. The fall semester research plan has traditionally focused on case law, statutory law, secondary sources, and citators. The spring semester research plan has traditionally focused on federal administrative law, federal legislative history, and international law. In the 2013 spring semester, the legal research instructors decided to implement a comprehensive research plan encompassing the entire year’s worth of material.
This poster session will examine previous years’ evaluations of the implementation of the combined research plan, as will provide discussion on possible changes or additions needed for future semesters.
Stephen Parks and Thomas B. Walter, Mississippi College School of Law Library