Library Information Sessions During First-Year Orientation

Reference librarians will be presenting half-hour sessions during first-year orientation on Tuesday, August 12, 2008, at the following times:

* 10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
* 11:40 a.m. - 12:10 p.m.
* 12:50 p.m. - 1:20 p.m.
* 7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

The sessions will cover online subscription databases, Lexis and Westlaw password registration, library policies, and reference services. Check your orientation schedules for details.

New Google Application

Google recently launched Knol, an online encyclopedia that has the potential to rival Wikipedia. Knols, much like Wikipedia entries, can be written and edited by anyone. However, unlike Wikipedia, the author’s name is featured on the Knol entry and any subsequent changes to a Knol entry must first be approved by the original author of the Knol entry.

Many of the existing Knol entries address health and medical topics as well as do-it-yourself guides/topics. Hopefully, more entries will be added as the popularity of Knol increases.

Library Tour

Recently, a new feature was added to the Library’s webpage-a photo slide tour of the Gould Law Library! The slide contains pictures of many of the librarians and library staff members at work within the library.
To view the tour from the Library’s homepage, click on the “Library Slide Tour” link located in the section entitled “About the Library.”

Lifehacker Blog and Google Search Tricks

Lifehacker Blog is a daily blog that contains tips and tutorials on how to use your computer to efficiently complete tasks. This blog features an entire section devoted to Google and offers search methods which can result in a more efficient use of Google. This section, entitled Google School, has postings which discuss obscure Google search tricks, finding webpages, and filtering Google results.

Law School Statistics

The July 2008 edition of the Young Lawyer, a publication of the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division, contains an article which offers several eye-opening statistics on the rise of law school accreditation, law school tuition, and student debt. According to Andrew P. Morriss and William D. Henderson, The New Math of Legal Education, 12 Young Lawyer 1 (July 2008), the ABA has accredited “20 additional schools since 1990”; “[s]ince 1987, law school tuition rose…224 percent at private institutions”; and the “average amount of law school debt owed at graduation soared 431 percent between 1987 and 2005.”

Recent Supreme Court Decisions

The Supreme Court has handed down several interesting decisions in the past week. Two such decisions, both of which are split 5-4 decisions, are District of Columbia v. Heller, No. 07-290, and Kennedy v. Louisiana, No. 07-343. In District of Columbia, Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, found that the Second Amendment provides individuals the right to own a firearm and that gun ownership is not limited to those persons engaged in military service. The Supreme Court’s entire opinion in District of Columbia can be accessed at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf

In Kennedy v. Louisiana¸ Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, held that the death penalty is unconstitutional as punishment for the rape of a child. The Supreme Court’s opinion in Kennedy, can be accessed at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-343.pdf

Summer Associates

The June edition of the New York Law Journal Magazine is dedicated to topics pertinent to summer associates. The magazine provides guidelines on how to succeed as a summer associate, tips on writing business appropriate e-mail messages, a discussion on the business aspect of law firms, and tips from four former summer associates on how to gain the most from the summer associate experience.

A copy of the New York Law Journal Magazine, volume 7, number 3, June 2008, is on reserve in the library behind the Circulation Desk.