C|M|LAW Library Blog

In conjunction with C|M|Law’s Jump Start program for students starting school in the fall, the Information Technology department and law library are offering orientation materials on a drop-in basis.

How it works:

1. Come by the research services office (Room 112) across from the circulation desk during normal hours.
2. You will meet and talk with one of our librarians, who will give you a scavenger hunt handout and IT information for your law school computer accounts. The scavenger hunt takes 20-30 minutes and will help you get orientated to the law library and IT services.
3. Upon completion of the scavenger hunt, give your results to a librarian in Room 112, at which point you will be given registration information for Lexis, Westlaw, CALI, and Scholar along with information on our legal research seminars and digital badge program.
4. All students who complete the scavenger hunt will be entered into a contest for a $50 Amazon gift card; the drawing will be held during the first full week of classes.

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) annual meeting begins this weekend in Baltimore, Maryland. Our own Laura Ray will be attending and is involved with two presentations at the conference:

Monday July 16, 10am

Strategies for Successful Independent Library Certificate and Educational Programming

Tuesday July 17, 8:30am

Biological Evidence for the Effective Use of Educational Technology

Laura also created a supporting libguide for the Biological Evidence presentation.

The C|M|Law library has resurrected and updated its YouTube Channel—check it out for research tips and tricks. We have added new videos on some of our print resources, along with a few older videos on various topics like administrative law, legislative history, and EDGAR searching.

We will keep updating the channel throughout the next year, so be on the lookout for new videos and subscribe to see when new content has been posted. If you have suggestions as to what you would like to see on the channel, please send them to Student Services Librarian Brian Cassidy at b.e.cassidy@csuohio.edu.

Some of you may recall the large barred owl that took up residence in the birch trees outside the law library. We had an owl naming contest and christened him Owliver Wendell Holmes (pictured here) after the famed Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Now the law school at the University of Oregon is in on the famous bird game with Ruth Bader Ginsbird and Sandra Day O’sprey, two baby osprey chicks. You can check out the baby birds from a live webcam set up at the Knight Law Center. They’re pretty darn cute.

Hat tip to House of Butter.

Law Library Legal Research Seminars are for C|M|LAW students, including our MLS and LLM students.  The Seminars are continuously available online via the Westlaw TWEN platform.  You earn points for completing an online Seminar by correctly answering 3/4 of the questions on that Seminar’s quiz.  Your Seminar points are good for the entire time you are here at C|M|LAW.  When you earn 100 points, you are awarded a Law Library Legal Research Letter of Recognition and a Digital Badge, which you can post to your LinkedIn page.  You can earn multiple Letters and Digital Badges.  Here are the currently available online Law Library Legal Research Seminars:

• Starting Research with Secondary Sources – Why recreate the wheel? Examine how secondary sources explain and analyze “the law” for you, as well as cite primary authority. [17:02 mins; 12.5 points]
• Westlaw Overview – [10:48 mins; 12.5 points] – Leap beyond Google and start to harness this legal research gtiant. Understand big box and pre-filtered searching, as well as how to print/download/email search results.
• KeyCite – [10:16 mins; 12.5 points] – Why is a red flag different from a yellow flag, and what should you do when you see either one? Learn how to use the Westlaw citator service to update and expand your research.
• Lexis Advance Overview – [21:11 mins; 12.5 points] – One more time, leap beyond Google and start to harness this legal research gtiant. Understand big box and pre-filtered searching, as well as how to print/download/email search results.
• Shepard’s – [11:54 mins; 12.5 points] – Why is a red stop sign different from a yellow triangle, and what should you do when you see either one? Learn how to use the Lexis Advance citator service to update and expand your research.
• Terms & Connectors Searching – Explore the power of search techniques beyond natural language searching. Learn the basics of combining terms & phrases in effective search statements. [10:48 mins; 12.5 points]
• Bluebooking – For faster legal drafting, review how to effectively apply citation and style rules, as well as abbreviation and jurisdiction tables. [38:47 mins; 25 points]
• Administrative Law – [29:59 mins; 25 points] – Break through the mysteries of agency rulemaking and case adjudication. Learn the key resources for finding federal and Ohio agency regulations and decisions.
• Bioethics Resources & Scholarly Writing – Examine a wide array of bioethics resources, and learn how these resources can be used to select a paper topic and conduct effective research on that topic. [28:33 mins; 25 points]

For more information on the Law Library Legal Research Seminars, contact Laura Ray, Outreach & Instructional Services Librarian.