Creating Online Tutorials: Five Lessons Learned

In the fall of 2005, two librarians, a legal research and writing program director, and an instructional technologist at Wayne State University received a grant to create online tutorials introducing novices to the basics of legal research. Tutorials were planned on subjects that the library and the legal research and writing program had traditionally covered jointly via library workshops, coordinated with classroom instruction for first-year law students. Since the mission of the law library is to support campus-wide activity and to assist members of the general public with legal research needs, the content of the tutorials was designed to serve multiple audiences.With a year to finish the tutorials in time for the next incoming class, the group began work toward the completion of seven tutorials on a shoestring budget of $4,000. Since the completion of the tutorials, librarians have asked us directly or made general calls for information looking for ideas about tools, costs, and the process of beginning similar projects. Our response to this question has not been to chronicle our journey but, rather, to share a few lessons we learned from the process

Before You Log-On: Incorporating the Free Web in Your Legal Research Strategy

In 2006, the American Bar Association (ABA) published its Legal Technology Survey Report, which included a volume on Online Research. In the report, attorneys responded that 91% are conducting at least some of their research online. Though 39% report that they start their research using a fee-based service like Westlaw or Lexis, the report shows that even those who start their research with a fee-based resource eventually get it right-87% of attorneys report using some free online resources at some point over the course of a research project

Voices of American Law: US Supreme Court Cases Meet the 21st Century

reviewing Voices of American Law documentary series(Thomas B. Metzloff & Sarah Wood producers

A Frank & Honest Talk: AALL’s Diversity Symposium Takes on Hard Questions of Creating and Maintaining Diversity in the Legal Community

Getting a Rise Out of Diversity: Celebrating the Challenge took on hard questions of diversity, while keeping the spirit of New Orleans alive through celebration. With speakers who work to maintain diversity in legal practice and education every day, participants engaged in a lively discussion of what diversity actually is and how to create and sustain it

Before You Log-On: Incorporating the Free Web in Your Legal Research Strategy

In 2006, the American Bar Association (ABA) published its Legal Technology Survey Report, which included a volume on Online Research. In the report, attorneys responded that 91% are conducting at least some of their research online. Though 39% report that they start their research using a fee-based service like Westlaw or Lexis, the report shows that even those who start their research with a fee-based resource eventually get it right-87% of attorneys report using some free online resources at some point over the course of a research project

Book Review: \u3ci\u3eFor the Common Good: Principles of American Academic Freedom\u3c/i\u3e, by Matthew W. Finkin and Robert C. Post

In For the Common Good: Principles of American Academic Freedom (2009), law professors Matthew W. Finkin (University of Illinois) and Robert C. Post (Yale) articulate basic principles of American academic freedom (p.6) as a means of grounding the ongoing debate over the concept. The authors succeed in providing an account that is both comprehensive and surprisingly concise. Though slow starting, their book aptly sets the scene for all who wish to participate in a continuing conversation about the state of academic freedom

Review: \u3ci\u3eVoices of American Law\u3c/i\u3e: US Supreme Court Cases Meet the 21st Century

Review of documentary series Voices of American Law (Thomas B. Metzloff & Sarah Wood, producers

To Leave or Not to Leave—Law Libraries and the FDLP: A Decade Later, Is That Still the Question?

This article recounts the literature of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when some librarians, considering the changing form of government information, questioned whether the FDLP would survive in its existing form and recommended FDLP changes that would keep depository libraries engaged as the means of accessing digital government information evolved. In the later 2000s, articles and reports included comprehensive suggestions to the GPO, by and on behalf of library associations, of ways to make depository libraries stronger partners in the FDLP. Possibly in response to these calls for reform, the GPO polled depository libraries in its 2012 FDLP Forecast Survey to gauge interest and commitment to new and evolving roles for depository libraries responsive to the digital environment in which we now find most government information. This article summarizes the results of that survey. The article then presents the results of an independent survey of academic law libraries conducted by the author to find out whether law library leaders are considering withdrawal from the FDLP or still find FDLP partnership an essential component of access to government information through their libraries. Finally, the article briefly outlines GPO plans for the FDLP released in 2016. Ultimately, the article concludes that whether to withdraw from the FDLP may no longer be a timely question for most law libraries as GPO works on plans to forge a more modern relationship with libraries, one that better aligns with contemporary law library missions, capabilities, and priorities

Review: \u3ci\u3eVoices of American Law\u3c/i\u3e: US Supreme Court Cases Meet the 21st Century

Review of documentary series Voices of American Law (Thomas B. Metzloff & Sarah Wood, producers