Author: library

24-Hour Library Study Hall

Effective Monday November 16, study areas and computer labs in the Mendik Library at 185 West Broadway will remain open to NYLS students 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  This Study Hall schedule will remain in effect through the end of the exams period, except over Thanksgiving recess.

During the Study Hall period all areas behind the Circulation Desk, including the Reserve Collection and the Reserve Reading Room, will close at 11 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, and 10 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  The Library opens for business at 8 a.m. on weekdays, and 9 a.m. on weekends.

During overnight Study Hall hours there are no librarians on duty; security guards patrol Library rooms and study areas.  All Circulation transactions, including borrowing and return of books, as well as charge-out and charge-in of Reserve materials must be complete by regular closing time.  Policies regarding food, drink and quiet study remain in effect.

Overnight Study Hall is for NYLS students only; you’ll need your NYLS OneCard ID to stay at closing time, and to enter the Library after closing. Please have your ID ready to show the guard.

Extended Study Hall hours are suspended for Thanksgiving break, Wednesday November 25 through Sunday November 29.  Study Hall resumes on Monday November 30.

Food (and Drink) for Thought

For those of you who have been complying with the library’s Food and Drink Policy, thank you.  We have a brand new, beautiful building.  And, we are located in a very old urban area with a large portion of the library underground, adjacent to a major subway corridor.  Some limits on the food and drink allowed in the library are necessary to keep it clean and comfortable for many years to come.  We must respect our physical space and work hard to maintain it.

A number of people have yet to begin to follow the policy.  We are asking everyone to help us establish a comfortable culture for our new space.  Starting Monday, November 9, we will begin asking folks to dispose of offending items immediately or to leave the library to enjoy them elsewhere.  All beverages, excluding water, must be in spill-proof mugs.  This includes soda, coffee, and juice.  Only light snack and light meal items are allowed.  No food is allowed in the Electronic Research Classrooms and drinks must be in a spill-proof mug.  Unattended food items and water bottles will be discarded.  Your help is appreciated to avoid creating unnecessary confrontations and the resulting distractions to you and your fellow students who are trying to study.

Why do we have the policy we do?  Because it represents an appropriate compromise between allowing students to eat and drink while studying and ensuring respect for not only the physical space but the interests of other members of the law school community – present and future – as well.  Beverages spill, rendering the immediate space unusable until it is cleaned.  Spills spread, stain, and leave behind a sticky residue attractive only to vermin.  Food that is smelly or messy or noisy disturbs and distracts everyone around you.  Messy items provide more food for local vermin.  You wouldn’t bring food or drink into the courtroom, or to a client’s office, or on an interview.

A spill-proof mug is all it takes to enter the library with any beverage you like. If you don’t have a spill-proof mug, pick one up at the circulation desk for $2.00.

Everyone will appreciate your cooperation.

 

Food and Drink Policy

While the library staff recognizes that a comfortable study and research environment should have a food and beverage policy that is not excessively restrictive, we also believe that some limitations are required to maintain an appropriate library environment.  Accordingly, the Mendik Library has implemented the following guidelines.

Beverages of all types are permitted in all areas of the library, as long as they are contained in spill-proof, covered, wide-bottomed mugs, similar to those issued by the Alumni Association.  Generally speaking, light snack foods such as fruit, candy, cookies (e.g., food generally dispensed in vending machines) are allowed. Pizza, hamburgers, hotdogs, wings, ice cream, and otherwise “messy” foods are not permitted.  No food is permitted in computer rooms or in the reserve area.  Patrons are not allowed to have food delivered to the library. Please note that users who bring in food that disrupts their fellow users’ study will be asked to remove that food from the library. Patrons are expected to clean up after themselves by placing food refuse in the receptacles provided for that purpose. Food and drink should not be left unattended or uncovered.

And the Gift Certificate Goes To . . .

We are pleased to announce the second winner among those who participated in our ongoing CALR survey.  OneL Jeremy Rockman has won a $25 NYLS Bookstore gift certificate.  Congratulations, Jeremy!

You still have a chance to win!  If you are a OneL and and haven’t yet taken the CALR opinion survey, please click here. After completing the survey, follow the on-screen instructions for a chance to win. Good luck!

Grow Your CALR Skills

Now that the scheduled CALR classes for first year students have concluded, we wanted to remind you of the many opportunities that remain to continue to develop and hone your newly acquired skills.  The representatives from both LexisNexis (Nejat Bumin) and Westlaw (Stefanie Efrati) offer a variety of specialized and more advanced classes, including classes that will enable you to achieve “Certification” as a researcher on one or both systems.  Certification can be a valuable credential in the eyes of prospective employers.  There’s never a charge for any of these classes or for Certification itself and we encourage you to pursue as many of these opportunities as possible.  We also encourage you to pursue additional CALR instruction with us.  Each semester we offer a series of Research Skills sessions (40-50 minutes each), all designed to make you a better and faster legal researcher.  Look for the Research Skills Workshops link on our web page.   And don’t forget the for-credit classes we offer each semester — Advanced Legal Research (3 cr) and Legal Research: Practical Skills (1 cr).

 

And the First Winner Is . . .

We are pleased to announce the first winner among those who participated in our recent CALR survey.  OneL Nicholas Tambone has won a $25 NYLS Bookstore gift certificate.  Congratulations Nick!

More chances to win remain!  If you are a OneL and have had your required CALR training but have not yet participated in the CALR survey, please click here. After completing the survey, follow the on-screen instructions for a chance to win. If you have not yet had your CALR training, you will receive a survey invitation via email after you have completed the class.

If you haven’t yet signed up for a CALR session, please do so right away as our last class is on October 22. The sign-up binder is at the library reference desk.

Survey Results: The Right Pizza for Every Student

For the third consecutive year we surveyed one-Ls during First Week library tours about their use of digital communication tools.  More than 690 students responded to questions about what form of electronic communication they used most often; what social networking site they used and how often; whether they subscribed to or read blogs or RSS feeds; how often they listened to podcasts; what computer and which web browser they used most often; and whether they have used their computer to view e-books.  And, as always, we asked for their favorite pizza topping.  With three years of data, we are beginning to see some trends.

Although email remains the primary communication tool among the class of 2012/13, its dominance relative to text messaging continues to wane. The percentage of those favoring email fell this year to 55%, down from 62% in 2008 and 67% in 2007.  At the same time, entering students’ preference for text messaging rose to 35%, up from 31% in 2008 and 24% in 2007.  Facebook has now clearly displaced almost all other social networking sites, with 87% of survey respondents naming it as the site they use most often.  Frequency of use has also increased, with 39% reporting logging on to the site more than once per day, compared to last year’s 28% figure.

While 36% of this year’s class subscribe to or read blogs (up from 32% in 2008), the number of students subscribing to or reading RSS feeds remained small, at just 11%, down from 2008’s 14% figure.  Podcast use remained about the same as last year, with 29% reporting having downloaded or listened to 1-5 podcasts (compared to 32% for 2008) and 16% reporting having downloaded or listened to more than 5 (compared to 15% for 2008).

The popularity of Macs compared to PCs continued to rise, climbing to 39% from last year’s 31%.  Firefox continued to increase in popularity as the browser of choice with a 40% share.  Internet Explorer trailed at 30%, while Safari placed third at 21%.

A new question this year asked whether students had used their computer to view any e-books.  Approximately 40% responded they had, while 56% responded they had not.

Finally, we observed the continuing supremacy of pepperoni as the pizza topping of choice, favored by nearly 26% of the incoming class.  Mushrooms repeated as the number two choice at 16%.

For more information, click here.

Quiet, please.

We have received many complaints from students who feel that their fellow students are being too noisy. Please remember that even if you are the type of student who can study well around noise and commotion, not everyone else feels the same way. Please take note that all reading rooms and stack areas in the Library are Quiet Study Zones. The only exception is the reading area immediately next to the Reference Desk on the 1st floor.

Within Quiet Study Zones:

·         Never engage in conversation. A few words at a whisper should always suffice. If you must engage in conversation, take it to the Library stairwells or outside.

·         Make sure the sounds on your laptop are off and your iPod isn’t loud enough for others to hear.

·         When you enter or leave a group study room, remember to close the door behind you.

·         If you become aware of a noisy facilities condition—such as a squeaky door, a thumping photocopier, or a rumbling equipment — report it immediately to the Library staff at ext. 2332 or reference@nyls.edu.

Stay on Top of the NY Legal Scene

Stay on top of the NY legal scene with a free subscription to the NYLawyer.com’s Daily Buzz email newsletter. The Daily Buzz provides links to the full text of a variety of NYLawyer.com features, including an advice column covering topics such as finding a new law firm job, career crossroads, and balancing professional and personal lives. It also includes News Watch, offering the latest stories about salaries, law firms and prominent New York lawyers.

Constitution Day – September 17

September 17 is Constitution Day, established in 2004 by 36 U.S.C.  § 106.  As a day of education about and celebration of our constitutional rights and freedoms, it commemorates the date on which thirty-nine of the Philadelphia Convention’s delegates signed the new Constitution.  The Convention was convened in May, 1787 as a result of dissatisfaction with the Articles of Confederation, the first post-independence form of national government in the United States.  The signing was preceded by months of debate and compromise over representation in the legislative branch (“The Great Compromise”), Presidential selection, property ownership as a qualification for public office, the federal government’s power to pay the national debt, and slavery. After ratification by the states, the Constitution took effect in 1789.

The U.S. Constitution remains the oldest national constitution in continuous existence. The original document is held at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. You can read the Constitution online, or pick up your own pocket-copy at the library’s reference desk!