Author: library

LIBRARY EXTENDED STUDY HALL HOURS

Effective Monday, November 10, all Library study areas and computer labs on the 7th and 14th floors of 40 Worth St. remain open extended Study Hall hours that run from regular closing time until 2:00 a.m.  These same areas also open one hour early, at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

During the extended hours there are no librarians on duty, but the Study Hall areas are patrolled by security guards.  Study Hall is for NYLS students only; please make sure to have your NYLS ID ready to show the guard.

The Library space on the 4th floor of 40 Worth St. is not open the extended Study Hall hours, but rather functions on the regular semester schedule.  Thus, the Library’s book collections, Circulation, and the Reserve Room will close at 11 p.m. on weekdays, and 10 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.  All circulation transactions, including borrowing and return of books; and charge-out and charge-in of Reserve materials must be complete by regular closing time.

Extended Study Hall hours are suspended for Thanksgiving break, Wednesday November 26 through Sunday November 30.  They resume on Monday December 1.  The extended hours will then continue for the duration of the exams period.

Survey Results: The Right Pizza for Every Student

During First Week this year, we again surveyed one-Ls regarding their use of online communication tools, asking ten questions of the more than 550 students attending Library tours.  Although it’s still too early to draw any firm conclusions, some trends may be emerging.

The members of the class of 2011/12 still prefer email to either IM or text messaging.  Email is the primary communication tool for 62% of these students, as opposed to 31% for text messaging and only 4.7% for IM.  However, the percentage of those preferring email fell from last year’s 67%, with a greater than corresponding increase in the preference for text messaging, which rose from 24% to 31%.  And, the popularity of IM fell by almost one-half from last year’s figure of 8.3%.

Facebook again beat MySpace handily as the social networking site of choice.  This year, however, the margin was by more than twelve to one, exceeding last year’s margin six-fold.

One-Ls seem to be connecting more to the blogosphere and taking greater advantage of RSS feeds.  Among this year’s class, 32% subscribe to or read blogs, while 14% subscribe to or read RSS feeds. Last year’s class, in response to a question conjoining blogs and RSS, revealed that only 14% subscribed to blogs or used RSS readers.

Two new questions this year focused on the type of computer students used most often (Mac or PC) and how often students downloaded or listened to podcasts.  Mac use is clearly on the rise, with almost 31% of the One-Ls indicating that as their preference.  As for podcasts, 32% of the incoming class have downloaded or listened to between one and five podcasts in the past year and 16% have downloaded or listened to more than five podcasts.  Still, almost one-half the class (46%), have not downloaded or listened to any podcasts, and an additional 8% didn’t know what a podcast was.

Finally, we continue to see a resounding – though diminishing – preference for pepperoni as the pizza topping of choice (26%)!  Mushroom was pepperoni’s next closest competitor, coming in at 15%.

For more information, click here.

UN Audiovisual Library of International Law

The United Nations Office of Legal Affairs has just launched the Audiovisual Library of International Law, which aims to provide free, scholarly resources to students and practictioners around the world, particularly in regions where there are few resources for the study of international law. The website has three main parts:

  • The Historic Archives present documents, photos, and digital film footage relating to the UN role in the development of international law. This section includes the texts of treaties, some General Assembly declarations, and certain Security Council resolutions. Each legal instrument also has a procedural history and/or related documents (travaux preparatoires).
  • The Lecture Series contains lectures by leading scholars on topics in international law, and includes a bibliography of related materials. The 100 lectures posted so far are each about an hour long and discuss various aspects of international law. Most are in English, but other official languages of the UN are also represented. Certain scholars contribute introductory texts for the Historic Archives as well as lectures.
  • The Research Library provides links to other web-based research resources in international law, including other UN sources, national treaty series, and selected scholarly articles provided by HeinOnline (still in pilot/beta).

    • The Office of Legal Affairs is digitizing the English version of UN documents related to the procedural histories, and more will be added to the site as resources allow.

    Resources on the Financial Crisis

    An official compilation of informational resources about the current financial crisis is available via the usa.gov website.  Among other things, the site provides direct links to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA); the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s hearings on the causes and impacts of the financial crisis and the latest news on the committee’s work; President George W. Bush’s Address to the Nation; The White House Economy and Budget web page; Treasury Department Fact Sheet on Assets Buyout; Recent Actions Taken by the Federal Reserve; Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s Speech on Current Economic and Financial Conditions; Chairman Christopher Cox – Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Testimony before the Senate; U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs House Financial Services Committee; G-7 Countries Joint Statement on Global Financial Market Turmoil.

    Westlaw.com: Problems with printing PDF documents

    Internet Explorer uses: Are you having problems on Westlaw.com with printing and downloading PDF documents?

    There are several changes you can make in your Internet Options to fix this problem. Please open Internet Explorer and under Internet Options:

    – Add to Trusted site list – Tools >> Internet Options >> Security Tab >> Trusted Sites >> Sites:
    Lawschool.westlaw.com, web2.westlaw.com, print.westlaw.com, *.westlaw.com

    – Tools >> Internet Options >> Security Tab >> Trusted sites >> click custom for list of options >> Make sure all of the items under Downloads section are set to enable .

    Download ie7vistafirefoxpopup_blocker_issues.pdf
    .

    Categories: Web

    Bill Jackets Now Available from New York State Archives

    Are you interested in New York state legislation?  Do you need to research the legislative intent of New York state legislation?  Bill jackets are the premier source of legislative history for New York legislation.  You can study everything the Governor studied before signing the legislation.  Now, you can get bill jackets online for free from the New York State Archives.  You can also get bill jackets from 1996 on WESTLAW.

    Final Library Tour on Sunday

    First Year Students:  In order to receive your Lexis and Westlaw passwords, you need to attend a library tour.  If you missed your Library Tour during First Week, the final make up tour will be on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 2 pm.

    To sign up for this last tour, please email Farrah Nagrampa at Farrah.Nagrampa@nyls.edu.

    The tour will last approximately one-hour and will begin at the Library Reference Desk. Please meet at the tables near the Reference Desk on the 4th
    floor a few minutes before the start of the tour.

    Library Tours

    First Year Students:  If you missed your
    Library Tour during First Week, you must sign up for one of the following
    make-up tours:

    Wednesday, September
    3: 1:15 p.m.

    Wednesday, September
    3: 7:45 p.m.

    Thursday, September
    4: 11:30 a.m.

    Friday, September 5: 
    11:00 a.m.

    To sign up for one of
    these tours, please email Farrah Nagrampa at Farrah.Nagrampa@nyls.edu.

    The tours will last
    approximately one-hour and will begin at the Library Reference Desk.  Please
    meet at the tables near
    the Reference Desk on the 4th floor a few minutes before the start of
    the tour.

    First Year Students: Register Your Lexis & Westlaw Passwords

    Every first year student who attended a Library tour during First Week received
    a LexisNexis activation code and a Westlaw password contract. 
    You must use these documents to create your Lexis and Westlaw passwords,
    which you’ll be using for the rest of your law school career.  The codes
    in these documents are time-sensitive; if you do not register your passwords
    within the next two weeks, the codes will expire!

    You must have  both a Lexis and a Westlaw password registered in order to
    participate in your upcoming mandatory Computer Assisted Legal Research
    training session.  Thus you should register both passwords right away!

    To register your passwords, follow the simple instructions on these Webpages:

    For Lexis: http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/login.aspx

    For Westlaw: http://lawschool.westlaw.com

    If you’ve misplaced your registration documents, or you have any difficulty
    with the registration process, please contact the Library Reference Desk at
    212-431-2332.

    If you did not attend a Library tour, you will need to attend a makeup tour to
    get your registration documents.  Makeup tour dates will be announced
    shortly.