There are three important Library resources to keep in mind as you prepare for upcoming exams.

First: The Library’s Exam Preparation Resources guide offers a host of materials containing practical advice and strategies designed to help you navigate the exam process. Make sure to look for the link to Study Aids, which identifies a variety of study aids for first year subjects, including new digital study aids, part of our LexisNexis Digital Library of E-Books.

Second: The Library maintains an archive of previous years’ exams for most courses. You can access these exams by course or professor name. You will find them on the NYLS Portal. Go to Student Resources >> Exam Archive.

Third: CALI offers a variety of lessons and podcasts with helpful tips and advice from faculty on preparing for and taking exams. To access these materials, log in to CALI and navigate to Lessons >> First Year >> Legal Concepts and Skills. Then scroll to one or more of these lessons:

• Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students (Panel 1 PodCast)
• Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students (Panel 2 PodCast)
• Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students (Panel 3 PodCast)
• Tips for Multiple Choice Exams in Law School (Podcast)
• Top 10 Tips for Successfully Writing a Law School Essay
• Writing Better Law School Exams: The Importance of Structure

With finals approaching, your thoughts may be turning to study aids. If you’re interested in digital versions, you’re in luck. Our LexisNexis Digital Library, a collection of eBooks that you can check out and read on your computer, smartphone, or tablet, includes dozens of study aids and treatises.

To sign on to the LexisNexis Digital Library, follow this link: http://nyls.law.overdrive.com/

Enter your NYLS network credentials, and you’re in!  The service is easy to use, but if you have any questions, just contact a Reference Librarian.

If you are graduating this year and you owe any library fines, here’s a chance to save some money and do some good.  For every can or unopened package of food (no glass!) you donate at the Circulation Desk, the Library will reduce the amount you owe by $2.00.  So, for example, if you owe $10 in fines, bringing five cans of food would reduce your fine balance to zero!  You can’t beat a deal like that.  (We donate all food collected to the Salvation Army’s Bensonhurst Corps and Community Center.)

Donations must be made prior to May 25, 2017.  Note:  this offer does not apply to fines for lost or damaged materials.

Saturday April 22, 2017 is Earth Day.

This year’s Earth Day Network campaign focuses on environmental and climate literacy but their Billion Acts of Green campaign, which has already reached more than 2,023,369,565 Acts of Green (with a goal of 3 billion), continues.

Visit their Create Your Own Act of Green page to offer your support. If you’re looking for some easy Acts of Green, how about turning off the library study table lamps and carrel lights whenever you leave. Or use the stairs instead of the elevators between floors. Although Elevator Ed may miss you, he’ll understand, and the Earth will thank you!

Another suggestion: By drinking your coffee, tea, or other beverage from a spill-proof, reusable mug, you can transform a single Act of Green into an ongoing one, helping continually to reduce the volume of plastic, Styrofoam, and paper cups piling up in landfills or requiring energy for recycling. At the same time, you’ll be complying with the Library’s food and drink policy and earning our thanks!

If you don’t have a spill-proof mug, pick one up at the Circulation Desk for $5.00. For every one purchased through the end of this semester’s exam period, librarians will contribute $1.00 to Earth Day Network, which works with over 50,000 partners in nearly 200 countries to broaden, diversify and mobilize the environmental movement.

For complete information about Earth Day, visit Earth Day Network.

It’s that time of year again! Are you looking for tax forms? You can find federal forms on the IRS website here, as well as free filing options, tax preparation help, and IRS publications and instructions. Remember: the deadline to file your return this year is April 18, 2017, but you can apply for an automatic extension of time (for filing your return, not for paying any taxes due). For taxpayers whose income falls below $64,000, the IRS also provides tax preparation software to help you file your taxes for free.

 Curious to know what the first Form 1040 looked like in 1913?  Click here to find out!

Bloomberg Law today released a new, streamlined user interface for its legal research platform.  Make sure you check it out.  You can access the sign-on page here.  Current students and faculty who have not yet activated their Bloomberg Law accounts may do so using the instructions here.

Monday March 20, 2017 marks the beginning of Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Neil M. Gorsuch.  You can watch the hearings live on PBS beginning at 11:00 a.m.

The University of Virginia Law School Library has collaborated with other libraries to create the Neil Gorsuch Project, a comprehensive set of materials relating to Judge Gorsuch’s career on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, including his majority opinions, dissents, and concurrences, and references to his published work and speeches.

The SCOTUSblog is hosting an ongoing series of posts on Judge Gorsuch’s jurisprudence and views on various topics, with comparisons to the late Justice Scalia.

Given the rising costs of legal research, it pays to use free and low-cost resources.  An excellent low-cost alternative to Westlaw, Lexis and Bloomberg Law is Fastcase, available to the NYLS community through the Electronic Resources quadrant of our Library homepage.

Fastcase offers full-text searchable access to federal and state primary material and, after a partnership with HeinOnline, access to HeinOnline’s Law Journal Library.  The New York State Bar Association provides members with free, unlimited access to Fastcase’s New York Library and the opportunity to upgrade to the Premium Plan at a substantial discount. Many other state and local bar associations also make Fastcase available to members.

Fastcase also offers excellent free apps for your iPhone and iPad, facilitating research on the fly.

It’s worth your while to check out Fastcase!  An easy way to start: sign up for one of their free webinars.

Did you know that you now have access to a new, electronic library?  The LexisNexis Digital Library is a collection of eBooks that you can check out and read on your computer, smartphone, or tablet.  Our collection includes dozens of treatises, and study aids, which might come in handy for your exams.

To sign on to the LexisNexis Digital Library, follow this link: http://nyls.law.overdrive.com/

Enter your NYLS network credentials, and you’re in!  The service is easy to use, but if you have any questions, just contact a Reference Librarian.

We’ve just received word that our Mendik Mobile app has received a major update for iPhones and iPads.  Although updates to iOS apps usually happen automatically and transparently, this one will be different, requiring you to take affirmative steps.

When you use Mendik Mobile on your iPhone or iPad, you will see a banner at the very top of the home screen that says, “Your app is outdated, please update!”  Tap on that banner, and you’ll jump to a page on Apple’s App Store where you can download and install the updated app.  This will result in your having two Mendik Mobile apps on your device.  You should delete the older one, using the iOS deletion procedure.

Functionality of the new Mendik Mobile app will be the same as the old, and the old app will continue to work for the time being.  But error messages may appear on the old app, and eventually it will cease to function.  Thus, we encourage you to upgrade, as soon as it is convenient.  If you have any difficulty with the update process, please contact the Library Reference Desk.