Hope you all had a relaxing and rejuvenating winter break. Alas, all good things must come to an end.
All of us at the Mendik Library wish for you a rewarding and fulfilling semester. We’d love to be a part of your success and hope you will let us help you with all your research projects and information needs.
Good luck and best wishes for a great semester! We’re looking forward to strengthening our partnership.
The Mendik Library Staff
First Week Pizza Survey Results
For the tenth consecutive year the Mendik Library surveyed 1Ls during First Week about some of their digital inclinations. You can see the survey questions and the full responses here.
In addition to telling us their favorite pizza topping (answer below), 260 members of the classes of 2020/21 responded to questions about:
Just a few of the highlights:
This amazing new online collection from HeinOnline brings together for the first time “all essential legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world . . . , includ[ing] every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery.” This new library also has “hundreds of pamphlets and books written about slavery . . . [and] every English-language legal commentary on slavery published before 1920, which includes many essays and articles in obscure, hard-to-find journals . . . .” It also contains “more than a thousand pamphlets and books on slavery from the 19th century . . . , many modern histories of slavery . . . , [and] all modern law review articles on the subject.”
Access is simple: from the Library’s home page click HeinOnline under Electronic Resources. Choose Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law from Browse Collections by Name. Or simply click here to access it directly.
The Practising Law Institute’s new on-demand webinar, Your First 90 Days in a Firm, offers new and aspiring attorneys practical advice on navigating life as a new lawyer. Experienced attorneys address basic questions new associates may have about their role in a firm and suggest best practices to adopt and conduct to avoid as a new lawyer. Presenters also discuss the gray areas new lawyers may find themselves in offering lessons learned from years in the profession and reflecting on real-world scenarios.
Topics discussed include:
This webinar is free. You will need to create a free PLI account if you don’t already have one.
As a Halloween Treat, here’s your opportunity to WIN one of more than a dozen great study aids, texts, NYLS swag, Starbucks gift cards, and much more! Just answer any 3 of the 6 Haunted Halloween Info Hunt questions. Answer all 6 or wear a costume to the drawing and we’ll double your chances to win by adding a second entry for you. Your answer doesn’t need to be perfect—just close! Submit your answer sheet by 3 pm on October 31 and then join us outside the library at 5:30 pm for some treats and the drawing.
Click here to access the questions. Each slide includes just one question, along with step-by-step instructions to get you to the answer.
Print this PDF answer sheet (or pick up a copy at the Reference Desk) and drop it in our Reference Desk Raffle Drum by 3 PM on Monday, October 31. Drawing will be held on Monday, October 31 at 5:30 p.m. right outside the library.
We are nearing the end of September and that means the new Supreme Court term is right around the corner! Every year, the first Monday in October marks the beginning of a new term. This year is no exception: the new term begins on Monday, October 3rd. As of now, the Court has agreed to hear 31 cases. Only three of those are from state courts and five are from the Ninth Circuit. Criminal law dominates the beginning of the term with every case scheduled to be heard in October at least touching on the subject.
The first case set for argument, Bravo-Fernandez v. United States, discusses double jeopardy in a political bribery case. In Moore v. Texas, not yet set for oral argument, the Court will confront mental capacity and the death penalty. Pena- Rodriguez v. Colorado, set to be heard in October, deals with alleged racial bias in the jury room. Specifically, can an evidentiary rule preventing a juror from testifying about statements made during deliberations, when offered to challenge the jury’s verdict, bar evidence of racial bias offered to prove a violation of the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury? We will find out the answer to this and many other pressing legal questions as the new Supreme Court term gets underway!
Besides the SCOTUS Blog, other places to go for Supreme Court information include the Supreme Court’s website, where you can listen to oral arguments, the ABA’s Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases, where you can find the parties’ briefs, and Supreme Podcast.
The presidential election is just a few weeks away. The first debate between the major candidates is set for Monday, September 26, 2016. Are you looking for news and political information? The Library has many sources for your reading and research pleasure. Check out E-Journals A – Z under Research Tools on the Library’s home page to find links to many newspapers and magazines . . . including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the multiple newspaper files available on Westlaw and Lexis.
September 17 marks the annual celebration of Constitution Day, commemorating the date on which 39 of the Philadelphia Convention’s delegates signed the Constitution in 1787. This year, it will be observed on September 16, and will include forty federal judges across the country swearing in new citizens during special naturalization ceremonies held at national historic landmarks. Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, will preside at an Ellis Island ceremony.
Constitution Day was created in 2004 to encourage public schools and governmental offices to promote a better understanding of the Constitution, the world’s longest surviving written charter of government.
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! For deeper coverage, you can also download the Library of Congress’s free app containing the official, annotated version of the United State Constitution, U.S. Constitution: Analysis and Interpretation.
For more information about the day, visit the National Constitution Center’s web site.
It turns out that the CALI authorization code that was distributed during First Week’s Finding the Law class in the Library was the code for SUNY Buffalo instead of NYLS. CALI inadvertently sent us the incorrect code.
If you have already registered with CALI, your registration has been reassigned to NYLS and you need not do anything further.
If you have not already registered with CALI, please disregard the authorization code that was stapled to the CALI brochure you received during First Week and stop by the Library’s Reference Desk to pick up a bookmark containing the revised authorization code.
If you are not currently a 1L student please disregard this post. The CALI authorization code remains the same as in previous years.
Not heading to Rio for the Olympics? Curious about the many different laws and regulations that underlie and sometimes impact what has been described as “the world’s most recognized international sporting event”? Check out the wide-ranging Olympics and International Sports Law Research Guide produced by the Georgetown Law Library. You may not win any medals but you’ll learn about the formal organization and legal structure of the Games and the various forums and procedures that govern resolution of disputes. So, in the spirit of the Olympics . . . Citius, Altius, Fortius!