Service Interruption to Subscription Databases

The Mendik Library is experiencing technical difficulties with the Online Journals, Databases and Indexes that we make available through our Home Page and through links from the NYLS Library’s Online Catalog.  These problems will result in service interruptions that will persist through this weekend (Oct. 20 – 21) and into early next week.  When you click on the links to access these services, you will get either a page with an error message or a page that asks for a username and password that you do not have.

Please note that these problems are NOT effecting Lexis or Westlaw for users with NYLS passwords.  Both Lexis and Westlaw are functioning properly.

We on the Mendik Library staff apologize for the inconvenience caused to our users by these service disruptions.  We are working hard with our vendors to correct the technical problems, and we will send a follow-up message when the problems are resolved.

Beyond the Big Firm

Check out Beyond the Big Firm: Profiles of Lawyers Who Want Something More, a new title in the Mendik Library collection.  The book features profiles of more than thirty lawyers whose choices have led them to a wide variety of careers in law.  [KF299.P8 M67 2007]  Click here to view the table of contents.

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.

Survey Results: The Right Pizza for Every Student

During First Week, we surveyed one-Ls regarding their use of online communication tools.  We asked the 536 students attending Library tours to answer five questions regarding digital communication tools.  Although we were not necessarily attempting to establish baseline data for entering law students, the results are certainly interesting.

The members of the class of 2010/11 overwhelmingly still prefer email to either IM or text messaging.  Email is the primary communication tool for 67% of these students, as opposed to 24% for text messaging and 8.3% for IM.   Facebook beats MySpace handily as the social networking site of choice.  The margin is almost two to one.  One-Ls do not seem to rely on blogs much, if at all; only 14% of the students responded that they subscribed to any blogs.

The results also reveal a resounding majority vote for pepperoni as the one-Ls’ pizza topping of choice!

Click here for the complete survey results.

Law Library of Congress Releases Newly Designed Web Site

The Law Library of Congress is pleased to announce the release of its newly designed web site (http://www.loc.gov/law). The web site includes information on a range of legal issues and research topics as well as our services and logistics of using the Reading Room. In addition to established products such as the Global Legal Information Network (GLIN), Guide to Law Online and the Global Legal Monitor, new Law Library products are available as well. Highlights include:

Congressional Hearings Project: Full-text access to selected historical Congressional committee hearings on a variety of topics.
http://www.loc.gov/law/find/hearings.html

Foreign and International Law Guides: Provides a starting point for researching foreign, international, and comparative law with analysis and references to official printed and online resources.
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/foreign.html

Pakistan: Crisis in the Judiciary
Find information and analysis of the suspension and subsequent reinstatement of the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/pakistan-justice.html

WSJ Law Blog: Advice for 1Ls

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog asked 6 noted lawyer/authors for advice and reflections on the One L year:

Scott Turow: "Remember that law school is not lawyer school — it’s about more and less."
Jeremy Blachman: "The one thing I wish someone had told me before law school was that
it’s worth it to spend a few extra dollars and buy casebooks that
aren’t full of someone else’s highlighting.."
Cameron Stracher: "Hello.  Disconnect your Ipod.  Close your e-mail.  Shut off your cell phone."
Jeffrey Toobin: "The One L year addresses the most profound issues in law — about the
obligations of citizens to one another, the role of the government, the
place of the courts in sorting out conflict."
Saira Rao:" You’re officially a 1L — how exciting! Law school isn’t nearly as scary or stressful as many would have you believe."

There’s also an open thread post.

Is the Future of Legal Scholarship in the Blogosphere?

Margaret A. Schilt, faculty services librarian at the D’Angelo Law Library for the University of Chicago, asks Is the Future of Legal Scholarship in the Blogosphere?:

If you are looking for the future of legal scholarship, chances are that you may find it not in a treatise or the traditional law review but in a different form, profoundly influenced by the blogosphere.

…Blogging contributes to the shortened life cycle of a theory or idea, reflected in what is called the open access movement. Law review articles no longer meet their readers first in published and printed form. Good articles start their lives as idea papers, posted on the Social Science Research Network’s Legal Scholarship Network or another electronic repository. Repositories such as the SSRN provide a place for scholars to post their work, either in abstract or in full. These papers are available to the public generally for reading and comment. Bloggers post links to them with short descriptions ("Highly recommended!" "Download this while it’s hot!") and respond in blog posts. By the time the prestigious law review accepts the submission and publishes the article, the scholarly community has built upon the insights in the article and moved on.