Law Librarianship Commons^™

Practice Makes Perfect – Or At Least Better!, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Publications

This fall, I will teach my third semester of Advanced Legal Research at Cardozo School of Law. With the support of the library, I have learned a great deal about how to teach effectively over the past year. They gave me the opportunity to conduct a mock ALR class this summer, which helped me tremendously. In this post, I will describe my journey as a new adjunct professor.

The Seminar Paper Topics Graveyard, Olivia Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Publications

I often teach one-off academic research instruction sessions for law students, for either those working on a journal or those in a writing seminar.

My approach to these sessions is relatively standard—demonstrate the sources and strategies for academic legal research—but tailored to the individual needs and overall topic of each course. One of my favorite ways to personalize a session is to demonstrate the research process using a topic that matches the class itself. A “fake paper,” if you will.

Dare To Dream: How Would You Teach 1ls Legal Research With No Restrictions?, Olivia Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Publications

When I started in my current role as an instructional librarian, I was given space to make the changes I thought necessary to improve an already-changing legal research program. I’ve made changes – some small, some more major – in both the 1L and upper-level research curriculum, but there is more to do. In particular, I’m not entirely satisfied with how we teach legal research to 1Ls.

Law Students, Covid-19, And Big Feelings, Olivia Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Publications

It’s Fall 2021 and well . . . we’re back. Or rather – some of us are. Along with a patchwork of universities requiring vaccinations and/or masks for students comes a patchwork of modes of instruction: fully online, hybrid, fully in-person (and subject to change). Some employees have shifted to occasional work-from-home models while others are required to be in-person every day. It’s all very complicated. Honestly, right now everything is complicated. With big, complicated situations come big, complicated feelings, and our students’ feelings are certainly that: big.