Law Librarianship Commons^™

The 80/20 Rule For Legal Research, Olivia R. Smith Schlink

Library Staff Online Publications

A few semesters ago I was discussing the value of secondary sources with a student when they paused to think, then described secondary sources as “kind of like the 80/20 Rule, but different.” I’d never heard of the 80/20 Rule, but I jotted it down onto a Post-It note to look into later. Fast-forward to today and I now introduce my students to what I’ve dubbed “the 80/20 Rule for Legal Research” in all classes about secondary sources.

Oh No, Another Chatgpt Post: Incorporating Ai-Powered Chatbots Into Legal Research Exercises And Assignments, Olivia R. Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Publications

Since it was launched at the end of November 2022, the discourse around ChatGPT and AI search tools has been unrelenting. What impact will AI-powered chatbots have on education? Will students submit ChatGPT-written essays and homework assignments? Will AI make lawyers obsolete? Look, this chatbot just passed the bar exam! Wait a minute—is this thing. . . sentient?

Lisp – An Historical Reminiscence, Heather Simmons

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Reflections on the history of the Legal Information Services to the Public group of the American Association of Law Libraries.

Ok, Zoomer: Teaching Legal Research To Gen Z, Olivia R. Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Articles

Generation Z has entered law school. With each new generation comes new education preferences. While research on Gen Z in the legal academy has grown over the past few years, to date none deal explicitly with teaching legal research to Gen Z. This article connects Gen Z’s childhood and resulting peer personality to 10 tangible pedagogical changes for teaching legal research to Gen Z.

The “Food Blog” Scroll And Its Impact On Online Legal Research, Olivia R. Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Publications

After transitioning from a written to a “live” format for assignments in my Advanced Legal Research class, I noticed a vaguely familiar pattern of students unintentionally scrolling past relevant information on their screens.

Using “Live” Assignments For Formative Assessment, Olivia R. Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Publications

At the Teaching the Teachers Conference a few weeks ago, I gave a demonstration of a formative assessment style we’ve been using at my institution for the past year and a half: a live assignment, AKA the Research Practicum. The presentation was virtual; COVID struck, of course, and I couldn’t get on a plane and fly to Portland. Fortunately, the nature of this assessment lends itself beautifully to a pivot to virtual because it is already entirely virtual. The Research Practicum uses Zoom or some other video conferencing platform and asks students to research while sharing their screen as their …

Identifying Red Herrings In American Legal Research, Erin Gow

Faculty Scholarship

This article presents useful clues for British law librarians and legal researchers conducting research on American laws and legal systems. It focuses on general guidelines and key sticking points the author found when transitioning between legal research in the American and British jurisdictions.

Key skills introduced include the ability to:

• differentiate between federal and state legal jurisdictions in the U.S.,
• recognize key differences in American legal terminology and construct searches using American terms,
• analyze and select key American legal resources for different types of research questions,
• and identify American standards of legal citation.

Academic Law Librarians Are Paid 47% Less Than Their Faculty Counterparts, Olivia R. Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Publications

In December Joe Fore, the co-director of the Legal Writing program at the University of Virginia School of Law, posted to Twitter a thread comparing tenure track and legal writing salaries. In comparing four public schools, he discovered that the average starting salary for a tenure track professor was $173,000 while the average salary for all legal writing faculty was $111,000. A few academic law librarians saw the tweet and replied that someone should do the same for law librarians, too.

Appendix D: Hunting And Gathering On The Legal Information Savannah, Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, David Gunderman

Research Data

This document, "Problem Solving & Interface Comments,” is an electronic Appendix D to, and is cited in, the empirical study: Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, and David Gunderman, Hunting and Gathering on the Legal Information Savannah, 114 Law Libr. J. 1, 15 n.43 (2022), https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/1548/.

Appendix E: Hunting And Gathering On The Legal Information Savannah, Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, David Gunderman

Research Data

This document, "Random Search Order,” is an electronic Appendix C to, and is cited in, the empirical study: Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, and David Gunderman, Hunting and Gathering on the Legal Information Savannah, 114 Law Libr. J. 1, 15 n.44 (2022), available at https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/1548/.

Appendix C: Hunting And Gathering On The Legal Information Savannah, Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, David Gunderman

Research Data

This document, "Twelve Problems,” is an electronic Appendix C to, and is cited in, the empirical study: Susan Nevelow Mart, Adam Litzler, and David Gunderman, Hunting and Gathering on the Legal Information Savannah, 114 Law Libr. J. 1, 13 n.37 (2022), available at https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/1548/.

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

A Review Of Grey Literature Cited By Food Loss Law And Policy Scholarship, Angela Hackstadt

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

In the United States, state and federal programs, rules, and legislation attempt to address the social, economic, and environmental impacts of food waste. Research on the efficacy of these interventions rely on a variety of grey literature resources. Grey literature is valuable to policy research but may be overlooked because it is not published commercially and is often deemed unauthoritative. This review focuses on the use of grey literature in food waste law and policy scholarship to identify the most used sources and to determine what, if any, archiving strategies authors use. Recommendations for librarians and researchers are discussed.

E-Legal Criminal Research, Thomas J. Striepe, Anne Burnett

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Georgia Legal Research, Amy Taylor

Books

This open source textbook authored by Amy Taylor was designed to provide University of Georgia School of Law students with a comprehensive guide to Georgia legal research. Using this text in combination with appropriate assignments, student objectives include the ability to select, evaluate, and use appropriate legal research tools with an emphasis on cost-effective research and proficiency in the following topics:

• Developing an efficient and cost effective research strategy
• Advanced searching skills in legal research databases
• Case law, including docket research, court rules, and verdicts & settlements
• Statutory law, including legislative materials and legislative history
• Administrative regulations, rules, and related …

Nothing Says "I Love You" Like A Correct Bluebook Citation & Formatting The 1l Brief, Jason Tubinis, Heather Simmons

Presentations

Law Librarians Heather Simmons and Jason Tubinis walked students through the necessary formatting for 1L brief success, as well as shared their top tips for Bluebook citations. Formatting topics included Table of Authorities, Table of Contents, page numbering, and styles. Students were encouraged to bring their laptops for hands on help with both Mac and PC versions of Microsoft Word.

Non-English Materials For The English Speaker : European Languages, Erin Gow

Erin Gow

So many legal materials are in languages other than English worldwide, that it is inevitable that most of us will need to find or access one of these documents at some point. Foreign, comparative, and international law (FCIL) librarians often work with materials in languages in which they are not fluent, and can provide useful ideas and insight for the non-FCIL specialist faced with this type of research. This portion of a 2019 AALL webinar titled "Non-English Materials for the English Speaker" focuses on European languages, and provides practical guidance in finding English translations of European laws, tips and techniques …

An Introduction To Legal Research, Anne Burnett, Stephen Wolfson

Presentations

As part of UGA Summer Academy Legal Camp two law librarians teamed up to give an introduction to legal research to high school students from across the country, including tips and strategies for using Google effectively.

Non-English Materials For The English Speaker : European Languages, Erin Gow

Faculty Scholarship

So many legal materials are in languages other than English worldwide, that it is inevitable that most of us will need to find or access one of these documents at some point. Foreign, comparative, and international law (FCIL) librarians often work with materials in languages in which they are not fluent, and can provide useful ideas and insight for the non-FCIL specialist faced with this type of research. This portion of a 2019 AALL webinar titled "Non-English Materials for the English Speaker" focuses on European languages, and provides practical guidance in finding English translations of European laws, tips and techniques …

Sustainable And Open Access To Valuable Legal Research Information: A New Framework, Alex Zhang, James Hart

Scholarly Articles

This article evaluates the current status of access to foreign and international legal research information, analyzes the challenges that information providers have experienced in providing valuable and sustainable access, and proposes a model that would help create and facilitate effective and sustainable access to valuable foreign, comparative, and international legal information.

Designing Effective Legal Research Rubrics: The Foundation For Successful Assessment, Carol A. Watson, Katie Hanschke, Zanada Joyner

Presentations

Increasingly librarians are teaching many, if not all, of the legal research courses at their law schools. Most librarians are not experts in education assessment design. Assessment with rubrics creates a learner centric environments in which instructors objectively evaluate student progress and assures that students receive consistent and meaningful feedback. Rubrics provide both students and instructors with a clear understanding of whether learning outcomes have been achieved. Guided by the instructors' experience and an in-depth review of the literature law librarians will be exposed to the best practices when creating rubrics including alignment with the course goals and instructor expectations.

Leaky Boundaries And The Decline Of The Autonomous Law School Library, James G. Milles

James G. Milles

Academic law librarians have long insisted on the value of autonomy from the university library system, usually basing their arguments on strict adherence to ABA standards. However, law librarians have failed to construct an explicit and consistent definition of autonomy. Lacking such a definition, they have tended to rely on an outmoded Langdellian view of the law as a closed system. This view has long been discredited, as approaches such as law and economics and sociolegal research have become mainstream, and courts increasingly resort to nonlegal sources of information. Blind attachment to autonomy as a goal rather than a means …

Decision Making Models In 2/2 Time: Two Speakers, Two Models (Maybe), Sharon Bradley, Tim Tarvin

Presentations

Our students have to learn so many new skills to be successful in law school and law practice. Legal research, client interviewing, and case analysis just for starters. Our teaching methods have to engage our students while preparing them to “think like a lawyer.” We also have the responsibility to familiarize students in evaluating the “benefits and risks associated with relevant technology” and to develop efficient practices and processes. The speakers will look at decision making models that are practical and useable.

One speaker will discuss his experiences in a clinical setting using decision trees, teaching his students to visualize …

Real Resources For Researching Ip Law, Anne Burnett

Presentations

A presentation on strategies for researching intellectual property law in classroom L. Sponsored by the Alexander Campbell King Law Library and the Intellectual Property Law Society.

Crossing Borders: Adventures In International Legal Research, Anne Burnett

Presentations

An overview of the resources and processes for researching international law topics in classroom H.

Real Resources For Researching Ip Law, Anne Burnett

Presentations

A presentation on strategies for researching intellectual property law in classroom I.

Universal Citation In Sixty Seconds, Anne Burnett

Presentations

A large format infographic describing the system for citation which permits reference to legal or law-related information in any medium without requiring reference to proprietary products. Includes a timeline of the Universal Citation Guide from 1993 to 2012, citation elements, a list of states and territories that adopted the practice and an interactive QR code for accessing AALL's page on this citation format. The poster also encouraged viewers to advocate for adopting Universal citation with judges, attorneys and legislators.

Frederick Hicks: The Man Behind Men And Books, Stacy Etheredge

Articles

No abstract provided.

What's In A Name? A Gen Xer And Gen Yer Explore What It Means To Be Members Of Their Generations In The Workplace, Lauren M. Collins, Elizabeth A. Yates

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In the NextGen Librarian's Survival Guide by Rachel Singer Gordon, the author cites several reasons this time is different than times before in librarianship. Those that are most relevant to law librarianship include:

• Flattening workplace hierarchies and participative management increase the input of newer librarians in workplace decision making

• New technologies require changing skills that affect attitudes toward the integration of those technologies into our daily work

• Outside pressures, such as the prevalence of the Internet, impose a need for librarians to continually prove our relevance and improve relations with younger patrons

• The much talked about …

Leaky Boundaries And The Decline Of The Autonomous Law School Library, James G. Milles

Journal Articles

Academic law librarians have long insisted on the value of autonomy from the university library system, usually basing their arguments on strict adherence to ABA standards. However, law librarians have failed to construct an explicit and consistent definition of autonomy. Lacking such a definition, they have tended to rely on an outmoded Langdellian view of the law as a closed system. This view has long been discredited, as approaches such as law and economics and sociolegal research have become mainstream, and courts increasingly resort to nonlegal sources of information. Blind attachment to autonomy as a goal rather than a means …