Law Librarianship Commons^™

The Short And Troubled History Of The Printed State Administrative Codes And Why They Should Be Preserved, Kurt X. Metzmeier

Faculty Scholarship

This article makes a case for the historical importance of early state administrative codes and urges that law libraries preserve them for future researchers of state administrative law and policy.

Creating Persistent Law Review Article Links With Digital Object Identifiers, Valeri Craigle, Benjamin J. Keele, Aaron Retteen

Faculty Scholarship

A case study for how to use digital object identifiers (DOIs) to make online journals more accessible and improve their site user reports.

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.

The Gaps Model And Faculty Services: Quality Analysis Through A “New” Lens, Alex Zhang, Sherry Xin Chen

Faculty Scholarship

Faculty service is an important function of U.S. academic law libraries. This article evaluates three types of faculty services programs using the Gaps Model to identify, analyze, and propose ways to fill four main gaps: knowledge, policy, delivery, and service quality.

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

Faculty Scholarship

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.

A Pearl Of A Librarian: The Career Of Pearl Von Allmen, University Of Louisville School Of Law Librarian., Marcus Walker

Faculty Scholarship

Pearl Weiler Von Allmen was employed at the University of Louisville School of Law Library from 1940 to 1947 and from 1950 to her untimely death in 1974, going from a library assistant to a tenured full professor and president of the regional law library association. This article highlights many of the accomplishments in the career of a librarian who left an indelible mark on the School of Law.

The History Of The University Of New Mexico School Of Law Librarians' Fight For Faculty Status And Equal Voting Rights, Ernesto A. Longa

Faculty Scholarship

Based on research of over sixty years of archival records, this article presents a case study of the University of New Mexico School of Law librarians’ fight for respect, professional recognition, faculty status, and voting rights in the face of persistent opposition from law school administrators, faculty, and head librarians.

Brexit From The Reference Desk : Understanding And Researching The British Exit From The European Union., Erin Gow

Faculty Scholarship

The result of the British referendum on leaving the European Union came as a shock to many, and the legal, financial, and social implications of “Brexit” are being felt as far away as the United States and even Kentucky. This article presents a brief history of the UK’s role in the EU, an overview of issues that Brexit raises, and an outline of reliable free resources for librarians assisting users at all levels, from students to professionals, who are researching or working in this rapidly changing landscape.

The Quintessential Law Library And Librarian In A Digital Era, Femi Cadmus

Faculty Scholarship

Libraries, like most institutions and industries today, are faced with disruptive technologies that challenge their relevancy in a digital era. As a result, erstwhile notions and nostalgia associated with the quintessential library and librarian are changing rapidly. This is a compelling era to reimagine the library, retaining essential traditions alongside the new technologies, which facilitate the preservation, discoverability, accessibility, and delivery of information. It is also an opportunity for libraries to respond creatively and innovatively to change. The quintessential law library and librarian cannot only survive but can also thrive in the digital era by continuing to demonstrate value through …

Discovering The Knowledge Monopoly Of Law Librarianship Under The Dikw Pyramid, Alex Xiaomeng Zhang

Faculty Scholarship

Historical debates demonstrated that knowledge monopoly is a key to a profession. This article explores the exclusive knowledge base of the law librarianship profession through the lens of the Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom (DIKW) paradigm.

Library Director As Opportunity Identifier, Ronald E. Wheeler

Faculty Scholarship

A successful contemporary law library director should seek opportunities to insert the law library, wherever possible, into projects that benefit the law school and its mission and that draw on the talents and expertise of the law librarians. The goal of the modern law library director should be to make the law library an integral part of each and every undertaking within the law school community. Every facet of the law school and its various departments and offices can benefit from either law library research and instructional services or the creative thinking and analytical orientation that librarians bring to the …

Issues And Trends In Collection Development For East Asia Legal Materials, Jootaek Lee, Xiaomeng Zhang, Keiko Okuhara, Evelyn Ma

Faculty Scholarship

The authors delineate the general policy and guidelines for developing foreign and transnational law collections in U.S. law libraries, and they analyze factors that shape East Asian collections, such as law libraries’ preservation and digitization efforts and their related cost-efficiency, and the availability and quality of English translations. The authors then discuss the main sources for Korean, Japanese, and Chinese law.

Tenure Advice For Law Librarians And Their Directors, Carol A. Parker

Faculty Scholarship

Successful tenure candidates will excel as librarians, master shared governance concepts and understand their institution’s culture. Candidates should engage in self-reflection and seek feedback throughout the tenure-track process. Supportive directors and supervisors will provide support to candidates and ensure well-developed promotion and tenure policies exist and are consistently applied.

Making The Leap To Management: Tips For The Aspiring And New Manager, Femi Cadmus

Faculty Scholarship

As the result of innate ability, a fortunate few are able to effortlessly transition from line positions. However, most of us need to plot the path to management astutely and with deliberation. Library professionals might also become "accidental" managers, finding themselves thrust into an unplanned and perhaps unwanted managerial position for which they were not prepared. This is particularly true in the current climate of constrained budgets characterized by restructuring, job freezes, and layoffs.

The Law Librarian’S Tool For Fair Compensation In The Best - And Worst - Of Times, Femi Cadmus, Loretta Orndoff

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Constitutional Amendment To Reform Kentucky’S Courts, Kurt Metzmeier

Faculty Scholarship

Responding to a confused patchwork of trial courts with overlapping jurisdiction, uneven justice around the state, and a growing backlog of appellate cases, voters in Kentucky went to the polls on November 4, 1975, to approve a sweeping constitutional amendment that radically revised Kentucky’s court system. Although reformers had decried Kentucky’s confusing court system since the 1940s, the real roots of the revision of the judicial article can be found in the failed movement in the late 1960s to replace Kentucky’s 1891 constitution. Unbowed by the defeat, judicial reformers immediately set out to pass a separate amendment reforming the courts, …

Oclc: Worldcat Collection Analysis Service And The Desert States Law Library Consortium, Michelle Rigual

Faculty Scholarship

Looking and benefits and best practices of WorldCat Collection Analysis in a subject-specific consortium.

In November, 2005, the eight libraries of the Desert States Law Library Consortium (University of New Mexico, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, University of Colorado, University of Denver, University of Utah, Brigham Young, and University of Nevada Las Vegas) licensed OCLC's WorldCat Collection Analysis Service (WCA). WCA is designed to provide objective information concerning the makeup of a library's collection, including subject coverage, age of materials, languages of publication and material types and audience level. Multi-institution comparisons provide detail and summary views of how two …

The Law School Library: Its Function, Structure, And Management, Robert J. Desiderio

Faculty Scholarship

The law library has a special and unique importance because of the nature of our legal system and its role as a laboratory for anyone involved in a legal proceeding. Students, faculty, lawyers, judges, and lay persons cannot accomplish legal work without the library. Law libraries, in the process of transition, are planning or implementing computer-based retrieval systems and video devices for training and instruction. Law librarians have significant responsibilities for accurate information retrieval and teaching legal research techniques.