Scholarly Communication Commons^™

Using Westlaw And Lexis: The Many Ways In, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

Researching the law depends on finding connections between information. No case or statute exists in a vacuum. The primary advantage of using Westlaw and Lexis is that they point out, on a high level, the connections between individual resources. It is disappointing how often students use natural language search terms or basic AI queries to find all their answers. Within the limitations of class time, it is essential to teach our students as much as possible how pieces of information are connected on these platforms.

Making The Most Of Limited Time, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

One of the biggest challenges I have encountered as an advanced legal research instructor is getting everything accomplished that I want to during a class session. The most time I have ever had to get through a class session is one hour and twenty minutes – and this includes lecturing, demonstrations, in-class exercises, and going over those exercises. In particular, it’s challenging to balance giving students enough time to complete their exercises with everything else that needs to be done.

2025 Cardozo Law Library Annual Report, Dr. Lillian & Dr. Rebecca Chutick Law Library

Library Annual Reports

This annual report presents an overview of the Dr. Lillian & Dr. Rebecca Chutick Law Library’s activities and accomplishments during the 2024–2025 fiscal year. It includes highlights on research instruction, faculty and student services, collections management, classroom technology, scholarly communications, and strategic priorities for 2025–2026.

State-Specific Secondary Sources, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

As legal research instructors, we regularly teach students that it’s a good idea to start their research with secondary sources. If the research issue falls under the law of a specific state, it’s especially helpful to consult a secondary source that discusses that law of that state. However, you might not find relevant state-specific secondary sources – they simply might not be available – and that poses a special set of challenges.

Active Learning And Notetaking, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

This past summer, when I attended my third AALL Conference, I signed up to review a program for the ALL-SIS newsletter. I agreed to report on “AI in Law Libraries: Discussing Ethical Considerations and a Way Forward.” I had attended numerous presentations over three years, but this was the first time I analyzed a program in depth. I needed to make detailed notes about what the participants said, as well as what questions were asked and how the speakers responded to them. Then, I had to synthesize my notes and turn them into an effective program review, about 500-700 words …

The Volume Of Information, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

Judge Roy Bean was a legendary justice of the peace in Texas, known as the “Law West of the Pecos.” However, he was not known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the law. Judge Bean “had only one law book, a copy of the Revised Statutes of Texas, printed in 1879, as authorized by the Sixteenth Texas Legislature.” He relied exclusively on that book, and “[e]ven though the legislature sent him new books every two years, reflecting new laws, he burned them. He said he liked the old book better and he like those laws better, too.”

Retrieving Information: An Analogy, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

A major part of being an effective legal information professional is knowing where to look at the beginning of your search. In this profession, you typically have a wide range of information resources at your fingertips. Mastering those resources, and being able to make an educated guess about where something might be found, are vital in this field.

Write What You Know, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

Writing a fact pattern is more challenging than it looks. This is something I learned when I created my first fact pattern for Advanced Legal Research. To accomplish this, I relied on the maxim, “Write what you know.”

Understanding Public Domain Case Citations, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

I first learned about public domain citations after law school, when I was working on a fifty-state survey. I was completely used to parentheticals that included the deciding court and the year of decision, so I couldn’t understand the examples I found from certain states. I thought that surely something was missing from these citations!

Bluebook Vs. Alwd, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

During law school and afterwards, the one citation guide I relied on was The Bluebook. Its rules, explanations, and organization defined how I cited legal resources. Any limitations or gaps in The Bluebook caused me frustration and forced me to get creative, as I figured out solutions that seemed consistent with the rules.

The Challenge Of Legal Citation Systems, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

Mastering legal citation means understanding multiple citation systems. In addition to the Bluebook, fifty states produce fifty sets of laws, and each state decides how it wants its own materials to be cited. For case law, the Bluebook advises authors to use the West Reporter citations if available, but to add public domain citations if a state uses them. However, a state’s internal rules may require citation to the official state reports. All this creates a maze of rules that practitioners need to follow. Legal citation presents difficulties for law students that law librarians and instructors need to appreciate, so …

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

Library Staff Online Writings

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.

2023-2024 Annual Report, Miguel J. Colon Jr.

LARC Annual Reports

The 2023–2024 Annual Report for the Scholarly Services team at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law highlights the team’s major accomplishments in advancing the visibility and impact of the law school’s scholarly work. The report details the ongoing management of the LARC repository, which experienced a notable increase in usage and engagement over the past year. It also showcases the launch of new digital series and the processing of the Benjamin N. Cardozo Papers. Through their work, the team continues to support the preservation of the school’s intellectual legacy, promote research visibility, and contribute to academic excellence—serving as a …

New Study Shows Legal Research Platform Ai Tools Do, In Fact, Hallucinate, Olivia Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Writings

For better or worse, artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the legal landscape. But a recent study highlights a critical issue: AI’s tendency to “hallucinate,” or generate false information. This problem raises significant concerns about the reliability of AI in legal practice.

The Seminar Paper Topics Graveyard, Olivia Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Writings

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.

Legal Research And The Declining Usefulness Of Google Search, Olivia Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Writings

A new year-long study on internet search engine results has rocked the librarian and information worlds: yes, Google really is getting worse.

Book Review: Connecticut Legal Research [2nd] By Anne Rajotte & Jessica Rubin, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

Connecticut Legal Research is part of a series of guides for legal researchers in individual states. The second edition of the series’ Connecticut volume is completely revised from the first edition and has different authors. The authors have the goal of explaining the sources of Connecticut law and the process of conducting legal research effectively, not only in the context of Connecticut, but more generally with federal and national resources. They succeed in that goal, giving detailed information about Connecticut law and resources for research, as well as extensive discussion of the legal research process overall.

Book Review: Hawai‘I Legal Research By Victoria Szymczak, Cory Lenz, And Roberta Woods, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

As a former independent kingdom that became a state in the United States, Hawai‘i has a unique legal history and culture. Research into Hawaiian law requires an awareness of the legal research issues that are common to every U.S. state, as well as issues specific to Hawai‘i. This first edition of Hawai‘i Legal Research meets the needs of researchers who are new to Hawaiian law, whether they are law students researching for the first time or more experienced practitioners. In addition to covering Hawai‘i state legal research, the authors discuss more general strategies that are useful for any researcher, including …

‘Tis The Season For Finals & Study Aids, Olivia Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Writings

We’re in November, and finals are just around the corner. That means busier libraries, stressed students, and, for many, study aids. Can your students get these materials through your institution, or must they look elsewhere?

Preserving Podcasts In Institutional Repositories, Erik Moore, Valerie Collins

Sandbox Series

In response to the 2020 global pandemic, the University of Minnesota Archives sought to gather digital content documenting the public health crisis and institutional response to COVID-19. Staff identified university-produced podcasts from several departments as information-rich contemporaneous content that was also at high risk of loss. Over the course of this work, we determined that these podcasts should be preserved in our institutional repository, as we came to see University podcasts more broadly as a digital serial publication. Our focus is now on the ongoing maintenance of serial digital publications in a repository and demonstrating the preservation of podcasts as …

The Benefits Of Having Your Own Sandbox, Joe Cera

Sandbox Series

No abstract provided.

Getting Started With Coding, John Beatty

Sandbox Series

Over the past several years law librarians have become increasingly involved not only with their institutional repositories but also with automating aspects of their workflows for all sorts of common tasks related to faculty scholarship, law reviews, and more. In this sandbox John will share his story, share a wealth of resources for other librarians interested in learning to code as it relates to their roles with their IR, and engage in conversations with attendees to illustrate the variety of paths librarians have taken to develop this unique skill set.

Modernizing Repositories, Step One: Build Some Bridges Using Identifiers, Joseph Cera

Sandbox Series

This project attempts to start addressing the lack of connection between repositories. While proper connections are far down the road, the first step is to be prepared for connections. This session will discuss how Berkeley Law is preparing data through persistent identifiers.

Pitch Perfect: Achieving Faculty And Administrative Support For Techie Projects, Elizabeth Manriquez

Sandbox Series

Technology can be daunting, but understanding difficult concepts is essential for a successful institutional repository manager. When beginning an innovative IR project, the “how” may seem the most difficult piece. However, understanding your own project is just the beginning. How do you then explain and sell your project to a group lacking IR expertise? This article will discuss the complications and best practices associated with garnering support from vital faculty and campus administrators for IR projects centering on technological concepts unfamiliar to them.

Methods For Populating Scholarly Profiles With Repository Data, Pamela Brannon

Sandbox Series

The first sandbox session of the second series will feature Pam Brannon, Coordinator for Faculty Services at the Georgia State University College of Law Library, sharing "Methods for Populating Scholarly Profiles With Repository Data". Over the past couple of years law librarians have become increasingly involved in assisting law faculty with setting up and populating scholarly profiles, including ORCID profiles. In this session, Pam will discuss several methods for using faculty publications metadata housed in a repository to populate these profiles.

Leveraging Bepress’S New Api For Metadata Transformations, Aaron Retteen

Sandbox Series

Getting metadata and content into our Digital Commons institutional repository was always straightforward, but getting information from the repository was always limited and challenging. With the recent release of an API, Digital Commons repositories can be engaged with in exciting new ways. For this series, I’ll discuss my summer project of taking metadata stored into the repository and transforming it into clean metadata for importation to our university’s research information system.

Automation Using Metadata Filters & Leveraging Research Assistants, Rachel Evans, Savanna Nolan

Sandbox Series

The first sandbox session will feature Rachel Evans, Metadata Services & Special Collections Librarian, and Savanna Nolan, Faculty & Instructional Services Librarian, from UGA Law Library: As part of larger efforts university-wide to highlight diversity leading up to the 60th anniversary of desegregation at UGA, the law school focused on identifying materials including photographs, class directors and news articles related to the school's earliest minority graduates. Although a physical exhibit began to take shape in the summer of 2020, limited building access presented challenges in sharing aspects of the exhibit with the community. Rachel and Savanna will share the method …