- LPII Mandatory Advanced Lexis Training;
- Possible noise from the Atrium on Friday (1/25) starting at 6pm;
- New student Library orientation on Thursday (1/24) from 1:45pm-2:45pm. This event will likely be disruptive on all floors of the Library. But, try to smile at your new classmates anyway.
The risk of being hit in the face by a hot dog is not a well-known incidental risk of attending a baseball game. …
It’s not baseball season yet (almost though!), but it is never too early to think about potential baseball related lawsuits. A spectator filed suit against the Royals because Sluggerrr [sic], the mascot, threw hot dogs into the crowd, hitting him in the face and injuring his eye. Although a jury found against him, he still has hope, as the case was reversed and remanded.
How can you find interesting cases like this to read? Well, you can comb state court sites. Many, like Missouri, have a site dedicated to the courts. Here is Florida’s, for example. Once you are in a court site, though, you may have to dig for opinions. The best way in Missouri is to click on Opinions and Minutes from the Legal Resources drop down menu, then choose a court at the bottom (like the Western Appellate District), but you will have to explore in other court webpages. Once you do that in Missouri, there is a search function, and you can enter fun things like baseball hot dog. That gets you the opinion from above and the fun quote: “the risk of being hit in the face by a hot dog is not a well-known incidental risk of attending a baseball game.” I wonder about peanuts…
In the Library this Week (January 14th – 20th)
- Welcome Back!
- Please notice the Library Hours for the Martin Luther King Holiday Weekend posted here and below.
Library M.L.K. Weekend Hours (January 18th -21st)
Friday (18th) 7:30am – 8:00pm
Saturday (19th) 10:00am – 8:00pm
Sunday (20th) 10:00am – 8:00pm
Monday (21st) 10:00am – 10:00pm
Reference Desk M.L.K Weekend Hours (January 18th -21st)
Friday (18th) 9:00am – 4:00pm
Saturday (19th) 10:00am – 3:00pm
Sunday (20th) Noon – 6:00pm
Monday (21st) No Reference Service
Holiday Gifts Worth Celebrating!
The holiday season is always full of gifts!
Some people may spend the Holiday in Handcuffs (I haven’t seen that movie, but just the idea of Clarissa/Sabrina and A.C. Slater together makes me miss the 1990s), but we had a better holiday, adding some excellent resources to the Library & Technology Center collection this past month.
Given finals and the short December month at Coastal, there are fewer additions than normal, but we’ve nevertheless got some excellent ones worth highlighting.
1) Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished & Persuasive Documents.
For some of us, the title is enough to sell this one. For most of you, it is more likely to cause your eyes to glaze over. Trust me when I say this one is worth a look. A slim softcover volume of only 170 pages (plus sample documents and an appendix), Typography for Lawyers addresses some of the most common issues faced by those attempting to craft great legal documents. All sorts of questions on formatting and usage are discussed and simple, straight-forward answers are provided whenever possible. Although it was originally tabbed to be sent into the General Collection, after review by library staff and students, it has been deemed of sufficient importance to be moved into the Reference Collection so it will always be on hand.
If all that wasn’t enough to convince you it is worth a look, take note of the fact that Bryan Garner has lent his name to the effort and written the foreword. You may know that name, but if not try typing it into our library catalog. You may recognize some of the results, like Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage, Reading Law: the Interpretation of Legal Texts (with Scalia), Classic Essays on Legal Advocacy, and a little book called Black’s Law Dictionary.
2) Phake: the Deadly World of Falsified and Substandard Medicines
The library’s own Jamie Marie Keller has actually read this book already, and was kind enough to provide us with this review:
Phake by Roger Bate (Economist with the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research) discusses the dangers of unregulated consumer medical drug markets. The book includes empirical studies of the safety of drug quality in Africa, India, China, and the Middle East. While the book focuses on counterfeit drugs and substandard laboratories, it does not differentiate between drugs that are counterfeit simply because they are not created by the corporation that holds the patent on the medication and other counterfeit medicines. Bate praises the efforts of the FDA to regulate the drug market in the United States and encourages other countries to develop similar agencies.
3) Covenants Not to Compete: a State-by-State Survey
Current through the end of 2011, this state-by-state survey includes everything from Abandonment of Customers to Writing Requirement. The first volume of this three-volume set lists the most common questions and on which pages the answer for each state can be found. Each state section provides ample citations to primary sources as well as a cumulative history on each portion.
4) All the Missing Souls: a Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals
For this review, we turn to Martin Wenick of American Diplomacy (via Amazon.com):
All the Missing Souls clearly fills a gap in literature on the administration of international justice, and it is must reading for those interested in emerging themselves profoundly in this field. His direct personal involvement in working to create international tribunals to bring to justice individuals responsible for the worst of the ‘atrocity crimes’ of recent decades demonstrates that perseverance and tenacity can make a difference on the international scene.
WorldCat.org
By now, most of you have probably used Encore – our library’s catalog. More efficient (though no less magical) than the card catalogs of old, Encore allows you to see all the library resources you have access to as a member of the Coastal Community.
But what about when you are off site? Maybe you want to do some light ConLaw reading over holiday break? Or maybe that last minute preparation for Moot Court oral argument has to be done out of town?
Fear not, just as Encore is a catalog that shows you what we have here at Coastal, WorldCat.org is a catalog that can show you what is available wherever you are around the world.
Simply type in your preferred search using title/author/keyword terms and then you can narrow by facets on the left, similar to Encore. Once you locate a particular record, you can see which libraries hold that resource and how far they are from your location.
Take Legal Research in a Nutshell, for example, since we all know how important it is to keep your legal research skills sharp.The WorldCat.org record for this resource can he found here. Follow that link and you’ll have the chance to Enter your location – zip code, city/state (or province), or country.
Enter 32256, for example, and you’ll see that the closest library to hold that resource is… the Florida Coastal School of Law Library & Technology Center! What library closest to you has it?
In the Library this Week (December 17 – January 1)
Library Holiday Break Hours (December 19 – 21)
Wednesday (19th) 7:30am – 6:00pm
Thursday (20th) 10:00am – 6:00pm
Friday (21st) 10:00am – 2:00pm
The Library will participate in the Winter Graduation Open House. Congratuations to our new graduates!!!
Library Holiday Break Hours (December 22 – January 1)
CLOSED
‘Tis the Season…
… to research many things – the best holiday cookie recipe, how to get directions someplace, where to go for the most creative gift (hey, I can’t do everything for you!).
If you are researching cookies, trips, and gifts, chances are you are using Google. If so, remember that you can do some great things other than just put some phrases in the big white box. Go to their Advanced Search page or look at how to use operators (you know: and, or, not). For even more – look at their Tips and Tricks (it has tips on searching for recipes, trips, and gifts, all on one convenient page!).
And have a very happy holiday! We’ll see you in the new year!
Enjoy the Discovery of New Library Materials
Hello everyone!
It’s time to enjoy the Discovery of new Library materials!
To view a table listing the new print resources that the library received in November 2012, click Continue reading below. Most of the items listed there can be found in the General Collection and checked out for up to three weeks by members of the Coastal Community.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to stop by the Reference Desk on the third floor of the Library & Technology Center or contact the Reference Librarians via email, telephone (904.680.7612), or the Ask a Librarian form.
Check back here for monthly updates on what the Library & Technology Center is adding. Updates will be published on the second Tuesday of every month.
If you think we should consider adding something to the collection, please feel free to recommend it here (Coastal ID login required).
Exam Day Jitters
What is the best way to deal with exam jitters?
Google, Bing, Duck Duck Go, Ask.com, and other sources will give you common wisdom and anecdotes about various techniques that have worked for other test takers. These may work for you.
But what if you want some no-nonsense, scientifically reliable, double-blind-tested techniques? If so, the best way to find them is to start by carefully selecting a source that contains that kind of material. You may have to try several sources until you find a good one.
I knew I wanted to find an article that contained carefully researched methods of dealing with test-day jitters. I was not interested in studies that simply measured anxiety levels. I wanted articles that would give me reliable advice. I settled on ProQuest eLibrary. I knew this source contained a range of newspapers and magazines that could have articles describing how to deal with exam jitters that would be properly sourced. I found the following tips from Sue Shellenbarger, Toughest Exam Question: What is the Best Way to Study?, WALL ST. J. ONLINE, Oct. 26, 2011. See more tips from this article in the Library display case on the 3rd floor:
- If you are taking the exam in an unfamiliar place, visit the room in advance.
- Set aside 10 minutes beforehand to write down your worries.
- Envision yourself in a situation you find challenging and invigorating. Then switch your mental image to the testing room and imagine yourself feeling the same way. With practice, you’ll be able to summon up more confidence on test day.
Following The Rule of Law
One of the very best ways to compare the relative levels of justice across multiple nations is to examine how closely each of those nations follows The Rule of Law.
Recently, the World Justice Project (WJP) launched the 2012-2013 edition of the WJR Rule of Law Index, which seeks to offer “a detailed and comprehensive picture of the extent to which countries adhere to the rule of law in practice.”
While there is a ton of useful and interesting information available as part of the Index, my personal favorite is the Data Map. You can select any of the individual factors that goes into the overall ranking and then see a graphic representation on how the different nations rank in that area. You can also click on the country to bring up the relevant factor score and a link to the report for that country.
If maps aren’t your thing, you can also view the Data directly in table format (or download it). From there, for instance, you can easily determine that the least corrupt government officials are in Sweden (0.96 out of a possible score of 1.0) and the most corrupt government officials can be found in Cameroon (0.20 out of a possible score of 1.0).
Take a look!