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New Display Cases for Faculty Publications
The library now has four lovely display cases
on the second floor. Our current display includes a sampling
of faculty publications, and the Excellence in Marketing award
which the library won earlier this year. We are currently reviewing
the Faculty Bibliography and will soon revamp our displays to
include the most recent publications of each faculty member.
If you have copies of materials to display, please deliver them
to Stephanie Wilson or Kara Phillips.
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Online
Research Tools
In addition to Lexis and Westlaw, the library also subscribes
to a variety of other online
databases that may meet your legal and non-legal research
needs. You may be interested in trying out VersusLaw (contains
American primary legal materials and tribal materials); LOISlaw
(features American primary legal materials and WSBA deskbooks
and CLEs); or QuickLaw America (provides access to Canadian
legal materials). The library also subscribes to several databases
with the full text and abstracts of legal articles. Of particular
note is Hein Online for those of you needing access to the full
text of older law reviews and journals. To keep current on new
and forthcoming articles, you will want to check out the Current
Index to Legal Periodicals. For foreign law research, you might
try AccessUN (contains United Nations materials); Foreign Law
Guide (cites to sources of law for over 200 foreign jurisdictions);
or the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (indexes legal journals
from around the world). For non-legal information, you can find
a variety of resources via main campus and Lemieux Library's
Find
Articles Web site. The law library’s research portal,
THEO,
lists databases by subject and title, and other resources such
as our catalog, research guides and Web sites. If you have questions
or would like more information, contact the Reference desk at
x4225, or contact us via our E-Reference
service.
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New Library
Intern: Liz Bedford
We are pleased to welcome Liz Bedford to our library. Liz is
an intern from the YMCA Youth Employment Program, for which
the Seattle University Law Library is a pilot site. The purpose
of the program is to hone the skills that interns obtain in
the YMCA job readiness and career development programs. The
YMCA places clients in internships that match their interests
and long-term career goals. Liz is a recent graduate of Seattle
University with a B.A. in marketing, and is interested in attending
law school. She will work eight hours a week at the library,
and will split her time between public and technical services.
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Interlibrary
Loans on the Rise
The ILL staff reports that interlibrary loan requests have
risen steadily in the last few years and recent ABA statistics
confirm the trend. The upsurge can be attributed to a number
of factors, including vigorous faculty scholarship, varied student
independent-study projects and two successful law journals.
The library is processing more requests but our overall cost
of doing business has significantly decreased. This is remarkable
considering many libraries now charge between $10 and $30 to
borrow a single item from their collections. Several factors
have contributed to our success in keeping costs down. The library
takes advantage of relationships with a variety of consortia,
in particular membership in LVIS (Libraries Very Interested
in Sharing), where libraries across the country agree to share
resources at no cost. The acquisition of ARIEL,
an online document delivery service, has saved us both postage
and handling costs. The interlibrary loan staff strive to select
the most cost effective tools and methods available to obtain
material without sacrificing fast, efficient service.
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Donna Turner
Attends Archives Fair
On October 8, Donna Turner (Bindery Specialist) attended Seattle
City Hall’s "Celebrate National Archive Week"
archives fair. During the fair, exhibits, speakers and a film
addressed the complexity of collection management decisions
surrounding the preservation of materials. Of particular interest
was a presentation addressing the use of archives for the purpose
of legal research. The recently completed city hall is the new
home of the extensive collection of the Seattle
Municipal Archives. Archived public records at this historical
center include textual documents, maps, audiotapes, videotapes
and over a million photographs. For Donna, touring the new Seattle
city hall, understanding Seattle Municipal’s archival
operation, and viewing its archival facility were the highlights
of the fair.
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Appreciation
Luncheon at Gallagher Law Library
As mentioned in our August newsletter, the summer closure
of the Gallagher Law Library substantially increased the Seattle
University Law Library's patron load. In recognition of our
efforts to provide service to those individuals who would normally
rely on UW's legal resources, the Gallagher Law Library staff
is hosting a luncheon for the Seattle University Law Library
staff on Wednesday, December 10. Small group tours of the new
William H. Gates Hall will follow the luncheon.
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Library
Staff Gets the Latest on Library Automation at NWIUG
The 9th Annual Northwest Innovative
Users Group (NWIUG) conference was held on October 16-17,
in Portland, Oregon. Jane Grossman (Serials Technician), Susan
Kezele (Circulation/DDC Supervisor), Kent Milunovich (Systems/Technical
Services Librarian), Nancy Minton (Cataloguer) and Charlotte
Parsons (Acquisitions Technician) attended. The conference provides
product enhancement previewing, training, and development opportunities
for libraries using Innovative Interfaces as their online library
catalog. This year's meeting specifically addressed effective
migration techniques in the various modules of Millennium, the
law library’s upgraded Innovative web-based database.
Among the sessions addressing Innovative capabilities were "Archiving
Order Records in MS Access," "Exporting and Manipulating
Data," "Millennium Statistics," and "A Browsable
Audiovisual Database Derived From Catalog Data." Additionally,
forums on Circulation, Acquisitions, Cataloging and Serials
offered our law library attendees applicable module-specific
discussions.
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New
Library Furniture
Over the summer the library acquired a variety of furniture
including carrels, soft chairs and couches. The additional furniture
increased the library’s seating capacity by approximately
10%. Take a seat and enjoy!
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Need Help
on a Short Term Research Project?
 This
fall, the library continues its Faculty Research Assistant Program
(FRAP), providing assistance with short-term research projects
for faculty members. Stephen Leptich, a third-year law student
and Symposium Editor for Seattle University Law Review, is continuing
in this role. He is assigned projects by the Reference Librarians,
so if you have a project you believe might utilize Stephen’s
capabilities, contact your library liaison.
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Upcoming
User Survey
Several members of the Conference of Law Libraries of the
Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU), including
the Seattle University Law Library, will be participating in
a consortial survey designed to measure library service quality
across institutions. The survey, known as LibQUAL+, was developed
by the Association of Research Libraries and is modeled after
SERVQUAL, a common tool for assessing service quality in the
private sector. As a survey participant, our goal is to solicit
and track patron opinion regarding service quality so that we
can make service improvements and identify best practices. As
part of a consortium, we will be able to compare our results
with peer institutions and gather user feedback systematically
over time. We expect that the LibQUAL+ survey will be conducted
in the spring. You can find out more information about the LibQUAL+
survey at: www.libqual.org/
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New
Library Reader Printer
The library recently purchased a Minolta MS 6000 digital microform
scanner. Because a large part of the library collection is on
microfilm or microfiche, this new equipment is a welcome addition.
In the past, copying from microform was time-consuming and print
quality was marginal, but the new Minolta produces sharp, clean
images at a rate of 20 pages per minute. In addition to laser
printing, the Minolta has the capability of scanning images
from microform to a connected PC. Once scanned, the images can
be uploaded for use on Web sites, in e-mail, in desktop publishing,
or stored to disk. The Minolta is located behind Open Reserve
in the Micro-media room. The reference and circulation staff
will be happy to answer any questions you have about use of
the equipment.
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Congratulations
Kara!
Maren Alexis, a new addition to household of Kara Phillips,
was born July 10. Best wishes to Kara, her husband Vince, Maren
and big sister Brynne.
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Newsletter written by law library staff.
Questions? Comments? Please
contact Helane
Davis, editor.
Web Technician: Greg Soejima
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