National Library Week was celebrated April 10-16. The highlight of the festivities was Reference Librarian Stephanie Wilson and Reference Librarian Kerry Fitz-Gerald's display of celebrity “Read” posters featuring law school faculty. The clever posters were designed by Administrative Assistant Jane Draney in collaboration with Michael Caldwell (Print & Web Media Manager), and include Dean Testy, Professors Chon, Halliburton and Skover, showcasing books that hold special significance to them. For further information on these books, click on this issue's New and Notable link on the left.

The Prolific Reporter devoted the April 11 issue to the Information Age. Information Services staff and students contributed articles dealing with topics ranging from information management to the Patriot Act. The theme of the PR crossword puzzle was legal fiction.

A display case exhibit by Katie Brown (3L) featured a history of libraries. Visitors to the reference and circulations desks were treated to candy and free earplugs. Fine amnesty, an annual National Library Week tradition, was well received by the students.

The library now has an online subscription to the Corporate Accountability Reporter. This weekly newsletter covers significant legal developments concerning officers and directors, executive compensation, financial reporting, corporate disclosure, shareholder rights, auditing and accounting, corporate ethics codes, pension reforms and administration, professional responsibility and other corporate topics. The newsletter is available to Seattle University Law faculty, staff, and students for "purposes of research, education or other non-commercial use." The Corporate Accountability Reporter can be accessed through the database listings on the library research portal. In addition, faculty members can request that the weekly e-mail summary be routed to them electronically by contacting Technical Services Librarian, Kent Milunovich: milunovichk@seattleu.edu

Ethiopia – The library responded to Professor Hank McGee’s call for donations of legal materials to take on his visit to Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. The library provided over 70 law books published in the last five years (casebooks, study aids and reference books).

Belarus – The library participated in the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Eastern European Book Drive. The library supplied almost 200 law books and also served as a drop off site for members of the legal community to donate books. The materials will be used at the Belarus State Economic University Faculty of Law. The law students participating on the school’s first Philip C. Jessup Moot Court Team were especially appreciative of the materials on trial techniques and oral arguments and sent the library a photo of the team with their thanks!

PILF – The library coordinated the donation of three sets of materials for the Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) auction. The sets included a Washington Reference Collection (Washington Digest, RCWA, Washington Practice provided by the law firm of Kargianis Werner), a set of leather bound Washington Reports first series (provided by Doug Nichols) and three recent litigation practice texts from the Seattle University Law Library collection. Thanks to our donors for the materials and to the lucky bidders!

• Who is donating the material (believe it or not we get many materials that mysteriously show up in our mailboxes or on the library cart).
  
  
• Whether you need a gift acknowledgement for tax purposes; the library cannot provide an appraisal according to IRS and SU regulations.
  
  
• Whether you need the material added to the collection (e.g., for course reserve or future research).
  
  
• Whether you would like material returned to you if not added to the collection or whether we can set it aside for other donation programs like our international book donations or our free books cart.
  
  
  
  

Julie Turner, graduate of American University School of Law and completing her degree at the University of Washington Information School;

Liz Bedford, graduate of Seattle University School of Business and presently enrolled as a first year law student at Seattle University School of Law;

Christopher O’Byrne, third year law student at the University of Washington School of Law and accepted into the MLIS program at the University of Washington's Information School;

Pegge Lum, graduate of University of Minnesota Law School;

Katie Merrill Brown, third year law student at Seattle University School of Law;

Jessica DePerio, second year law student at Seattle University School of Law;

Katey Stratton, University of Puget Sound graduate.

Some of our most promising interns are often Seattle University School of Law students who begin working for the library, catch the “library bug” and decide to pursue a career in law librarianship. This is the case with Katie Merrill Brown, a third year law student who has worked in every library department over the past three years as well as completed a variety of special projects (research guides, exhibits, bibliographies) for the library. Katie has applied to library school to pursue her Masters in Library and Information Science and she will be missed tremendously. We wish all of our interns the best in their future careers!

In the next few months, you will likely see a lot of publicity about Washington Libraries in the form of bookmarks, posters, radio and TV announcements featuring Bill Gates,Sr. and Jean Enersen and other events. These activities are part of a statewide campaign to increase public awareness and use of libraries through advertising and public relations. A statewide advisory committee comprised of library marketing professionals and representatives from all types of libraries provides guidance on the initiative. Kristin A. Cheney, Seattle University Law Library Executive Law Librarian, is a member of the committee, representing the views of “special” academic libraries.

Reference Librarian Barbara Swatt Engstrom recently presented “Using Technology to Bring Exhibits to Life” at the Association of College and Research Libraries’ National Conference held in Minneapolis on April 7-10. The presentation focused on the Web-based exhibits that the library created to complement the Continuing Education programs “From Brown to Grutter: Racial Integration and the Law in the Northwest” and “The New Family Law: Legal Implications of Same-Sex Marriage” held last year at the law school.

Barbara spoke about design, copyright, implementation and display issues encountered in creating the exhibits. She also talked about techniques and templates that libraries can use to construct their own Web-based exhibits. The presentation was well received with many questions from conference participants.

Tent City

Reference Librarian Kelly Kunsch teamed with Ahoua Kone of the Access to Justice Institute to help residents of Tent City locate unclaimed property. Approximately 12 residents filled out request forms. Ultimately, more than five state databases were searched, an Indian tribe was contacted, and information on requesting property from the military and the Internal Revenue Service was made available to residents.

Continuing Education Seminars

On March 16th, Executive Law Librarian Kristin Cheney and Reference Librarian Kerry Fitz-Gerald spoke at a half-day continuing education seminar sponsored by the Institute for Paralegal Education. In keeping with the seminar theme of “Premier Legal Research and Technology Strategies,” Ms. Cheney guided the attendees through the process of distilling an attorney request into a focused research question, highlighting methods of crafting successful and efficient strategies for conducting legal research. Ms. Fitz-Gerald covered essential techniques for Lexis and Westlaw, and then introduced a variety of free Web sources for legal research. The presentations were very well received, with several attendees expressing their eagerness to put these new techniques into practice.

Web-Based Research Guides on PRC Legal and Business Resources



Selected Books and Journal Articles in English on Chinese Law: The 2004 Year in Review

prepared by Kara Phillips
Collection Development/Associate Executive Librarian

Librarians Stephanie Wilson and Barbara Swatt Engstrom have relocated to new offices. Stephanie is now in the library administration offices on the third floor of the library in room 307C. Barbara is in Stephanie’s old office in room 203 on the second floor of the library.