Celebrating National Library Week

In observance of National Library Week, April 18-23, the Law Library joined other libraries across the country in promoting awareness of the contributions libraries and library staff make to their communities. Banners and handouts greeted the law school community proclaiming the celebration. Patrons were treated to candy, bookmarks and complimentary earplugs at the public service desks. Users were encouraged to try their skill at online, interactive games and puzzles. The Docket displayed interesting and amusing daily facts about libraries and librarians. Fine amnesty, an annual library tradition, was a great success. Under the amnesty, students eliminated accumulated overdue library fines by bringing in canned food or dry goods for the Northwest Harvest food bank. Fines were reduced by one dollar for each can of food donated.

Thank you for sharing in our celebration!

Law Library Survey (LibQual) Ends

Thanks to everyone who took the time to fill out the Law Library service quality survey! There were over 125 responses from Seattle University School of Law faculty, staff and students. We have received substantial feedback and we appreciate your many comments and suggestions. If you didn’t get a chance to fill out the survey, but would like to provide your input, please do not hesitate to contact us: http://www.law.seattleu.edu/library/staff.

Congratulations to survey participants Sonia Zavala, Mark Saku, Raven Lidman, Julie Slawson, and Andrea Huff, winners of our local drawing for five $20.00 Amazon.com gift certificates. Please contact Jane Draney, extension 4188, in Room 307 (Law Library Administration offices), to pick up your prize.

Law Library Acquisitions: Staying Abreast of Policy and What's New

The Law Library's acquisition program strives to provide a collection that supports the instructional and research needs of the faculty and students in the School of Law. The Law Library selects, organizes, preserves and makes available materials that will aid members of the law school community. As a secondary objective the Law Library will, when feasible, select materials for use by the university community as a whole. The collection will support the School of Law curriculum and faculty research, and meet the standards set forth by the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools. Acquisitions and collection development require balancing financial resources, curriculum needs and long-term collection viability. Subscriptions, including databases, periodicals, reporters, statutes and loose-leaf services, represent the largest percentage of the acquisitions budget. Because financial resources are limited and the library faces annual price increases in the legal publishing industry of 10 to 15%, acquisition decisions must be made with this balancing in mind. The Seattle University Law Library Collection Development Policy and the Seattle University Law Library Federal Depository Collection Policy provide guidance in developing and maintaining the law library collection and information resources.

There are several ways to stay apprised of new library materials and resources. A list of recent acquisitions is located on the Law Library Web site and featured in the Library Newsletter. Our newsletter also features a regular column called New and Notable with information and reviews on titles of particular interest. Select titles are displayed at the Reference desk for one week. Additionally, many faculty members rely on their personal librarian liaison to flag materials of interest.

Multiple Changes in Multimedia

The library is pleased to announce that new video viewing equipment has been installed in the Micromedia room. Two 27” flat screen combination color TV/DVD/VCR units are now available for student/faculty/staff use. The new stationary units join an existing portable component viewing station housed in Room 204. Equipment is for in-house use only, and is available on a first-come first-serve basis. We can accommodate group viewing as well as individual use. For individual use, headphones can be checked out at the Circulation desk. This new equipment complements the library’s growing video collection, as demand for audio-visual formats has increased to enhance the classroom teaching environment and support individual study. We invite you to try the new equipment.

Successful Brown Exhibits Launch Additional Displays and Materials

This May marks the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. After the Law Library’s successful launch of two commemorative exhibits (both online and in the Dolliver Reading Room), the library was asked to create display materials for a variety of observances of Brown. You may have seen these materials at the symposium “From Brown to Grutter: Racial Integration and Law in the Northwest” in early April. (They will also be featured at the Loren Miller Bar Association’s upcoming re-creation of the Brown oral arguments held at Kane Hall on May 17.) In addition, Librarian Kerry Fitz-Gerald and Web developer Karla Heng created a suite of online games to provide interactive learning opportunities for visitors to the exhibits.

Hein Online Adds New Materials

You may be familiar with using Hein Online to find the full text of older law reviews and law journals. Consisting primarily of older law reviews that are not currently accessible online, the database provides access to rich historical legal literature. Hein Online is increasingly adding coverage of current law reviews and journals. The articles are exact images of the originals, faithfully reproducing mastheads, charts, graphs, statistical tables and photographs. The Hein Online software interface offers browsing and searching functions. Researchers may browse by journal title, author, or article title. Additionally, users may perform full-text searches across the entire database or search by author, title and citation fields. Recently, Hein Online added access to United States Treaties, United States Reports and the Federal Register. To access Hein Online, go to the library research portal; access electronic databases by title; and scroll down to Hein Online. If you have any questions, please visit or call the Reference desk at extension 4225, or contact us via our e-Reference service.

Peer Teaching Finds Its Way to the Library

Recently, the first year law students were assigned to research resources in particular topical areas and to present their findings to their classmates. To assist students in working on their peer teaching projects for Legal Writing, the library prepared a cart of reference materials for students to browse and a bibliography of resources.

Librarian Activities

From time to time, librarians and library staff participate in a variety of programs, workshops, and conferences as part of ongoing professional development. Please note the following activities:

• On March 6, Stephanie Wilson was a panelist at the Choices Conference held at the School of Law, and sponsored by Career Services. Stephanie discussed law librarianship as an alternative to practice, and answered student questions about educational requirements and work experiences.

• On January 30, Kristin Cheney attended the Law Library Directors of Seattle Annual Retreat. Kristin, along with close to a dozen other directors from academic, law firm and court settings, participated in this afternoon workshop facilitated by Richard A. Farr, from ECAT Group. Topics discussed included "Communicating with Your Staff: Fighting Burnout with the Right Goals and Challenges," "Communicating with Your Management: Getting What You Need So That You Can Do What You Need to Do," and "Communicating in a Crisis." At the end of the day, everyone enthusiastically affirmed that the lessons learned from the retreat's discussions and group exercises will be useful throughout the upcoming year.

• Kerry Fitz-Gerald participated in a half-day teleconference, “New Tools for Enhancing Digital Reference,” sponsored by the College of DuPage. Vendors briefly demonstrated a number of new products for platform searching, serials management and scheduling. A panel of librarians who use these products then critically reviewed them, taking audience questions and addressing such practicalities as usage and price.

• Bob Menanteaux and Kerry Fitz-Gerald attended the inaugural Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Institute (CETL) workshop on main campus. Keynote speaker Maryellen Wymer entertained and educated the group with suggestions for changing the power dynamic in a classroom to facilitate learning. Breakout groups led by Seattle University faculty (including Paula Lustbader) then set the groundwork for a series of sessions further exploring four major teaching themes.

• On February 25, Kristin Cheney, Jane Draney, Kerry Fitz-Gerald, Kara Phillips and Stephanie Wilson attended a Microsoft Law Library and Corporate Library Presentation and Tour, sponsored by the Law Librarians of Puget Sound. During the presentation, representatives from each library demonstrated new and developing Microsoft software on the law and corporate library intranet Web pages. They also discussed current issues and projects. After the presentation, participants took a brief tour of the Microsoft Law Library, and individuals were able to browse the Microsoft gift shop.

• On March 21-24, Kristin Cheney visited the Syracuse University College of Law as an ABA site inspection team member. Kristin indicated that although serving on a site team involves a lot of work, she enjoys the opportunity to review another institution in-depth, as well as visit with faculty, students and staff. "I always come away from a visit with something that I can apply or introduce into our setting."

• Bob Menanteaux recently returned from Washington, D.C., where he attended the 98th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law entitled "Mapping New Boundaries: Shifting Norms in International Law." Topics included the preemption doctrine and use of force; the intersection of constitutional law, federalism, and international law; and, the increasing importance of Islamic law to the international system. Highlights of the meeting included Michael Reisman's provocative Hudson Medal Lecture on "Why Regime Changes are (Almost Always) A Bad Idea," and a presentation by Justice Antonin Scalia on the use of international and foreign law precedents by the U.S. Supreme Court.

  While in Washington, Bob also attended "Islamic Law in a Changing World: Traditions and Transitions," organized by the Law Library of Congress. A Senior Specialist in Islamic Law presented a review of Islamic legal traditions, and the program also included presentations on Islamic family law in India and the recognition of Islamic legal decisions through Canadian arbitration.

Clean Sweep
The library would appreciate your assistance in returning any unneeded library materials before the end of the semester. This is an opportunity to turn in overdue items or materials inadvertently not checked out. If you have a number of items that you would like to have retrieved or renewed, please call the Circulation desk (extension 4220). Thank you very much for your help.