"Appraising Our Past, Charting Our Future"

The law library recently announced publication of its web-based report "Appraising Our Past, Charting Our Future." Marking the five-year anniversary of the Law School's move to Sullivan Hall, the report is designed to provide the casual reader with a concise summary of each library department's activities, services
and goals, while furnishing additional information for those individuals desiring
a more in-depth approach.

Judge Burke Portrait

The Law Library is the new home of a portrait of Judge Thomas Burke (1849-1925), former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Washington Territory. Judge Burke was named Chief Justice in 1888. A native New Yorker, Burke made his way to Washington in his mid-20s and began a long and esteemed career in Washington as a jurist. He played a prominent role in the development of Seattle, from his involvement as an early officer of the Rainier Club to his participation in local construction projects and his role as a partner in the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroads.

Judge Burke is also known for his outspokenness during unrest caused by anti-Chinese sentiment in 1886. While his views of Chinese laborers at the time would hardly be commended now, Burke strongly counseled others to act in accordance with the law. In a speech to laborers, he noted, "history records the fact that no class suffers so much from riots as the working men, and in the future you will curse the counsel of those who incite or advise you to lawlessness."

The library's new acquisition was painted by Alonzo Victor Lewis (1886-1946), an artist best known for his sculpture, but who also was a well-regarded painter. Lewis trained at the Art Institute of Chicago before making Seattle his home. His sculpture graces several locations in Washington state, including the University of Washington (the Miller Hall gargoyles), Seattle Center ("The Doughboy"), Tacoma (Lincoln High School's sculpture of Abraham Lincoln), and Olympia ("Victory Memorial").

Lewis's portrait of Judge Burke was donated to the School of Law by Michael & Bobbie Stern in special memory of Gustav Stern who taught music in the 1940s and 50s at what was then Seattle College, and Herbert M. Meltzer, father of Bobbie Stern. Mr. Meltzer was the previous owner of the portrait.

LLMC Digital

As part of our ongoing endeavor to support digitization of research materials, the law library has acquired a new database, LLMC Digital. The database is the product of the Law Library Microfiche Consortium’s (a cooperative of libraries of which we are a member) efforts to increase the accessibility of legal and government document titles. The collection contains selected documents from the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the federal government along with an assortment of Canadian law materials. You can access the database from the Databases tab on the Law Library Research Portal.

SharkRepellent.net

The Library is pleased to announce a new subscription to the online database SharkRepellent.net. SharkRepellent.net contains reports on United States public companies' takeover defense strategies and charter/bylaw summaries, poison pill summaries and state takeover statutes. Compiled from companies’ articles of incorporation, bylaws, state takeover law and shareholder rights plans, the information is used to build comprehensive overviews of a company's key takeover defenses. This completely searchable database was recently demonstrated in Professor Chiappinelli's Securities class, and is available through the Databases tab on the Law Library Research Portal. To explore SharkRepellent.net, simply double click on the login button. See your library liaison for more information.

Same-Sex Marriage Exhibits

In conjunction with the CLE and Symposium “The ‘New’ Family Law: Legal Implications of Same-Sex Marriage,” the Law Library is pleased to announce three new exhibits: an online exhibit and two physical exhibits. The online exhibit explores the social, judicial, legislative and religious aspects of same-sex marriage with dramatic photographs, links to court pleadings & documents, and more. A panel exhibit in the second floor of the library creates a narrative journey through the same sex marriage movement. The panels feature photographs, newspaper headlines and illustrative images that bring the same sex marriage debate to life by connecting faces and personal stories to the issues. Display cases on the Law Library’s second floor feature local same-sex wedding ceremonies performed in accordance with Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish traditions and states that have amended their constitutions. The Library invites you to browse and explore the exhibits...(Online Same-Sex Marriage Exhibit)

Elections Exhibit

The library’s new exhibit on election law is displayed at the south end of our fourth floor. It features information on a wide range of topics such as the Electoral College, political parties, and election oddities. You can even see some actual “chads” from Florida. The display was conceived and arranged by third year law student, Katie Brown under the direction of librarian Kelly Kunsch.

Federal Courthouse Tour

Recently, several individuals from Seattle University School of Law (library, technology and dean’s office) visited the new United States District Courthouse. Arranged by the United States Court branch librarian Tim Sheehy, participants toured the new law library on the top floor of the courthouse (what a view!), Chief Judge Lasnik’s offices, and a high tech courtroom. We also had the opportunity to view the wonderful art collection throughout the courthouse. The new courthouse is located at: 700 Stewart Street, Seattle, WA 98101.
Courthouse Information

Westlaw Features Kunsch Article


Librarian Kelly Kunsch’s article “Dough Re Mi: The Scales of Justice (A Descant for Entering First-Year Law Students)” is being featured on the lawschool.westlaw.com Student Life page. The article, originally published in the Law Library Journal, 87 Law Libr. J. 471 (1995), is a humorous look at law school life and beyond set to the tune of “Do Re Mi” from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The Sound of Music.

Photocopy Machine

The photocopy machine on the fourth floor in the library has been removed due to low usage. However, we still have three self-service copy machines available; one located on the third floor and two on the second floor (including one in Reference and one in Open Reserve).

LLM Research Workshops

Librarians Barbara Swatt Engstrom and Bob Menanteaux recently conducted research training sessions for students in the new Masters of Law program for foreign graduates. Basic primary and secondary sources were covered in two classes that also included an introduction to Westlaw basics. To reinforce key concepts, Barbara made research assignments available to the group. Although it was a lot of material to cover in a short time, the classes were well received. Research support for the students will continue throughout the thesis development process.

LLOPS Activity

Law Librarians of Puget Sound (LLOPS) is a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries and is a nonprofit association established “to promote librarianship, to develop and increase the usefulness of law libraries, to cultivate the science of law librarianship and to foster a spirit of cooperation among the members of the profession, particularly those in the Puget Sound region of Washington State.” Reference Librarian Kerry Fitz-Gerald was asked to join the newly formed Futures Committee of the Law Librarians of Puget Sound. This special committee has been charged with evaluating the long-term health of the organization. The committee will be considering the financial stability of LLOPS, the educational programming, its membership, and its relationship with other law librarian organizations. At the end of the fiscal year, the committee expects to report to LLOPS President Richard Jost with recommendations for the future growth of LLOPS. Executive Law Librarian Kristin Cheney has been appointed to the Nominations and Elections Committee, which oversees the recruitment and election of chapter officers.

Behind the Scenes

In Spring 2004, the Law Library and main campus Lemieux Library became members of a regional library consortium, called the Orbis Cascade Alliance, serving more than 180,000 faculty and students from 27 member institutions. Recently, the library staff has been modifying coding in our online catalog to comply with the standards of the new consortial catalog, Summit. The Summit catalog provides information on more than 22 million books and other materials owned by university and college libraries in Oregon and Washington. Direct borrowing is available to students and faculty at member institutions and a courier service facilitates daily pick-up and delivery of library materials at 60 libraries in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Both Seattle University Law Library and the Lemieux Library hope to complete the process of adding our titles to the consortial catalog by early next semester so that patrons can begin taking advantage of this new service.

Conferences/Workshops/Training

NWIUG
The tenth annual Northwest Innovative Users Group (NWIUG) Conference, was attended by Kent Milunovich, Nancy Minton, Jane Grossman, Susan Kezele, and Charlotte Parsons. The two-day workshop at the University of Portland provided training on the library's online database and catalog. New products and system enhancements were demonstrated. Workshops included sessions on electronic resources management, resource sharing, database maintenance, serials holdings, archiving order records, holds management, and statistics. Forums for cataloging, serials, acquisitions, and circulation provided an opportunity for participants to discuss issues and share solutions with peers from other institutions.

WLA/PNLA Conference
Nancy Minton and Susan Kezele attended the WLA/PNLA 2004 Conference in Wenatchee. This first-ever joint conference brought Washington Library Association and Pacific Northwest Library Association members together for seminars, meetings and presentations. Topics included virtual reference, emerging technologies, digital archives, Internet filtering, and database portals. New ideas and challenges were presented through a variety of live demonstrations, interactive exercises, and the distribution of resource documents.

NW ILL
Susan Kezele participated in the Third Annual Northwest Interlibrary Loan and Resource Sharing Conference in Portland. The conference is designed for staff in libraries of all types and sizes. Colleagues meet to discuss issues and solutions involving interlibrary loan as well as future trends and standards. New tools and technology are demonstrated and practical information is shared. Seminars covered a variety of topics including direct delivery of inter-library loan (ILL) to distance users, copyright compliance for digital media, and methodologies for efficient electronic “on demand” purchase and delivery.

OCLC Meeting
Nancy Minton attended OCLC’s Western Annual Members meeting at the University of Washington. The annual meeting provided a background for understanding OCLC’s new product offerings. OCLC, an acronym for Online Computer Library Center, is a global library cooperative whose systems help library personnel locate, acquire, catalog, archive, and lend library materials.

WestPac
In September, Stephanie Wilson attended the conference of the Western Pacific Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries (WestPac). Stephanie attended sessions about the revision process for Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law and about tribal law research. The annual WestPac meeting for fall 2005 will be held in Seattle and librarians Barbara Swatt Engstrom, Stephanie Wilson, and Kara Phillips will be serving on the planning committee. Seattle University Law Library plans to host a reception as part of the conference.