News from KU’s Wheat Law Library | Fall 2016
Library Services for Alumni
Faculty Publications
Legal Research Lessons
Green Hall | 1535 W. 15th St. Lawrence, KS 66045-7608 law.ku.edu/library lawref@ku.edu
Autumn is upon us and the new academic year is in full swing at the KU Wheat Law Library. Law librarians are busy working with a new crop of 1Ls on basic resources and methodologies of legal research. The enthusiasm of our new students has a way of energizing us and serves as a reminder that our educational efforts may live on for decades in their burgeoning careers. Each new class seems to exhibit a unique collective personality of sorts, and I am hearing that intellectual curiosity might be one of the defining traits found in the Class of 2019. To this new group of aspiring scholars we say, “Welcome.” Please know that the library is invested in your success, and we aim to provide the environment, resources and instruction that will aid your journey through the law. To our returning 2Ls and 3Ls, we hope you are already familiar with the varied ways we can partner with you to create rewarding academic experiences. We work with many of you on Law Review and Journal cite-checking and questions of all kinds at the Service Desk. Our guest research lectures in substantive courses provide research instruction at the point of need, and our own course offerings, such as Advanced Legal Research and the Kansas Supreme Court Research Practicum, give us an important opportunity to engage with you on sophisticated research techniques that will give you a leg up in the legal job market. I can assure you that few things are more gratifying than hearing from former students when they apply these skills to the benefit of their clients and employers. There is also, of course, a great deal of library work that is less visible but no less important. Behind the scenes, the yeoman’s work of collection development, interlibrary loan processing, acquisitions, cataloging, serials processing, budget analysis and statistical tracking creates the infrastructure for our outward-facing efforts. All of this and much more is carried out on a weekly basis by a remarkable group of seven library staff and faculty members. As I work with our magnificent staff and student workers, I am constantly reminded how impossible my job would be without their expertise and dedication. I know that you will share my appreciation for their efforts when you have an information need that is met with the prompt and knowledgeable service that has long been our calling card.
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Wheat Law Library | Hearsay
In conclusion, I would like to briefly address an additional aspect of our mission that I have not yet touched upon here. Working with KU Law faculty members in support of research and scholarship efforts is a critical component of our drive to deliver added value to the work done in Green Hall. Close collaboration on scholarly articles and books is an enriching experience for both law librarians and law faculty members, and we are always looking for ways to build upon the strong tradition that we have created in the area The enthusiasm of of faculty services. Recent our new students events in the publishing world shine a light on just has a way of how important these efforts energizing us can be. The acquisition of SSRN by Elsevier has raised a and serves as a host of questions regarding reminder that our the rapidly evolving Open Access environment for educational efforts academic scholarship. may live on for Embedded within these decades in their questions is the issue of how KU Law scholarship burgeoning can best be preserved and careers. disseminated moving forward in the digital publishing landscape. Like many law schools, we are closely monitoring this situation as it unfolds and actively exploring options to ensure that KU Law maintains, and improves, its position on the cutting edge of legal scholarship. I look forward to working on this issue with law faculty and other stakeholders in the coming months to ensure an optimal outcome is achieved. Until next time, remember that our print collection is the original open access legal information repository. I hope to see you in the library.
Christopher L. Steadham, JD, MLIM Wheat Law Library Director
Collection spotlight: Faculty publications By Melissa Doebele, Library Assistant “Publish or perish,” as the saying goes, and the faculty at KU Law have certainly been prolific publishers. Case in point, the display for new faculty publications is very full this semester. This display is updated three to four times a year by the Faculty Services Senior Researcher, who also puts together a list of the materials in the case. The list for the current display — as well as listings of previous displays — can be found by visiting the “About the Library” section of Wheat Law Library’s website (law.ku.edu/about-library) and clicking on the “Faculty Publications” tab. Visitors to this page can also view KU Law faculty publications on both KU Scholarworks and SSRN—the Social Science Research Network. The faculty publications display case is located just inside the front doors of the library and is celebrating its 10th anniversary in that location, as the case was moved there in Fall 2006. The display case was donated by KU Law alumnus Robert W. Loyd, L’62. After being rotated out of the new faculty publications case, a faculty member’s materials may go one of two places in the library. Items may go into the faculty publications space in the reference area of the library across from the front desk. Depending on the subject matter, materials may also be housed in the International and Comparative Law display located on the fourth floor of the Wheat Law Library. While the shelving for faculty publications in the library’s reference area has been there for quite some time, the International and Comparative Law display is a fairly recent addition. It was established in April 2008. The cases currently housing that collection are even newer than that. The old cases posed some safety concerns, and the library purchased new cases that were installed in January 2015. The faculty publications areas are a popular attraction. The collections on the main floor of the library are often the first things visitors see when they come through the front doors. The new faculty publications case is even a stop on the tour given to prospective law students.
The display for new faculty publications is located just inside the front doors of the library. The display case was donated by KU Law alumnus Robert W. Loyd, L’62.
Please stop by the Wheat Law Library and take a look at the displays that showcase all of the hard work that KU Law faculty have put into their publications.
Wheat Law Library | Hearsay
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Wheat Law Library services for alumni By Pam Crawford, Assistant Director for Public & Technical Services You may no longer be a KU Law student, but we’re still here for you! The following is a brief outline of the many library services available to you: • Law-only Kansas Resident Borrowers Card: This card, for Kansas residents only, allows you to check out material from the Wheat Law Library (but not other KU libraries). There is no charge for this card, but we do require proof of current Kansas residency. • KU Library Borrower Card: If you are not affiliated with KU, you may purchase this card at Watson Library. The fee is $20, and the card must be renewed annually. The card allows you to borrow materials at all KU Libraries, including Wheat Law Library (except Spencer Research Library and the KU Medical Center Library). • Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery: Contact us via email or phone (785-864-9264) and request copies of scanned materials (articles, statutes, etc.) at no charge. The copies will be emailed. If you have a KU Libraries or Law-only account, you can borrow law library books and we will mail them if you’re not in town. • WestlawNext Public Access: A public version of WestlawNext can be accessed at the public computers in the Reference Area of Wheat Law Library. • Subscription Database Access: Electronic resources available from the KU Libraries’ website (including the Wheat Law Library) are licensed for non-commercial use by KU faculty, staff, students, and on-site visitors
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at KU campus locations for educational or research purposes. Access depends on the terms set out in the license of a particular electronic resource. In many cases, authorized users also include members of the public who use the e-resource on library premises. KU Alumni Association library access: If you are a member of the KU Alumni Association, you have access to three databases (Business Book Summaries, Business Source Alumni Edition, and Academic Search Alumni Edition) containing more than 50,000 magazines, journals and index records. See the KU Alumni Association site for more details. Research & Study Guides: We have 40+ online guides covering a wide variety of legal topics. Resources include lists of books in our library and links to both free and subscription databases and other online sites. Photocopying & Printing: Machines are located on the second and third floors. The charge is 8 cents per page for black & white or 48 cents for color. You will need to purchase a visitor login at the Circulation Desk. Ask a Reference Question: The reference staff is accessible via email, phone (785-864-3025), or in person at the library. We are always happy help an alum with a tough research question!
The Wheat Law Library staff is happy to assist recent, and not-so-recent, graduates with legal research and the use of legal resources. If you are in town for a game or reunion or to visit friends or family, please stop by and see us. While you’re here, we can even tell you where your class composite is located so you can show the family how you looked “back in the day.” Rock Chalk!
Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy Symposium Feb. 17, 2017 Tribal Law & Government Conference March 10, 2017 Diversity in Law Banquet March 10, 2017
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Eutin: Lawrence’s Sister City in Northern Germany By Bruce Chandler, Technical Services Manager In July, my wife and I visited our son, who lives and works in Hamburg, Germany. In addition to enjoying time with our son (a KU graduate who participated in the Summer 2014 German Studies Summer Language Institute in Eutin), I also took some time to explore KU, Lawrence, and library-related connections in the region. Lawrence and Eutin, Germany, celebrated a 25-year relationship as Sister Cities in October 2014. The story of how Eutin (pronounced oy-TEEN) and Lawrence came to be Sister Cities dates back to 1961 and, perhaps unsurprisingly, has a KU connection. That year, KU Germanic Languages and Literatures Chair Anthony Burzle and visiting German scholar Michael Scherer planned the first summer language studies institute for KU students to take place in the Bavarian town of Holzkirchen, just south of Munich. Along with studying the language, the students enjoyed excursions to historical sites in cities such as Munich, Heidelberg, Frankfort, and medieval Rothenburg. From that first summer in 1961 until today, KU students studying in the language institute have lived with Holzkirchen host families. With the southern study institute such a popular success, a second program was planned for a location in Northern Germany. In 1964, KU German Studies professor Helmut Huelsbergen went to Kiel, the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, to find support for a second KU summer language institute. Traveling in the area and meeting officials in nearby cities, Professor Huelsbergen found immediate and enthusiastic support for a program in Eutin. By 1966, the second KU summer institute was in place. As in Holzkirchen, KU students lived with host families in Eutin. By 1987, almost 600 KU students had studied in Eutin’s Summer Language Institute. Around this time, too, Eutin suggested an exchange program for their high-school students to study in Lawrence, and for Lawrence High School students to study and live with host families in Eutin. In Lawrence, the group Friends of Eutin formed to work with Lawrence High School to arrange host families to accommodate visiting German students, and to help
Aerial view of Eutin, Germany, and the Codex Maneese, in Heidelberg.
Lawrence high school students with expenses to travel and live in Eutin. The momentum of the exchange program from KU’s Germanic Languages and Literatures Department, and the Friends of Eutin, prompted the City of Lawrence to form the Lawrence Sister Cities Advisory Board. Delegates from Eutin arrived in Lawrence, and on Oct. 27, 1989, Lawrence and Eutin were officially designated Sister Cities. Town-to-town affiliation programs of reconciliation and friendship began shortly after WWII. In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower founded Sister Cities International as a way to ease East-West tensions and promote better understanding between nations. The goal of Sister Cities International is to “Promote peace through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation — one individual, one community at a time.” Lawrence’s other Sister Cities are Hiratsuka, Japan (1990) and Iniades, Greece (2009). Wheat Law Library | Hearsay
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Faculty Services Senior Researcher: Not merely a Googler of things By Nicholas Birdsong, Faculty Services Senior Researcher I am not merely a professional user of the most popular search engine in existence, although sometimes that is what I tell people when they ask what I do. Referencing Google is just a simpler, more accessible way of explaining a large part of what my unique position entails. And even among projects that do involve internet searching via ubiquitous online tools, Hearsay readers might be surprised to learn that there is a lot more to the process than is commonly understood. The bulk of my time is spent searching for answers to questions posed by law faculty. A research request might be as simple as locating a particular article or set of articles and passing them along. Other times, I may be asked to conduct 50-state surveys of state statutes, find material offering support for a working publication’s claims, proofread rather sizable papers, or conduct preliminary investigations into topics that faculty might be considering writing about. The process of locating useful information often (but not always) takes place via the internet, utilizing the library’s many electronic resources with search engines that function similarly to Google. Sometimes I might even use Google, or at least Google Scholar. The problem with conducting natural language searches, which is what most casual research consists of, is that they will usually capture massive numbers of irrelevant results while simultaneously excluding key materials. Understanding Boolean terms and connectors is essential for narrowly tailoring searches, as is the ability to abstractly view language and build logic-based phrases disconnected from conventional rules of grammar. Generating search terms that might capture useful results is ultimately a creative process, especially for more complex issues. Researchers must also be prepared to use search engines that often interpret Boolean language slightly differently. Legal academia tends to involve interdisciplinary questions. Environmental law often involves issues in the environmental sciences or energy technology. Business 6
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law scholars rely upon work done by economists and others. Public policy, medicine, sociology, engineering, and other disciplines regularly shape the law. A quality legal researcher must therefore be comfortable constantly learning specialized technical jargon and using nearly any kind of information resource. When I am not performing research for faculty, I help teach law students to answer questions using electronic resources or a combination of traditional and electronic materials. Through my work with the Kansas Supreme Court Research Practicum, I help direct students’ research efforts and assist them as they write papers communicating the results of their work. At the end of the semester, I help prepare students to present their research to the Court. Advanced Legal Research focuses on giving students the tools to conduct in-depth investigations using a variety of research techniques. I’ve also been invited to give guest research lectures for other law school courses, including the Legislative Field Placement and the Public Policy Practicum. Part of my job is to help prepare students for the real world, where much of their time will be spent researching and writing. While legal research may seem boring to some, it is an essential part of a lawyer’s skillset. Haphazard research can lead attorneys to erroneous conclusions, embarrassing moments, higher costs, and possible ethical problems. The rest of my job falls into the most infamous line in any job description: other duties as assigned. Ever wonder who puts together the faculty publications display near the library entrance? Or who that guy is watching the front desk almost every Sunday? Well, now you know. Just as there is more to research than Google, there is also much more to the position of Faculty Services Senior Researcher than one might think.
THE BLUEBOOK RELAYS ARE COMING | October 28, 2016
Lessons learned teaching legal research By Blake Wilson, Assistant Director for Instructional & Faculty Services I have been teaching legal research at KU Law for almost 10 years. Before that, I taught research techniques to summer and first-year associates for a large firm in Kansas City, Missouri. And even before I graduated from law school, I instructed paralegals and legal secretaries on the same subject. I have a master’s in information science and learning technology, which is a fancy way of saying I study how people process and use information and the technology involved in knowledge management. At this point, I can say with great confidence that I am an expert in the field of legal research instruction.
The course needs to focus on the process of legal research as a whole and not simply a means of showing students the various sources available to them. Yes, the students do benefit from seeing what resources are available to them both while they are in law school and once they are in practice. But regardless, the student must walk away with a means to attack any problem, regardless of size, complexity, and access.
So what is the best way for students to learn legal research? First of all, legal research should be the focus of the class. For students to truly grasp the process and analysis needed to become stellar researchers, they must concentrate on it.
And finally, the class needs to be simulation-based and use a problem-solving approach. Whether the instructor provides the issue or the student provides it is up to the instructor. I have done it both ways, and there are pros and cons to each approach.
Next, the legal research classroom should offer an active, hands-on learning environment. This has come to be known as the “flipped classroom.” The flipped classroom is a teaching style in which the typical lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed. Short video lectures are viewed by students at home before the class session, in conjunction with the assigned reading, while in-class time is devoted to exercises, projects, or discussions.
As a law librarian at the University of Kansas School of Law, I am blessed with the opportunity to practice these methods teaching Advanced Legal Research and the Supreme Court Research Practicum. Both offer law students the hands-on approach necessary to become proficient legal researchers. The Supreme Court Research Practicum is taught every fall, while Advanced Legal Research is covered in the spring. Wheat Law Library | Hearsay
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Library welcomes new student employees
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Rayven Garcia is a 2L from Tucson, Arizona. She completed her undergraduate degree in criminology and criminal justice at Arizona State University. She is from Arizona, where it gets to 120 degree in the summer, so she knows how to work when the heat is on. Adam Gillaspie is a 2L from Ottawa, Kansas. He received his undergraduate degree in business marketing from KU. When he isn’t being a law student or protecting the library, Adam enjoys long walks, spending time with family, and reading about the latest technology trends. Taylor Hines is a 2L from the suburbs of Chicago. Taylor received her undergraduate degree in political science and Spanish from KU. She enjoys traveling and aspires to live on one of the coasts of the United States upon graduation. Elenore Leonard is completing her degree in museum studies. Her professional interests are collections care and management. She uses this background for her work with Technical Services. Brett Pollard is a 3L from Overland Park, Kansas. Brett received his undergraduate degree in political science from KU. He is a big sports fan and enjoys traveling. After graduation he would like to pursue a career in sports business. Tyler Reese is a 3L from Green River, Wyoming. He completed his undergraduate degree in English at the University of Wyoming. After a few years working in the oilfield, he decided to follow his father’s footsteps and head to law school. Tyler is an avid traveler and diehard Denver Broncos fan. Matthew L. Scarber is a 3L from Tucson, Arizona. He holds undergraduate degrees in political science and Africana Studies from the University of Arizona. Matthew is a self-proclaimed “Professional Karaoke Artist,” first discovering his aptitude for the craft during an impromptu performance that brought an audience to tears. Following a lip-syncing scandal that rocked his successful career, he retired to pursue a career in law.
Wheat Law Library | Hearsay
Library staff directory Christopher L. Steadham, Director csteadham@ku.edu | 785-864-9242
Nicholas Birdsong Faculty Services Senior Researcher nicholas.birdsong@ku.edu 785-864-9272
Bruce Chandler Technical Services Manager bchandler@ku.edu 785-864-3168
Pam Crawford Assistant Director, Public & Technical Services pcraw4d@ku.edu 785-864-9264
Melissa Doebele Library Assistant mdoebele@ku.edu 785-864-3360
As the largest and oldest law library in Kansas, the Wheat Law Library is an integral part of the School of Law. It serves the law school and university community in legal and interdisciplinary scholarly pursuits and provides attorneys, judges, and the general public with access to legal information. Key components of this mission include collecting and preserving Kansas, national, and international legal documents, teaching legal information literacy, and serving as a legal information gateway by providing access to sources beyond the scope of the physical collection.
LIBRARY HOURS October 11 - November 21, 2016 Mon - Thur Friday Saturday Sunday
Jeff Montgomery Circulation & Serials Department Manager jmontgom@ku.edu 785-864-9252
7:30 am - 11 pm 7:30 am - 5 pm 9 am - 5 pm 10 am - 11 pm
W. Blake Wilson Assistant Director Instructional & Research Services wilsonwb@ku.edu 785-864-9253 Wheat Law Library | Hearsay
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