News from KU’s Wheat Law Library | Spring 2016
2015 Bluebook Relays Results
Advanced Legal Research Update
KU Law / Haskell Connection
Green Hall | 1535 W. 15th St. Lawrence, KS 66045-7608 law.ku.edu/library lawref@ku.edu
KU Law’s resident legal historian, Professor Michael Hoeflich, once noted that “serendipity visits those scholars and researchers who set out with open minds and the flexibility of plan that allows them both to recognize the fortuitous discovery and to pursue it to its logical end.”* I’m struck by how aptly these words apply to our work in the Wheat Law Library. A good example of such serendipity can be found in the story of a recent donation the library was honored to receive from Mr. Levi H. Goossen, an attorney practicing in Newton, Kansas. When Mr. Goossen contacted me regarding his desire to donate a rare four-volume set of early edition Blackstone’s Commentaries, published in the late 1700s, I was excited by the prospect of adding such historically significant items to our collection. In recent years we have been working to establish a small but growing Legal History Collection that would be greatly enriched by such an acquisition. When I visited Mr. Goossen and his wife, Rose, at his law office, I was struck not only by their generosity and hospitality but also by the remarkable chain of events that led those books from 18th-century England into our eventual care. The story of how they found a home in the Wheat Law Library is a microcosm of the complex and interconnected stories woven together in the KU Law tapestry over time. Additional examples of serendipity abound when we pause our harried routines and reflect upon opportunities and discoveries that can easily be taken for granted. This spring the library welcomed new neighbors, KU Legal Services for Students, to recently constructed offices on the second floor. Not only does this provide friendly confines for LSS while they await construction of their permanent offices, but it also presents the opportunity for new connections between the library, law school and LSS. Our fantastic library staff has, with characteristic resilience, looked beyond the construction noise and approached the redesigned Reference Room area as an opportunity to reexamine workflows for potential efficiencies and service improvements. Another example can be found in the article authored by Technical Services
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Levi Goossen and his wife, Rose
Manager Bruce Chandler in this issue of Hearsay. Bruce’s contribution details our visit to the newly renovated Haskell Tommaney Library, which included the happy coincidence of chatting with Haskell Chief Information Officer and KU Law alumnus Joshua Arce, L’05. In my last column, I reflected upon the transitions of an academic year as illustrated by the brilliant autumn colors found on the KU campus. As we near the end of the spring semester, I am once again reminded of the great amount of change that occurs in a given year. Not only do we have new developments in our physical plant, but transitions have also occurred in terms of our organizational chart. As the title of this column indicates, I am honored and humbled to have dropped the “interim” tag from my title. I am pleased to announce that Pam Crawford (Public & Technical Services) and Blake Wilson (Instructional & Faculty Services) are now co-assistant directors. As we emerge from these transitions, we can rest assured that new challenges are certainly just around the bend. However, we must also strive to remember that opportunity and discovery are often lurking beneath the surface of even the most daunting tasks. Until next time, good luck on exams, and we hope to see you in the library as you seek out your own serendipity in the stacks.
Christopher L. Steadham, JD, MLIM Wheat Law Library Director *Michael H. Hoeflich, “Serendipity in the Stacks, Fortuity in the Archives,” 99(4) Law Library Journal 813 (2007).
Team Ware’s Waldos? reigns as 2015 Bluebook Relays champions By Jeff Montgomery Another raucous edition of the Barber Emerson Bluebook Relays enlivened Green Hall over the lunch hour on Oct. 30, 2015. Organized by the library’s own Jeff Montgomery and sponsored by the Lawrence law firm Barber Emerson LC, the 26th annual Bluebook Relays were a smashing success. This year’s title was captured by Ashley Akers’ Ware’s Waldos? team, which joins a long line of proud Bluebook Relays champions. The Relays are a special tradition for KU Law that provides 1Ls with a brief respite from memo writing and puts their newly acquired legal citations skills to the test. Each small section competes with a team of 10 members, including one Bluebook “expert.” Usually held around Halloween, the Relays also feature outrageous costumes and spirited but friendly competition. Sara Fevurly’s ProHAWKSimate Cause team won the 2015 Spirit Award. Ashley Akers’ Ware’s Waldos? (top right) won KU Law’s annual legal citation competition, while Sara Fevurly’s ProHAWKSimate Cause was deemed the most spirited team.
Jeff Montgomery marks 40 years of service to KU Law KU Law faculty, staff and students celebrated Circulation and Serials Department Manager Jeff Montgomery’s decades of service to Wheat Law Library this month. Montgomery marked his 40th anniversary of providing excellent customer service and friendship to the KU Law community on April 5, 2016. Montgomery began working as a student assistant at Wheat Law Library in April 1976. Generations of Jayhawk lawyers have benefited from his service and support. Thank you, Jeff!
Jeff Montgomery in this high school photo (left), shortly before he began working at the Wheat Law Library, and today (right) marked four decades of service to KU Law in April 2016.
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Advanced Legal Research sees enrollment jump By W. Blake Wilson From spring 2008 through spring 2014, enrollment in Advanced Legal Research remained steady—between 10 and 12 students. Come spring of 2016, this all changed.
Wheat Law Library celebrates National Library Week Wheat Law Library joined libraries nationwide April 10-16 in a celebration of our libraries and librarians. • • • •
Monday: Cake in the Commons Tuesday: Library Workers Appreciation Day Recognition of our library’s 45th year as a Federal Depository Library Library surveys and special surprises throughout the week
National Library Week activities offer a few bright spots while studying for finals.
In December 2015, I received word that there was a wait list for the Spring 2016 session of Advanced Legal Research. I knew the course was capped at 20 students. I checked with the registrar and debated if I could take on more students. After a short deliberation, I decided to increase enrollment to 25. Every seat was taken. So what drove this number up? Advanced Legal Research is a 2-credit course that meets from 2:40 to 4:40 p.m. Tuesdays. This could be a prime time with very little conflict, but I couldn’t imagine that being the only reason for a 250 percent enrollment increase. So, I did what any good researcher would do: I asked my students. Many 3Ls reported that, yes, the day, time, and number of credits were just what they needed. But that wasn’t the end of the story. What it boiled down to was increased exposure to research in the first-year Lawyering Skills class. In Fall 2014 and Spring 2015, I began lecturing to first-year students outside of the usual research portion of Lawyering. These lectures focused not on the navigation of certain books or electronic resources. Rather, they focused on something that we are not able to cover during the research portion of the Lawyering Skills
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course: research methodology. These lectures introduced students to the complexities that underlie legal research. This resulted, I believe, in us witnessing the Dunning-Kruger Effect in action. In 1999, David Dunning and Justin Kruger of the Cornell University Department of Psychology tested a cognitive bias in which relatively unskilled persons mistakenly assess their ability to be much higher than it really is. Dunning and Kruger proposed that, for a given skill, incompetent people will: fail to recognize their own lack of skill; fail to recognize the extent of their inadequacy; fail to recognize genuine skill in others; and recognize and acknowledge their own lack of skill, after they are exposed to training for that skill.* As it turns out, these lectures may have forced many students to recognize their lack of skill in legal research. When these students saw the opportunity to take Advanced Legal Research, they jumped on it. Where do we go from here? We are looking at the possibility of increasing the frequency of Advanced Legal Research and are offering a 1-credit Topics in Advanced Legal Research course this summer. Enrollment numbers from Spring 2017 will hopefully show whether or not this is a trend. * Kruger and Dunning (1999). “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated SelfAssessments,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77 (6): 1121–34.
Left: Haskell Chief Information Officer Josh Arce, L’05, and Wheat Law Library Director Chris Steadham, L’04. Right: Haskell Indian Nations University faculty and staff celebrate the Haskell Tommaney Library’s grand reopening.
KU, Haskell share history of collaborative learning By Bruce Chandler In early February, the staff of the Wheat Law Library was invited to Haskell Indian Nations University to attend the grand reopening of the Haskell Tommaney Library’s newly renovated computer lab and resource center. Staff from KU Libraries, Emporia State Libraries, Lawrence Public Library and the Kansas City Missouri Public Library attended the event. It was an opportunity for many who have collaborated for years to connect in person. Haskell Library Director Beverly Fortner and Haskell’s Chief Information Officer Joshua Arce led the renovation planning and design project. The renovation included not only the newly reopened computer and resource lab, but added shelving and a new circulation and reference desk. While visiting with friends and colleagues, Wheat Law Library Director Chris Steadham and Mr. Arce realized they knew each other. Both were alumni of the KU School of Law — Josh, L’05, and Chris, L’04. For decades, Haskell students and faculty have had access and borrowing privileges at KU Libraries, and this has included the Wheat Law Library’s collections/holdings of tribal law items and documents. Haskell Library’s extensive Indian Collection, in turn, stands as a cultural, historical and political resource for scholars of this region. Historically, Native American students have sought to
obtain advanced degrees at KU after their time at Haskell. Dr. Venida Chenault, president of Haskell Indian Nations University, member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and herself an alumna of Haskell, received her Ph.D. in social work from KU’s School of Social Welfare in 2005. She also earned her BSW and MSW from KU. Naturally, one wonders: Who was the first Native American KU Law graduate? In 1894, at the age of 18, James Vandal, a Yankton Sioux, arrived in Lawrence from Greenwood, South Dakota, to attend Haskell Institute. A brilliant student, Vandal launched a literary foundation for students and an alumni society for Haskell graduates. Vandal completed his studies at Haskell in 1898 and began studying at the University of Kansas School of Law that same year. He graduated from KU Law in 1900. For well over 100 years, Haskell and KU have maintained a close and productive relationship, with many Haskell students continuing on at the University of Kansas to earn advanced degrees in law, literature and the sciences. Wheat Law Library | Hearsay
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U.S. government information and the Federal Depository Library program By Pam Crawford The United States Government is the largest publisher in the world, distributing materials in a variety of formats including electronic, CD, microfiche, and paper. As part of its publishing program, the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) distributes certain classes of government documents to designated libraries throughout the United States and its territories, ensuring the American public — Thomas Jefferson, 1789 has free access to the materials, both in print and online. Wheat Law Library is one of 17 selective depository libraries in Kansas; the regional depository is at Anschutz Library.
“Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; ... whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.”
This year marks Wheat Law Library’s 45th anniversary as a designated Federal Depository Library. We offer free public access to all of our paper and microfiche federal documents. Our in-house documents collection is
integrated into the general collection and includes statutory law, administrative law, case law and publications providing background information. Many newly created documents are available online only, so free public access to online government information is provided at the computers in our Reference Area and through our Wi-Fi service. Our librarians can provide assistance in locating and using both the paper and the online documents. Access to government information, except where restricted by law, is a basic right of every American citizen, and the Wheat Law Library is proud to serve in this capacity.
Return to Green CLE April 22, 2016 50 / 50+ Reunion April 23, 2016 Law School Hooding Ceremony May 14, 2016
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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 Regular Hours March 20 - April 19 Mon - Thur Friday Saturday Sunday
7:30 am - 11 pm 7:30 am - 5 pm 9 am - 5 pm 10 am - 11 pm
Exam Hours April 20 - May 6 Jeff Montgomery Circulation & Serials Department Manager jmontgom@ku.edu 785-864-9252
W. Blake Wilson Assistant Director Instructional & Research Services wilsonwb@ku.edu 785-864-9253
Mon - Thur Friday Saturday Sunday Friday (5/19)
7:30 am - 1 am 7:30 am - 10 pm 9 am - 7 pm 10 am - 1 am 7:30 am - 5 pm
Wheat Law Library | Hearsay
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