HEARSAY News from KU’s Wheat Law Library | Fall 2023
THIS ISSUE A Look into Librarianship
AI and Legal Research
Wheat Law Trivia
Green Hall | 1535 W. 15th St. Lawrence, KS 66045-7608 law.ku.edu/library lawref@ku.edu
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DIRECTOR’S CORNER Around this time of the fall semester, I often find myself working with students who are composing the first draft of a significant research paper. “Perhaps the most important point here,” I often remind them, “is devoting a small but dedicated amount of time every day, or nearly every day, to push your progress forward.” I stand by this solid piece of advice, which I learned long ago from teachers and mentors far wiser than myself. I also recognize that it is often easier said than done. Staring at the blank page on your computer screen can lead one to contemplate philosophical quandaries, find a long-forgotten task buried deep in a long to-do list, or try in vain to organize an office that would thwart the best efforts of Marie Kondo. Just as golfers and baseball players can encounter the dreaded “yips,” those who make a living with a keyboard can confront writer’s block in ways that defy conventional explanation. Perhaps it is no coincidence that I encountered this phenomenon while pondering the many Wheat Law Library happenings and accomplishments that could be highlighted in this iteration of the Director’s Corner. The task bears some striking similarities to the challenge of selecting the correct authorities to cite in a research paper, though thankfully this column will not run over thirty pages with hundreds of footnotes. The remarkable group of students enrolled in the Kansas Supreme Court Research Practicum might be pleased to know that I now have a renewed appreciation for their efforts. Along with my co-instructor, Assistant Director Blake Wilson, I have enjoyed working with them this semester to tackle a host of fascinating research topics in service to the Kansas Supreme Court and Office of Judicial Administration. They are well on their way to delivering thorough and well researched papers, and they will soon be summarizing their insights in presentations to the court at the end of the semester. Few aspects of our work are more rewarding than observing the evolution that occurs as this course unfolds, as our students become experts on their assigned topics and eventually answer questions 2
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from a hot bench as though they were seasoned appellate litigators. In our last newsletter issue, we introduced our readers to our wonderful Circulation & Serials Manager, Laura Maloney. Laura has continued to excel in her demanding role at the law library while also working toward the completion of a Master of Library and Information Science degree. As she notes in her contribution to this issue of Hearsay, this is both a formidable undertaking and also a remarkable opportunity to study theory and put it into practice on a daily basis. We are also pleased to introduce another new staff member in this issue, Technical Services Assistant Didem Blum, who has quickly become an invaluable member of our team. With fluency in multiple languages, along with undergraduate and M.A. degrees focused on translation and interpretation, Didem has worked with institutions such as the European Union and the Library of Congress, among others. She brings a keen eye for detail to her technical services work here in Green Hall, along with occasional Turkish coffee and cuisine that has quickly endeared her to colleagues in the law library. Technical Services Manager Melissa Doebele rounds out this issue of Hearsay with another installation of “What the Librarians are Reading.” We highlighted her recent promotion in our previous newsletter and it is worth noting here that she has excelled in that role in every way, embracing duties that often could be spread among multiple positions or even departments, which is surprising to no one but undoubtedly worthy of recognition. Last but not least, Assistant Director Blake Wilson provides our readers with an insightful look into the rapidly evolving realm of Artificial Intelligence and its increasing relevance to legal research. On that note, one solution to the writer’s block I mentioned at the outset might have been asking Chat-GPT to draft this column for me. While that might represent the future for drafting briefs and pleadings (once the minor issue of erroneous “hallucinated” citations is sorted out), taking the time to recount the latest news from the amazing professionals who work in the Wheat Law Library is worth the effort. Hopefully our students will find the same value in their own writing moving forward. Christopher L. Steadham, JD, MLIM Wheat Law Library Director
A Look into Librarianship Laura Maloney Circulation & Serials Manager Did you know that to be a librarian requires a master’s degree? I didn’t, until I started working in a library as a student assistant back when I was in my undergraduate program. That student assistant position was the gateway to how I fell in love with library work. When I asked my supervisor at the time, a librarian, how one becomes a librarian and she replied, “you need a master’s degree,” I was floored! I had never heard of an Information Science degree before. As it turns out, at the time I had many incorrect notions of what professional librarianship entails. There are many stereotypes about librarians: they love to shush people (not true), their wardrobe consists of mostly cardigans (somewhat true), they’re all cat ladies (okay that one is true in my case) and their jobs consist of sitting around reading all day (most definitely not true!). As much as I’d like to sit on a pile of books wrapped in a cardigan reading like some kind of bespectacled dragon hoarding my treasure, there is much more to working in a library than that! Librarians are information professionals. Librarianship is a career that requires a post-graduate
degree, which I am currently pursuing while working full time as the Circulation and Serials Manager here at the law library. The Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree requires extensive study into the way information is managed, stored and upkept, among other things. I am currently enrolled in the online program at Emporia State University, a 36-credit hour program that usually takes six semesters. Classes range from “Information Seeking Behavior and Reference Services” to “Collection Development” and “Advanced Metadata Applications.” There are so many disciplines and technical skills to learn when it comes to libraries and librarianship. Balancing a full-time job and working towards a degree is challenging. Many of the law students are familiar with this as well, and I find that we can relate when it comes to school/work/life balance. When the workday is done, while one may want to retire to their couch to relax, or enjoy a hobby, I find myself working on reading, assignments and attending class online. Weekends are set aside for writing papers or recording presentations. Time management skills are not just helpful, they are critical. Working in the law library has given me a lot of insight into how libraries function behind the scenes and has been extremely helpful in my courses. Are there days when I question my own sanity? Yes, and it’s usually around finals time. As stressful as it may be, I know that the hard work of earning this degree and the skills that come with it will pay off in the long run and contribute positively to the work I do here in the law library.
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What the Librarians are Reading Melissa Doebele Technical Services Manager I have just started reading The Lost Village by Camilla Sten. The town in question is Silvertjärn, Sweden and, in 1959, all of its residents disappeared. The only trace of any of the villagers was a woman found stoned to death and an abandoned infant. In the present, a woman named Alice, who has family ties to Silvertjärn, heads to the village with a documentary film crew to see if they can find out what happened. Things don’t go well for them. As a fan of both horror movies and horror stories, I’m excited to see where this novel goes. Laura Maloney is reading The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin. The story revolves around a character whose dreams alter the past and the present. Laura calls the book “mind-bending and thought provoking” and says it concentrates on themes of control, power imbalances, and the promise of an unattainable utopia. The story is a fairly short one, so it’s a good book for people trying out the genre of science fiction for the first time, which Laura is doing herself. She was also very impressed that LeGuin won the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel at a time when science fiction was dominated by male authors. Blake Wilson is reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. Blake was intrigued by both the post-apocalyptic setting and the fact that the book is written in diary form. He also commented that he believes the story is not quite what it appears to be, though he didn’t want to give away anything further. After not finishing the book when he began reading it years ago, Blake is determined to read it all the way through this time. “This book keeps popping up in my life and I feel it’s my duty to read it.” While Blake chose this book because it was a book club suggestion, Parable of the Sower is the 2023-2024 KU Common Book. To learn more, please visit https://commonbook. ku.edu.
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Didem Blum is reading Mythos: The Greek Myths Reimagined by Stephen Fry. Didem was familiar with Fry’s work on a comedy show he starred in with fellow English actor Hugh Laurie called “A Bit of Fry and Laurie,” but she had not read any of Fry’s books until now. Didem chose this book to learn more about Greek mythology without reading a boring reference guide. Describing it as “somewhere between fiction and nonfiction,” she said the book has been enjoyable and easy to read. Didem also particularly enjoyed the endnotes added by Fry that gave examples of how Greek mythology has influenced the English language. Pam Crawford is reading Sheltering in Place: Collected Stories from Old West Lawrence compiled and edited by Krista Barbour and Charles Higginson. Barbour writes in the preface that walks taken with her husband and children during the early days of COVID inspired her to put together this book. As a resident of Old West Lawrence (OWL), Pam is enjoying the stories about the history of the area. The book includes photos of neighborhood homes with histories often provided by the current homeowners. One of the few houses that survived Quantrill’s Raid in 1863 is located in OWL. Also, part of the movie Jayhawkers, directed by Oscar winner and KU Professor Kevin Willmott, was filmed in the neighborhood. Pam and her husband David included information on their own home as well, making this a personal and special book for Pam.
AI and Legal Research Blake Wilson Assistant Director for Instructional & Faculty Services As a legal information professional and technology buff, I have always been fascinated by the intersection of law and technology. With the development of artificial intelligence (AI), it was simply a matter of time before this technology bumped into legal research. With the introduction of services such as ChatGPT, it must be noted that there are several issues and challenges that must be recognized as we move forward. Quality and Reliability of Data: As the old saying goes, “you are what you eat,” and AI systems rely heavily on the quality and reliability of the data they are trained on. If the training data is biased, incomplete or inaccurate, it can lead to skewed or incorrect results. Cleaning and curating legal data for training AI models will be an ongoing task. Bias and Fairness: AI will only be as fair and unbiased as the training data allows. This means AI very well could perpetuate existing societal biases and inequalities. In the context of legal research, this can lead to biased outcomes in areas like case law analysis, sentencing recommendations and more. Lack of Contextual Understanding: As I tell my legal research students, the issue with research isn’t access, it’s analysis. Students spend two to three years sharpening their minds in law school to analyze legal issues. While AI can process and analyze large amounts of legal text, it will no doubt struggle with understanding the nuanced context and subtleties of legal language, historical legal changes or cultural shifts that impact legal interpretations. AI struggles with these aspects, as they typically operate based on patterns learned from data rather than a deep understanding of legal principles. Ethical Considerations: The use of AI in legal research raises ethical questions about the role of technology in the legal profession. For instance, should AI be used to make decisions that have legal consequences, and if so, how can transparency and accountability be ensured?
arise with AI created art, AI tools for legal research will likely run into copyright issues. Outside of primary sources, legal material is afforded the same protections as all created works. The use of copyrighted material in the training of AI models is incredibly complex. User Understanding and Acceptance: Legal professionals might not fully understand how AI systems arrive at their conclusions, leading to potential skepticism or mistrust. Additionally, lawyers might be reluctant to adopt AI tools if they perceive them as a threat to their profession. Privacy, Confidentiality & Security: Legal documents often contain sensitive and confidential information. Using AI for legal research raises concerns about data privacy and security. There are also questions regarding uploading client information to a third party and whether or not this breaks attorney/client privilege. Cost and Access: Considering all of the factors listed above, particularly when dealing with copyright and data access, implementing AI solutions will likely come with substantial costs, making them less accessible to smaller law firms or individuals and, in turn, clients. It’s important to note that efforts are being made to address these challenges. Researchers and practitioners are working on developing more transparent, interpretable, and fair AI systems for legal research.
Loss of Human Judgment: AI tools can provide efficient search results and insights, but they might lack the human judgment and legal expertise needed for critical analysis and decision-making. Intellectual Property Concerns: As we have seen issues Wheat Law Library | Hearsay
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Non-trivial Pursuits at the Wheat Law Library Didem Blum Technical Services Assistant I like trivia questions for two reasons. First, they connect us to our knowledge base while keeping things light and fun. Second, they draw our attention to things that would not usually come up otherwise. In a way, they stir the juices in our brains and encourage us to think about what is familiar in different ways. Sometimes, I imagine what kinds of questions one could ask in a trivia event about the people and the places around us. I came up with a few trivia questions from the past eight months that I have had the pleasure of being part of the Wheat Law Library team. Here are a couple for the reader: What food item is mentioned in one of the posters displayed to the right of the reference desk at the Wheat Law Library, which stresses the role of academic libraries in making materials accessible for students free of charge?* Here is another one: Name a former KU professor who spent a night in prison along with 22 judges and wrote about this experience in the 1970 fall issue of
facebook.com/kulawschool twitter.com/kulawschool instagram.com/kulawschool youtube.com/kulawschool bloglaw.ku.edu
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the KU Law Magazine, which, by the way, is in the Wheat Law Library’s legal history collection?** The answers are given at the end of this article. As much as I like trivia questions, by referring to ‘trivia’ in what is supposed to be an article about my experience at the Wheat Law Library, I do not intend to lead the reader to think that the law library has anything to do with trivial matters. Anyone who walks into the aisle with volumes of the Restatements of the Law on the third floor (or any aisle, for that matter) wouldn’t dare think otherwise. In fact, the poster and the KU Law magazine article mentioned in the first paragraph, point to much broader and significant issues, such as affordability of academic materials and humanizing correctional systems. The Law Library does, however, share something in common with trivia questions in that it fosters a climate of curiosity and learning while doing this in a much more deliberate and structured way. At the beginning of 2023, I joined this ecosystem of learning as the newest member of the Wheat Law Library team. My main role is to support technical services with back-office tasks using a library information management system to make sure that the items are integrated into the library collection in the most accessible way. During
my time at the law library, I have also taken part in some other exciting projects, such as working on the special collections of items donated by faculty and reorganizing the legal history collection by compiling a detailed inventory of all the items in the collection to help librarians respond to research inquiries with greater ease. Speaking of librarians, I am not a true librarian in the sense of having studied library science. If my former self from my college days could watch me today, she would be surprised that I am working at a library. And if my current self could look back at her too, we would probably be exchanging smiles as I was that student who usually stayed at the library until closing throughout my college years. I studied languages and spent most of the last decade interpreting at international conferences, helping ideas bridge linguistic barriers and helping people have access to information and knowledge expressed in other languages; sometimes they were from different cultural backgrounds or schools of thought. Among them were legal professionals, researchers and even librarians. Although libraries have always felt like a home away from home, facilitating access to information was an overarching theme in my professional life. My experience included working in legal settings; I had never actually worked in a library before. I was guessing my first few months at the Wheat Law Library would involve a steep learning curve, and I was not wrong. First, I would need to get a good grasp of the steps involved in integrating library materials into the law library’s collection before they were presented to patrons, and where my role fit in that picture. I then needed to learn to navigate the library information
system effectively to perform daily operations and understand the workplace culture. My learning curve was not made any easier by the fact that I was someone who moved to Kansas recently. Wherever my path had previously crossed with legal professionals was mostly within the context of countries that used the civil law system. Getting used to understanding the context of common law materials added yet another item on my list of “things in Kansas I needed to get used to ASAP’’ (the same list includes Kansas’ famous biodiversity - yes, I am talking about chiggers, poison ivy and occasionally wondering whether I might be starting to develop seasonal allergies). I was lucky to have co-workers who were patient with me in answering all my questions throughout this process. As I continue on this journey of growing into my position, I know I am not alone, as many of those around me at the library are forced to join me as we all take small or sometimes even large steps outside of our comfort zones. I am thinking, in particular, of 1L students, but also others who are adapting to new situations in their pursuit of learning. I am glad to be part of a team that is determined to assist patrons in any way possible as they take steps in their own journey navigating the complex world of legal materials that may sometimes seem as elusive as trivia questions, but is in no way trivial. *Ramen Noodle **Paul E. Wilson (KU Law Magazine, Fall 1970)
UPCOMING UPCOMING EVENTS EVENTS KU Law Reunion Weekend Oct. 27-28, 2023 Barber Emerson Bluebook Relays Oct. 27, 2023 Well-Being Summit November 9, 2023 Thanksgiving Recess November 22-27, 2023
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Library staff directory
OUR MISSION
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
Didem Blum Technical Services Assistant didemblum@ku.edu
Pam Crawford Assistant Director, Public & Technical Services pcraw4d@ku.edu 785-864-9264
Melissa Doebele Technical Services Manager mdoebele@ku.edu 785-864-3360
Laura Maloney Circulation & Serials Manager l099m456@ku.edu 785-864-3524
Christopher L. Steadham Director csteadham@ku.edu 785-864-9242
W. Blake Wilson Assistant Director Instructional & Faculty Services wilsonwb@ku.edu 785-864-9253
October 18 - November 21 Mon - Thur 7:30 a.m. - 11 p.m. Friday 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sunday 10 a.m. - 11 p.m. EXAM HOURS December 1 - 15, 2023 Mon - Fri 7:30 a.m. - 11 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. - 11 p.m. Sunday 10 a.m. - 11 p.m. Produced by the Office of Communications at the University of Kansas School of Law, 2023. The University of Kansas is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution. 8
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