The Mendik Library
Mendik Library: By the Numbers Academic Year 2014‐2015
An Annual Report prepared by Associate Dean Camille Broussard and the Staff of the Mendik Library
Table of Contents Message from the Library Director ............................................................................................................... 1 Library Community, Facilities, and Operations ............................................................................................. 2 Reference Services ........................................................................................................................................ 2 Services to Students ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Services to Faculty ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Alumni Use of Westlaw and Westlaw Next ........................................................................................ 12 Use of Library Resources ............................................................................................................................. 12 Technical Services Department................................................................................................................... 15 Library Publications ..................................................................................................................................... 16 Professional Activities and Continuing Education ...................................................................................... 17 Services to the Law School Community ...................................................................................................... 18 Kind Words We’ve Received ....................................................................................................................... 19
Message from the Library Director
I am delighted to present the 2014‐2015 Mendik Library’s Annual Report. A review of our activities of the past year documents a continuing broad range of participation in the intellectual and community life of New York Law School. The Mendik Library is so much more than a place to study and research. In these pages, readers will discover the remarkable breadth and depth of support we provide: to our students who are learning law; to our faculty who are teaching and influencing the development of law; and to our alumni who are practicing law. As in past years, the entire Library staff worked together to provide an extraordinary level of service and support to the law school community and beyond. This report provides a clear picture of a very busy and exciting 2014‐2015 academic year. It does not take long to see that our contributions extend far beyond the physical confines of the Library. It is a chronicle of our projects and innovations, challenges and successes in our core services – providing reference assistance in all types of projects to our students, faculty and alums; offering a full complement of educational programs and research workshops; providing access to digital resources; and managing our large print collection. Navigating the complex maze of legal information is not an easy task – indeed it can be an intimidating challenge. Over the past year, our seasoned reference staff answered more than 14,000 reference questions, and offered 85 courses and workshops for the NYLS community. This was in addition to our four for‐credit research classes, including our popular Saturday Legal Research Practical Skills class. We have also been very successful in integrating our growing number of digital resources into our offerings. More projects are already on the way in the virtual area for the coming year. The Library is not just about “the Library.” It is about the relationship the Library staff develops with those who need and can benefit from our services. This report confirms the sustained efforts from all of our staff to meet the needs of all of our users.
Mendik Library By The Numbers
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Library Community, Facilities, and Operations During Academic Year 2014‐2015, the Library was open on 346 days; the reference desk was staffed on 344 of those days.
Reference Services
Access to the collection and to information services often begins at the Reference Desk, but it continues in the stacks, in Librarian offices, in the elevators, and even in the coffee bar and cafeteria. The Reference Librarians, along with the Associate Librarians, the Director and our Assistant Director for Acquisitions and Collection Control, provide professional research assistance and instruction to faculty, students, staff, alumni, and attorney patrons. They provide research instruction both in the Library and in the classroom. They work with the Legal Practice program to develop, coordinate, and teach legal research classes to 1L students. The Librarians serve as liaisons for NYLS faculty and deans, our academic centers, the Law Review and other journals, as well as the Moot Court Association, Dispute Resolution Team, and other student organizations. They coordinate interlibrary loan services, participate in collection management, and contribute content to the Library web pages, the Mendik Matters blog and the Elevator Ed series of Learn While You Ride TripTips.
2014 – 2015 Requests for Reference Assistance Although total reference requests were up this year (14,939 compared to 11,291 for 2013‐2014), continued increases are not likely to be the norm. Statistics from the Association of Research Libraries reflect steady declines in the numbers of reference queries over the period 1995 to 2014. Total queries for all ARL institutions (approximately 100) decreased from 20,845,257 in 1995 to 5,002,740 in 2014. BY PATRON TYPE BY LOCATION NYLS Student (FTE Students 6,088 Mendik Staff 1,711 Reference Desk 9,591 = 892) Office Visits 3,734 Non‐NYLS Library (other) 665 185 Faculty 2,919 Student Outside Library 779 Referred (classrooms, Commons, Alum 1,180 239 Patron home, etc.) Attorneys Class or Presentation 170 98 NYLS Staff 1,254 (Non‐Alum) TOTAL 14,939 Non‐Mendik 455 Bar Review 136 Librarian General 153 Other 521 Public Total 14,939 Earplugs distributed: 166 Phone Charges: 357 Notarizations: 114 Mendik Library By The Numbers
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Services to Students The Librarians recognize that the law library quickly becomes a prominent feature in most law students’ educational lives; we are committed to making that experience a rewarding one. One of our main goals is to provide support and instruction in using information sources in all formats to help students make meaningful and contextual connections between classroom learning, research skills and the practice of law from the first day they begin their studies at NYLS.
Reference Services to Students
On a daily basis, the Reference Librarians serve as a crucial resource for students in search of answers. Whether questions relate to legal research, Bluebooking, exam preparation, directions, or basic law school information, the Reference Librarians are resourceful and reliable.
2014 – 2015 Student Requests for Reference Assistance (FTE Students= 892) QUESTIONS BY LOCATION QUESTIONS BY METHOD Reference Desk 4,856 In Person 5,217 Office Visits 614 By Phone 321 Library (other) 371 By Email 504 Class or Presentation 149 By IM 35 98 Other 11 Outside Library (classrooms, Commons, home, etc) TOTAL 6,088 TOTAL 6,088
Legal Research Classes Reference Librarians offer training in the use of all legal research resources throughout the year. They also teach courses in the formal credit curriculum, present research sessions in doctrinal courses, and regularly offer a variety of skills workshops.
Research instruction begins during First Week orientation. All 1L students attend the Library’s hands‐on introduction to some of the resources and techniques of basic legal research. This year, 233 first year students participated in one of our eight sessions in which we provided physical and virtual tours of the Library and introduced students to the legal research landscape and some of the important navigational aids and approaches.
Our most intensive teaching efforts for 1L students are directed at their two required Electronic Legal Research classes. These 75‐minute classes cover Lexis Advance and WestlawNext. We continue to explore integrating instruction relating to other digital sources, including Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg BNA, Fastcase, and Google Scholar, into these (or additional) classes. The Library works very closely with the Legal Practice Program to ensure we expose all students to the major electronic legal research services in a consistent and pedagogically sound manner. Mendik Library By The Numbers Page 3
1L Required Electronic Legal Research Semester Fall 2013 Fall 2014 Spring 2014 Spring 2015
# of attendees 297 220 292 195
# of classes 19 17 22 17
To help librarians, Student Evaluation and Feedback forms are distributed after each class. Last year’s feedback is reflected in the following charts. We were pleased that more than 85% of the students in both the Fall and Spring semesters “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that the class made them better researchers.
Strongly Agree
Agree
No Opinion / Undecided Fall Spring 2014 2015
Fall 2014
Spring 2015
Fall 2014
Fall 2014
Spring 2015
The class has given me confidence in using electronic legal research databases more effectively. The class made me think about the importance of effective legal research The instructors were enthusiastic. The instructors encouraged student participation. The class made me a better researcher
39.09%
40.51%
55.00%
54.36%
5.00%
5.13%
0.45%
0%
0.45%
0%
52.73%
49.23%
44.09%
45.64%
1.82%
4.62%
0.91%
0.51%
0.45%
0%
57.73%
61.03%
35.45%
36.41%
5.45%
2.05%
0.91%
0.51%
0.45%
0%
46.36%
54.36%
39.09%
41.03%
9.09%
4.10%
4.09%
0.51%
1.36%
0%
23.18%
27.18%
61.82%
61.54%
13.64%
11.28%
0.91%
0%
0.45%
0%
Spring 2015
Disagree
Strongly Disagree Fall Spring 2014 2015
Research Workshops
Working with Legal Practice Faculty, we developed a series of Research Skills Workshops that supplement in‐class learning. First‐year students are required to complete at least three such workshops in both the Fall and Spring semesters (though they may substitute certain pre‐approved CALI lessons or Lexis, Westlaw, or Bloomberg Law training sessions, for one of the three workshops). The classes range from 40 to 50 minutes in length and are open to upper division students as well, many of whom take them as refreshers or to supplement and enhance their legal research skills. We also offer many of these same classes during the summer semester.
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Library Research Skills Workshops (Academic Year 2014‐2015)
CLASSES
Number Of ATTENDEES
Agency Law: Rules, Regulations & More
Anatomy of a Lawsuit: What Happens Next? Jurisdiction & Authority Note‐Taking for Legal Research Power Googling Premium Legal Research Sources beyond Bloomberg Law, Lexis Advance & Westlaw Next Starting a Federal Legal Research Project Starting a NY Legal Research Project Statutory Research Reliable Free Online Sources for Legal Research Review of the Legislative Process The Bluebook in Legal Practice Using Citators to Make Sure your Research is Up to Date TOTAL Computer‐Assisted Legal Instruction
22 39 26 56 27 2 23 17 31 9 6 83 34 373
The center for Computer‐Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) offers interactive online tutorials in legal subjects. Reference Librarians actively promote these tutorials and provide students with access and assistance. Top 10 CALI usage by all students Subject Area 2014‐2015 # of Lessons Used 892 JD/LLM FTE Legal Writing & Research 531 Property Law 326 Evidence 284 Contracts 269 Legal Research 250 Torts 221 Administrative Law 187 Civil Procedure 168 Professional Responsibility 155 Criminal Procedure 142 Tax Law 139 Legal Concepts & Skills 120 Mendik Library By The Numbers
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Summer Research Challenge Each June and July, we encourage students to participate in the “Summer Research Challenge,” designed to improve their research skills and expose them to the tools they will use in practice. These two‐hour classes focus on problem solving. Students who complete all four classes receive a certificate signed by the Library Director and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Summer 2015 Number of students Researching Congressional Documents: Statutes and Legislative History 6 Navigating the Regulatory Maze: Research in Administrative Law 5 Research on the Road to Trial: Discovery Requests, Expert Witnesses, Jury Instructions and More Where in the World is the Law: Identifying Tools and Strategies for Researching Problems in International Law
Students receiving certificate for attending all four research challenges
7 4 3
Info Hunts
Our Info Hunt contests provide students with a way to hone their research skills while simultaneously having fun and winning prizes (e.g., Lexis Advance points, study aids, OneCards). Students complete five or six themed legal research questions, following step‐by‐step instructions, illustrating how to use library resources to find the correct answers. We hold three Info Hunts annually, each organized around a particular theme: Legally Clueless during First Week, Haunted Halloween for Halloween, and Find Love in the Library for Valentine’s Day. In some years, we hold a Jester’s Wild Hunt on April 1. Legally Haunted Find Love The Jester’s Clueless Halloween in the Wild Entrants Entrants Library Entrants Entrants
Fall 2012 – Spring 2013 Fall 2013 – Spring 2014 Fall 2014 – Spring 2015 Classes in the JD Curriculum
28
18
30
13
68
28
45
20
25
33
31
Not offered
Introduction to the Legal Process During First Week, we provide each section of the 1L class with basic, foundational skills through our Introduction to the Legal Process class. Advanced Legal Research Each semester, we offer a three‐credit Advanced Legal Research course (Legal Research: Skills for the Digital World) for upper division students. This course focuses on advanced techniques using the latest online and print resources. Mendik Library By The Numbers
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Legal Research Practical Skills This one‐credit intermediate level legal research class builds on the skills introduced in the first year Legal Practice course. Each semester, two sessions are offered: a general research class and a class focusing on an area of law of one of our academic centers or curricular concentrations: * Corporate and Business Law * Family Law * Intellectual Property Law * Labor and Employment Law * Real Estate Law * Foreign and International Law (2 credits) Enrollment in these more intensive research skills classes is capped at eighteen students. During the academic year the offerings and enrollment were: Semester Course Taught Number of Students 2014 Fall Legal Research: Skills for the Digital World 12 2015 Spring Legal Research: Skills for the Digital World 6 2014 Fall Legal Research Practical Skills 17 2015 Spring Legal Research Practical Skills 16 2014 Fall Legal Research Practical Skills: Family Law 9 2015 Spring Legal Research Practical Skills: Real Estate 11 Total 71
Upper Division Training Many upper division students request help at their point of need rather than take optional classes not linked to courses or assignments. The Reference Librarians work with these students one‐on‐one, or in groups of two or three, either immediately or during a later appointment. Special classes are also offered for journal students, moot court competitors, research fellows, and students with judicial clerkships or other externships.
Student Publications Support Meetings with Law Review Executive Board Prior to the start of classes, the Library’s liaison to the Law Review works with members of the Executive Board (E‐Board) to familiarize them with Library services and procedures, to discuss administrative details, research strategies, recent changes in publishing, and other matters that can help in their editorial endeavors. The working relationship between the Law Review and Library Staff continues to be a productive one and five Mendik Librarians attended the Law Review’s annual dinner and awards ceremony. Supplemental Training Beyond working with the E‐Board, the Library Liaison provides an orientation session for new Law Review members during First Week and coordinates specialized Lexis Advance, WestlawNext and Bloomberg Law training sessions over the course of the semester. He also conducts workshops on Bluebook Citation Skills. Mendik Library By The Numbers
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Research Guides (LibGuides) Through the use of LibGuides, a web‐publishing platform widely used by libraries around the world, our Librarians have been able to curate and make available to the community subject matter resources in all of the following areas. Their utility is only partially reflected in the data showing number of views. Guide Name Views Electronic Resources @ NYLS 5104 Tax Research at NYLS 2190 Exam Preparation Resources 790 Free & Low Cost Legal Research 785 Archival collection of Judge Roger J. Miner: 1981‐2012 774 Law School 411: Books & Films on Law & Law School 737 Current Awareness Sources 595 New York Family Law 572 Legal Forms 432 Guide to Government Information 393 Mobile Apps for Law Students 136 Study Guides 112 Law Review Guide to the Mendik Library 2014‐2015 78 Orientation for Tax LLM Students 35
Mendik Mobile
Mendik Mobile, our free, award‐winning app (2012 American Association of Law Libraries (“AALL”) Best Use of Technology award), provides smartphone and tablet access to some of the Library’s key services. During 2014–2015, an average of 181 unique Mendik Mobile users generated approximately 9,000 queries per month. During this Academic Year, the app has been downloaded 208 times from the Apple Store. Total downloads since 2011 are 1,175. Downloads to non‐Apple devices are not available to us.
Mendik Matters Library Blog
Our Mendik Matters blog, which debuted in 2004, publishes items of interest about significant legal developments and history as well as serving as an important source of library‐related announcements and information. It alerts faculty and students to new legal research resources and provides an important form of continuing legal research education. During 2014‐2015, we posted 28 items on Mendik Matters and reached an audience of more than 2,000 subscribers.
Facebook Our Facebook page enables students to access most of the Library’s digital offerings without leaving the Facebook environment. Through June 2015, our page has received 541 Facebook likes and 468 visits.
Mendik Library By The Numbers
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Elevator Ed
Elevator Ed, the winner of AALL’s 2013 Excellence in Marketing, Best Campaign award, continues to offer weekly “TripTips” about legal research or library resources to help students learn while they ride. This year, Ed posted 17 TripTips “elevating” the legal research skills of scores of students. He appeared this year costumed as Pumpkin Head for Halloween, parka‐clad for Winter, as Earth Day Ed in April, and as Surfer Dude in late spring.
Book Jacket Displays
Each month, the Library creates three Book Jacket Displays featuring books from our collection. Located near the elevators on L2, L3 and L4 of the Mendik Library, the displays center around important legal events that occurred during that particular month.
Connecting with Students
The Library staff is dedicated to supporting our students in all aspects of their educational experience. Connecting with students and helping them achieve their goals is an integral part of our service structure. Many of our activities extend far beyond the physical confines of the Library and being able to check all of these boxes is very important to us!
Advising Students in Externships Mentoring Bar Studiers Serving Lunch to Bar Takers Attending Admissions Open Houses Attending Law Day and Legal Scholars Days Serving Breakfast for Dinner during Exams Proctoring Final Exams Judging Moot Court Donating to the PIC Auction Attending formal Student Association Events and Celebrations Participating in Experiential Learning Open Houses Presenting Programs for Prospective Students Attending Commencement Attending Alumni Weekend Reception Events
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Services to Faculty
Library Liaison Program The cornerstone of our faculty services is the Library Liaison program, which links each faculty member with a librarian who serves as a principal contact for Library needs and requests. Liaisons meet periodically with faculty members to stay apprised of their research and teaching needs. They also assist in research, check citation, help prepare materials for classroom use, train research fellows, and locate Library materials. Each librarian works with five to seven faculty members.
Faculty Reference Services Our faculty services include: Current awareness routing o Monthly email distribution of New Titles, Contents of Current Legal Periodicals and International Law Journals Contents Individual subscriptions to U.S. Law Week and the Preview of U.S. Supreme Court Cases. Instructional outreach Citation tracking Current Awareness monitoring Faculty committee support Classroom teaching support Scholarship support through research assistance Support for service to the Law School and the legal community
2014‐2015 Faculty Requests for Reference Assistance
QUESTIONS BY METHOD In Person 433 By Phone 155 By Email 2,138 By IM 0 Other 193 TOTAL 2,919
QUESTIONS BY LOCATION Reference Desk 685 Librarian’s Office 1,828 Library (other) 49 Outside Library (classrooms, 357 Commons, home, etc.) TOTAL 2,919
As part of these services, Reference Librarians provided faculty members with 422 journal articles and 102 books from our own collections. These numbers do not include direct borrowing by faculty either in person or through research fellows or faculty assistants. Nor do they include materials supplied to Faculty through the Interlibrary Loan process, which is discussed at page 13.
Instructional Outreach We work with faculty to incorporate research instruction into classroom teaching. Reference librarians provided teaching assistance throughout the year to 14 faculty members in a total of 23 classes enabling them to address hundreds of students in a substantive classroom setting. Many of the sessions are team‐ taught with the faculty member, affording students the valuable benefit of both the librarian’s and the professor’s perspectives on various sources as well as on different approaches to particular problems. Mendik Library By The Numbers
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Faculty Member Appel Barnhart Bernhard Bonfield Bress Crowell Ellmann Ellmann Franklin Goldstein, A. Goldstein, A. Grumet Law Review Legal Practice Moot Court Moot Court Munger Roiphe Teitel Teitel Teitel Thomas Thomas Wood Other Other
Class Tax CLE Workshop Legal Practice Bernhard’s Post Conviction Innocence Clinic Law of the European Union Criminal Law Clinic State and Local Government South African Legal Research South Africa Seminar Legal Information Sources and Tools Employment Law Legal Practice Legislative Drafting Bluebooking for Law Review Legal Practice Vis Moot Court Jessup Moot Court Administrative Law Professional Responsibility: Criminal Practice International Human Rights Law Transitional Justice Network International Law Tax Orientation Tax Research Writing Seminar Legislative Drafting Professional Development Seminar CLE – Free and Low Cost Legal Research
Fall Students
Spring Students 40
18 3 4 16
10 3 7
22 9 17
9 9
14 10 4 18 25 9 3
8 12 6
38 2 10 All 1Ls
Faculty Tuesday Scholarship Lunch On September 23, 2014, Associate Dean Camille Broussard presented the Annual “Library Matters” Faculty Tuesday Scholarship Lunch. The Library also co‐sponsored a Lexis Faculty Luncheon Program in the Fall and a Westlaw Luncheon Program in the Spring. Services to Alumni Alumni have free, non‐circulating access to the Library’s physical collections as well as on‐campus access to all of our subscription databases other than LexisAdvance, Bloomberg Law, and the full scope of WestlawNext under our educational contract. They also have full access to our PC workstations and networked printers, scanners and copiers. During the year, our librarians provided reference assistance to alumni on 1,180 separate occasions.
Mendik Library By The Numbers
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Access to Westlaw and Westlaw Next The Library pays a separate annual subscription fee to provide Alumni access to a tailored universe of Westlaw and WestlawNext databases. The following chart illustrates our Alumni’s academic year usage of the most used databases. Alumni Use of Westlaw and Westlaw Next Subscription Name Transactions WL Pro Govt Genl Cnsl Allprim Law 4,667 WL Pro W/Keycite All ‐ NY 2,102 WN Pro All Analytical Lib 2000 & NY 1,934 WL Pro Analytical Lib 2000 ‐ NY 934 WN Pro Formfinder 367 WL Pro Resultsplus Premium 82 WN Pro NJ Practice Series 97
Archives Each year, we are receiving an increasing number of archive‐related inquiries about our alumni. These requests for information typically come from family members of long‐deceased alumni, but there are also inquiries from scholars, researchers, and journalists seeking details about the subjects of their work. In the past year, we provided archival information to a Tulane researcher about Moses Leonard Frazier (1899), who we believe to have been our first Black graduate, and information to Indiana University Law Professor Jay Krishnan about Kenneth Demarest (who attended NYLS during the Academic Years 1922‐23 and 1923‐ 24, but did not graduate). Professor Krishnan’s 2015 article discussing Demarest, Legal Elites and the Shaping of Corporate Law Practice in Brazil: A Historical Study will appear in volume 40 of the Journal of Law and Social Inquiry, and acknowledges the Mendik Library’s assistance.
Use of Library Resources
The Library was open 90 hours per week during the fall and spring semesters. During the “Study Hall” period surrounding final exams, students could access the Library for study purposes until 2:00 a.m., an additional 3 hours daily.
9:00 AM 9:00 PM
Monday‐Thursday
Friday 8 pm
Saturday
Sunday
12 noon
12 noon
Library hours were reduced to 79 hours per week during intersession and the Library is closed on weekends. The last intersession weekend before each semester starts, the Library is open to accommodate students preparing for their first classes. Over the summer the Library was open 79 hours per week, including weekends, supporting the curricular and study needs of the Summer Session and those of our graduates preparing for the bar. The Library also offered extended hours each February to accommodate those preparing for the February bar exam. Mendik Library By The Numbers
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Average Monthly User Month
Weekday Mornings
Weekday & Weekend Evenings 888
July
685
Weekday & Weekend Afternoons 1,669
August
361
720
122
September
803
1,954
557
October
962
2,094
696
November
862
1,967
681
December
862
1,656
678
January
473
1,197
360
February
723
1,852
634
March
545
1,309
418
April
604
1,622
689
May
614
1,270
549
June
387
962
497
Circulation Transactions
Print resources continue to have a large role in student and faculty study and research needs. The following charts capture the extent of demand for and usage of print materials (exclusive of materials requested through Interlibrary Loan). The Reserve Collection accounts for 85% of total transactions. By Patron Type By Material Type Student 15,554 Monograph 13,191 Faculty 511 Treatise 2,419 Adjunct Faculty 18 Primary Source 1,312 Faculty Assistant 32 Bound Periodical 5 Co Curricular 62 Videocassette 28 Other Libraries (Non‐Firm) 353 Computer Media 8 Firm Libraries 26 Unbound Periodical 43 Library Staff 450 TOTAL 17,006 TOTAL 17,006 An additional 4,607 volumes were used in the Library but not checked out. These items are all scanned before they are reshelved.
Interlibrary Loan For the 2014–2015 Academic Year, we initiated 668 requests, on behalf of faculty, students, and staff, to borrow books or journal articles from other libraries. Of those requests, 588 were filled. During the same Academic Year, we loaned 322 items to other libraries. Mendik Library By The Numbers
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Access to and from Other Libraries To ensure student and faculty access to materials beyond our collection, we participate in consortial reciprocal relationships with many law schools, university and other private libraries. Through our issuance of what are known as “Green Letters,” our students and faculty are permitted access to any of the metropolitan area law school libraries that own the requested item. We also provide access to appropriate university or specialized libraries via METRO passes through our membership in the Metropolitan New York Library Council. Through agreements with all but two of the law school libraries (Columbia and NYU), we provide those of our students who reside closer to another law school with a letter of introduction entitling them to semester‐long access for convenience study. (We also admit students from out‐of‐town law schools as a reciprocal courtesy to institutions whose libraries admit our students.)
Letters/Passes issued to NYLS Students 23 31 1
Green Letters METRO Passes Letters of Introduction
Letters/Passes received from students of other law schools 13 15 25
Finally, through an arrangement with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, we provide 50 Reader’s Passes at a nominal cost to attorneys affiliated with public interest employers. We also distribute Reader’s Passes on a complimentary basis to faculty guests and visiting scholars.
Legal Research Database Usage The tables below detail the number of students and faculty with access to Lexis, Westlaw, Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg BNA and their usage of the respective systems during the 2013‐2014 academic year. (Bloomberg Law does not provide usage statistics beyond the number of users.) Provider
Transactions by Type
Number of Users
Number of Transactions
Faculty
Bloomberg Law Lexis Advance
1,414
n/a
n/a
n/a
Westlaw
1,320
509,065
375,9 23
133,142
Bloomberg BNA
977
Students
Documents Accessed Directly
Searches
Shepard/KeyCite Requests
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐not provided‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ 216,329
Email Alerts: 1,037
Visits: 2,321
Page Views: 27,927
197,191
21,349
88,895
The following table lists the total number of page views for each of the various American Lawyer Media publications to which we subscribe. American Lawyer Media Usage 2014‐2015 Title Page Views Visits New York Law Journal 13,430 5,567 National Law Journal 4,422 2,541 The American Lawyer 1,914 1,179 Mendik Library By The Numbers Page 14
New Jersey Law Journal
680
446
Technical Services Department
Staff
The Technical Services Department focuses on both acquisitions of new materials (digital as well as print) and, more importantly, the maintenance and organization of the Library’s entire collection. The latter efforts entail the design and regular revision of the systems and services necessary for our patrons to access and use all of our resources effectively. Those systems include the Library’s online catalog and the variety of Library web pages that afford access to our many digital resources.
The NYLS Online Catalog During the 2014‐2015 academic year, the Technical Services department created or added 692 records to the online catalog. They also made the necessary modifications (updates, revisions, etc.) to 129,363 records and withdrew 2,636 records for items removed from the collection. COLLECTION STATISTICS Titles Owned Volumes and Volume Equivalents Owned 2013‐2014 2014‐2015 2013‐2014 2014‐2015 Print 87,761 88,473 260,297 264,968 Microform 188,088 190,299 295,534 298,518 Electronic 244,589 246,854 n/a n/a A/V 784 794 n/a n/a Total 521,222 526,420 555,831 563,486 In addition to the Library’s ownership of these materials, we also subscribe to 134 online journals as well as databases (e.g., Lexis Advance, WestlawNext, HeinOnline, JSTOR, etc.) that provide access to thousands more titles and volumes. The catalog also provides users with direct access to more than 1,000 online treatises and reference works offered by Lexis, WestlawNext, and Bloomberg Law. What is not readily reflected in these collection statistics is the extraordinary effort required to facilitate access to our online resources, particularly as those resources continue to expand in volume and format at an ever‐increasing pace. That expansion necessitates vigilant monitoring, modifying, and updating of our comprehensive A to Z list of E‐Journals, as well as our complementary Electronic Resources web page. The Technical Services team also continues to upgrade and enhance the functionality of our award‐winning Mendik Mobile app and has successfully rolled out the first stage of demand driven acquisition (DDA), enabling us to offer users thousands of additional titles without incurring a purchase cost until a predetermined number of variously defined actual uses of the title. Technical Services also embarked this year on implementing a transition from our current ILS platform (Innovative Interfaces) to a new open source platform known as Koha, managed by ByWater Solutions. The plan is to migrate all of our records and begin using the new ILS in January 2016.
Mendik Library By The Numbers
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Library Publications
The Library publishes (in almost all cases, digitally) a number of works each year, many on a regular basis. Several are in the nature of current awareness alerts, providing a continual flow of information about recent articles or new acquisitions of interest to faculty. Other publications include an expanding collection of research and reference guides that are periodically updated. Faculty Publications: Bibliography, Display Cases, New Books Associate Dean Camille Broussard compiles the annual faculty publications bibliography for inclusion in the faculty pages of the NYLS website. These listings are integrated into the cumulative Faculty Publications Bibliography. It is also used by other NYLS departments for a variety of public relations purposes. The Office of Marketing and Communications includes the bibliography and links to publications on the faculty pages of the School’s website and Strategic Plan. The Library also maintains public display cases of newly published faculty books and earlier books that have won awards, as well as law review reprints and other publications. First Week Pizza Survey During First Week, the Library conducts the First Week Pizza Survey, designed to gauge the changing digital inclinations of the entering class (as well as their pizza topping preferences). The results from each year’s survey are maintained in the For Students section of the Library’s web pages.
Contents of Current Legal Periodicals A monthly compilation of contents pages from current periodical issues in the NYLS collection. Faculty Library Services Manual The Faculty Library Services Manual details library services offered to all faculty members including support for research and teaching, electronic resources, interlibrary loan and document delivery services. This manual is provided to all faculty members and is available on the Library website.
Law School 411: Books and Films on Law and Law School Mendik Library By The Numbers
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Law School 411 is a multimedia bibliography of sources for prospective and current law students. It suggests books, websites, and movies on law or lawyers, including a large section on excelling in law school. New Titles List A monthly list of new books or other monographic titles added to our collection.
Professional Activities and Continuing Education Committed to legal education, the Mendik Librarians work to help students develop research skills necessary to practice law in today’s challenging and dynamic legal environment. The librarians recognize the need to remain active in professional organizations and to take advantage of continuing education opportunities and professional networking; we often watched a webinar or attended live programs as a group of colleagues. Georgetown Law School Web Conference on Link Rot Electronic Book Library webinar LLAGNY Program on Big Data & Research ALA’s Digitization in Libraries LIPA webinar Digitization is Possible: Identifying AALL Annual Meeting and Overcoming Barriers William and Mary Digital Repository Programs from Metro – Special Interest Groups, Conference Law Libraries 2015: such as Circulation & Reserves (Elina Oyola), Government Shaping the Future (Michael Documents (Chris Pamboukes), Social Media(Grace Lee), Roffer) and Web Archiving (Grace Lee)
Library and Related Professional Organizations The librarians participated in a variety of organizations as officers, board members, or speakers. They also attended a number of programs that will further enhance their contributions and value to the NYLS community.
American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) All members of the Library’s professional staff are members of AALL. Camille Broussard, Bill Mills, Joe Molinari and Chris Pamboukes attended the annual educational meeting in San Antonio in July 2014 and Camille Broussard, Carolyn Hasselmann, Bill Mills, Joe Molinari, and Michael Roffer attended the annual educational meeting in Philadelphia in July 2015. Bill Mills participated in a panel presentation on “Law Librarianship in the Digital Age” at the 2014 conference. Chris Pamboukes served as secretary of the Native Peoples Law Caucus. Librarians are active in a variety of AALL’s Special Interest Sections (SIS).
American Association of Law Schools In January 2015, Camille Broussard attended the annual meeting in Washington, DC.
Legal Information Preservation Alliance (LIPA) The Legal Information Preservation Alliance is a non‐profit consortium of academic, federal, state and public law libraries working on projects to preserve print and electronic legal information. It provides the opportunity for libraries to work collaboratively on preservation projects at lower cost and to take advantage of the partnerships created by the organization. Camille Broussard served as Treasurer until July 1, 2015.
Law Library Association of Greater New York (LLAGNY) Bill Mills, Michael Roffer, Ping Tian, Elina Oyola, Chris Pamboukes, Joe Molinari, and Carolyn Hasselmann are members of the Law Library Association of Greater New York (LLAGNY), the local chapter of AALL. Ping Tian served on the Education Committee. Michael Roffer spoke at the March 23, 2015 LLAGNY program, Finding Common Ground: Linking Law Student Learning with Law Firm Research Needs. Mendik Library By The Numbers
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New York Legislative Service Camille Broussard continues to serve on the Board of Directors of the New York Legislative Service, an organization that provides New York legislative history research to the legal community. She serves as its Treasurer until July 1, 2015.
Washington University in St. Louis Libraries National Council Michael Roffer continues to serve as a member of this advisory board. Additional Professional Activities In December 2014, Camille Broussard taught a class on Academic Law Library Administration for Pratt Library School.
Services to the Law School Community New York Law School Activities Beyond the Library, our Librarians have been actively engaged in a wide‐range of NYLS community programs and activities, including Admissions Office Open Houses and Scholar Days, and the Office of Student Engagement’s First Week Programs. Michael Roffer ‘83 has been active in Alumni events, including the Law School Gala, the Scholarship Benefit Dinner and various Reunion Events. Grace Lee assisted at Commencement exercises in May 2015. All librarians participated in First Week activities Committee Memberships Several librarians held appointments to law school committees:
125th Anniversary Committee (Camille Broussard, Michael Roffer) 125th Anniversary: History, Research, and Archiving Committee (Michael Roffer, chair; Carolyn Hasselmann, Farrah Nagrampa) Academic Responsibility Committee (Michael Roffer) Academic Status Committee (Bill Mills) Administrative Technology Committee (Grace Lee) Assessment Committee (Camille Broussard) Bar Support Task Force (Camille Broussard) BePress Institutional Repository Implementation Task Force (Camille Broussard, chair; Michael Roffer, Farrah Nagrampa) Curriculum Committee (Camille Broussard, Assessment Sub Committee Chair) Dean’s Staff Roundtable (Carolyn Hasselmann, Farrah Nagrampa) Faculty Meeting (Camille Broussard, Secretary) Faculty Tech Advisory Panel (Bill Mills) NYCBA Diversity Fellowship Selection Committee (Camille Broussard) Commencement Soloist Selection Committee (Grace Lee) Commencement Student Speaker Selection Committee (Camille Broussard)
Go Green for Earth Day In celebration of Earth Day, the Library pledged to contribute $1.00 for each NYLS mug students purchased from April 22, 2015 through the end of exams and made a $25 contribution to the Earth Day Network. Food for Fines The Library held its annual Food For Fines Drive again for the 2014‐2015 academic year. The program allows graduating students to pay their library fines with canned or other packaged foods. All proceeds are then donated to the Salvation Army’s Chinatown Corps. This year, we donated 170 items. Mendik Library By The Numbers
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Kind Words We’ve Received Some of the expressions of appreciation from faculty, students, alumni, and other library users our librarians have received during the past year:
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Thank you all . . . Looking forward to next year!
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The Mendik Library Staff
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