Articles Tagged with Law librarians

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Imagine this: A patron comes into the law library at 4:40 and says “I’m being sued, and I need to file a response before 5:00 today. Do you have the form for that? Oh, and I need help filling it out.” We would really like to help this person, but realistically this may not be possible. Unfortunately, patrons usually do not know what services we provide. Read on for information on what law libraries can and can’t do and how to get the most from your visit.

Don’t leave your research until the last minute. Leave enough time to handle any problems that might arise. In our example, the patron assumes that there is a fill-in-the-blank form that they can use, and that law library personnel can help them fill it out. Oregon does not have many fill-in-the-blank forms and law library employees cannot help patrons fill out forms. We would direct the patron to possible sources of templates that they can use to create their own document, and to resources that might help them to fill out the form. They probably wouldn’t have time to do all that in less than 20 minutes and get it to the court before they close.

Along those same lines, make sure you can devote time to research your questions. Law library personnel can’t do research for you. We can point you to resources that might be useful and show you how to do the research yourself.

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Your local law library may provide some online resources you can access at home. Below are some examples from Washington County, Oregon. You can check with your local county law library to see what they offer.

The Washington County Law Library offers LexisNexis Digital Library. Patrons can sign up using an online form. Once registered they can access the digital titles subscribed to via a web link or the Digital Library app. LexisNexis Digital Library is relatively easy to use, and they offer robust online help to navigate the platform. It is important to remember this is an eBook platform, not a legal research platform. Among the titles patrons can access are Oregon Evidence, Employment in Oregon, LexisNexis Practice Guide: Washington Family Law, Military Family Law, Understanding Bankruptcy, The ABA Spanish Legal Phrasebook, and Trial: A Guide from Start to Finish.

The Washington County Law Library also subscribes to HeinOnline. Anyone with a Washington County Cooperative Library Services library card can access it remotely via the WCCLS HeinOnline page. If you don’t have a WCCLS card you can sign up for their digital card. HeinOnline has a large collection of law journals, federal legal materials, and subject specific collections (such as LGBTQ+ rights or gun laws).

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Do the journalists, bloggers, and talking heads who refer endlessly to “Title 42” when speaking or writing about immigration and border issues (usually the U.S. Mexico border) know what Title 42 is? Can those “reporters” cite the exact law? Have they read the so-called “Title 42?”

Saying “Title 42” is about as useful as hearing a radio or podcast host say “it’s Tuesday and it’s 20 minutes past the hour” (which Tuesday and what hour?!), or a subject line that says “Don’t miss today’s meeting!” (“today” has no meaning online, without a date!), or the so-called market reports saying “yesterday, the market ended up 13%” (what market, up from or to what?!). It’s meaningless, which listeners and readers know, but seemingly not the talking heads. Sigh.

Back to “What is Title 42?”

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Librarians may now qualify for FOIA fee exemption as educational institution requesters:

Excerpt from Wisblawg, 12/21/2020, blog post:

“Librarians now qualify for FOIA fee exemption as educational institution requesters,” December 21, 2020

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WebJunction has been teaching online for more than a decade – and they do a darn good job of it, too.

This class: “Libraries Prepare to Answer Civil Legal Questions in Times of Crisis” will be taught by 2 law librarian stars: Jenny Silbiger, State Law Librarian, Access to Justice Coordinator, Hawaii Supreme Court Law Library, and Joseph Lawson, Deputy Director, Harris County Law Library, Texas.

The live webinar is scheduled for: Thursday, June 11, 2020 / 12:00 pm Pacific, 60 minutes. (Webinar recording and course materials will be available offline to registrants shortly thereafter.)

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Golden Rule of Legal Writing: Never, ever cite to anything you haven’t read carefully.

There is a reason law librarians try to drill that rule into the heads of lawyers and law students (and journalists):

“Is it a “Good” Case? Can You Rely on BCite, KeyCite, and Shepard’s to Tell You?,” by Kristina Niedringhaus, JOTWELL (April 22, 2019) (reviewing Paul Hellyer, Evaluating Shepard’s, KeyCite, and BCite for Case Validation Accuracy, 110 Law Libr. J. 449 (2018)).

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We love reading the Fastcase 50 list to find out who is doing what, why, where, and how – and especially so when there is an Oregonian on the list.

Read the 2016 Fastcase 50 list and previous lists, back to 2011, when the List was born.

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Espresso Machines are Lousy Substitutes for Law Library Leadership (3 Geeks and a Law Blog 4/22/16 blog post):

“…. Law Librarianship is not about the number of books on the shelf. It is not about turning shelves into collaboration spaces or coffee bars. It is about positioning the firm in a manner that aligns resources, internal and external; human and information, in a way that puts the firm on a better competitive footing. It’s about risk-management. It’s about negotiating the best deals with very expensive vendors. It’s about evaluating what is, and what is not needed to support the practices of the firm. It takes a strong leader, one with vision of where the law library fits in the strategic goals of the firm, in order to guide the firm on the correct path. Leaving these leadership positions empty, or eliminating them altogether may have short-term financial gains, but long-term repercussions that will plague firms for many years to come….” [Link to full article.]

Read more law librarian / law firm / client management posts from 3 Geeks and a Law Blog and other ABA Law Blawgs.

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When you need legal research advice, turn to the legal research experts, professional law librarians, most of whom are able to share their expertise freely, or low-costly (so to speak), which is good value indeed when you need accurate, timely, and comprehensive information.

Great law librarians keep up with the vast world of legal research resources: dozens, hundreds, and even thousands of journals and websites and lawyer and law librarian listserves, networks, and professional associations (e.g. AALL). A Law Librarian’s Continuing Education also includes reading local, state, and national judicial, legislative, and regulatory news, and related news in the foreign and international legal world.

So, make sure the librarian you consult for legal research advice is Keeping Up With the Legal Research Joneses or, more to the point, Keeping Up With Opposing Counsel, whose access to legal research resources might be funded a whole lot better than yours:

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Every working stiff needs a laugh and a boost on Friday-Eve morning (better known as Thursday morning) and we are no exception to that truth. So, we often turn to the Legal Research is Easy blogger who never fails to tickle our funny bones – and he’s willing to spill the beans about his patrons. What more could you want?! We all have these public law library patrons, but who can tell their stories with such humor and exasperation – and with excellent legal research tips!

(Public libraries everywhere have these patrons. If you don’t believe me, read Unshelved and the “Black Belt Librarian” author who thought he knew everything about libraries and security until he actually started working in one.)

The latest Legal Research is Easy posts (and previous ones for that matter) are hilarious AND interesting AND smart AND the facts described would elicit a my, my, my from our favorite Auntie Mame (Rosalind Russell). (The rest of us fall about laughing. Auntie Mame was nothing if not a classy dame.)

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