This past Sunday, we wrapped up the law library's annual student survey.  More than 90% of our students answer that access to the Exam Archive is a reason for visiting the library's website. Hopefully 100% of our students know about this collection.  In case that's not true, here's what the system provides, as well as a technical note for Firefox users.

The library manages the Exam Archive to provide access to documents from our Registrar's Office. The system is available to all Georgetown Law students, where you can download past exams from 1998 to the present.  Using the system, you can download exam files in batches (as a zip archive) or individually by semester.

In the survey, one person commented about problems with the Firefox browser that's useful to know. If you are using the Firefox browser, a bug in Firefox’s built-in PDF viewer may cause the Georgetown Law watermark to obscure the text in exam files.

If you encounter this problem, please try viewing exam files in another browser (Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, etc.) or a standalone PDF viewer such as Adobe Reader. This page has more information about Firefox’s PDF Viewer, including how to turn it off or use a different PDF plugin.

Professor Rosa Brooks has written an "unofficial" guide to getting a political job in the Obama administration in the latest issue of Foreign Policy. Of course, her tips on networking are important for obtaining a great job, whether you dream of working on 16th and Pennsylvania or 16th and K Street.

For more job-searching resources available in the Library, please consult the Library's Job-Searching Research Guide.

On Tuesday, February 12 at 5 pm in the Williams Library CLC, Ben Snipes of Bloomberg Law will demonstrate the Bloomberg Law Tax Practice Center. This new feature of Bloomberg Law provides ready access to primary tax legal materials, Tax Court decisions and dockets, transactional forms and agreements, and secondary legal materials including the BNA Tax Management Portfolios and Practicing Law Institute treatises.

All interested students and faculty are invited to attend. If you have any questions, please contact Jason Zarin. Students and faculty interested in requesting an account on Bloomberg Law may obtain one by following the instructions available in the Library's catalog.

 

We are pleased to announce the availability of a room in the Williams library where we provide access to assistive technology.

• Do you learn better by listening or by reading? 
• Is it easier for you to dictate than to type? 
• Would it be easier to proofread your documents by listening to them read back to you?

What if you don’t know the answer to any of these questions?

The Law Library and the Office of the Dean of Students are launching a new service to let members of the law center community use two unique productivity tools:

• Dragon Naturally Speaking: A program that transcribes dictation, reads back your text, and allows users to control the computer using voice commands.
• Kurzweil Educational System: A web-based program which allows the user to listen to text, either electronic or scanned printed information.

Both products are available in Room 111 of the E.B.Williams Law Library, and installed on a dedicated computer.

To try either system, simply reserve the room online and go to the Williams library circulation desk to borrow the headset and instruction sheet that will help you get started. When not being used for assistive technology, this room, EBW 111, is still available for group study purposes.

During this past summer, Georgetown Law reference librarians worked in tandem with the electronic services librarian to update the library’s Legal Research & Writing tutorials. The LRW tutorials, which are designed for first-year students, focus on:

• Statutory Research
• Case Law Research
• Secondary Sources Research
• Administrative Law Research

It’s also believed that upper-level students and non-U.S. trained LLM students will find these tutorials a useful review of the basics of legal research.

The newly released tutorials are found on the library’s website as embedded HTML5 videos that can be viewed by students on any computer or mobile device. Narration was also added to the tutorials, broadening their appeal to auditory, as well as visual learners.

As Lexis & Westlaw continue to introduce new research platforms, librarians worked to incorporate both WestlawNext and Lexis Advance demonstrations throughout the tutorials to familiarize students with the design of these new legal research platforms.

The LRW tutorials have been well received by students, faculty and fellow librarians. They have set a new standard for legal research tutorials. Librarians from other law schools have contacted the Georgetown Law Library reference department requesting advice on how to incorporate tools such as these in their law school community.

Need help finding a case on Lexis or Westlaw? The library has two basic video tutorials that demonstrate how to locate and print a case using Lexis and Westlaw. These tutorials can be found on our Resources for New Students page. All first years will receive more detailed instruction on these computer assisted legal research platforms as part of their Legal Research & Writing classes, but these videos will get you started.

The Law Library has developed a new resource page for a few of the most popular citation managers: RefWorks, Zotero and Mendeley.  These tools can help you collect and manage your research sources, and so, if you’re frustrated with remembering sources and organizing your research, you might look into using one of these tools.

On our resource page, you’ll find a comparison of the tools’ features, information on how well each tool works with the Bluebook, and information on accessing and using each tool.

If you would like more information about citation tools or a personalized training session to determine which tool would be best for you, please contact Jennifer Davitt.

Did you know that the Georgetown Law Library typically adds over 400 titles to its collections every month? With just a few mouse clicks, it’s easy to keep up on the latest library offerings that mean the most to your reading interests and research.

Through the GULLiver online catalog (http://gull.georgetown.edu), you can sign up to receive email alerts for new titles corresponding to any author or topic you specify. You can also subscribe to RSS feeds to get regular updates on items added in specific areas of law.

For the most inclusive overview of recent acquisitions, browse complete listings of new titles available through both the Williams and Wolff Library every month.

Of course, the Library is always happy to hear our patrons’ tips for new books and resources — you’ll find an online suggestion form here.

Please note that the email and RSS notification features require an active GULL Library Account, available to members of the Georgetown Law community. Contact the reference department for more information.

As you may have noticed, WestlawNext allows users to download individual documents or groups of documents to a Kindle device.  Before doing so, however, you will need to add WestlawNext to your Kindle's "Approved E-mail List."  Simply access the "Your Account" section of Amazon.com and select "Manage Your Kindle" from the Digital Content options.  From that page, add "westlawnext@westlawnext.com" (no quotes) to your "Approved E-Mail List."  Also, be sure to note your "Kindle E-mail Address" located near the top of the page, as you will need to enter it on WestlawNext in order to download to your Kindle.

Note that there is no fee for documents received wirelessly on a Kindle.  If received via 3G, however, a nominal fee will apply (15 cents per megabyte for users living in the U.S.).

Click here for more information on transferring, downloading & sending files to a Kindle.

In addition to the valuable resources that you can use and check out, your local public libraries also provide the opportunity to give back to your community. They all offer several volunteer opportunities, including helping library patrons use computers, assisting with resume writing, working at used book sales, and staffing circulation and information desks.

For more information about volunteer opportunities at specific libraries, visit these Web sites:

DC Public Library

Montgomery County Public Libraries

Alexandria Library

Arlington Public Library