First Floor Open for Business!

If you stopped by the law school over the summer, you would have noticed that the first floor of the library was closed for renovations. What was going on behind those closed doors? What was all of that hammering and drilling for?

Good news: the first floor of the library is now open for business! The circulation desk, which was temporarily located on the third floor for the summer, is back on the first floor. Stop by if you need to borrow a textbook or other materials in the Reserve collection. The reference desk is also back on the first floor, and you can consult with a reference librarian if you need research assistance or a pass to another law library.

Enjoy the brand new, comfortable furniture and the new space!

Extra, extra! Register for the New York Times

The Brooklyn Law School Library is happy to announce that it recently obtained a site license that provides access to the New York Times for all faculty, staff, and students.  Our license will give you access via the website, https://www.nytimes.com/, as well as the NY Times apps for phones and tablets.

To register, go to https://nytimesineducation.com/access-nyt/, choose Brooklyn Law School from the drop-down, and then follow the instructions to register.  For your initial registration, you must either be on campus or go through our proxy server AND you must use your Brooklyn Law School email account to register.  Once you have registered, you can use your login name and password to access the site from anywhere.  Each year you will need to login from on-campus or using the proxy server in order to keep your access active.

Note that our access does not include e-reader editions, crossword puzzles, or the cooking app – those still need to be purchased separately.

If you have questions, send an email to askthelibrary@brookaw.edu.

Welcome 1Ls!

The BLS Library is excited to welcome a new class of students and begin the 2019-2020 academic year! As you settle in and begin your classes, keep in mind the following library resources:

Course Books on Reserve: The BLS library keeps 1 copy of every 1L course textbook on reserve. You can check out textbooks for 2 hours and use the book scanner to make copies of the sections you need. The reserve collection is located on the ground floor behind the circulation desk.

Scanning:  The library has two scanners, one of which is also a photocopier, located on the first floor. The copier/scanner allows you to email scanned documents, while the large book scanner allows you to email or save your documents to a USB drive. Both allow for color or black & white scanning. There is no charge for scanning.

Printing:  The library has printers on the cellar, first, second, and third floors of the library. There is also a networked a printer on the fourth floor in the cafeteria. The IT department is responsible for student and faculty printing accounts. Instructions on how to install the printing software, known as Pharos, and instructions on how to print using the networked printers can be found at the IT Printing & Pharos User Guides page on BLSConnect.

Searching the Library’s Collection:  You can search the library’s collection using SARA, OneSearch, or Find a Source. The SARA Catalog is used for searching books, journals, and databases. You may use OneSearch for searching articles and books. To find out whether we have a specific e-journal or database, use our Find a Source page.

Research Databases:We subscribe to a large number of subscription databases and journals to support research and scholarship at Brooklyn Law School. You can browse our A to Z Guide to Databases, which lists our major databases organized by subject area or alphabetically.

Off-Campus Access:  

You can access Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg using the username and  password that you received when you set up these accounts (you will receive instructions for setting up these accounts during orientation). To access other subscription databases when you’re not on campus, you will have to set up the proxy server. To set up a proxy server, select your browser and follow the instructions below:

Microsoft Edge Proxy Instructions
Safari (Mac) Proxy Instructions
Firefox (PC) Proxy Instructions
Firefox (Mac) Proxy Instructions 

Note that Google Chrome is not recommended for accessing e-resources because many of these databases do not function optimally with this browser.

Research Guides: BLS’s Research Guides are written by Brooklyn Law School’s reference librarians to help you conduct legal research in different subject areas. Be sure to check out the 1L Resources, Tips & Tools Research Guide and the A-Z Databases Research Guide.

Reference Services: Reference services are available 9 am – 8 pm, M – Th, 9 am – 5 pm on Friday, and 12 pm – 4 pm on Saturday. You can email askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu, call the reference desk at 718-780-7973, use the chat feature on the library’s website, or visit us at the reference desk, located on the ground floor.

Good luck and we look forward to meeting all of you!!!

50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots

This past weekend marked the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a pivotal point in LGBTQ history.  The New York Public Library is commemorating this event with an exhibition featuring photographs by two photojournalists, Kay Tobin Lahusen and Diana Davies, that captured major events in the gay rights movement in the 60s and 70s, alongside ephemera, periodicals, and other items from the library’s archival holdings.  The exhibition is free and open until July 13th at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in Manhattan.   Be sure to check it out before it closes!  The NYPL has also provided book recommendations, podcasts, and other resources to learn more about the LGBTQ civil rights movement.  (https://www.nypl.org/stonewall50)

The BLS Library also has several LGBTQ resources. Check out our research guide for books, journals, major federal cases, legislation and a list of organizations advocating for LGBTQ rights. 

Summer in Brooklyn

The first day of summer was June 21, and heading into July it sure feels like summer! For those of you sticking around BLS to study, the Library will be open 9am-12pm every day but Sunday (10am-12pm). The Library will be open from 9am-5pm on July 4th. Reference Services will not be available for those days.

Related image

As the count down to the bar begins, please remember to take care of yourselves! A good night’s sleep is valuable as we get closer. If you need a brief distraction, games and puzzles are available. Ask the Reference Librarian on duty for more information!

The first floor of the Library remains closed this for construction. Circulation, Reference, and Reserve services will be on the 3rd floor of the Library, near the internal staircase. Printing and scanning services will also be available on the third floor. If you have questions, you can always, Ask the Library.

Summer Studying

Well, there’s about another week or so before BAR STUDYING really begins in earnest. For those of you sticking around BLS to study, the Library will be open 9am-10pm every day but Sunday (10am-10pm). The Library will be closed on Memorial Day.

We welcome bar studying students from other institutions. Library passes are available for $50.00. Purchases may be made from M-F 9am-5pm. Please bring cash or check. Wireless access is available.

The first floor of the Library will be closed this summer for construction. Circulation, Reference, and Reserve services will be on the 3rd floor of the Library, near the internal staircase. Printing and scanning services will also be available on the third floor. If you have questions, you can always, Ask the Library.

If you would like to study at another law school, there are passes available to most other law schools in the area. You can Ask the Library, or contact the institution you are interest in for more information.

Congratulations Class of 2019

Kudos to you all! After commencement, you may be ready to leave BLS, but BLS will not leave you.  Brooklyn Law School offers many services to its alumni.  2019 graduates can access the BLS network and are able to print until August of the year following graduation.  For May 2019 graduates, you have access until August 2020.   

In addition, graduates can register for Westlaw’s Grad Elite program.  The Grad Elite “Practice-Ready” program provides access to Westlaw Edge and other practice tools for 18 months post-graduation, for up to 60 hours each month. These hours can be used for work-related research.  Through this program, you can research using Westlaw Edge, Practical Law, Drafting Assistant Essential, and Westlaw Doc & Form Builder.

To register for this program, log in to your existing Westlaw account and click on the Practice Ready Solution link in the screen’s upper right-hand corner.  On the Practice Ready page, you will see a link for graduates to extend their access.

Besides access to Westlaw for 18 months post-graduation, Brooklyn Law School Alumni Association members have unlimited access to the library’s print resources and limited access to certain digital resources for research purposes while in the library.  Books, however, cannot be checked out.

While in the library, members have access to LexisNexis Academic, a stripped down version of Lexis.  LexisNexis Academic contains federal and state case law, statutes, and regulations.  It also has a limited run of law reviews, and features Shepards.  To use the database, go to the library home page, select Complete Database List, and then select LexisNexis Academic.

Finally, if you ever run into a research quandary, remember you can call, (718) 780-7567, or email, askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu, the reference desk.  Reference librarians are here to help!

Mueller Report: Available On Reserve

“Over 400 pages of reading bliss, this is one you don’t want to miss” ~Anonymous


  • Mueller Report
  • Level 8 of Guess The Redacted Content Game
  • Hot Off the Press

Now that we are into the thicket of law school exams, the library has provided some welcome diversions: puzzles, origami, and a Kindness Wall where students can leave encouraging notes for their peers. But what better way to destress than to play the “guess the redacted content” game?

Fresh off the press, the Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election, better known as the Mueller Report, is now in the library’s Reserve Collection (Call No. JF1083 .M84 2019)   

So take a break from deciphering the Rule Against Perpetuities and stop by the Circulation Desk. Flip through the Mueller Report and let your imagination run wild. Who are the subjects of the redacted ongoing investigations? Which classified secrets have been withheld from the eager public? What tasty tidbits in the grand jury materials were deemed verboten?

Maybe, just maybe, the Mueller Report will inspire you because of what it is: an impeccably researched and drafted legal document. It’s the stuff lawyers do. Someday, perhaps, you too will get to work on a legal project so monumental that it will have redactions galore when released to the public. One can only dream (but don’t dream for too long, IRAC awaits.)  

Did You Know The Library Offers Ebook Study Aids?

The library has dozens of study aids available to help you ace your finals!  Just come to the circulation desk and you can check out a study guide to help you create an A+ outline.  Did you know that the library also has study aids in the ebook format?  For example, if you want to borrow a study aid from the “Understandings” series, you can go here: http://brooklyn.law.overdrive.com/A277C1C7-3692-4CF7-BE2A-4E65154FAC2F/10/1334/en/Default.htm.

To find out more about the study guides BLS library has available for you, visit here:http://guides.brooklaw.edu/c.php?g=330909&p=2222538

Keeping Up with the Issues: Immigration

Presidential candidate, Julian Castro, just released a comprehensive immigration reform plan which would repeal the provision of US law that makes “illegal entry” into the US a federal crime. Under Castro’s plan, an immigrant who crossed the border would be detained briefly by Border Patrol and, if no red flags are raised, released pending an immigration hearing. Instead of a crime, being in the US without legal status would be considered a civil offense for which the penalty is deportation. Thus, if an immigrant does not qualify for asylum or another form of legal status, they would still be deported. See Dara Lind, Julián Castro wants to radically restrict immigration enforcement, Vox (Apr 2, 2019) https://www.vox.com/2019/4/2/18291584/2020-immigration-democrats-policy-castro-abolish-ice

“Illegal entry” into the US has been a crime since 1929 under Chapter 8, Section 1325 of the US Code, but only in the last 20 or so years has this provision been routinely enforced.   To learn more about US law and policy regarding immigration and border control, take a look at these resources:

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues: A Documentary History (Michael C LeMay & Elliott Robert Barkan, eds., 1999)

This book compiles 100s of primary documents including court cases and opinion pieces that illuminate the controversies surrounding immigration and nationalization policies throughout US history. The book includes explanatory introductions to assist the reader in understanding the significance of each document.

Margaret S. Orchowski, The Law that Changed the Face of America : the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (2015)

Margaret Orchowski, a journalist and immigration expert, examines how immigration laws have changed over the course of US history into the 21st century in light of globalization, changes in technology, terrorism, the recession and changing attitudes and expectations among younger generations. She also explores the roles that different branches of government and competing interests play in influencing immigration policy.

Ira J. Kurzban et al., Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook: A Comprehensive Outline and Reference Tool (16th ed. 2018)

Kurzban’s Immigration Law Sourcebook is intended to be a quick reference tool for practitioners and students that includes federal and administrative cases, regulations, statutes, and agency rulings.

Lucy E. Salyer, Laws Harsh as Tigers: Chinese Immigrants and the Shaping of Modern Immigration Law (1995)

This book examines the debates surrounding judicial enforcement of the Chinese exclusion laws as well as administrative power and reform of the Bureau of Immigration during a period of heightened nativism in the early 20th century.

Kevin R Johnson & Bernard Trujillo, Immigration Law and the US-Mexico Border: Sí Se Puede (2011)

Johnson and Trujillo review the history of Mexico – US migration patterns, the discrimination against US citizens of Mexican ancestry and policy debates over “illegal” aliens. Their discussion encompasses US immigration law and policy, the migration of labor, state and local regulation, and the contributions of Mexican immigrants to the US economy.

David Brotherton & Philip Kretsedemas, Immigration Policy in the Age of Punishment: Detention, Deportation, and Border Control (2017)

Immigration Policy in the Age of Punishment is an interdisciplinary exploration of immigration policies in America, Canada, and Europe during the Obama and Trump eras, within the context of what the authors refer to as a decades-long “age of punishment.” This book looks at deportations and border enforcement, national policy and jurisprudence, and the prison-to-deportation pipeline in its discussions of immigration laws and their enforcement.

Constructing Immigrant “Illegality”: Critiques, Experiences, and Responses (Cecilia Menjívar & Daniel Kanstroom, eds. 2014)

Constructing Immigrant “Illegality” is a collection of essays from the fields of anthropology, law, political science, religious studies, and sociology that explore the concept of immigrant “illegality,” how immigration law shapes immigrant illegality and how “illegality” takes effect in the lives of immigrants. The essays also examine power structures associated with the concept of illegality.

Immigration Stories (David A. Martin & Peter H. Schuck, eds. 2005)

This book tells the stories of 13 canonical immigration cases to illustrate how immigration law is made.