Category Archives: Library Info

Study Room Reservations & Library Hours: April 28 – May 12

During the reading and exam period students must make a reservation to use a library study room.  Mandatory room reservations begin on Friday, April 28th at 8:00am; at that time, all study rooms will be locked and students must go to the first-floor circulation desk to charge out the key to the room at the time of their reservation.  The link to the study room reservations is available here.

Study Room Policies:

  • Study rooms are for the use of groups of two or more students.
  • Study rooms may be reserved for the current day and three days ahead.
  • Study room reservations may be made in time slots of 60 minutes.
  • Students may book up to 4 time slots per day.

 Hours for the Reading & Exam Period:

  • Friday, April 28th – Thursday, May 11th:  8:00am – 2:00am
  • The circulation desk will close at 12:00am: April 28 – May 11
  • Friday, May 12:  8:00am – 10:00pm

Good Luck on Your Exams!

Summer and Graduate Access to Bloomberg, Lexis & Westlaw

The three legal research databases:  Bloomberg Law, Lexis Advance, and WestlawNext are available to Brooklyn Law School students this summer.  May 2017 graduates will also have access to these databases for six months after graduation.  See the details below:

Bloomberg Law:  Provides unlimited and unrestricted access over the summer.  Student accounts will remain active and available all summer.  Graduating students have continued access for six months after graduation.

For questions, contact Maxwell Sivin, Client Success Manager, msivin@bna.com, 646-494-5244.

Lexis Advance:  Students will have continuing access during the summer for all legal and news content on LexisNexis.  During the summer months of May, June and July, the permissible uses of your LexisNexis educational ID are expanded to include use at any law firm, government agency, court, or other legal position, internship, externship or clerkship.

May 2017 graduates have continuing access to Lexis for six months after graduation to study for the bar exam, prepare for employment, improve research skills, etc.   No extra steps needed.

Graduates engaged in public service work may be eligible for the Lexis ASPIRE program which provides twelve months of free access to Lexis resources for those working at non-profit organizations.  To apply for an ASPIRE ID, use the form at:  http://lexisnexis.com/grad-access

For questions, contact Mary Beth Drain, LexisNexis Account Executive, marybeth.drain@lexisnexis.com, 845-598-3203.

WestlawNext:  Students can use Westlaw during the summer for non-commercial research.  Students do not have to do anything to access Westlaw over the summer.  Access to Westlaw will automatically continue; no registration needed.  Examples of permissible uses for the student academic password include the following:

  • Summer coursework
  • Research assistant assignments
  • Law Review or Journal research
  • Moot Court research
  • Non-profit work
  • Clinical work
  • Externship sponsored by the school

Students have access to Westlaw for six months after graduation.  The “Grad Elite” access gives students 60 hours of usage per month on Westlaw to build research skills.  In addition, students get access to job searching databases on Westlaw and TWEN for 18 months after graduation for one hour per month.

Access:  A pop-up will appear when you log into www.lawschool.westlaw.com starting three months before the students’ set graduation date.  Students can extend access by logging into www.lawschool.westlaw.com.

For questions, contact Stefanie Efrati, Thomson Reuters Academic Account Manager, stefanie.efrati@thomsonreuters.com, 212-548-7432.

 


Celebrate Women’s History Month By Checking Out HeinOnline’s Women and the Law Collection

In honor of Women’s History Month this March, head over to HeinOnline to see its Women and the Law collection.  This Hein collection brings together books, biographies, and periodicals exploring the role of women in society and the law.  Scholars use this platform to  research the progression of women’s roles and rights in society over the past 200 years.  In addition to a wealth of historical works, the collection also features more than 70 contemporary feminist sources archived from Emory University Law School’s Feminism and Legal Theory Project.

Virtual Reference: We are there, even when we are not

Just because you don’t see a librarian sitting at the reference desk, does not mean we are not there to help. The library has many virtual reference tools to help you with your research. For example, you can always email the library at askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu. You can also look through our extensive FAQ list to see if your question has previously been answered. You can find our FAQs at askthelibrary.brooklaw.edu. You can also browse through our research guides to see if we have created one to address the issue you are researching. You can access a list of the library’s research guides at guides.brooklaw.edu.

If we are not sitting at the reference desk, but you see the chachatwithalibrariant symbol on BLSConnect or the Library’s webpage, click on it to contact a reference librarian for help. You can also text us at 718-734-2432. And of course, often times, we are only a phone call away at 718-780-7567. If a librarian is not available to help at that time, one will get back to you as soon as she is available.  Reference librarians generally answer reference questions, Monday – Thursday from 9 am-8 pm and on Saturday from 12 pm – 5 pm.

Library Hours & Study Room Reservations During Exams

keep-calmLibrary hours for the reading and exam period, Thursday, December 8th – Thursday, December 22th, are 8:00am – 2:00am.

The circulation desk will close at 12:00am every night during this period.

On Friday, December 23rd we will be open from 9:00am – 5:00pm.

During the reading and exam period study room reservations are mandatory.  All study rooms will be locked beginning at 8:00am on Thursday, December 8th and students must go to the circulation desk at the time of their reservation to obtain the key to the room.  Please remember the following about the use of the study rooms during the reading/exam period:

  • Study rooms are for the use of groups of two or more students.
  • Study rooms may be reserved for the current day and three days ahead.
  • Study room reservations may be made in time slots of 60 minutes.
  • Students may book up to 4 time slots per day.
  • The link to the study room reservations is on the library web page under “Related Links.”

 

What’s Hot on the Shelves?

If you are someone who likes to stay up on the latest and greatest, you might be interested in monitoring the Library’s New Book List.  Each month the library publishes a list with its most recent acquisitions.  To access the list, go to the SARA catalog and select the New Book List new-book-list-imageTab.  These titles are not yet on the shelf.  If you would like to check one out, you can stop by the reference desk or email Spencer Province (spencer.province@brooklaw.edu).  He will place it on the circulation hold desk for you to check out.

A few of the latest titles for the month of November include:

Denise A. Hannigan, “Guns Don’t Kill People, People Kill People”: And Other Myths About Guns and Gun Control” (2016).

Jill Norgen, Belva Lockwood: The Woman Who Would be President (2016).

Heather Ann Thompson, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy (2016).

Jordan Fisher Smith, Engineering Eden: The True Story of a Violent Death, a Trial, and the Fight over Controlling Nature (2016).

Laura Weinrib, The Taming of Free Speech: America’s Civil Liberties Compromise (2016).

UPDATE: LexisNexis Digital Library Training Webinar & Live Session

lexisnexis-digital-libraryThe BLS Library is offering a webinar and a live training session to introduce students & faculty to the LexisNexis Digital Library.  As described in Reference Librarian Rosemary Campagna’s blog of October 15, 2016, the Library recently acquired a subscription to the LexisNexis Digital Library which gives students access to treatises, practice guides, and study aids in eBook format.

In order to formally introduce students and faculty to this important new resource, the Library is offering both a webinar and a live training session for the LexisNexis Digital Library.  Both sessions will cover the following topics:

  • How to access (both on-campus and off-campus)
  • Our library’s collection
  • Tools and functionality
  • Locating a title/volumes
  • Borrowing volumes
  • Bookmarks/highlights/annotations
  • Archives
  • Linking on-line research with “print” research
  • Recent and forthcoming enhancements

These sixty minute sessions will be offered on the following dates/times:

UPDATE:  THE PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED WEBINAR FOR THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3rd WILL BE REPLACED BY A LIVE TRAINING SESSION ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2016, 11AM-12NOON IN LIBRARY ROOM 113M.  SPACE IS LIMITED.  EMAIL to: linda.holmes@brooklaw.edu, if you would like to attend.

WEBINAR:  Monday, November 7, 2016, 4:00PM-5:00PM.

The instructor for both training sessions is Damian A. Burns, LexisNexis Digital & Print Sales Engineer, Damian.A.Burns@LexisNexis.com

Please follow this link at the time of the November 7th webinar to participate:

www.LexisNexisNow.com/Damian

 

 

BLS Library Databases Research Fair: September 29, 2016

fair-balloonsThe Fifth Annual Library Databases Research Fair will be held on Thursday, September 29th, 2016.  The Fair will be held in the Student Lounge from 3:00pm to 6:00pm.

Representatives from the following legal research companies will be here to demonstrate their databases:

  • Bloomberg Law
  • Ebsco
  • Fastcase
  • Lexis Digital
  • Lexis Nexis
  • ProQuest
  • Westlaw
  • Wolters Kluwer
  • The Library will showcase our E-Book Collection
  • Brochures/Pens/Post-Its provided by Hein Online

Come and learn how these databases will help you with your legal research.

There will be handouts, light refreshments, and a raffle drawing for gift cards.

Save the date:  Thursday, September 29th, 2016, 3:00pm – 6:00pm, Student Lounge.

Library Hours & Study Room Reservations: April 27 – May 15

exam timeLibrary hours for the reading and exam period, April 27th – May 12th, are 8:00am – 2:00am.  The circulation desk will close at 12 Midnight every night during this period.

On Friday, May 13th the Library will be open  8:00am – 10:00pm.

During the reading and exam period study room reservations are mandatory.  All study rooms will be locked beginning at 8:00am on Wednesday, April 27th and students must go to the circulation desk at the time of their reservation to pick up the key to the room.  Please remember the following about the use of the study rooms during the reading/exam period:

  • Study rooms are for the use of groups of two or more students.
  • Study rooms may be reserved for the current day and three days ahead.
  • Study room reservations may be made in time slots of 60 minutes.
  • Students may book up to 4 time slots per day.
  • The link to the study room reservations is on the library homepage under “Related Links.”

Please note that the Library will be open 9:00am – 12Midnight on Saturday & Sunday, May 14th & 15th for the Writing Competition weekend.

Good Luck on Your Exams & Have a Great Summer!

 

The BLS Library Celebrates National Library Week

National Lib. Wk.National Library Week is a national observance sponsored every April by the American Library Association.  National Library Week was first begun in 1958 and its goal is to promote and support library use throughout the country.  Libraries, whether academic, public, school or special, celebrate this week each year.

Here at the Brooklyn Law School Library we are having a “National Library Week Quiz” from Monday through Thursday, April 11 -14. The quiz contains ten short questions about the library.  You can pick up a copy of the quiz at the first floor reference desk, fill in the answers on the quiz sheet, and then return the quiz to the “answer bowl” at the reference desk.  You have until 12:00 Midnight on Thursday, April 14th to return the answer sheet.  The winner will be drawn from those sheets with the correct answers. The winner will be announced and notified on Friday, April 15th.  The lucky person will receive a $25.00 gift card.

Since everyone can’t be a winner, Monday through Thursday afternoons of this week we’ll put a bowl of chocolates at the circulation desk.  Help yourself to some candy!