Author Archives: Linda Holmes

Study Room Reservations & Library Hours for Reading/Exam Period

studyroomDuring the reading and exam period, you must make a reservation to use a library study room.  Mandatory study room reservations will begin on Thursday, December 4, 2014 at 8:00am; at that time all study rooms will be locked and you must go to the first floor circulation desk to charge out the key to the room at the time of your reservation.  The link to the study room reservations is on the library homepage under Related Links.

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 two days ahead
  • Study rooms may be reserved for periods from 30 minutes up to four hours
  • Students are permitted to reserve a room for no more than four hours per day
  • Reservations violating these policies will be deleted
  • Instructions for making reservations and a list of rooms available are on the study room reservations page

Library Hours for the Reading & Exam Period:

  • Thursday, December 4 – Thursday, December 18:  8:00am – 2:00am
  • Friday, December 19:  8:00am -10:00pm
  • December 4 – 18, the circulation desk closes at Midnight; no books can be checked out after Midnight.

Reminders:

  • Please limit all conversations in the library; remember that your colleagues are studying too.
  • There is no eating in the library; please go to the student lounge or dining hall for snacks and meals.
  • Do not leave valuables unattended.  If you step away from your study table or carrel, take anything of value to you with you.

Good Luck on Your Exams & Happy Holidays!

Bluebooking & Research Review Sessions for First Years

180px-The_Bluebook_18th_ed_CoverThe Library will hold two “Bluebooking with Success” sessions for first year students.  The presenter will be Professor Janet Sinder, Library Director.  Students may attend either session; no sign-up is necessary.   The dates, times & room numbers are:

Thursday, October 30, 2014, 4pm – 5pm, Room 501.

Monday, November 3, 2014, 5pm – 6pm, Room 601.

 

 

ContentImage-6275-95126-shutterstock_108141146The Library will also offer two “Research Question & Answer” Sessions for 1Ls prior to their research quiz.  Students may attend either session; no sign-up necessary.  Dates, times, rooms below:

Tuesday, October 28, 2014, 4pm – 5pm, Room 401.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014, 5pm – 6pm, Room 401.

 

 

 

BLS Library Research Fair: September 30, 2014

The 3rd annual Library Research Fair will be held on Tuesday, September 30, 2014.  The fair will be held in the Student Lounge from 12Noon to 3:00pm.  Representatives from the following companies will be here to demonstrate their databases:

  • Bloomberg Law
  • CALI (Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction)
  • Fastcase
  • Lexis
  • ProQuest
  • Westlaw
  • Wolters Kluwer

In addition, the Library will have a table to demonstrate our new One Search database.

Come and learn how these databases will help you with your legal research.  There will be handouts, light refreshments, prizes and raffles for a Kindle Fire and $50.00 gift cards.

So, save the date:  Tuesday, September 30th, 12Noon to 3:00pm, Student Lounge.

See you there!

Welcome First Years!

The Library staff wishes our new entering class the very best of luck as you embark on your law school career.  We are here to help you in using the Library and with its electronic and print resources.  You will learn about some of these resources at your combined IT/Library orientation sessions next week.

Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law are three of the many electronic resources you will have access to while you are a student.  These are the three major legal databases, and during your Fundamentals of American Law class, or your Case Reading Workshop next week, you will receive your Lexis and Bloomberg Law registration cards and your Westlaw password.  Please follow the instructions on each of these items and register yourself in all three systems as soon as possible.  Training sessions in Lexis and Westlaw will be held in September and in Bloomberg Law in the spring semester.

Reference assistance is available to you in person at the first floor reference desk, by email (refdesk@brooklaw.edu), by phone (718-780-7567) or by Live Chat from the Library homepage

We have several events planned for you this fall:  two Bluebooking with Success Workshops and two Research Review Sessions in late October/early November and our 3rd Annual Legal Research Fair on September 30th.  Stay tuned for more details about these events.

Best of luck and we’ll see you in the Library!

 

New on Library Website: OneSearch

The next time you visit the library’s website, you’ll notice we’ve made a change to our home page.  Instead of a search box for our SARA catalog, you can now search the catalog plus multiple databases using our new service, OneSearch.

You can choose to search only a specific type of material by using the Books or Articles tabs, or see whether the library has a particular e-journal with the E-Journals tab.  If full-text is available, OneSearch will provide a link.

If you prefer to search only the SARA catalog, just check the box that says “SARA catalog only.”

Some of our databases are not included in OneSearch results: e.g., OneSearch does not search within Lexis, Westlaw, or Bloomberg/BNA.  However, it does search HeinOnline, Academic Search Premier, JSTOR, and other journal databases.

If you have questions about OneSearch, speak to a reference librarian.

 

Summertime: Reading & Searching for Pleasure & Review

Summer is a great time to catch up on your leisure reading  now that classes are over and papers are written.  The BLS Library has many titles that are great for reading for pleasure, as well as reading for classes.  Four good ways to identify books for leisure reading are:

  • Use the SARA catalog to identify titles by keyword or subject that might be of interest to you.
  • Access the library’s New Book List which comes out twice a month.
  • Check out the jackets for new books that are posted on the bulletin board in the library cellar.
  • If you do not locate a title in our collection that’s of interest to you, do a WorldCat search to identify titles at other libraries and then make  ILLiad interlibrary loan requests.

To access the SARA catalog, the New Book List, WorldCat and ILLiad, go here.

Summer is also a great time to brush up on your research skills, whether you’re doing research on your own or working as a faculty research assistant.   You can speak to a reference librarian about contacting our Bloomberg Law, Lexis or Westlaw academic account representatives if you would like to schedule a refresher training session.  If you want to know more about any other electronic databases that are available at BLS and when and how to use them, feel free to speak to a reference librarian.

Library hours from June 1 to July 28 are:  Monday – Thursday, 9am-12am, Friday & Saturday, 9am-10pm, Sunday, 10am-10pm and July 4th, 9am-5pm.

Library hours from July 29 to August 26 are:  Monday – Thursday, 9am – 10pm, Friday & Saturday, 9am – 6pm, Sunday, 10am – 6pm.

Enjoy your summer!

Thanksgiving Weekend Hours

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Library hours for the Thanksgiving weekend are below:

Wednesday, November 27:  9:00am 10:00pm

Thursday, November 28: CLOSED

Friday & Saturday, November 29 & 30:  9:00am – 10:00pm

Sunday, December 1:  10:00am – 12:00am

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Bluebooking With Success Workshops: 10/31 & 11/4

BLS Library Director and Blue Book expert Janet Sinder will again hold a series of workshops on using the Blue Book this fall.  These workshops are geared to first year students, but open to all.  No reservations are needed.

The workshops will be held on Thursday, October 31, 2013, from 4:00pm to 5:00pm in Room 401 and on Monday, November 4, 2013 from 5:00pm to 6:00pm in Room 601.

Hope to see you there!