The BLS Library staff welcomes new and returning students to school for the 2024-2025 academic year. We are here to help in whatever way we can with your print and electronic use of the Library.
You may borrow reserve and circulating books from the first floor Circulation Desk. Also, there are now more ways than ever to ask for reference and research assistance from Reference Librarians.
Visit the Reference Librarian on Duty in the third floor Nash reading room
Chat: Visit the library homepage and click on our chat icon (see below) – or get started by clicking here – you’ll be chatting with a friendly librarian in no time!
Good Luck in the fall semester! We look forward to seeing you in the Library!
Below is a description of a free, half-hour Zoom program tracing the history of languages in New York City. This program requires free online registration. Note: BLS Library is purchasing multi-user electronic access to Ross Perlin’s new book, Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York. (We expect the vendor to provide us with access to this ebook within a few days.)
The description of this program at New York Historical Society’s website states: “Four centuries ago, what had been a Lenape-speaking archipelago suddenly became New Amsterdam—a crossroads of Native American, European, and African cultures. Here, 18 languages were reported as being spoken within the first few decades, and the number is likely far greater. Join Ross Perlin, author of the new book Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York, and Russell Shorto [director of the New Amsterdam Project at the New-York Historical Society] as they trace this history of language and how it set the template for the city’s extraordinary transformation into one of the most linguistically diverse cities in the world.”
Also, New York Historical Society has a new installation: New York Before New York: The Castello Plan of New Amsterdam. New York Historical Society states it offers “pay as you wish” admission on Friday evenings from 6-8 pm. (NYHS generally charges students $13 for admission.) Also, beginning on April 1 at midnight, those with Brooklyn, New York or Queens Public Library cards will be able to try to reserve one of the limited number of free “Culture Passes” offering free admission to New York Historical Society. (Each month, a new group of Culture Passes becomes available.)
Note: BLS librarians have created 50+ research guides to support your work, and we encourage you to submit your research questions through email: askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu and text: 718-734-2432.
Lenape Center is a nonprofit organization that states it is “[c]ontinuing Lenapehoking through community, culture and the arts” and “[w]orking towards the creation of a cultural center.” Lenape Center’s work includes curating exhibitions (including the virtual exhibit Lenapehoking), developing educational programs, and creating Lenapehoking: An Anthology. Brooklyn Law School Library, Brooklyn Public Library and New York Public Library provide multiple copies of this insightful and powerful book. On p. 14 of the Introduction, Joe Baker (Co-Founder/Executive Director of Lenape Center) states: “This anthology of essays and interviews features leading Indigenous scholars, culture bearers, and artists offering important new scholarship and knowledge of Lenape culture and history that is not readily available to the general public.” On March 6, 2023, there was a “Live from NYPL” event at which contributors to Lenapehoking: An Anthology “explore[d] the personal journeys of people seeking welcome in their ancestral homeland while pushing back against their erasure.” This event video is available here.
This database includes: the subcollection Indigenous Peoples Treaties (400+ full-text treaties) and treaty-related publications; each edition of United States Code Title 25 and Code of Federal Regulations Title 25; the Indian Law Reporter (published: 1974-2013) and additional serials; a subcollection of tribal codes (published: 1981 and 1988); a subcollection of constitutions, acts and by-laws; selected Native Nations Law & Policy Center publications such as The Need for Confidentiality within Tribal Cultural Resource Protection and Tribal Implementation Toolkit; Model Tribal Probate Code; nearly 50 federal legislative histories; Congressional hearings; scholarly articles; other related works (books and pamphlets); and a bibliography. This database is accessible on campus through the BLS network or off campus through a web browser that communicates with the BLS proxy server. The library team hopes this database will assist BLS students in the spring 2024 seminar: Native American Law. Feel free to email: askthelibrary@brooklaw.eduor text: (718) 734-2432 for help in using this new resource.
The American Law Institute describes itself as “the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and improve the law.” From the bedrock Restatements on contracts, property and torts to the influential Uniform Commercial Code to the current project on Children and the Law, ALI’s legal experts have crafted (and continue to develop) key documents to aid courts, legislatures, agencies and law teachers/students. As ALI celebrates one hundred years of codifying and developing law, BLS librarians are proud to note that ALI’s history is Brooklyn Law School’s history. Many BLS current and emeritus faculty are ALI members: William D. Araiza, Miriam H. Baer (Vice-Dean), Anita Bernstein, Dana Brakman Reiser, Neil B. Cohen, James A. Fanto, Marsha Garrison, Andrew Gold, William E. Hellerstein, Alexis J. Hoag-Fordjour, Edward J. Janger, Beryl R. Jones-Woodin, Roberta S. Karmel, Brian A. Lee, David D. Meyer (President and Dean), Samuel K. Murumba, Norman S. Poser, David Reiss, Alice Ristroph, Elizabeth M. Schneider, Winnie F. Taylor, Aaron D. Twerski and Joan G. Wexler (Dean and President Emerita). We invite you to view a display highlighting ALI and BLS faculty’s work on noted ALI texts and projects in the third-floor Nash reading room.
BLS patrons also can review the texts featured in this display through HeinOnline’s American Law Institute Library (a subscription database accessible on campus through the BLS network or off campus through a web browser that communicates with the BLS proxy server).
On Monday at 6 pm, BLS Professor Andrew Gold and his co-editor Robert W. Gordon (Professor of Law Emeritus, Stanford Law School) will lead a book talk and discussion in the BLS Subotnick Center on their new work: The American Law Institute: A Centennial History. As noted in its introduction, this book is a collection of essays on certain ALI undertakings. Essay authors include a number of current and former Reporters involved in Restatement projects. The chapters raise questions like: What does it really mean to “restate” the law? How does a Restatement change the direction of law? Chapter 5 has the intriguing title: “Canon and Fireworks: Reliance in the Restatements of Contracts and Reliance on Them.” BLS patrons can access a digital version of this book on campus or off campus through the BLS proxy server.
Note: BLS students, faculty and administrators can access the sources below on campus, in BLS housing, and elsewhere off campus if one has implemented the BLS proxy instructions.
In BLS Library’s SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION – CAMBRIDGE.
Preface states: “Like an encyclopedia, the Compendium contains [67] entries for most of the foundational principles and concepts underlying arbitration.” Each Compendium entry provides an overview of key issues. Footnotes in an entry highlight many more sources.
Either search this Compendium by keyword(s) + link to search results or skim the table of contents + link to a potentially useful entry.
Re. the “Related content” to the right of each Compendium entry: BLS researchers will need to search SARA catalog (by a book’s title) or SARA catalog’s “Find a Source” tool (by a periodical’s title) to determine if BLS Library provides a related source. (Contact askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu for help.)
Publication of this online Compendium occurred in Feb. 2023.
In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION – OXFORD.
Provide 1,700+ peer-reviewed articles on key international law topics. Contain articles from both Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law and Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law. Articles highlight many primary legal sources and include bibliographies.
Tab: Subject lists articles arranged by topic. Also, use the search box (top right).
Tip: Be aware that articles have different dates. Example: article Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) states: “last updated: March 2023.”
Hundreds of additional resources to support international law paper topic research and development appear in these two publicly-accessible BLS Library guides:
This past January the Library began a library school fellowship program. The fellowship program is designed to provide current library students with opportunities to perform foundational work in public services, reference, archives, and digital collections.
The Brooklyn Law School Fellows this year were Hannah Freeman of Pratt’s School of Information and Grace Wagner Wilson of Long Island University’s Palmer School of Library & Information Science. Hannah and Grace provided invaluable service to the library assisting patrons at the circulation desk and working on special projects. Both Hannah and Grace worked in the archives, which was recently hastily moved to a new space because of a flood. As a result, the collection was in disarray. They restored the library’s archival collection to its original order, making it easily accessible to researchers. In addition, Hannah worked on preserving fragile archival materials and identified future steps the Library can make to ensure the collection is preserved. Lastly, Hannah created a digital collection on the Internet Archives of the law school’s yearbooks. Grace, who previously practiced trusts and estates law, created a detailed research guide on wills, trusts, and estates for Brooklyn Law School students and faculty. The guide identifies casebooks, study aids, treatises, news sources, key primary sources and student writing competitions on wills, trusts and estate law. We thank them both for all their help and are looking forward to continuing this program in September.
Congratulations, you made it! You finished finals, and we, at the Library, hope you are looking forward to your summer employment. This summer, if you need to use Westlaw, Lexis or Bloomberg, you can! Summer access to these platforms is automatic and you can use them for both schoolwork and your summer employment. *There is a caveat for Westlaw. You cannot use Westlaw in situations where you are billing a client. Examples of permissible uses for your 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
Graduate Access
Graduates have extended access to these platforms for a limited time. You can access Bloomberg Law six months after graduation. As for Lexis, the Graduate Program gives extended access to Lexis+ to spring graduates via their law school IDs through December 31, 2023. This grants them access to the Graduate Home Page and gives them a graduation gift. The transition from a regular law school ID to a graduate ID happens on July 10, 2023. Lastly, because Brooklyn Law School participates in Westlaw’s Grad Elite program, you have access to Westlaw for 18 months after graduation. Listed below are details for how to register for the program and what is included in it.
Westlaw’s Grad Elite Program Details:
You can use Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw and Practical Law, for 18-months after graduation. Your “Grad Elite” access gives you 60-hours of usage per month, with no restrictions against using them for professional purposes.
These tools include:
Westlaw
Practical Law
Practical Law Connect
Drafting Assistant Essential
Doc and Form Builder
ProView
West LegalEdCenter -one-year, no CLE
Knowledge Center eLearnings and Tutorials
YOU MUST OPT IN TO THE GRAD ELITE PROGRAM:
1) Go to www.lawschool.tr.com; Log in; Use the drop-down menu by your name to go to Grad Elite Status
Links to the Fall 2022 BLS Seminar Paper Workshop Video conducted by Associate Librarian/Adjunct Professor Kathy Darvil and Visiting Assistant Professor of Legal Writing Diana Hortsch. Highlights sources on scholarly legal writing and copies of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation available in BLS Library’s Reserve collection.
Looking for overviews of current issues to help you choose a paper topic?
Animal Legal & Historical Center, Michigan State University College of Law provides 90+ Topical Introductions ranging from companion animal issues to wildlife issues. Publication dates vary.
Brooks U (of Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc.) offers Animal Law Fundamentals, a developing collection of current videos and related scholarly papers on:
Animals as Property, Quasi-Property or Quasi-Person
Cutting Edge Issues in 21st Century Animal Food Product Labeling
Laboratory Animal Law in the United States: Past, Present and Future
Standing to Protect and Advocate for Animals
Wildlife: Related Acts and State Management Issues
The Critical Role of States in Farm Animal Confinement and Sales Laws
Brooks Institute and Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School also produce BrooksAnimal Law Digest. The two available editions focus on the U.S. and Canada. Digest articles update researchers on key animal law/policy issues and link to the text of pending bills, proposed regulations, case complaints, new studies and many other sources. Review recent issues or click: “View Full Archive” to search an edition of this Digest.
Wishing you could “ask an expert” or could learn more about a hot topic in animal law?
March 3, 2023: Wildlife health: what is at stake? (organizer: World Organisation for Animal Health) World Wildlife Day 2023 webinar, registration required. Focus: need for wildlife conservation, current threats to wild animal species.
March 9, 2023: Global Animal Law Research (organizer: International Legal Research Interest Group, American Society of International Law) Online, free advance registration required.
March 10, 2023: Animal Law Review Symposium (host: Animal Law Review, Lewis & Clark Law School) Primarily virtual. Focus: issues re. legal protection of horses.
March 16, 2023: Animal Rescue Law Update ($) (host: New York County Lawyers Association) Online. Focus includes: New York animal law issues. NYCLA allows employees in the public sector, attorneys who can establish financial hardship and unemployed attorneys to apply for tuition assistance to attend its programs. Apply at least one week prior to the program’s date.
March 24, 2023: Animals and the Anthropocene: A Legal Scholarship Symposium (co-hosts: Animal Legal Education Initiative, GW Law, GW Law Environmental and Energy Law Program & GW Law chapter of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund) Website states: “Open to everyone.” Primarily in person w/ limited option to attend remotely.
Tip for law students: Organizations often allow students to attend fee-based programs without charge. Ask!
Needing scholarly legal articles that provide in-depth analysis?
Provides information about this free hybrid program on March 8, 2023: Randall Abate, Assistant Dean for Environmental Law Studies at GW Law, Careers in Animal Law (host: DePaul Center for Animal Law). Links to a summary of the New York Courtroom Animal Advocate Program (CAAP) bill written by Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and a form for those who wish to encourage state representatives to champion this bill. Highlights attorney Stacey Evans’ recent article: Pursuing Pet Health Equity: A Lawyer’s Passion for Pets Prompts Career Switch, 108 A.B.A. J. 28 (2022). (Available through BLS subscription database HeinOnline. Off-campus use requires implementation of the BLS Proxy Server Instructions.) Directs researchers to videos on animal law careers provided by ALDF and Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program. Notes that BLS students also can search BLSConnect for material provided by the Career Development Center.
Wanting help to identify material to support your animal law research?
Email: askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu or text: (718) 734-2432
If you need to conduct remote research during the BLS Winter Recess (Dec. 23–Jan. 3), these are our suggestions:
NOW is the time to email askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu or to text (718) 734-2432 and state: “My [professor/journal editor] encouraged me to find additional articles and treatises to support [assertion X]. Can you help me?” A reference librarian can recommend searches in ourSARA library catalog to find e/books and “advanced searches” in our OneSearch discovery platform to find articles.
NOW is the time to implement the BLS proxy server instructions for off-campus access to many ebooks, ejournals and databases. Prior to Winter Recess, you can still troubleshoot implementation problems with our library tech staff, accessible through: library.lab@brooklaw.edu Librarians recommend either the Firefox (Mac) Proxy Instructions or the Firefox (Windows) Proxy Instructions.
After implementing the BLS proxy instructions for one web browser, close/reopen the browser, enter your BLS username [format: firstname.lastname] & password, then click: Sign in.
Check out needed print sources in BLS Library by Dec. 22.
If you find cites to articles or books unavailable through BLS Library, as of Dec. 15, 2022, you still have time to place requests for scans of articles and book chapters through the BLS interlibrary loan process.
To place an ILL request, access SARA library catalog and click tab: ILL, enter your BLS username [format: firstname.lastname] & password, then click: Create Request.
Fill out the appropriate template: Article, Book or Other (choose Other to request a scan of a single book chapter).
Feel free to email askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu or to text (718) 734-2432 to learn more about making an ILL request.
If you place an ILL request, please monitor both your BLS “In” box and “Clutter” folder for replies from lenders.
Note: ILL requests will not be processed from Dec. 23-Jan. 3.
For further information, BLS patrons can access the Canvas page: Librarians’ Research Presentations > under heading: Materials from Librarians’ “Alcove Academy” Presentations, click: PowerPoint: “Effective Remote Research.”
We hope our tips will improve your research during Winter Break. Remember: Right now, we are here to help!
