Library News

        

New Catalog Interface - "Search Now"

On Monday, January 25, the Law and D'Amour Libraries will roll out our new catalog interface called "Search Now." Search Now is a new way of searching that uses Web 2.0 technology to present your search results in an Amazon or Google-like display, with new features to quickly and intuitively refine your results. "Search Now" performs a keyword search against the same bibliographic records used by the traditional WILDPAC catalog search, but retrieves relevant information in a display that leverages the data already in the records.

What is different with Search Now?

After your initial search, along with your regular results which display in the center of the screen, you now have the chance to refine your search by using "factets" found on the left-side of the screen; for example, you can refine results by format, date, location, subject, etc. You also are able to refine your search by using "tag clouds" found on the right-side of the screen; these are terms derived from the original catalog record which help you limit your results to records using just these terms. Finally, you also have the ability to expand on your results by using the other "tag cloud" on the bottom of the screen, by using related search terms.

If you have any questions, please visit us at the Reference Desk. We would be glad to give you a demonstration!

New CyberCites - Cyber Law

What happens when traditional concepts of the rule of law intersect with information technology? Is there law in Cyberspace? Check out this CyberCites issue for sources related to this challenging and evolving area of the law.

HeinOnline New York Legal Research Library

The Law Library now subscribes to HeinOnline's New York Legal Research Library, which provides access to the New York State Register, New York Tax Cases, and the historical New York codes and reports.

Google Offers Legal Research

Google announced it has added a new search function that will locate full-text legal opinions from federal and state courts. Users can go to the Google Scholar search engine and type in case names, topics or keywords to find relevant cases. Researchers can try an “advanced scholar” search link that narrows searches to opinions in specific states. Users can also specify whether they want to search for “all of the words,” an exact phrase, or "at least one of the words." Case law goes back about 80 years for federal cases and more than 50 years for state cases. The opinions will have “cited by” and “related articles” links that take readers to other opinions and articles that will help them understand the information, but there is no citator service that flags when an opinion is overruled or called into question.

New HeinOnline Feature -ScholarCheck

Hein's ScholarCheck is a series of tools and features integrated throughout various HeinOnline databases that allow you to view journal articles that have a heavy influence on the subject you are researching. These tools and features can be found at the page viewing level using the citations on page feature to link directly to cited material in HeinOnline. You can also view a list of articles that cite the article or document you are reading. ScholarCheck is also integrated into the search results in select HeinOnline libraries. On a search result if you see a "Cited by [#]" link listed, you can click on that to view the articles that cite the article or document listed in that result. You can also choose to sort search results by the number of times an article or document is cited. Hein's ScholarCheck is available only in select HeinOnline databases at this time. To determine where ScholarCheck tools and features can be used, look for the ScholarCheck icon.

New HeinOnline Database - Bar Journals

The Law Library now has acces to the HeinOnline Bar Journals Library, which includes more than 50 Bar Journals. You can search by article title, author, description, date, or across the full text of the articles. 

New Displays - Check Them Out!

Please stop by our new second floor displays, located inside the reading room on the second floor and the second floor lounge. The second floor lounge display features an autographed, first edition copy of Anthony Lewis’s award-winning book Gideon’s Trumpet. This book was presented by Mr. Lewis to Dean Gaudio at the Symposium: Keeping Gideon's Promise: The Evolution of the Right to Counsel. The second display located inside the reading room is about the Fall 2009 Term of the United States Supreme Court. Selected cases are highlighted. Let us know what you think!

Westlaw OnePass

Attention Westlaw Users:  Westlaw Changing Sign-On Procedures Starting November 1, 2009

Just a heads up to let you know that beginning November 1, 2009, upon logging into Westlaw, you will see a message advising you to create a OnePass account, or update your existing OnePass account, to meet new security requirements.  There is a grace period to make this change up to and including January 30, 2009, after which you will not have access to Westlaw using the old method.

A OnePass account is a user name and password, created by you, that can be used across various Westlaw applications, such as lawschool.westlaw.com (including access to TWEN), westacademic.com, and westlaw.com.  With OnePass, West-issued passwords will become a thing of the past as you create your own user name and password to protect your identity and the information you access.  When you log on after November 1, the system will walk you through the process of creating your OnePass user name and password. 

To provide you a heads-up about what the system will require, the new username and password will have to meet the following requirements. 

Your new username will need to be from 8 to 70 characters, and at least 2 of those characters must have at least 2 of the following attributes:

uppercase letter(s)
lowercase letter(s)
number(s)
the following special characters:  a period, hyphen, @, or underscore 

There will also be the typical choosing of a security question, in case you lose your user name and password information.

In a universe already cluttered with passwords, having to create yet another one will be annoying.  If you need any help, please contact the Reference Desk, ext. 1458. 

Lexis Web - New Legal Search Engine

Lexis has introduced a Beta version of a new, free search engine: Lexis Web. A link to this search engine appears on the Law Library’s Law Links webpage, under “Specialized Search Engines.” Lexis Web searches legal-oriented web content that has been selected by the LexisNexis editorial staff. Results are categorized automatically, allowing you to filter by Practice Area, Jurisdiction, or Content Type. Some results may require you to enter your Lexis username and password. Give it a try and let us know what you think!


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