CALI to the Rescue

Are you a IL feeling a little overwhelmed, or a returning law student finding a new class rather confusing? CALI, the Center for Computer Assisted Instruction, has a web site full of interactive computer-based lessons (over 700 of them, both IL and advanced) keyed to typical law school courses and texts. Prepared by law faculty, these online tutorials cover many topics and concepts of law school subjects such as torts, contracts, constitutional law, evidence and tax, as well as IL favorites such as "Legal Research 101" and "Anatomy of a Case." From the CALI welcome page, you can select "Lessons" and search by subject, casebook, or topical outline to find the best one for your needs. You'll have to register with a special password (law school authorization code) the first time you use CALI at the web site. For this password, refer to the recent e-mail that you received from Law School Information Systems, or ask at the Law Library Reference Desk. Law students can also pick up a CALI lesson DVD (Mac compatible this year!) from the Law School Information Systems Office (Room 223).


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Goodbye Lexis and Westlaw??

Will PreCYdent replace Lexis and Westlaw? Test it out and make your own judgment. PreCYdent is a search engine for legal materials - opinions, statutes, us government documents - which is available on the web FOR FREE!! On his YouTube clip, the founder claims that PreCYdent retrieves more relevant results than Lexis and Westlaw.

Test it out and tell us what you think.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (E-CFR)--Update

The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations is out of the beta stage. According to its Web page at GPO Access,

"The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) is a currently updated version of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). It is not an official legal edition of the CFR. The e-CFR is an editorial compilation of CFR material and Federal Register amendments produced by the National Archives and Records Administration's Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and the Government Printing Office. The OFR updates the material in the e-CFR on a daily basis".

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Manage Your Library Transactions Using "My Library Account" -- Renew Items Online!

You just got home and remembered that you forgot to renew your library book. Don't worry. Renew it online from home with MY LIBRARY ACCOUNT. MY LIBRARY ACCOUNT provides access to your library patron record and allows you to see what materials you have checked out and renew them online.

Have you run the same or similar catalog search numerous times? Well, MY LIBRARY ACCOUNT also allows you to save “preferred searches” and re-run them at a later date.

To access MY LIBRARY ACCOUNT:

• Go to Hofstra Law School Library Main Page http://law.hofstra.edu/Library
• In the left-hand margin click “Catalog”
• At the top of the catalog search screen click “MY LIBRARY ACCOUNT”
• You will be prompted to authenticate using your name and “700” number
• Click on “Submit"

Remember to logout.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Legal History blog

Legal History blog: Scholarship, News and New Ideas in Legal History is generally reviews of legal history scholarship (books/articles) but also provides some original commentary. It caught my eye as today's post (8/19/2008) is Muller on Hirabayashi discussing new evidence of the Japanese American curfew during World War II. The article challenges what we thought we knew.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

First Amendment Law Prof Blog

For news and scholarship on First Amendment rights, look to the First Amendment Law Prof blog.
Authored by two law professors, the blog discusses First Amendment issues and current events, as well as scholarship in the field. Recent topics include; profanity, bullying on MySpace, and religious instruction in schools.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

CasemakerX

Casemaker has started a new CasemakerX system for law students. CasemakerX is a sort of social networking site, but one only needs to register for CasemakerX, and doesn't need to include personal information, to get free access to Casemaker. Using Casemaker could make a law student familiar with how legal research is done at many smaller law firms (i.e. without Lexis or Westlaw). Casemaker is provided for free to members of 24 state bar associations (the closest state to New York City that provides Casemaker to its attorneys is Connecticut), and many attorneys in those states rely on it heavily for their legal research needs. While Casemaker's New York case law library only goes back to 2006, its libraries are much better for states like Connecticut where it is provided to attorneys by the state bar association.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat