Sunshine Week

Sunshine week is an annual initiative to promote the importance of open government and freedom of information. Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger.

Check out the website and learn how you can participate.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

LexisNexis to Introduce Lexis Advance for Associates

Lexis and Westlaw have released several new legal research tools over the last year targeted toward law students and practitioners. The latest comes from LexisNexis, who recently announced they are releasing a new tool titled Lexis Advance for Associates later this year. This new tool is designed for individuals who primarily conduct online legal research including law firm associates, judicial clerks, as well as corporate and government staff attorneys. Some key features include filter controls to find relevant legal search results, work folders to store and access saved materials, and an open web style search window. To learn more about Lexis Advance for Associates click here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Business Source Premier

Most law students know that law journal articles are available on Lexis, Westlaw, and perhaps HeinOnline and some other legal databases. But where do you turn when you need scholarly and other journal articles from the world of business, economics, finance, marketing and advertising, human resources or communications? One of the best databases for for business and business-related interdisciplinary articles is Business Source Premier. Available to all Hofstra students and faculty, this database includes full text articles from more than 2200 journals, with coverage back to 1965.

To access Business Source Premier from the Law Library web site, click on "Commercial and Corporate Law" in the Online Resources Subject List. Then select "Business Databases (Axinn)." You will be redirected to the Hofstra portal. After logging into the network, select "Accounting/Business/Finance/Marketing" and click on Business Source Premier. If you need help searching business sources, ask one of my favorite reference librarians.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Research Skills Employers Want You to Know

Employers expect you to know how to research. According to law firm librarians you should “Know the Basics”, “Know Where to Start” and “Know efficiency on Lexis and Westlaw is essential”.

To help you refresh your skills, the Library will present TOP 10 Research Skills Workshops March 14-30. Pizza will be served.

Start with: “ Know the Basics-Civics 101: What Every Lawyer Should Know But Doesn’t"

Monday, March 14, 12:10-1pm in Room 242

and

"Find the Basics: Where to find Statutes and Regulations”

Monday, March 14, 5:10-6pm in Room 242

And don’t miss our feature workshop on Monday, March 21, 12:10-1:30pm in Room 242 . Law firm and corporate librarians will share their insights on Law Practice Survival Tips and Cost Efficient Research.

A full schedule for all 5 workshops is on the Library’s LexLounge group page in the Discussion Forums.

No need to sign up.




Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Google and Content Farms

Google has been getting some press over the last two weeks for its attempt to purge "search engine spam" from its search results. Santa Clara Prof. Eric Goldman posted some related links and thoughts here. Part of Google's purge is aimed at online stores that use less than savory methods to get their products to appear ahead of their competitors' products in Google search results. Another part of its purge is aimed at "content farms": sites like eHow that pay (often unqualified) contributors around $10 or $15 a pop to write short, quick articles that will turn up in Google search results. (We mentioned these before when talking about the new search engine blekko.)

For people using Google for legal research (usually to get background before using specialized legal research sites and databases), Google's purge should not make much of a different, since the top results in searches for legal research usually lead to sites (government websites, law firm websites, and wikipedia) that may offer incomplete or out-of-date information, but don't often offer information that is simply wrong, the way content farms can. But if you are a lawyer or law student and do happen upon something like eHow's "How to Research Federal Law" and consider it reliable, we just hope that you're not affiliated with Hofstra.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Research Resources: The Economists' Voice

If you are looking for serious economic analysis about public policy and current issues, try The Economists' Voice. Edited by Aaron Edlin and Joseph Stiglitz, recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize for Economics, together with Jonathan Carmel, J. Bradford DeLong and Jeffrey Zwiebel, The Economists' Voice offers access to full text (PDF) articles on a broad range of policy issues.

To access The Economists' Voice:

• Go to the Library's home page, click "Online Resources"
• Click the "Commercial and Corporate Law" link
• Scroll down to "Economists' Voice"

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Comparative Criminal Procedure research guide

From the terrific librarians at the University of Chicago's D'Angelo Law Library, Comparative Criminal Procedure is a guide to English language resources. The "Resources by Subject" page contains materials organized by 1) country or region and 2) notable sub-topics within criminal procedure. t focuses on journal articles, book chapters, and treatises covering comparative criminal procedure generally, criminal procedure in multiple jurisdictions, and specialized research topics in comparative criminal procedure.

Law Student Social Networking survey

The National Law Journal recently published an article on law student social networking. A survey of 400 law students across the nation was taken with interesting findings. Most law students reported having problems following up with potential employees, fostering meaningful mentoring relationships and lack of confidence in their networking skills. However, more law students are using professional social networking tools and microblogging which was found to serve them better in a profession which is undergoing enormous transformation. Read the entire article here.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Public Interest Law Story

March is the month of Hofstra's Annual Public Justice Foundation Auction. It's also Women's History Month. "Our History is Our Strength," the 2011 theme, is superbly represented by the life and career of Clara Foltz, California's first woman lawyer and the inventor of the role of public defender in the United States. You can learn more about Foltz and other pioneering women lawyers, and explore online resources in the history of women in the legal profession, at the Women's Legal History (WHL) web site, maintained by Stanford Law Professor Barbara Babcock. Professor Babcock's new book, Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz, is now in the Law Library (call number: KF368.F585 B33 2011), on the New Book Table.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Virtually Mobile

Yes, even a virtual feline needs to go mobile now and again. I have just read about an upgrade to an organizational utility called Evernote . I can download Evernote to my laptop or workstation and my iphone or other smartphone - including Droid phones. Using Evernote, I can then type notes, snap pictures with my phone, record sound files, save text and links from web pages. All of this is then synced to your account on the web and you can access and search your notes from any device anywhere.

I will definitely make use of this to save articles and web sites I find when I am researching. For other ideas on how to make use of Evernote, check out their Learn More page.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat