On behalf of the Law Library staff, I want to welcome first year students to the law school and welcome back second and third year students and faculty members. We wish everyone a successful and productive year. The Law Library is fortunate to have a well-qualified and dedicated staff. The entire staff strives to provide services that will aid students and faculty in using the library facility and resources. Please feel free to call on the staff for assistance.

3. The bookstore sells numerous study aids that vary in usefulness and are also quite expensive. Before deciding to buy, you might want to check out the study aids available on reserve at the Circulation Desk. The Guide to Study Aids, which has been distributed to all first-year law students and is available on the web at: http://lawlib.samford.edu/pubs/studyaid2005.html, is an excellent resource for determining what student aids are available for check out from the Reserve section. These items on Reserve are almost always the latest edition and are available for use in the library for three hours at a time (and also can be checked out overnight three hours before the library's closing).

4. We request that you shelve all books that you use from the First Floor and in the law periodical collection shelved on the Lower Level. Over the years, there have been many first-year students unable to finish their assignments, victimized by thoughtless classmates who refuse to take the time to reshelve needed materials.

5. Cellular telephones should not be used in the Law Library. If you bring one into the reading rooms you must put it on vibration mode. When you receive or place a call, you must go to a photocopy room or outside the Law Library.

6. Conference room keys soon will be available for three hour check out at the Circulation Desk by student study groups. We urge students carrying on discussions within the library to use conference rooms in order to avoid disturbing other patrons.

7. Four laptops are available for law student check out at the Circulation Desk. The check out period is three hours and they are for in-library use only.

8. With the exception of Saturday, librarians are generally available most hours that the library is open. Do not feel embarrassed to ask a librarian for help finding materials. Often, freshmen law students believe that they are the "only student" who cannot find needed materials; in most cases, many students cannot locate these resources, but they do not want to admit it to their classmates. At the same time, do not hesitate to let your Caruthers Fellow from LLR know when you do not understand an assignment.

9. Ignoring Law Library book due dates can empty your pocket of change. Fines at the Law Library are as follows:

$1.00 per day per book for non-reserve items;

$1.00 per HOUR for reserve materials.

10. Food and drinks (including water bottles) are not permitted in the Law Library. For a quick refreshment break, use the law school student lounge. Also, food can be taken into the Great Room of the Law School where there are study tables available.

11. The Law Library reading rooms should be used for research and study purposes; they should not become a meeting point for law student social groups. The noise problem is one which is being constantly brought to our attention by law students. Please consider classmates who, for various reasons, cannot study at home. This library is their only refuge for quiet study. If you wish to socialize, there are numerous places in the Law School, including the Great Room of the Law School, where ample space is available. Please reserve the library facilities for your research and study needs only.

On the Law Library homepage (http://lawlib.samford.edu) you will see a new button at the bottom of the screen. By using this link, a patron can find a list of what professors have on reserve for the semester. This does not link to full text electronic copies of the material, but gives the patron a complete list of all the folders or books that are on Reserve. Law students can keep up-to-date with what is put on Reserve and what they need to check out at the Circulation Desk.

Please contact Grace Simms at ext. 2687 or glsimms@samford.edu for help with computer problems.

Second year law students looking for work close to their studies should consider the Law Library. The Law Library currently has positions at the Circulation Desk. Contact Ed Craig at 726-2714 or elcraig@samford.edu for further information.

The American Presidency Project
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu

In this project, the University of California at Santa Barbara provides more than 52,000 documents related to the study of the American Presidency. The site offers free access to the public papers of U.S. Presidents starting with Herbert Hoover in 1929. Find full-text copies of all state of the union messages and inaugural addresses from George Washington to George W. Bush. Other documents include radio addresses, fireside chats, debates, convention speeches, and party platforms. Users may search by keyword, or browse by month and year. Besides documents, the project includes a wealth of statistics on requests for legislation, vetoes, popularity ratings, public appearances, news conferences, election statistics, and more. Documents related to the 2000 election dispute include court pleadings at all stages of the controversy. Finally, the project offers audio, and some video clips, of presidential speeches and remarks.

The Curiae Project
http://curiae.law.yale.edu

Scholars studying U.S. Supreme Court cases will find a wealth of free information at this website. Specifically, the project covers opinions, records, and briefs of selected Supreme Court cases. A joint effort by the Yale Law Library, the Library of Congress, the United States Supreme Court, the Supreme Court Historical Society, and the National Science Foundation, the project is still in beta testing. Nonetheless, this site is well worth following as the database develops.

Encyclopedia of Law and Economics
http://encyclo.findlaw.com

Published by Edward Elgar Publishing and the University of Ghent in Belgium, the Encyclopedia of Law and Economics is a valuable tool for scholars analyzing the economic consequences of legal rules. Though compiled from a European perspective, this bibliographic database covers many U.S. publications as well. Each entry in the encyclopedia starts with an article explaining the issues, surveying the literature, and in some cases, suggesting areas for further research. Entries conclude with a selected list of books, journal articles, and other resources on the specialized topic. Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of the field, the bibliographies cover law as well as economic journals and books. With most entries prepared in 1999, the encyclopedia does not attempt to cite all recent works on point. Rather, its value lies in the succinct overview of the issues and discussion of significant works in the field.

Open CRS
http://www.opencrs.com

A division of the Library of Congress, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. With its budget of nearly $100 million, the mission of the CRS is to prepare objective comprehensive reports to Congress on all legislative issues. A project of the Center for Democracy and Technology, this website compiles CRS reports that members of Congress have released to the public. Many other reports exist, but are not readily available. Nonetheless, this free website provides keyword searching of approximately 8600 CRS reports on a wide range of topics like identity theft, Chinese currency, the Patriot Act, and more.

Zimmerman's Research Guide
http://www.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmerman

Andrew Zimmerman is a law firm librarian experienced in legal research. In his web-based guide, he shares valuable research tips compiled over the years. Organized alphabetically by topic, each entry suggests sources for finding needed information. References include printed books, commercial databases, free websites, telephone numbers, and more. Topics are wide-ranging. For instance, entries cover where to find accounting standards, federal sentencing guidelines, foreign laws, company information, crime statistics, and much more. For lawyers, law students, or librarians, Zimmerman’s guide is a good starting point for finding elusive information.

Law students frequently ask how to forward Samford e-mail to a Hotmail, AOL, Gmail, or other e-mail account. To Forward GroupWise e-mail to another e-mail account:

Log on to GroupWise: http://gwweb.samford.edu.

*Click the Options button — there are three buttons at the top, click on the middle button at the top

*An options box will pop up

*Click the fourth button at the top -- Rules.

*Pull down the menu next to Type: and select Forward.

*Click the Create button

*In the Rule name box: type Forward Samford E-Mail or whatever name you would prefer.

*Leave the fields below Define Optional Condition blank.

*In the To: box, type the destination e-mail mailbox, example: youraddress@gmail.com

*Click the Save button.

*GroupWise warns that the rule will apply to ALL new messages. Click Save again.

*Check that the new Forward rule has been created.

*Click the Close button.

To test the rule:

Send yourself an e-mail and watch for it to appear in your GroupWise mailbox. Then check your Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, etc. account to be sure this works. It usually only takes a minute or two to forward.

Your e-mail will continue to arrive at the Samford account even though it is auto-forwarded to another e-mail account. Be sure to check Samford mail and delete unwanted messages so that your mailbox does not fill to the 50 MB capacity.

GroupWise can delete forwarded messages from GroupWise:

You can tell GroupWise to delete each message after it has been forwarded. Only do this after you're sure that all of your e-mail is being successfully forwarded.

To add a Delete After Forwarding rule:

Be sure to create the Forward rule first.

* Click the Options button.

* Click the Rules button.

* Pull down the Type menu and choose Delete.

* Click the Create button.

* In the Rule name box, type a name for the Delete After Forwarding rule.

* Leave the fields below Define Optional Condition blank.

* Click the Save button at the bottom.

* GroupWise warns that the rule will apply to ALL new messages. Click Save again.

* Check that the Delete After Forwarding rule has been created. Be sure that the new delete rule appears AFTER the Forward All rule.

* Click the Close button.

For help with these instructions or other computer issues, see Grace Simms, ext. 2687, Law Library 251-A, glsimms@samford.edu.

For a handy overview of selected Law Library resources, check out the Boot Camp Library Guide at http://lawlib.samford.edu/reference/bootcampguide.html.

CHECK IT OUT is published three times a semester. The editorial staff works hard on articles that are of interest to both law students and law professors. We welcome new ideas and hope that you take the time to critique each issue. Let us know if there is a specific subject that you would like for us to discuss. Send your ideas and/or comments to: Becky Hutto at rmhutto@samford.edu.