No. 463	August 2000

On behalf of the Law Library staff, I want to welcome first year students to the law school and to 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.

Adjusting to any new life experience can be hard, but law school may be your toughest act yet.  A big part of your first year in law school will be studying and researching in the Law Library.  Here are some friendly tips on making life simpler for yourself and your classmates:

1. You need to bring your Samford I.D. card with you every day.  You must show it to the Circulation Desk Attendant in order to enter the library. (Later, when a new security system is installed, it will be your key to the library doors).  You must also present it to check out books and folders placed on reserve by your professors.
   
2. To avoid delays at the photocopy machines, you should have money programmed ASAP on your Samford I.D. card at the Mousepad at Beeson Student Center.  This store accepts cash, check and credit card.  Only two of the five public photocopiers accept cash (coins and $1 bills reliably).  All five photocopiers accept a Samford I.D. card with money programmed on it.  Quite typically, first year students will do their research at about the same time of day and wait in long lines to use coin-operated machines ... this problem can easily be avoided with cash on your I.D.
   
3. The bookstore has numerous study aids that can be very good, but 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 in all first year law student boxes (http://lawlib.samford.edu/studyaid.shtml), 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 most recent 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. Please reshelve all books that you use on the First Floor and in the law periodical collection, 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 library.
   
6. Small conference rooms are available for 3 hour checkout at the Circulation Desk by student study groups.  We urge students carrying on discussions within the library to use this resource in order to avoid disturbing other patrons.
   
7. Four new laptops are available for law student checkout at the Circulation Desk.  The checkout period is 3 hours.
   
8. Do not feel embarrassed to ask a librarian for help finding materials.  Often, freshman law students believe that they are the “only student” who cannot find something; in most cases, many students cannot locate it but do not want to admit it to others.   At the same time, do not hesitate to let your Teaching Fellow in Legal Research and Writing know when you do not understand an assignment.
   
9. Please remember to return Law Library books in a timely manner.  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 are not permitted in the Law Library.  For a quick refreshment break, use the law school student lounge.  Fortunately, Samford has a cafeteria and food court in the student center that is considerably above average for college fare–a good option for those who do not want to take the time to leave campus.

According to the CALI web page (http://www.cali.org/calitech/faq.html), the objectives
of CALI are to:

• Coordinate distribution and use of computerized instructional materials
• Support authors in the development of new instructional programs
• Sponsor research for advancing quality and effectiveness of exercises
• Establish standards for hardware, software and courseware
• Support and coordinate the sharing of information relating computer applications in legal education and law

The CALI Lessons 2000-2001 are installed on all 27 of the Law Library Lab computers as well as the 4 laptops available for checkout at the Circulation Desk. Just click on the green CALI 2000-2001 icon on the lab computer's desktop to start the program.

Some of the CALI lessons are also available online at http://www.cali.org (the password which is required to access the lessons was sent to the student listservs.)

A CALI Catalog of lessons is kept on the shelf in the Computer Resources Room on the Lower Level, and is available over the Internet at http://lessons.cali.org/catalog.html.

If you have any questions about CALI, the lessons, or the password, please contact Diane Wade (pdwade@samford.edu, 726-2714, Rm. 251-A Law Library) or Mandy Haddin (arhaddin@samford.edu, 726-2714, Rm. 032 Law Library).

The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/constitution/index.html
http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/constitution

For law students struggling with complex constitutional issues, help is but a mouse click away.  A gold mine of constitutional analysis is available free on the Web, 24/7.  The database contains the text of the Constitution and annotations of U.S. Supreme Court cases.  Prepared by the Congressional Research Service, the tome exceeds two thousand pages in print.  Presently, Web sites link to the 1992 version edited by Johnny H. Killian and George A. Costello. The 1998 cumulative supplement updates for cases decided to June 26, 1998.  At the GPO site, follow the link
labeled  “download files” to scroll through the table of contents, index, or table of cases.  Alternatively, search the entire database by keyword or phrase using GPO’s WAIS search engine.  In lengthy documents, use your browser’s “find” function to pinpoint data.  For another interface, visit FindLaw cited above.  FindLaw editors divide the database into smaller sections.  Users can search by keyword or browse the table of contents.   Links to full text U.S. Supreme Court cases enhance
FindLaw’s version of this valuable constitutional law resource.

Law Library of Congress Guide to United States Constitution
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/glin/us-const.html

For historical perspective, visit the links selected by the Law Library of Congress as part of its Global Legal Information Network.  The constitutional guide directs scholars to Web-based versions of founding documents like the Federalist Papers or the Declaration of Independence.  Editors garner content from government entities and law schools including Yale, Emory, University of Oklahoma, Cornell, and the University of Pittsburgh.

Constitution Finder
http://www.richmond.edu/~jpjones/confinder

Linking to constitutions of nations around the globe, this index is courtesy of University of Richmond
Professor John Paul Jones and collaborators Christine Nguyen, Churchill Bowles, and Robert H. Burger.  Find state constitutions like Alabama under the heading for United States of America.  Though not a searchable database, the site provides convenient links to information otherwise scattered on the Web.

Researching Constitutional Law on the Internet
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/conlaw.html

Lyonette Louis-Jacques at the University of Chicago D'Angelo Law Library compiles this  comprehensive list of constitutional law resources. Follow her links for a wealth of Web-based information.  As with all Internet data, evaluate each linked site independently for accuracy,
reliability, timeliness, completeness, and objectivity.  For print resources cited, use the online library catalog to find books in the Law Library.

This past year the Law Library labs have had a surplus of free floppy disks for use.  Well, the cabinet is now bare.  But don’t fret!  There are other ways to store your files than floppies.  They aren’t all free, of course, but some are better.

Floppy disks are great, cheap and small, but they are fragile and wear out quickly if not stored properly.  The Samford Bookstore sells floppy disk cases for under $1.00!  If you throw your disk in your book bag with all the lint and yucky stuff that settles at the bottom, the disk will gather all that gunk as well as get knocked around by the books and notebooks.  The shield (the metal or plastic part that moves) is susceptible to bending (if it’s metal) or just coming off in the disk drive.  There is also a little spring that shuts the shield that can come out if the circumstances are right.  Please go buy a case - it will help preserve your important documents!  Also, always, always, always keep an extra backup of your documents!  This can be on your hard drive, another floppy, a hard copy or another format of computer storage (Zip disks or CDs).  You never know when your main floppy disk may wear out or melt in the car, etc.  Having a backup copy of your files can save you a lot of work and a headache!

New this summer, the Westlaw Lab and two computers in the Lexis Lab (LR 8 & LR 9) have been replaced with new models which include 100 MB Zip drives!  There are now a total of 20 computers in the library that can support Zip disk use.  Zip disks hold a lot of information and come with their own case.  They are extremely helpful - you can save ALL your papers and other files on ONE disk!  Wow!  Just think how many floppies it would take to equal the storage capacity of a Zip disk - almost 100 floppies!

There is another type of media that the labs support - recordable and re-writeable CD-ROMs.  I’ve seen a couple of students with their own CDs.  If you have a CD burner (properly known as a CDR or CD-RW drive) you can save your information and bring your CD to the library.  All computers have CD-ROM drives. However, we do not have a CD burner so if you work on a file, you cannot save it to the CD.  Also, if you don’t have a jewel case for your CDs, the Bookstore sells cases (akin to the floppy cases) for $1.00.

The newest form of storage media is the i-drive.  This is an Internet service which allows you to have 50 MB of space on their server!  For free!  Simply register with www.i-drive.com and you can save your files and access them from any computer!  You will have to download i-drive’s software - Filo™ - to use with the service.   The Law Library lab computers already have this software loaded.

Here is some more information on each format:

Floppy Disks

• The most commonly used storage media
• Small, light, compact, inexpensive
• Only holds 1.4 MB of information
• Easily corrupted
• Fragile!

• Burn your own CD (music ordigital information)
• Not as small as floppies, light, compact (literally)
• Prices vary depending on manufacturer - average is around $12.95 for a 10 pack
• Holds up to 700 MB of information
• Need a CDR/CDRW drive/burner
• Not as fragile as floppies, but still pretty fragile
• Still corruptible (from scratches, chemicals, fingerprints, dirt)

• Small, compact, light
• About $10.00 per disk
• Holds 100 or 250 MB of information (100 MB is most common and what the Library has -NEVER put a 250 MB disk in a 100 MB drive!  Ouch!)
• More stable than floppies
• Needs a Zip drive to access information

• Internet storage space - free!
• 50 MB of storage space
• Access your information from any computer with Internet access
• Filo™ tool allowing users to clip and save Web pages to their i-drive
• "Sideload™" to save songs (in seconds) from Scour Web Builders. Tools help Web developers enhance their site
• Share files easily with family, friends or colleagues

Uses for the projector in the Law Library:
 

• Students can project notes and outlines that they’d like to discuss with study partners in the Law Library conference rooms.
• Students can check out the Interactive Courtroom CDs and a laptop and do the exercises together in a Law Library conference room.
• Students can make computer-enhanced class presentations(i.e. PowerPoint) in Law Library rooms which are used as classrooms, such as the Formal Conference Room on the Lower Level.

Computer Labs

Hardware and Software:

This summer, we installed the following new software in all three computer labs (and on the 4 laptops at the Circulation Desk):

• WordPerfect 9
• CALI Lessons 2000-2001
• I-drive software*
• New version of Lexis CheckCite
• New version of WestCheck

We also replaced 11 older lab computers (9 from the Westlaw room and 2 from the Lexis room) with new Dell Optiplex GX110 Pentium III/667 Mhz computers.  The new computers have 17" monitors and Iomega Zip 100 drives.

Policies and Procedures:

We've made some minor changes to the lab policies and procedures:
http://lawlib.samford.edu/labs/usagepolicy.pdf
http://lawlib.samford.edu/labs/ppolicy.pdf

• Attending a  lab orientation session is no longer mandatory, BUT is strongly encouraged.  All students (regardless of year in school) who attend will get a 50 page bonus in their Fall 2000 print account.
• All students must use their Campus Pipeline login name and password for lab access.  These passwords will not be changed unless there are extreme circumstances.

Older computers that were being used as online library catalog stations were replaced with Dell
Optiplex Gn+ computers (PII/233 Mhz) which we removed from the Westlaw computer lab.

The catalog interface has not been changed.

LegalTrac CD-ROM Station

The black LegalTrac CD-ROM station that was on the Lower Level has been replaced with an online library catalog station.

We made this change for several reasons:

• We switched our LegalTrac subscription from single CD-ROM access to unlimited on-campus Internet access.
• LegalTrac can now be accessed from any computer on campus with web access, including the Law Library online library catalog (instructions are on the flip-guide next to the computers).

http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/birm35257 (click on the PROCEED button)
• The equipment and software was so old that it was no longer supported, and could not be upgraded.

The laptops at the Circulation Desk all received memory upgrades this summer.   This should make them faster and more responsive.

New computer-related equipment

The Law Library has a new video/data (computer) projector that students can use in the Law Library.

More information

For more information about these resources, students should plan on attending one of the Law Library Lab orientation sessions .  These sessions are open to all students; the sign-up sheets are at the Circulation Desk.  Sessions are scheduled through August 31.  More may be added in  September, if requested.

Also, information can be found in our new "Guide to Computer Resources for Students at Cumberland School of Law", which can be found on the shelf in the Lower Level computer lab and on the web at: http://lawlib.samford.edu/labs/compres.pdf.

EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE.
KF3319/.A2/E55/1999
(December 9, 1999).

FEDERAL PRACTICE AND
PROCEDURE.
KF9619/.A2/F4/2000
(February 11, 2000).

"HOT TOPICS" IN CIVIL
LITIGATION
KF8840/.A2/H65/1999
(December 10, 1999, Mobile) and
"HOT TOPICS" IN CIVIL
LITIGATION.
KF8840/.A2/H655/1999
 (December 17, 1999, Birmingham).

HOW TO PREPARE AND TRY SOFT
TISSUE INJURY CASES.
KF8925/.P4/H32/2000
(February 25, 2000).

ALWD CITATION MANUAL : A PROFESSIONAL SYSTEM OF CITATION.  KF245/.A45/2000 ;
Five copies shelved: Reserve.

THE BLUEBOOK : A UNIFORM SYSTEM OF CITATION.  17th ed.  KF245/.U5/2000 ;
One copy shelved: Reserve; Four copies shelved: Reference.

The 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