Library Hours for Fall 2011 Final Exams

The Gould Law Library will be open as a 24-hour study hall beginning on Sunday, November 20th until the last day of finals on Friday, December 23rd, with a few exceptions. The library will be closed on Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 24th) & will be open on Friday, November 25th, as a study hall (i.e., no library services will be available), from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm. Also, in observance of the Jewish Sabbath, the library will close on Fridays at 3:00 pm and will reopen on Saturdays at 5:30 pm.

Library services (Circulation, Reference & Technical Services) will not be available during the extended hours, although a security guard will be on duty. Students using the library after midnight must sign in and out at the security desk.

The library (with the exception of the Circulation Desk, Reference Office, and enclosed study rooms) becomes a “silent study” area during the final exams period.

Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

This post is a continuation of a series that I began last year regarding online legal research databases other than Lexis and Westlaw. The purpose of this series is to increase our law students’ awareness of other useful and cost-effective alternatives or additions to Westlaw and Lexis. Although 1Ls have only just received their training in Westlaw and Lexis, law students continue to receive extensive training on these two databases throughout their law school years. Many databases offer low cost alternatives to primary source materials, such as Fastcase* & Loislaw*, while other databases are excellent sources of secondary materials such as HeinOnline* and SSRN.

Whether you are conducting research for Law Review, your Advanced Legal Research requirement, or for a Professor, you will want to check SSRN for the most cutting edge research.

SSRN’s mission is “rapid worldwide dissemination of social science research.” SSRN contains the most current research papers; many of which have not yet been published in journals. Some of the disciplines covered by SSRN that may be of interest to our students include: accounting, economics & corporate goverance; cognitive science; social insurance; political science; and, of course, legal scholarship.

On SSRN you will find abtracts, working papers and downloadable PDFs of full-text articles. You can also add your own research paper to the network. SSRN’s elibrary is fully searchable or you can browse by topic and journal name.

Access to SSRN is free but you will be required to set up an account, entering your email as your username.

Also, check out SSRN’s iPhone/iPad app.

*Please see my previous blog posts.

Law School Survival Tips

We at Gould Law Library are excited to welcome the 1L students who are beginning their law school journey at Touro Law Center this week. To aid you in your transition to law school, we have compiled a list of links to information that will help you navigate the first year of law school.

Both Westlaw and Lexis have guides to law school survival as well as outlines for first year courses. The Westlaw guide is entitled “Law School Life” and the Lexis guide is called “Get a Head Start on Law School.” Westlaw provides Black Letter Outlines and Lexis has Area of Law Outlines.

The American Bar Association has also published an informative law school survival guide, “How to Survive the First Year of Law School.”

Finally, a Study Guide for 1L Courses is posted on our website. It provides links to all of the study aids and treatises for 1L courses that are available at Gould Law Library.

We wish you the best of luck and much success in law school and your legal careers!

Bar Exam Study Aids

It’s down to the final stretch for Bar Exam study. So at this juncture, I thought you might be interested in perusing our collection of Bar Exam Study Aids. Most of these study aids are in the Reserve Room, although a few can be found on the shelves in the main collection. I didn’t include everything we have, only the most current and appropriate. These are obviously no substitute for your current bar review course of study, but they may be of some interest.

Reserves:

Acing the Bar Exam: A Checklist Approach to Taking the Bar Exam by Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus

Strategies & Tactics for the Finz Multistate Method by Steven R. Finz

MBE Survival Kit by Jeff Adachi with Solomon Wollack

Emanuel Confidential for the MBE: For Your Final Preparation by Steven L. Emanuel

Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays by Mary Campbell Gallagher

Scoring High On Bar Exam Essays (videorecording) by Mary Campbell Gallagher & Co., Inc.

Multistate Performance Test (MPT): Core Concepts and Key Questions by T. Leigh Hearn

Emanuel Multistate Performance Test Review: Rigos Bar Review Series

Pieper Multistate Exam Book by J. Gardiner Pieper

Pass the Bar by Denise Riebe and Michael Hunter Schwartz

Multistate Bar Exam Review by James J Rigos

Strategies & Tactics for the MBE by Kimm Alayne Walton and Steven Emanuel


Main Collection:

The Bar Exam in a Nutshell by Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus

The Essential Rules for Bar Exam Success by Steven Friedland

The Zen of Passing the Bar Exam by Chad Noreuil

Bar Exam Study Hall Hours

Beginning Sunday, July 10 through Tuesday July 26, Gould Law Library will be open as a 24-hour study hall, with the exception of Friday evening through Saturday evening, in observance of the Jewish Sabbath. During these two weeks, the library will close on Fridays at 7:00 p.m. and will reopen on Saturdays at 10:00 p.m. Library services will not be available during the overnight period, although a security guard will be on duty.

Apps for Legal Research & Bar Exam Prep

Over the past few months, I’ve seen a plethora of posts about legal apps from iTunes. I thought I’d create a list of some of the most relevant apps for our law students. Some are free and some are rather pricey. This list is not exhaustive and I do not vouch for the accuracy or authoritativeness of these apps. They are just interesting…

Legal Research and Reference Apps:
WestlawNext
LexisNexis
FastCase
Black’ Law Dictionary
U.S. Government Apps
SSRN
New York Law Apps
Litigator

Bar Review and Law School Exam Study Aid Apps:
BarBri
Kaplan
Sum & Substance
MBE Timer

For a more comprehensive list of apps, including ones for Android, Blackberry and Palm, see the following:
Mobile Apps for Law ($49.99, special introductory rate of $25) is a directory of legal research and utility apps for all mobile devices.
The University of Akron Law School’s LibGuide, Mobile Apps for Law Students, features legal apps for iPhone/iPad and Android, as well as eBooks.
UCLA Law School’s LibGuide, Mobile Applications for Law Students and Lawyers, features legal and nonlegal apps for all mobile devices. It is very comprehensive and frequently updated.

Library Hours for Spring 2011 Final Exams

The Library will be open as a study hall, beginning Wednesday, April 27, 2011(when the building reopens following the Passover/Spring Recess), and continuing through the final exam period which ends on Friday, May 20, 2011. In observance of the Jewish Sabbath, the library will close on Fridays at 7:00 p.m. and will reopen on Saturdays at 9:00 p.m. With this exception, the library will remain open 24 hours per day.

Students using the library after midnight must sign in and out at the security desk. Library services will not be available during the extended hours or overnight period, although a security guard will be on duty.

Also, the entire Library (except the Circulation Desk, the Reference Office, and enclosed study rooms) will become a "Silent Study" area during this time period in order to maximize quiet study space.

The Library Staff would like to offer their support and best wishes to our students!