Final Exam Preparations

Classes are almost over and preparations for final exams has begun. During your preparations, don’t forget about the library’s many resources, including past exams and study aids.

Some Professors post their past exams on TLCWEB. To find out whether your Professor has posted past exams, log in to TLCWEB, then choose Library from the green bars on the left & then click Past Exams. You can search for exams by Professor or Course Name (or both).

We also have many study aids available in our Reserve Room. Consult our Study Guide for 1L Courses to find study aids for Legal Process, Civil Procedure, Contracts, Torts, Criminal Law and Property, as well as to view the types of study aids we have available, including: Q & As; Emanuels; Gilberts; Acing Series; Siegels & many more. And don’t forget about West Study Aids.  Just sign in to your Westlaw account & click on West Study Aids Subscription (in the middle of the page under Legal Research & Tools), to find your favorite study aids in eBook format.

Remember that during this final exam prep period, the library is open as a quiet study hall 24/6+.

Good luck on your exams!

Study Hall Hours for Fall 2012 Final Exams

The Gould Law Library is now open to Touro Law students as a 24-hour study hall until the last day of  final exams on Friday,12/21, with a few exceptions. The Library will be closed on Thanksgiving, Thursday,11/22.  Also, in observance of the Jewish Sabbath, the library will close on Fridays at 2:45 p.m. and will reopen on Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. Library services will not be available on Saturdays or during the overnight period (or on Friday, 11/23), although a security guard will be on duty. Students using the library after midnight must sign in and out at the security desk. On Saturdays, use of the library is subject to the usual special conditions.

The entire library, with the exception of the Circulation Desk, Reference Office, and enclosed study rooms, will be a "silent study" area during this period to maximize available quiet study space. 

For more information, please consult the library website or call 631-761-7150.

First Year Survival Guide

Welcome 1Ls!

You’ve survived law school orientation & your first few days of classes! Maybe you even enjoyed it! As you embark on your first year of law school we’d like to provide you with links to resources that you may find useful throughout the school year:

We have created a Study Guide for 1L Courses, which is posted under Research Guides on our website. It provides links to all of the treatises and study aids for 1L courses available in our library.

We also have a subscription to West Study Aids. You can access study aids for all areas of the law in ebook format from your Westlaw account. To access West Study Aids sign into your Westlaw account > then (on the homepage) click “West Study Aids Subscription” (under Legal Research & Tools) > then “Search Content” (by keyword) or browse (by subject, material type or series). 

LexisNexis has Area of Law Outlines which provide an overview of some of the first year topics.

The American Bar Association has also published “How to Survive the First Year of Law School.”

Finally don’t forget about our Library Orientation Guide. It provides the following information: how to register your passwords; how to access the legal research databases; how to add classes on TWEN; how to search for materials on reserve as well as other materials in the online catalog; as well as links to other useful information about the library.

Remember the reference librarians are available to assist you with your research questions: 9:00 am - 9:00 pm Monday –Thursday; 9:00 am – 2:30 pm Friday & 11:00 am – 5:00 pm Sunday.

We wish you much success this school year!

Just in time for Finals – Study Aids available on Westlaw!

Gould Law Library is excited to announce its new addition - West Study Aids! 

Our students now have online access to the following study guide series:

·         Academic Success

·         Acing Series

·         Black Letter Outlines

·         Career Guides

·         Concise Hornbook Series

·         Exam Pro Series

·         Gilbert Law Summaries

·         High Court Case Summaries

·         Nutshell Series

·         Sum & Substance Quick Reviews

·         Turning Point Series

Features of these online study aids include the ability to:

·         highlight & mark up text

·         print individual pages

·         copy & paste text

·         select favorites for easy access

·         adjust font size

·         view on any device w/Internet connection

To access West Study Aids just sign on to Westlaw > click “My eProducts” > then click “West Study Aids Subscription” > then either search (by keyword) or browse (by subject or series). 

For more information check out a brief demo, FAQ, or ask a reference librarian.

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!