ZiefBrief

WestlawNext Tip: Folder Descriptions

WestlawNext now allows users to add descriptions to folders -- from the latest newsletter:

You can now add descriptions—up to 250 characters each—to folders, subfolders, and saved documents in WestlawNext. While viewing your folders, hover your mouse over the folder or document name, click the Add Description icon that is displayed, type a description (e.g., leading cases—cite in Johnson brief!) in the text box, and click Save.

WestlawNext Tip: Search Within Specific Publications

Some law students enjoy the "search everything" experience that WestlawNext provides, but others may prefer to refine their searches by searching within a particular practice guide or treatise. For example, if you want to find out what CalJur has to say about felony-murder, why search all California content? The Westlaw Insider blog has a post this week showing how you can search within a particular source or publication. Note that this feature is not currently available on Lexis Advance.

WestlawNext Tip: Search Folder Content

The WestlawInsider blog features a post this week about how to search WestlawNext folder content, complete with helpful screen shots to walk you through the process. If you're reading this post and wondering how the WestlawNext folders work, then this is the post for you.

WestlawNext Printing Is Here

USF law faculty, students, and staff can now use the Westlaw printers to print WestlawNext documents.  To print from WestlawNext, simply run a search, select a document, then click on the print icon near the top right of the screen.  You should see a USF Westlaw printer name when you click on the print icon. 

Register for Summer Access to Lexis and Westlaw

USF law students and 2011 law school graduates need to register with Lexis and Westlaw if they want to use Lexis and Westlaw over the summer.  There are some restrictions on who can sign up for summer access, and you can find out more about who qualifies for summer access by downloading these information flyers from each vendor:

• Lexis Summer Access Rules and Instructions
• Westlaw Summer Access Rules and Instructions

If you're still confused after you review the above information, please contact Zief law librarian, Amy Wright, at ajwright@usfca.edu or our school vendor representatives, Westlaw's Mark Cygnet (mark.cygnet@thomsonreuters.com), or Lexis' Debbie Myers (debbie.myers@lexisnexis.com).

WestlawNext Is Here for USF Law Students

Happy New Year!  We wanted to remind our student patrons that they now have access to WestlawNext, Westlaw's new research system.  Students can access it by signing in to Westlaw as they normally do, going to the Law School home page, and clicking on the WestlawNext link at the top of the page.  Another reminder:  students cannot print from WestlawNext at this time.  For a more detailed introduction to WestlawNext with links to helpful resources, see our earlier post.

WestlawNext Coming to USF Law Students

All currently enrolled USF law students will have access to Westlaw's new research system, WestlawNext, as of January 3, 2011.  All students will continue to have access to the "classic" Westlaw interface that you have used throughout law school.  To access WestlawNext, you must sign on to Westlaw, go to the law school home page, then click on WestlawNext at the top of the screen:

If you haven't heard anything about WestlawNext yet, we think that most law students will be pleased with the new interface.  WestlawNext has one "Google-like" search box on the home page - you can search without using Boolean connectors like w/p, w/s, or AND:

In fact, most of your searches will be quite similar to the searches you run in Google.  For example, if you were searching for information about whether landlords may be held liable for dog bites that occur on rental premises that they own, you could search with the words: landlord liability dog bite premises

You don't have to truncate your terms with an exclamation point or insert connectors between your terms. You can also select the jurisdiction that you wish to search from a simple pull-down menu that appears to the right of the search box.  You can still use a terms and connectors search if you need to, and you can still search a particular source like Witkin or CalJur if you wish to do so.

One of the features that we particularly like is that your search results are categorized for you, so you can easily see how many cases, statutes, secondary sources, or administrative decisions your search retrieved:

When you click on a category like "Cases," you'll see all of the cases that your search retrieved. 

The librarians are happy to instruct students on WestlawNext searching. In addition, Westlaw has developed a number of user guides that can help you become familiar with the new interface and help you learn how to find secondary sources, statutes, cases, regulations, and more.  Finally, the librarians and our Westlaw representative, Mark Cygnet, will schedule training sessions throughout the spring semester.

One BIG caveat:  you cannot print from WestlawNext to the free Westlaw printers at the law school.  If you find items in WestlawNext, you can either store them in a folder, download them to your own computer, or email them.  To print the item, switch over to the "classic" Westlaw system, enter the citation that you are looking for in the "Find by Citation" box, and then print from "classic" Westlaw to one of our Westlaw printers.

Westlaw Next in Law Schools

My colleague, Joe Hodnicki, at the Law Librarian Blog has information about the introduction of Westlaw Next for law schools.  According to Anne Ellis, law students may have access as early as the Fall 2010 semester.

LexisNexis Releases iPhone App

WisBlawg just posted on the new LexisNexis iPhone app - see Bonnie Shucha's post for reviews and more info!

Lexis & Westlaw Terms & Connectors Search Presentation

For the OneLs who attended my classes on terms and connectors searching, here is a copy of the presentation: Download PresentationAJW2009