ZiefBrief

Access Restrictions and Summer Construction at USF Law Library

There will be construction at the USF Law Library this summer.  Because the scope of the construction will temporarily limit the number of seats in the library, we regret that we will be closed to students from other law schools throughout the summer in order to accommodate the needs of USF law students and recent graduates.  We will evaluate our policy on access to students from other law schools at the beginning of the Fall 2012 semester and communicate our access policy to other Bay Area academic law libraries at that time.   

Fortieth Anniversary Edition of The Paper Chase

USF Law has long enjoyed a close association with John Osborn, the author of The Paper Chase, the quintessential story of life as a first year law student at Harvard in the 1970's. As a professor of law and Distinguished Scholar in Residence  he has taught on wills and estate planning as well as a very popular course on the law in literature. To mark the Fortieth Anniversary of publication, The Paper Chase is being republished in a new edition with a brand new preface by the author. While much has changed in law schools and legal education in the last four decades, this book should still resonate with anyone who has lived through the rigors of an American legal education.

Though it hasn't been easy to find a new copy of The Paper Chase the last few years, this new edition is available in both a high quality trade paper back print edition as well as a digital edition readable on you Kindle, iPad or other compatable e-readers.

USF Students May Make Research Appointments Online

USF law, graduate, and undergraduate students may now make individual research appointments with a Zief Law Library research librarian. (Appointments with Zief Law Library research librarians are only available to current USF students. Other authorized Zief Library users with research questions may visit the research desk in person, or call 415-422-6773.)

The major advantage to making a research appointment is that you will have the librarians un-divided attention and it is far less likely that you will be interrupted during your consultation.

Please use the link next to the names of the librarians - note that the URLs are case sensitive:

     Suzanne Mawhinney: www.goo.gl/wF0v5

     Lee Ryan: www.goo.gl/lZyCV

 

     John Shafer: www.goo.gl/KEu3k

     Amy Wright: www.goo.gl/Ms4v1

Research Support Not Available July 26 or 27

The national law librarians' meeting starts today, and we wanted to let the USF Law community know that we will not have research librarians available to answer legal research questions on Tuesday, July 26 or Wednesday, July 27.  Research support resumes on Thursday, July 28.  

Law School Access to New Research Tool, Casemaker

USF law school students, faculty, and staff now have access to Casemaker, which provides access to federal and state case law, statutes, and legal forms.  With the exception of the legal forms library, Casemaker focuses on providing primary legal materials, such as statutes, cases, administrative decisions, and regulations.  The California library includes: case law, unannotated statutes, regulations, attorney general opinions, ethics opinions, state court rules, jury instructions, session laws, and workers' compensation decisions.

To sign up, visit this page, and enter your USF email (must have the "@usfca.edu" suffix).  Other email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) will not work.  Choose your own password, fill out the rest of the registration information, confirm your registration via email, and you're all ready to go!  Casemaker has a detailed user guide (PDF) on how to use its search interface.  Of course, the law librarians are always available to answer any questions you may have about Casemaker.

Still Open for Therapy Dog Sessions

We still have spots open next week to meet with a SPCA therapy dog for a little stress relief!  We have spots open during the following sessions:

• Tuesday, May 10: 3 to 4:30 pm (Labrador Retriever)
• Thursday, May 12: 10:30 am to noon (Pit Bull / Weimaraner mix) AND 3 to 4:30 pm (Golden Doodle)

You can sign up at the library circulation desk. 

Additional Therapy Dog Sessions

We've added additional therapy dog sessions - we'll have 10-minute sessions available at the following dates and times:

• Tuesday, May 3: 10:30 am to noon (Pit Bull / Weimaraner mix) AND 3 to 4:30 pm (Golden Doodle)
• Thursday, May 5: 10:30 am to noon (Golden Retriever) AND 3 to 4:30 pm (Pit Bull / Weimaraner mix)
• Tuesday, May 10: 10:30 am to noon (St. Bernard) AND 3 to 4:30 pm (Labrador Retriever)
• Thursday, May 12: 10:30 am to noon (Pit Bull / Weimaraner mix) AND 3 to 4:30 pm (Golden Doodle)

Sign-up sheets are at the law library circulation desk - students should sign up for one session only. 

 

Therapy Dogs @ the USF Law Library

The Zief Law Library will be offering 10 minute sessions with therapy dogs during exams in conjunction with the Animal Assisted Therapy Program at the San Francisco SPCA. The Zief Law Library has been approved to host these therapy dog sessions as a service to our students.

Time spent with certified therapy dogs can help to relieve stress, decrease heart rate and blood pressure, and to increase a general sense of well-being. This is the library's attempt to help create a more humane, caring, and healthy atmosphere for our students.

A dog and trainer and a therapy dog will be available in the Zief Law Library on four different days during the final exam period.  Those days are:

May 3 from 10:30 am -noon

May 5 from 3:00-4:30 pm

May 10 from 10:30 am -noon

May 12 from 3:00-4:30 pm

Students may sign up for 10 minute sessions with the dog while it is here. All sessions will take place in the TV room on the lower level of Zief. The room will be thoroughly cleaned after exams so that students with allergies should not be impacted. During therapy sessions, students may pet the dog, play with the dog, just hang out with the dog, study with the dog, chat with the dog or the trainer, etc.  Rumor has it that one of the dogs even does tricks.

Participating therapy dogs are a St. Bernard, a Golden Doodle, a Labrador retriever, and a Pit Bull/Weimaraner mix.

Sign-up sheets will be available at the circulation desk in the library beginning on Tuesday, April 26th.  Information on the breed of dog offered will be available at sign up.  Don't miss this opportunity to relieve stress and show your love for our four-legged, canine friends.

Free Ice Cream

The library staff will be serving free ice cream this Tuesday, April 1, at 2 pm, in Kendrick (lobby closest to the law library entrance) to celebrate National Library Week.

Online Catalog is Everywhere

We had a couple of questions at the reference desk that made us realize that not everyone is aware that our online catalog is available to anyone who is online. In fact, you can be on the other side of the country and still search for books in our library system! I'm sure that's a very reassuring thought for all of our patrons.