ZiefBrief

New Study Aid eBook Library for USF Law Students!

On-campus access to the USF LexisNexis Digital Library is now available! The LexisNexis Digital Library contains over a hundred study aids from the Questions & Answers and Understanding series that you can access right from your computer. These eBooks cover all 1L and bar exam subjects, as well as many upper division ones, including IP, securities, employment, tax, and more. To get started, follow the steps below.

Sign-In Page

1. When you're on campus, go to the USF’s LexisNexis Digital Library page: http://usfca.law.overdrive.com
2. Select “Sign In As Guest."

Main Page

1. Click the cover of an eBook to view the eBook Detail Page.
2. Click Menu to display eBooks by jurisdiction, practice area, professional topic, audiobook topic or featured collection.
3. Search by title, author, subject or keyword; or use the Advanced Search link.
4. Click Borrow to place the volume in your Checkouts.
5. The small arrow exposes a menu to view a sample, enlarge an image, or get more details. 
   

eBook Detail Page

1. This page has a description, the table contents, and a sample of the title.
2. Select Borrow to add the eBook to your Checkouts.

Checkouts Page

1. With the current on-campus Guest Access, you can check out one title at a time.
2. Click Read to use OverDrive Read in your web browser. Review the Easy eBook Reading In Your Browser Guide for additional information on navigating.
3. Downloads of titles in Kindle or EPUB formats are currently disabled, but will be available in the future.
4. Click Return Title to remove the book from Checkouts.

Account Page

1. The account page lists your Checkouts and eBook borrowing history and notes.
2. Some features, like saving eBooks and notes, are not available at this time.

Off-campus access and additional features are in the works. Stay tuned for announcements! 

LII's Enhanced Constitution Annotated Available Now

The Constitution was ratified on September 17, 1787, and so today, we are featuring a handy and recently enhanced resource that can help you better understand this 231-year-old document.

The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation (or Constitution Annotated) is a regularly updated compilation of legal analysis and interpretation of the Constitution reflecting Supreme Court case law. It is prepared by the Congressional Research Service and published by the Government Publishing Office in print and in PDF form (available at https://www.congress.gov/constitution-annotated).

And now, it is also available in a user-friendly XML format courtesy of the Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell Law School. This form of the Constitution Annotated (available at https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan) provides users with a fully up-to-date resource with enhanced search and navigation capabilities, along with links to Supreme Court opinions, the U.S. Code, and the Code of Federal Regulations. For more information, read the full LII announcement here.

Happy researching, and happy Constitution Day! 

Finding Accurate Summer Hours for Zief

We all love the convenience of Googling to find out the hours for a restaurant, coffee shop, library, etc.  Unfortunately, Google is often wrong when it displays the hours for academic libraries like Zief, which change schedules depending upon the semester or time of year.  If you are looking for Zief's summer hours, please visit our hours page for a complete listing of hours.

Online Group Study Room Booking Now Available at Zief!

With the start of the new school year, the law library is launching a new online booking service for group study rooms. Students can book directly from the library's home page using the "Book a Study Room" button. Our new online booking system confirms online reservations automatically with an e-mail to patrons. Students are limited to booking one 3-hour block per calendar day, but can now book up to 3 days into the future using the online system.

Here are step-by-step instructions on using the online reservation system:

1) Click on "Book a Study Room" button on the law library's home page.

2) Each Zief study room is identified on the left side of the screen. You can click the “INFO” button to the left of a study room’s number for more information about that room. Green blocks indicate that a study room is available for booking. Red blocks indicate that the study room is already booked and unavailable.

3) To begin a reservation, click on the desired green start time for the room number you would like to book. The system will automatically select a 3-hour block of time for your booking.4) Next, scroll down the page & click the “Submit times” button.

4) Next, scroll down the page & click the “Submit times” button.

5) You will be prompted to enter your myUSF username & password. This is the same username & password that you use to access USF email, register for classes, etc.

6) At the next screen, your booking information will be displayed. If the information is correct, click the “Continue” button near the bottom of the page.

7)  At the next screen, you must supply a name for your group. This will help our employees to identify your reservation quickly. 

8) To complete your booking, click “Submit my booking.” You should receive an email from “LibCal” with the subject line, “Your booking has been submitted,” which contains all of your reservation details. At the beginning time for your reservation, you can check out the key to your group study room at the circulation desk.

9) To cancel your reservation, click the link supplied in your confirmation email.

New Practical Guidance and Developing Issue Insights From Bloomberg Law

Want to know exactly how a company “goes public”? Need to get up to speed on the latest in digital currency laws? Bloomberg Law’s newly expanded Practical Guidance offerings and curated topic-specific news feature, In Focus, may have just what you need.           

Practical Guidance. The Practical Guidance resources provide expertly crafted step-by-step guidance on specific tasks in major practice areas ranging from health care and cybersecurity to commercial transactions and labor and employment. With this latest expansion, Practical Guidance now has nearly 3,000 practice tools, checklists, timelines, drafting guides, and annotated forms to take you through a project from start to finish.

In Focus. Bloomberg Law’s In Focus Pages are editorially curated collections of the latest news, commentary, litigation filings, regulatory developments, and practice tools on emerging issues. The In Focus Pages are a great place to find up-to-date information on trending topics such as Autonomous Vehicles, Blockchain Technology, Medical Marijuana, Net Neutrality, and more. You can also set fully customizable news alerts to make sure you don’t miss any new developments.  

You can find these features from the Law School home page by browsing to the "Practitioner Tools" content, or by typing "Practical Guidance" or "In Focus" into the search bar.

Bloomberg Law also provides analytic tools, such as its recently launched SEC Administrative Law Judge Enforcement Analytics product, and is available to all USF Law current faculty, staff, and students.  (If you don’t have an account yet, you can register at this web page using your @usfca.edu email address—no activation code needed.)  Contact a Zief librarian for more information on how to start using these features as a part of your research strategy.    

Graduation Week Hours

On Monday, May 14, and Tuesday, May 15, the law library will be open from 8 am to midnight.

From Wednesday, May 16, through Friday, May 18, the law library will be open from 8 am to 9 pm.

On May 19, the day of law school graduation, the law library will be open from 10 am to 6 pm.

The law library is CLOSED to all patrons on Sunday, May 20.

 

Spring 2018: Access During Law School's Reading and Final Exam Period, April 26 - May 15

The law school reading and exam period begins on April 26, continuing through May 15. During our reading and exam period, we restrict access to the law library to help ensure that law students have adequate space for exam preparation. Law students from other law schools may not study at USF Law Library from April 26 to May 15.

During the law school's reading and exam period, USF non-law undergraduate and graduate students may not study at the law library. They may only use the law library if they are working on an academic project that requires legal research. For more information on library access and hours during exams, please see our access policy and our current hours page.

Summer Access to Lexis, Bloomberg Law, and Westlaw

For Lexis Advance & Bloomberg Law, students may use their academic accounts all summer for any ethical purpose, including all summer job related-research at law firms or government agencies, externships (paid or unpaid), research assistant assignments, course work, or law review-related research.

If you are a current student or faculty member and don't have a Bloomberg Law account yet, you can register at this web page. You do not need any activation code, but you must use your @usfca.edu email address when you register.

For Westlaw students may use their academic accounts over the summer for noncommercial research.  Examples of permissible uses of your academic account include: summer coursework, research assistant assignments, law review or journal research, moot court research, non-profit work, clinical work, and most externships sponsored by the school (where student is receiving course credit and is unpaid).

Westlaw does not permit students working in judicial externships or with federal, state, or local government agencies to use academic accounts. You must also refrain from using your Westlaw academic account for any commercial research, which means any research that is billed to a client.

No Sunday Afternoon Research Desk Hours: Feb 4 and Feb 18 (Presidents' Day Weekend)

The law library will offer Sunday research desk hours on February 11 and 25 from 1:30 to 6 pm.  The research desk will be closed on Sunday, February 4, and Sunday, February 18 (Presidents' Day Weekend).  The law library is closed on Presidents' Day: Monday, February 19.

No Tuesday Evening Research Desk Services in February

Due to staff time off, we will not be offering Tuesday evening (5-7 pm) research desk hours during February.