ZiefBrief

Fall 2015 Law Library Hours & New Website

Welcome to our incoming OneLs and welcome back, upper-division students!  You've probably noticed some significant changes to USF web pages, including the law library website. Our most current hours, including information on special holiday hours, are still listed on our website.  We return to our regular fall semester hours on Monday, August 24.  

Looking for the link to the law library's online research resources?  We still have an A to Z listing with links available on our companion website, legalresearch.usfca.edu.  Remember that we offer many detailed research guides, including guides to California and federal legislative history research, U.S. Supreme Court research, and guides that furnish a subject-by-subject breakdown of our California and federal practice guide collections (both online and in print).

Have a question about legal research?  You can contact our research librarian team by phone, in person, by chat, or by text.  Our Zief research help web page has all of our contact information and our chat widget.

New Case Law Research Tool: Ravel

Law students who are interested in exploring the latest in online legal research tools may want to check out Ravel Law.  Unlike Lexis and Westlaw, Ravel gives you a visual display of a case law search result so that you can see connections between cases.  We've been experimenting with a few searches, and so far we've been favorably impressed with Ravel Law's search algorithm.  For details about how Ravel Law works, you can review the short video tutorials on this page. Current USF law students have free access to the Advanced version of Ravel Law (includes unlimited case law searching, search history, and ability to star and annotate cases), but you must sign up with an @usfca.edu address.

Some drawbacks of Ravel -- it does not have ALL case law yet (they're working on it), so if you're researching an area where old case law is important (property; torts), you will want to stick with Lexis, Westlaw, or Bloomberg Law.  Ravel is used exclusively for case law research -- statutes, regulations, and secondary sources are not yet available on Ravel.  

 

The Fourth Circuit on Wikipedia

In a recent opinion, United States v. Lawson, the Fourth Circuit had this to say about Wikipedia's reliability:

Given the open-access nature of Wikipedia, the danger in relying on a Wikipedia entry is obvious and real. As the "About Wikipedia" material aptly observes, "[a]llowing anyone to edit Wikipedia means that it is more easily vandalized or susceptible to unchecked information." Id. Further, Wikipedia aptly recognizes that it "is written largely by amateurs." Id.

Google Introduces "Verbatim"

Google has introduced a new search option, Verbatim, for power searchers who want Google to search the exact words entered in the search box. If you don't use Verbatim, Google routinely will do all of the following: 

• suggest spelling corrections; 
• personalize your search by using information about sites you’ve visited before (many patrons are surprised when librarians' Google search results are different from their search results when the same search is entered, but Google uses your past searching behavior to customize results);
• include synonyms of your search terms;
• automatically search for grammatical variations of words, like including search results containing the word, "employing," when you enter the search term "employ."

To use Verbatim, click "more search tools" on the left side of any search results page, then click "Verbatim."  Type your Verbatim search into the search box and hit "enter."

HeinOnline App for iPhone & iPad

HeinOnline announced the arrival of its free iPhone/iPad app, which allows researchers to access HeinOnline content on these devices. The app allows you to view PDFs, access HeinOnline content by citation, browse by volume, navigate a volume's table of contents, and use advanced search. I experimented with the app on my iPad and found it very easy to use. One caveat: you do need to be on-campus and logged on to the campus network to access content. 

Ohio Deposition Hi-Jinks

Most people wouldn't have a hard time determining whether their office had a photocopier or not. You would think that the acting head of information technology for the recorder's division of the Cuyahoga County fiscal office should be able to answer the question. But in a recent deposition the existence or non-existence of an office photocopier was a source of much discussion. Some of the best banter:

Deponent: When you say "photocopying machine," what do you mean?

Questioning Attorney: Let me be -- let me make sure I understand your question. You don't have an understanding of what a photocopying machine is?

Deponent: No. I want to make sure that I answer your question correctly.

Deponent's Attorney: Dave, I'll object to the tone of the question. You make it sound like it's unbelievable to you that he wouldn't know what the definition of a photocopy machine is.

Questioning Attorney: I didn't ask him to define it. I asked him if he had any.

Deponent: When you say "photocopying machine," what do you mean?

Questioning Attorney: Let me be clear. The term "photocopying machine" is so ambiguous that you can't picture in your mind what a photocopying machine is in an office setting?

Deponent: I just want to make sure I answer your question correctly.

See the article at http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/03/identifying_photocopy_machine.html for a more complete transcript of the exchange.

Wayback Machine Revamped

The Internet Archive has refined its Wayback Machine interface and released a new Beta version. The Wayback Machine is an archive of web pages. You enter a URL, and the Wayback Machine shows you how that page looked on different dates. I tried the Beta version and really love the interface - very easy to use and it's a breeze to click between different dates to see a page's evolution. The classic Wayback Machine interface is still available if the Beta version is down.

Prof. Freiwald Posts About Cell Location Privacy Decision On Concurring Opinions Blog

As posted earlier, USF Law Professor Susan Freiwald filed a friend of the court brief and participated in oral arguments in an important case before the Federal Third Circuit Court of Appeal. This morning she posted her take on the case in the well-regarded law blog Concurring Opinions and attempts to put the decision in its proper perspective. She does a great job of breaking the decision down by analyzing the parties and their arguments, the court's statutory and constitutional analysis, and what will happen next.

To read the complete blog post click here.

Minding Your Online Presence

The National Law Journal profiles Drake University law professor Melissa Weresh this week, who is working to raise awareness among law students of the potential professional pitfalls of social networking for aspiring attorneys.  Among Professor Weresh's tips:

• Always use proper grammar and avoid using acronyms when you text or email faculty members.
• Remember that Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter content might be used by state bar officials to ascertain your fitness to practice law.

Shunning Social Networking

The Washington Post has an article today about 18 to 34-year-olds who refuse to sign up for social networking sites, much to the chagrin of their friends and significant others.  How odd is this?  According to the article, about 84 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds check a social networking site, such as Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter, at least once a week.  The fastest-growing group of new Facebook users?  According to Inside Facebook, it's women over 55.