FAULKNER UNIVERSITY, JONES SCHOOL OF LAW
THE LIBRARY LINK
Vol. 2009, No. 1, February 2009
LIBRARY ANNOUNCES TWO NEW LEGAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS
Recognizing that legal research skills are critically important in all facets of the legal profession, your law library has developed two new programs that can help hone your research skills and enhance your resume. Spearheaded by Instructional/Research Librarian Robb Farmer, with the capable assistance of our other professional librarians, these programs are now underway and we invite you to participate. Our new “Continuing Research Education Training” (“CRE”) and “Ref Supp” Student Research Guide programs are described below. For more information, stop by the Research Office on the first floor of the library or email JSLReference@faulkner.edu. Watch your email for more information on these exciting programs, including the Spring class schedule!
BOOST YOUR RESEARCH SKILLS AND JOB MARKETABILITY THROUGH LIBRARY’S “CONTINUING RESEARCH TRAINING”
Research is the great equalizer in the legal profession. To analyze law, you must know what the law is. To address the facts, you must understand the information in context. To assert precedent, you must verify what law is still valid. To apply legal principles in an ever-changing world, you must stay on top of the changes. To envision what the law will be, you must know where it came from. JSL students are provided with a firm base of research skills in their LRW courses. Not every research tool can be covered in one course, however, and there is always room for skills to be honed, information supplemented, and knowledge refreshed. Additional training can be used to improve academic performance, enhance participation with law journals and advocacy programs, qualify for scholarly research positions, and increase marketability to employers.
To that end, the library is pleased to announce that we are upgrading the “DataBasics” research workshop program. We will still offer general interest sessions and workshops to complement the first year LRW courses. Additionally, we’ll offer more formalized Continuing Research Education (“CRE”) workshops on specific types of print and electronic research, as well as shorter sessions on specific electronic sources. The library will maintain attendance records for the CRE sessions. CRE workshops will be worth 1 credit each, while the shorter electronic source sessions each count as 1/3 credit. Upon earning 5 credits, attendees may choose to undergo an objective research skills assessment. Those performing to a satisfactory level on the assessment will be eligible to work for the library’s new “Ref Supp” program as library Student Reference Guides. Should students not perform adequately, they may retake the assessment upon completion of an additional 2 credits of CRE. Participants may request copies of their completed assessment and/or transcript of completed workshops as supporting documentation that can be used to enhance their resumes and employment prospects.
Each topical session will be held 3 times over a 2 week period. Electronic resource training sessions will be held twice weekly. Additional sessions may be scheduled upon reasonable request, with advance notice. Topical sessions will include: Case law Research; Statutory Research; Legislative History; Administrative Law; Legal Journal and News Research; Treatises;
Legal Reference Sources; Interdisciplinary Research; International/Comparative Research; Internet/Open Source Research; Research Methodology; and Historical Research.
“REF SUPP” PROGRAM WILL EMPLOY STUDENT RESEARCH GUIDES
To supplement and enhance our reference services, the library is implementing a new program to employ trained upper division students to work as Student Research Guides in the library. This new program is called “Ref Supp.” Students who wish to apply for a Student Research Guide (“SRG”) position must successfully complete both a base level of supplementary research instruction and an objective research skills assessment.
Student Reference Guides will be scheduled for shifts at the “Guide Post” during reference hours typically not covered by professional librarians. This will allow the library to offer additional reference services on nights, weekends, and holidays. SRG’s will be trained in: handling reference interviews; assisting with directional, “ready,” simple, or common reference requests; virtual reference and communicating with other libraries; handling item and document requests; routing more intricate requests to professional librarians; maintaining reference statistics; and other duties as assigned. In the future, use of SRGs to help with “reference triage,” outside document delivery, and paid research services will be considered. To be eligible to apply for an SRG position, students must meet one of these requirements:
- Completion of the JSL Advanced Legal Research Course within 3 months prior to application (no additional research skills assessment required); or
- Completion of the JSL Advanced Legal Research Course within 6 months prior to application (successful completion of objective research skills assessment required); or
- Completion of the JSL Advanced Legal Research Course within more than 6 months prior to application (2 additional hours of CRE credits + successful completion of objective research skills assessment required); or
- Completion of 5 hours CRE, plus successful completion of objective research skills assessment
LIBRARY ANNOUNCES HOURS FOR SPRING BREAK WEEK
The library will operate on a reduced schedule during spring break week. But don’t worry – most of our library staff members will be here, ready to help you as needed. Our spring break hours will be: Fri. 3/13, 7:30 am to 5:00 pm; Sat. 3/14 and Sun. 3/15 closed; Mon. 3/16 to Thur. 3/19, 7:30 am to 6:00 pm; Fri 3/20, 7:30 am to 5:00 pm; Sat. 3/21, closed; and Sun. 3/22, resume regular hours (1:00 pm to 11:00 pm).
Watch for the next issue of The Library Link!