Law Librarian Blog

McGill's Gelber Law Library

Excerpt from McGill Reporter:

The library opened its doors in 1998, rescuing scores of students and faculty from the previous library, often described as overcrowded and stuffy. Designed by one of Canada's most influential architects, Dan Hanganu, the Gelber Library is a bright, beautiful, contemporary building. It is an integral part of the law faculty and of its program as well. Every law student must follow two years of legal methodology courses, the research section of which is taught by a librarian. This way, every student is provided with an opportunity to hone their skills in what John Hobbins, law librarian, terms "information literacy" — the ability to find information in the electronic world.

Hat tip to David Dillard, Temple University. [JH]

Profile of the Directorate of Legal Research at the Library of Congress

Michael Ravnitzky's The Directorate of Legal Research at the Library of Congress: A Treasure Hidden Under a Bushel Basket has been published on LLRX.com. Here's the abstract:

Despite harsh criticism of the citation of foreign law in American court decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal appellate courts solicit and are supplied with numerous studies surveying foreign law each year, according to the Library of Congress's annual reports.  The source of this scholarship is the talented staff of the Directorate of Legal Research (DLR), a little known but well-regarded and highly influential research department contained within the Library of Congress.  DLR is a sister organization to the better-known Congressional Research Service (which itself has an American Law Division that produces legal studies on U.S. Law).  The Directorate of Legal Research receives scant mention even among the legal research community.

[JH]

King County Law Library (Seattle)

Readers of this blog know that the King County Law Library (Seattle)(KCLL) has started a podcasting service. See this morning's column, A View from the Stacks, for the latest. Podcasting is just one of many KCLL web-based services that, taken together, can serve as a model for web-based out-reach programs. KCLL offers email and chat reference; research guides, collection & web notes; KCLL newsletters and other publications. On-site, KCLL offers training classes (calendar of classes) among its many other services. Check out the KCLL site map for more information.

Law Library Profiles. This iteration of features hardly does justice as a profile of the King County Law Library -- it fails miserably at highlighting the professionalism and dedication of KCLL's wonderful and caring staff, Marcus, Rita K, Stina, and others I have not had the pleasure to meet -- but it leads me to this solicitation: if you would like to submit a profile of your library for publication in the blog, please email one to me. The first five submissions will receive a free "I (heart) my law library" 2" x 3" rectangle magnet, a $4.99 value!

Visitors to this blog would enjoy reading about your law library. [JH]