Law Library Laptop Computers
During the exam period, May 9 – 23, 2008, there will be no overnight or long term loans of library laptop computers.

Summer Borrowing Privileges
Returning Law students may borrow circulating books over the summer.  They will be due on September 10, 2008.  Any book that has been recalled must be sent via First Class Mail to the Law Library. Please check with staff at the Circulation Desk for further details.

Carrel Assignments
Carrel Assignments for this academic year end on June 11, 2008.  Please return all books to the lending library and remove all personal belongings.  Personal belongings left behind will be discarded.  If you wish to use a carrel during the summer, you may sign up in the Library Administrative Office.
Sign up for a carrel for the 2008-2009 academic year begins in early September in the Library Administrative Office.

As has been our practice, long term and overnight use of Law Library laptop computers is suspended during the Law School Exam Period. This year that begins on May 10 and runs through May 23, 2008.

Questions may be directed to staff at the Circulation Desk.

Responding to requests from law students, the Law Library will again be open 24 hours a day during Law School reading/exam period (May 9 through May 23) and we will restrict non-law student access during this period and undergraduate reading/exam period.

Effective the evening of Monday, April 28 and continuing through the afternoon of Friday, May 23, admission to the Law Library will be limited to Law School affiliates, University faculty, and Law Library pass holders.  (Passes will be given to non-law students doing legal research and presenting a letter from a faculty member or college dean.)

During this restricted period, law students must show their ID card with the Law School sticker every time they enter the library to gain admission to the Law Library.

The library monitors will be intending conscientiously to enforce this policy so please help them by having your card when you come to the library.  If for some reason you do not have the Law School sticker on your card, you can get one from the Registrar's Office.  In general, we ask for your cooperation with staff who will be implementing the rules in the stressful environment that exams create for all of us.

Restrictions must always be implemented with caution because we are committed to participating in the University community.  If you have suggestions about these policies, please feel free to communicate them to me.

Fred Shapiro
Associate Librarian for Collections and Access
Lillian Goldman Law Library
Yale Law School

Georgia Harper, Scholarly Communications Officer at the University of Texas at Austin Libraries, will give a talk in Sterling Memorial Library's Lecture Hall (130 Wall Street) on Friday, March 28 at 9:30 a.m. She will speak about areas of digital copyright that are of particular concern for libraries, such as electronic resources and digital images. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Harper was formerly Senior Attorney and Manager of the Intellectual Property Section of the Office of the General Counsel for the University of Texas System. She is a nationally recognized expert in the area of intellectual copyright and was named a Fellow of the National Association of College and University Attorneys in June, 2001. She has a B.S. and J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Information Science, also at the University of Texas at Austin.

On Thursday, March 13 there will be a panel discussion at the Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall on the projects related to the cultural reconstruction of Iraq. As part of the Library's Exploration and Adventure series, Charles Kolb of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) will talk about the goals, challenges, and success of Recovering Iraq's Past, the NEH's recently ended initiative to preserve, protect, and document Iraq's cultural heritage in the face of looting and destruction. Ann Okerson, Simon Samoeil, and Elizabeth Beaudin of the Yale University Library will also describe Iraq ReCollection, the Yale's Library's two-year, grant-funded effort to digitize some 100,000 pages of Iraqi humanities journals. Though a 2005 US Department of Education Title VI grant, the Library is also developing A Middle Eastern Electronic Library (AMEEL), a Web-based portal for the study of the Middle East, including its history, culture, development, and contemporary face.

Charles Kolb, National Endowment for the Humanities
Ann Okerson, Simon Samoeil, Elizabeth Beaudin, Yale University Library
Thursday, March 13, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall, 128 Wall St.
Free and open to the public.

For information on the NEH's Iraqi projects visit: http://www.neh.gov/news/archive/20040408.html

For information on Iraq ReCollection visit: http://www.yale.edu/opa/v34.n20/story4.html

For information on AMEEL visit: http://www.library.yale.edu/ameel/

Today, the Standing Committee on Professional Awareness (SCOPA) sponsored the forum, "Race on the Stand: African American History in the Law Library's American Trials Collection," at the Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall. Mike Widener, the Rare Book Librarian for Yale's Lillian Goldman Law Library discussed the Library's American Trials Collection and its importance to a variety of topics in African American history.  This collection contains some particularly significant holdings related to African American history, including various Abolitionist pamphlets and records of the Amistad trials (1839-1840).

Above, Mike begins his presentation to the Yale University Librarians and Staff on the Law Library's American Trials Collection. Below, Mike discusses the history of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, one of the key events within the Abolitionist movement leading into the American Civil War.

If you are interested in learning more about the Law Library's American Trials Collection, please visit the Paskus-Danziger Rare Book Room on L2 within the Law Library. Hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. During these hours, the room is used exclusively for research using rare books, the door to the reading room is locked with entrance permitted by buzzer only, and an attendant is always present. It is advisable to call ahead to make sure the collection will be available, contact Mike Widener at mike.widener@yale.edu or call (203) 432-4494. 

Last week, the Lillian Goldman Law Library launched its brand new website. In addition to a new layout, we've tried to bring you all the same library resources you expect from us in an easy to use format. In the months ahead, look for new pages and resources to be added. Also, don't forget to check out our new Library Blog. Our law librarians will use the blog to bring you up to date on what's new in the world of legal information.

If you have questions or comments about the new site, please contact Tom Boone, Reference Librarian for Electronic Services [thomas.boone (at) yale.edu].