I know what a pain it can for college students to find information legal cases! In fact, I was that unfortunate student on more than one occasion - trying to navigate the gov docs section of our library, attempting to find credible online sources for a particular case, or even just wanting to see a particular transcript from the Supreme Court. There is never an easy way to do this!
That is why this article, "Legal Technology - Get Your Free Case Law on the Web," caught my attention.
There are many useful links for a librarian who is guiding a student through their legal case research - I bookmarked more than one!
Of particular note...
1) AltLaw - an interesting project which I found to be particularly easy to use. You can tell it was created by a librarian, or at least someone very sensitive to the needs of researchers, because this site offers the most comprehensive searching tools that would be helpful to all levels of researchers.
2) PreCYdent - this is a great, new tool (still in beta) that has the cases, but also has a social networking feature. This is a great way for today's university students to share resources and may promote a loyalty.
Hopefully, as the digitization of these materials spreads, locating and using them will get easier... or is that just a hopelessly idealistic pipe dream?
Showing posts with label academic libraries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label academic libraries. Show all posts
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
ASK
I think this is a great video and would look good on any academic library's website - something short, simple, and cute that the visitors could see.
In this year's evaluation, one of the comments we saw was that there was no assistance if there was not a librarian at the reference desk. But, as the video says, all they have to do is ask.
In this year's evaluation, one of the comments we saw was that there was no assistance if there was not a librarian at the reference desk. But, as the video says, all they have to do is ask.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Civil Politics - Helping Students with the Dialogue
Despite which side of the political fence you fall, one thing we can all use (myself included) is a more balanced approach to the political dialogue we find all around us. An interesting op-ed piece by Nickolas Kristof led me to this website: Civil Politics.
You cannot "win" an argument without listening, which is something that we rarely do. But there is another important aspect of this: To listen, we need to understand the ideology and logic behind our opponent's perspective. Civil Politics is a group of people who are trying to understand the ideology.
Why am I bringing this up in a library blog? Easy!
I work with students, students who are being asked to defend their believes - political, spiritual, etc - for the first time. What I have noticed is a surprising inability to see that behind most arguments there is logic, there is a life, there is an understanding, however flawed, of the world.
I think that this site, especially the helpful links in the Resources section, would be a great way to get them to dive into their papers, speeches, and lectures a little deeper. Though they may not get the person to change their opinions or have their opinions changed, any discussion where there is a bit more understanding between the parties can only be helpful.
(If you are interested: the Kristof's piece, "Would You Slap Your Father? Then You are a Liberal," is well worth a read!)
You cannot "win" an argument without listening, which is something that we rarely do. But there is another important aspect of this: To listen, we need to understand the ideology and logic behind our opponent's perspective. Civil Politics is a group of people who are trying to understand the ideology.
Why am I bringing this up in a library blog? Easy!
I work with students, students who are being asked to defend their believes - political, spiritual, etc - for the first time. What I have noticed is a surprising inability to see that behind most arguments there is logic, there is a life, there is an understanding, however flawed, of the world.
I think that this site, especially the helpful links in the Resources section, would be a great way to get them to dive into their papers, speeches, and lectures a little deeper. Though they may not get the person to change their opinions or have their opinions changed, any discussion where there is a bit more understanding between the parties can only be helpful.
(If you are interested: the Kristof's piece, "Would You Slap Your Father? Then You are a Liberal," is well worth a read!)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Wolfram Alpha... and other searches
The big tech/library news lately, it seems, has been asking one basic question: Can anyone beat Google?
My answer: Nope... wait, should I have sugar-coated that one? I'm just confused about why anyone would try, let alone claim that it has been done!
Until you can give the public a search engine that works as well, that builds a niche as well, that fulfills a need as well, you are not going to upset Google.
The latest to try, Wolfram Alpha, is an interesting concept and a nice try, though, ultimately, it does not live up to all the hype. Google gives you everything you could possibly need/want/never want in a link providing search. Wolfram Alpha, on the other hand, sets out to interpret the data and give you only the information you need - often creating a page that never existed before you did the search.
This is great when you have a calculation to make or need some background information. However, I share Farhad Manjoo's concern that Wolfram Alpha is too bug-laden and too narrowly defined to work well as a Google replacement. Some searches work well - like my birthday search (who knew I was born during a full moon?) - but too many others - like my search for the closest QFC to Northwest University - fail.
What does this mean for Librarians?
~ Yet another tool in our arsenal! Though some of the random searches I did failed, I am very refreshed by the ones that worked. The first thing I thought of when I saw its interface was how similar it was to an encyclopedia or a world fact book. If you are looking for specific, concrete data, this is where you should go - hands down. Like Wikipedia, it would be a great electronic resource to use in identifying search terms, figuring out general statistics, or planning a research survey.
My answer: Nope... wait, should I have sugar-coated that one? I'm just confused about why anyone would try, let alone claim that it has been done!
Until you can give the public a search engine that works as well, that builds a niche as well, that fulfills a need as well, you are not going to upset Google.
The latest to try, Wolfram Alpha, is an interesting concept and a nice try, though, ultimately, it does not live up to all the hype. Google gives you everything you could possibly need/want/never want in a link providing search. Wolfram Alpha, on the other hand, sets out to interpret the data and give you only the information you need - often creating a page that never existed before you did the search.
This is great when you have a calculation to make or need some background information. However, I share Farhad Manjoo's concern that Wolfram Alpha is too bug-laden and too narrowly defined to work well as a Google replacement. Some searches work well - like my birthday search (who knew I was born during a full moon?) - but too many others - like my search for the closest QFC to Northwest University - fail.
What does this mean for Librarians?
~ Yet another tool in our arsenal! Though some of the random searches I did failed, I am very refreshed by the ones that worked. The first thing I thought of when I saw its interface was how similar it was to an encyclopedia or a world fact book. If you are looking for specific, concrete data, this is where you should go - hands down. Like Wikipedia, it would be a great electronic resource to use in identifying search terms, figuring out general statistics, or planning a research survey.
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