Check out the Hyde Park Jazz Festival this Saturday and Sunday. It’s live and on the Midway. See also other venues. All types of jazz artists are peforming including CALJE (Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble). ¡Caliente!
If you’re a jazz enthusiast, you can also check the Chicago Jazz Archive at Regenstein Library.
Do you want to help shape the D’Angelo Law Library experience for you and your fellow students? If you do, consider applying for the D’Angelo Law Library’s newly formed Student Advisory Board. We’re looking for Law School students from all class years (including incoming 1L and LLM students) and who participate in a range of student organizations and extracurricular activities. Even if you don’t think you use the library very much, we want to hear from you, too!
The Board will provide librarians with feedback on a variety of topics, from library hours to legal research instruction in the Bigelow program to promotion of Library services like Scan & Deliver. The Board will meet approximately two times per quarter, with the meeting dates and times set once Board members are selected.
To apply, fill out the brief online application by Monday, October 15. For questions or additional information, please contact Todd Ito at tito@uchicago.edu.
Student Advisory Board Application: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/using/dllboardapp
Welcome to the LLM Class of 2013 and the JD Class of 2015!
We’d like to tell you about some of the things – other than books! – that you can check out from the D’Angelo Law Library.
Keys for book and laptop lockers! The lockers are in the southwest corner of the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Library. The laptop lockers have electric outlets inside, so you can charge your laptop while you eat lunch.
Chargers for MAC and Windows laptops, in case you forget yours.
Ethernet cables, in case you’d like a wired connection from the window study tables.
Headphones.
DVDS! Over 1800 titles, see list at http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/using/dvd.html. DVDs circulate for 14 days.
Recreational reading! (Yes, I know they’re books, but still…) Browse the half-height shelves on the 4th floor (Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Janet Evanovich), or look at the selection of magazines in the Fulton Room (3rd floor west).
We also supply other useful things and services – earplugs, paper clips, binder clips, 3-hole punches, staplers…and information from friendly, capable Library Circulation and Reference staff.
Hope to see you in the Library!
Yesterday, the Chicago Tribune reported that, due to a 38-year old Attorney General’s opinion, the City of Chicago has decided to delay the start date for its speed camera program until early next year. The program was set to begin with at least 25 speed cameras set up throughout the city in “safety zones” located within one-eighth of a mile of schools and parks. Drivers caught by the cameras would be issued a warning ticket on their first offense, followed by tickets of up to $100.
The Attorney General’s opinion interpreted the Illinois state statute on special speed limits in school zones (625 ILCS 5/11-605) to mean that children must be “visibly present” before the school zone speed limits can be enforced. The City has interpreted this opinion to mean that the speed cameras must not only capture photographs of the speeding car and its license plate, but also a child within the vicinity, preferably in the same shot.
The Tribune reports that the old AG opinion did not come up earlier during the debate over initiating the speed camera program. An excellent way to discover such opinions is to look at an annotated code, such as West’s Smith-Hurd Illinois Compiled Statutes. In the “Notes of Decisions” section for the Illinois statute on speeding in a school zone, there is a citation to the relevant AG opinion with text stating that that the statute applies “only when children are physically present on such street or are outside the school building in a school zone.”
The moral of the story: always use an annotated code when doing legal research!
HeinOnline now allows users the ability to send search results to an email address of their choice. When you have a list of search results, simply check off the documents you would like to send via email, scroll down to the bottom of your results, and select “Email Selected Results” from the dropdown menu. The recipient will receive a list of citations along with direct links to each document in HeinOnline. See the Hein-provided screenshots below, or read more about other enhancements on the HeinOnline Blog.
When WestlawNext first debuted in 2010, some content had not yet been moved from what West is now calling “Westlaw Classic” into the new platform. One of the most missed resources was Black’s Law Dictionary, the most widely used legal dictionary in the United States. Now, just in time for the start of the 2012-13 academic year, Black’s Law Dictionary is finally available in WestlawNext!
Black’s is not searched when you do a search in the universal search box, so if you want to access Black’s, either use the universal search bar to locate the database (by typing “black’s law dictionary”) or click on “Secondary Sources” where you will find Black’s listed among “Tools & Resources” on the right side of the screen.
The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI), who produce tutorials on a variety of legal subjects, are reporting that they have banned Hotmail email accounts from their website. They cite “a near-site killing influx of spammers and other internet ne’er-do-wells using Hotmail” for the reason behind the decision.
If you have registered your CALI account using a Hotmail address, you can:
(1) Send an email to webmaster@CALI.org with your name and a non-Hotmail email address that you wish to use with your CALI account. The switch over will have to be done manually, so there may be a delay.
or
(2) Create a new account using a non-Hotmail email address. Please note, if you choose this option, you will lose all access to previous lesson run information. You will also need a valid authorization code from a member institution. If you need the authorization code for the University of Chicago Law School, please email a reference librarian.
Get some helpful tips for keeping out of the sweltering heat, and learn about cool Library resources—from books about air conditioning, ice cream, and the Chicago heat wave of 1995 to sources on climatology to documentary films about surfing.
Visit our Chicago Heat Wave research guide.
Those of you who have a Kindle now have the ability to download documents from WestlawNext and read them on your Kindle. Instructions are here: http://westapps.west.thomson.com/westlawnext/useit/tip-of-the-week/archives/05-28-12.asp and here:
) and choose Kindle from the drop-down list.So you can actually read cases on the beach…if you should want to.
If you have time this weekend, stop by the 57th Street Art Fair in Hyde Park. It’s this Saturday, June 2, 11-6, and Sunday, June 3, 10-5, and includes all types of artists (map of booths) and an Art Buying Boot Camp:
“Whether you are looking for glass, jewelry, leather, photography, printmaking, painting, sculpture, wood, ceramics or fiber – you are sure to find something special at this one of a kind event. Hands on activities and playgrounds for the kids, along with food to please everyone’s palate available from multiple venues, will make for a pleasurable day.”
Wednesday morning, some Law School students may have received multiple BNA newsletters to which they do not subscribe. There appears to be a glitch with BNA’s website, which we are trying to resolve. We apologize for this inconvenience, especially during such a stressful point in the quarter.
UPDATE: We think we have unsubscribed all students from BNA newsletters, but if you are still receiving newsletters you are not subscribed to, please let us know, or you can manage your account directly at: http://webutil.bna.com.proxy.uchicago.edu/emsf/signin.nsf/signin?open&iid=BNASR.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will hold its 25th meeting in Chicago May 20-21, 2012. Heads of state and government from NATO’s member states and more than 30 other countries will attend. The U.S. and 11 other original signatories to the North Atlantic Treaty (34 U.N.T.S. 243 via HeinOnline) established NATO on April 4, 1949 to promote mutual defense and cooperation. NATO’s current 28 member states include: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. NATO works with partner countries on ”a broad array of issues from counter-piracy, to energy security, counter-terrorism, promoting the role of women in peace and security, and more.”
At the NATO Chicago Summit, the participants expect to discuss three agenda items: assistance to Afghanistan through transition and beyond, cost-efficient defense capabilities, and partnerships – improving relations with other governments and international organizations.
For further reading:
Chicago NATO Summit 2012 (City of Chicago NATO Host Committee/World Business Chicago)
Chicago Summit (NATO)(including mobile)
NATO Chicago Summit 2012 (United States Mission to NATO)
Senate Hears Testimony on Upcoming NATO Meeting in Chicago (C-SPAN, May 10, 2012)
Smart Defense and the Future of NATO (Chicago Council on Global Affairs, conference papers)
NATO website:
Atlantic Treaty Association (ATA)
NATO Handbook (2006). eBook (PDF). Call number: KA18.N86A2.
Thilo Marauhn, “North Atlantic Treaty Organization ,” in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Online). Last updated May 2011. Includes “Select Bibliography” of books and journal articles.
“Closing the Circle: The Negotiation of the North Atlantic Treaty,” in Brian C. Rathbun, Trust in International Cooperation: International Security Institutions, Domestic Politics and American Multilateralism (2012). Call number: JZ1318.R375 2012.
The Handbook of the Law of Visiting Forces (Dieter Fleck, ed., 2001). Call number: XXKZ5589.H36 2001.
Lawrence S. Kaplan, The Long Entanglement: NATO’s First Fifty Years (1999). Call number: E744.K177 1999.
Lawrence S. Kaplan, NATO 1948: The Birth of the Transatlantic Alliance (2007). Call number: UA646.3.K365 2007.
Lawrence S. Kaplan, NATO and the UN: A Peculiar Relationship (2010). eBook. Call number: JZ5930.K36 2010.
Lawrence S. Kaplan, NATO and the United States: The Enduring Alliance (1994). Call number: UA646.5.U5K370 1994.
Lawrence S. Kaplan, NATO Divided, NATO United: The Evolution of an Alliance (2004). Call number: JZ5930.K37 2004.
NATO Review (see Chicago Summit Special Edition).
Marco Rimanelli, Historical Dictionary of NATO and Other International Security Organizations (2009). Call number: UA646.3.R485 2009.
Snežana Trifunovska, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)(2d ed., 2012)(also online in the International Encyclopaedia of Laws: Intergovernmental Organizations). Call number: XXKZ5930.T75 2012.
John Woodliffe, The Peacetime Use of Foreign Military Installations Under Modern International Law (1992). Call number: XXK4720.W66 1992.
With the upcoming event on May 20-21, Chicago will be only the second city in the United States (after Washington D.C.) to host a NATO Summit. The list below provides helpful transportation information on travel restrictions during the summit including use of CTA and Metra and road closures in the days preceding and during the summit.
Access to the D’Angelo Law Library for non-law students will be limited from May 19 through June 7 during the Law School reading and exam periods. Consult the D’Angelo Law Library web page on Access for additional information.
This Thursday and Friday, May 17 and 18, the librarians will be teaching optional “Preparing Research Skills for the Summer” classes as part of the Bigelow Legal Research and Writing program. This class will focus on practical tips for ensuring success on legal research assignments, including best practices in balancing the use of commercial and free sources, how to develop and effectively use strategies to research efficiently, and a review of Library resources available to law students over the summer.
Bloomberg Law will be conducting two training sessions for Law School students on Monday, May 14, at 11:00am in Room F and 12:15pm in Room B. As a law student, you will have free access to Bloomberg Law over the summer and for six months after graduation. Come learn how to research intelligently and utilize the unlimited, unrestricted access to all content and functionality on the system. The program will take you through litigation and transactional practice tips and tricks. If you are interested, please RSVP to Erica Horton at ehorton4@bloomberg.net.
More students and faculty are using Google Scholar for their research all the time. Here are some tips for improving your search results:
The opening page of Google Scholar has a link in very tiny print next to the heading called “Advanced Scholar Search.” Clicking on this brings up a search template that gives you much more robust searching tools – you can limit by subject category (the categories are huge, but one of my frustrations with Google Scholar initially was the preponderance of scientific articles — choosing Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities and/orBusiness, Administration, Finance, and Economics allows you to filter those out). You can also limit by date, and use the template to add precision to your search terms or limit where they appear (search by author, or look for words in the title). Note also that you can limit a search for a legal document by jurisdiction.
For those wishing to become real power users, see Advanced Search Tips on the upper right for advanced search syntax and more detailed instructions for the searching template. Happy researching!
Bloomberg Law will be conducting two training sessions for Law School students on Thursday, May 10, at 11:00am in Room V and1:30pm in Room F. As a law student, you will have free access to Bloomberg Law over the summer and for six months after graduation. Come learn how to research intelligently and utilize the unlimited, unrestricted access to all content and functionality on the system. The program will take you through litigation and transactional practice tips and tricks. If you are interested, please RSVP to Erica Horton at ehorton4@bloomberg.net.
The Law Library has popular shows such as The Wire and Criminal Minds. We have comedy series such as How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Scrubs, Arrested Development, Freaks and Geeks, Flight of the Conchords, The Larry Sanders Show, and South Park. Dramas such as Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Downton Abbey, Six Feet Under, Weeds, Treme, Twin Peaks, Big Love, and LOST. Sci-fi/fantasy such as Battlestar Galactica, Being Human, Heroes, Merlin, Sherlock, True Blood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and Torchwood. And reality TV shows such as The Amazing Race, Project Runway, and Survivor. And Mythbusters.
We have the following law-related TV series:
We have a list of all our DVDs here. Check one out on your next study break! 
For most Law School students, access to LexisNexis and Westlaw is limited over the summer. Please read below for more details:
Rising 1Ls and 2Ls: At the end of June, academic passwords for current students will default to 40 hours for the month of July, even if a student does nothing to extend.
Westlaw does allow students to extend their current access in specific instances, which you can do by going to http://lawschool.westlaw.com/registration/summerextension.aspx. Allowable usages for extending include:
Graduating 3Ls: Students graduating this spring get 5 hours of access in July, even if a student does nothing to extend, to help study for the bar.
For help or more information, contact the Law School’s Westlaw Account Manager, Stacey Acquavella at staceyacquavella@thomsonreuters.com.
Lexis.com: Access to Lexis.com will be restricted starting on June 1st. Students who need Lexis.com access for educational purposes are now able to self-register at http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/login.aspx.
Educational use includes:
Lexis Advance: There are no additional steps needed for Lexis Advance summer access. All UChicago students with a registered Advance id will receive full access (for educational purposes) without interruption this summer.
For help or more information with any of this, contact your LexisNexis Account Executive, Nikki Harris at nikki.harris@lexisnexis.com.
Rising 1Ls and 2Ls: Bloomberg Law provides unlimited and unrestricted access over the summer. There is no need to register, as your student account will remain active and available all summer.
Graduating 3Ls: Students graduating this spring have unlimited and unrestricted access to Bloomberg Law for six months after graduation.
For help or more information, contact your Bloomberg Law Relationship Manager, Erica Horton at ehorton4@bloomberg.net.
University of Chicago users now have access to Pratt’s Financial Services Law Library, which includes several leading treatises on banking law, along with relevant case law and federal and state statutes and regulations. The database consists of libraries on three major topics of banking law: consumer lending, commercial lending, and account/payment systems. Among those treatises included are Brady on Bank Checks, The Law of Bank Deposits, Collections and Credit Cards, and The Law of Secured Transactions Under the Uniform Commercial Code.
Pratt’s Financial Services Law Library also includes Pratt’s monthly newsletters, including Bank Law and Regulatory Report, Consumer Credit and Truth-in-Lending Compliance Report, Pratt’s Mortgage Compliance Letter, and the BSA/AML Update, which are all fully searchable. Documents from a number of federal agencies, including the FDIC, FFEIC, FRB, OCC, and OTS are also included in this electronic resource.
The D’Angelo Law Library will be presenting two Summer Success programs designed to help prepare you for your summer work. First, on Monday, May 7, at 12:15pm in Room III, the Law Library is partnering with the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of Career Services for “Ensuring Summer Success,” a panel discussion designed to get you ready to succeed this summer. Our panelists will address issues such as: working successfully with non-attorney professionals; how to complete projects without racking up a six figure legal research bill; juggling multiple projects, summer associate activities and still trying to have a life; and how to avoid the most common summer associate pitfalls that can keep you from receiving an offer for permanent employment. Lunch will be provided.
Then, on Tuesday, May 8, at 12:15pm in Room F, the Law Library is presenting “Cost Effective Legal Research” as a follow-up to the “Ensuring Summer Success” panel (although all students are welcome). The program will focus on practical tips for ensuring success on legal research assignments. The D’Angelo Law Librarians will cover best practices in balancing the use of commercial and free sources, explain how to develop and effectively use strategies to research efficiently, and review the key resources available to students and graduates. Please RSVP to Steve Coats, stevec@uchicago.edu by Friday, May 4.
Both programs qualify for Keystone Professionalism & Leadership points, so remember to sign in!
LexisNexis will be holding two Cost Effective Legal Research training sessions for Law School students on Wednesday, April 25, at 12:15pm in Room F and on Thursday, May 3, at 12:15pm, also in Room F. You may sign up for a session at http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/ (under “MySchool”).
These programs are part of a series of Summer Success programs designed to help prepare you for your summer work. Watch this space for more programs to take place in April and May. All of the Summer Success programs qualify for Keystone Professionalism & Leadership points, so remember to sign in!
Westlaw will be holding two Cost Effective Legal Research training sessions for Law School students this week on Wednesday, April 18, at 12:20pm in Room C and on Thursday, April 19, at 12:20pm in Room C. You may sign up for a session at lawschool.westlaw.com (under “Training”) or email stacey.acquavella@thomson.com.
These programs are part of a series of Summer Success programs designed to help prepare you for your summer work. Watch this space for more programs to take place in April and May. All of the Summer Success programs qualify for Keystone Professionalism & Leadership points, so remember to sign in!
Titanic Sinking (Willy Stöwer, 1912 )
This weekend is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. On April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic, while on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City, struck an iceberg. It sank in the early morning on April 15. Over 1,500 passengers and crew perished in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic. The Titanic disaster led to adoption of the first International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, SOLAS, in 1914 (revised in 1929, 1948, 1960, and 1974) , and the creation of the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) in 1948, which became the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 1982. However, as IMO Secretary-General, Koji Sekimizu, noted in a video message:
“[N]ew generations of vessels bring fresh challenges and, even today, accidents still occur, reinforcing the need for continual improvement. Our efforts to promote maritime safety and, in particular, to avoid such disasters befalling passenger ships as Titanic, will never end. Today, on the 100th anniversary of that disaster, let us remember those who lost their lives in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic on that fateful night of 14 April 1912 and reflect on the dangers and perils still associated with sea voyages today.”
For further reading:
Kelly Buchanan, “Failure to Update the Law a Titanic Mistake“, In Custodia Legis (Law Library of Congress blog)(links to U.S. Senate Investigating Committee and UK Wrecking Commissioner inquiry reports, historic laws, treaties, and related other publications).
Comment, “Limitation of Shipowners’ Liability: Substance or Procedure? “, 17 University of Chicago Law Review 388, 389, 393-395 (1949-1950)(via HeinOnline)(suggests that The Titanic case be re-examined).
IMO: 100 Years after the Titanic (links to “Surviving Disaster: The Titanic and SOLAS” graphic in PDF).
Arthur K. Kuhn, “International Aspects of the Titanic Case, ” 9 American Journal of International Law 336 (1915) (via HeinOnline)(discusses U.S. federal and foreign case-law on shipowner’s liabilitiy for accidents at sea, including The Titanic case, Oceanic Steam Navigation Co. v. Mellor, 233 U.S. 718 (1914)).
Thomas A. Mensah, “International Maritime Organization“, Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law Online.
James E. Mercante, “In the Wake of ‘The Titanic’: An Unsinkable Law,” New York Law Journal, April 12, 2012.
Everett P. Wheeler, “International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea,” 8 American Journal of International Law 758 (1914)(via HeinOnline).
You can use Lens to locate documents and reports on international conferences on the safety of life at sea available via Hathi Trust, The Making of Modern Law, and ProQuest Congressional. See for example, the April 10, 1913 letter from the Secretary of Commerce on the need to have enough life-boats for every passenger and efficient water-tight divisions of hulls for vessels.