LaValley Library at the University of Toledo College of Law

Election websites

2008-10-06T10:11:00.004-04:00

There are a couple websites that may be of interest to Lucas County voters.

First off there is http://www.lucascountyvotes.org/ which goes to the Board of Elections section of the Lucas County government website. There are lists of the candidates and for all the issues on the ballot. The issues list is nine pages long, though not every issue, such as various levies, will be on every ballot.

The second website comes from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and is named Election Law @ Moritz: http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/index.php. This site is an excellent way to stay abreast of Ohio election law issues.

Tax Time links

2008-01-14T14:06:00.000-05:00

Once again it is time for the taxman, er, taxperson. Here are the links to the Federal, state of Ohio, and Toledo income tax information and forms.

IRS publications and documents

Ohio income tax links

Toledo income tax links

Update, the Toledo Lucas County Public Library also has links to tax forms, including the City of Oregon and the State of Michigan. The link is here.

FBI Crime Statistics, prelim 2007 first half

2008-01-08T10:25:00.000-05:00

Crime rates fell in the first half of 2007, according to premilinary FBI statistics.

Here's the link to the FBI's story, which has a link to the statistics themselves.

Google Toolbar 5

2007-12-14T09:01:00.000-05:00

The newest version of Google's toolbar is out.

You can download it here.

PC Magazine has a review of it here.

Personally, I have never cared for the toolbars, they tend to clutter up my browser. As I use Firefox, they have a nice little bookmarks toolbar, that I have set to show text only. This gives me my most often used bookmarks, such as Google, Ask, Westlaw, Lexis, Weather and Yahoo right of the bat.

USAspending.gov

2007-12-13T14:48:00.000-05:00

There's a new way to track spending by the Federal Government, mandated by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, 31 USC s6101.

www.USAspending.gov is a "relaunch of www.FederalSpending.gov, that provides citizens with easy access to government contract, grant and other award data."

Online searching and privacy

2007-12-11T09:46:00.000-05:00

Search engines will keep a record of what searches a user requests. Search engine companies will say that this helps them refine their search methods. And while that is true, many people are uncomfortable with leaving a trail of their searches. Ask.com now has a feature called AskEraser that deletes a user's search activities from the ask.com servers.

AskErase is available in the upper right hand corner of the Ask.com homepage.

Update: D'oh, made the ask.com a hyperlink. Who knew you could do such things on the intertubes.

EDotW Part 5 HeinOnline

2007-10-23T09:09:00.000-04:00

HeinOnline is a subscription based website of legal information databases. Perhaps the most important database is the Law Journal Library, which contains virtually every American law school law review going all the way back to the first issue of each law review. This is a much more comprehensive holding than what is available on Westlaw and Lexis. Itdoes not always have the most current issues however, possibly due to licensing issues preventing a current law review volume from appearing there.

The Law Journal Library link at the top gives an alphabetical list of law journals. There is a search function that lets you search by author, title or full text. Westlaw and Lexis search interface may be easier to use, but their drawback is that for most law reviews they do not go back to the journal's inception. You can also use HeinOnline's navigation feature, if you have a citation to an article. For example if you need to get 4 U. Toledo L. Rev. 25 (from 1972-73), go to the alphabetical listing, click on "U" scroll down to University of Toledo, click on the title. This will bring up the list of all University of Toledo L. Rev. volumes. Clicking on 4 will bring up volume 4. HeinOnline shows the articles in PDF format, so you can view it just as it appears in paper (helpful for when you are cite checking). There is a downloading/printing option as well.

HeinOnline is continually adding new content on a monthly basis, you can keep up with their announcements at their blog:
http://heinonline.blogspot.com/

A few of the other HeinOnline databases are:
Philip C. Jessup Library which access to all of the top moot court competitions since 1960.
The historical Code of Federal Regulations from 1938 through 1983, the Federal Register database and the Government Printing Office's (GPO) CFR site, which has the CFR from 1996 onward.

To use it, go to our Legal Research Links page and click on the link. You will get a "Subscribers, Please Click Here" page. Click on that link, it will take you to their welcome page/index.
Access is limited to computers in the law school building, though UT Law faculty also have access with a password.

Medellin v. Texas

2007-10-11T10:42:00.000-04:00

Dahlia Lithwick over at Slate.com has an amusing piece on the Medellin v. Texas case, argued yesterday at the Supreme Court. It is a complicated case, involving the death penalty, foreign nationals, the International Court of Justice, the federal executive branch and a state judicial branch, among other things.

Welcome Beverly Mayo

2007-10-10T09:05:00.000-04:00

Please join me in welcoming our new circulation supervisor, Beverly Mayo.

Opening Day

2007-10-01T15:28:00.000-04:00

for the United States Supreme Court, coming on the last day of the regular season for baseball (today's game counts as a regular season game.)

Linda Greenhouse, in the New York Times previews the upcoming term.

EDotW part 4 Worldcat

2007-09-10T10:32:00.000-04:00

One of the OhioLINK databases I find most useful is Worldcat. UTMOST searches the UT library catalog, OhioLINK library catalog searches all the libraries in the OhioLINK consortium, the next level up is Worldcat. Worldcat is the OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) catalog of books and other materials, such as articles and sound recordings, in libraries around the world. Worldcat is a great way to find out if an item exists. In addition to letting you know if an item exists, it will also list which libraries have the item.
Worldcat is accessible from our Legal Research Links page > to OhioLink Databases > to Listed by Name U-Z
Worldcat is also available via its own website as well, at Worldcat.org. Either way will highlight University of Toledo's collection, if we have the item. And if we don't have it, clicking on the "libraries world wide that own item" will start off with OhioLINK libraries that have the item. If one of these OhioLINK libraries does have the item, it is easy to use OhioLINK to ask for an interlibrary loan. If none of them do, we will be able to ILL it for you.

All UT students and faculty can access either OhioLINK or Worldcat at any UT computer or with their student/faculty ID number.

EDotW part 3 OhioLINK Databases

2007-09-04T10:18:00.000-04:00

OhioLINK is much more than a super catalog of Ohio colleges & universities library holdings. It also features many databases. You can search via Subject, Type or Name or just do a Quick Search.

Quick Search allows the user to search for articles in all databases, or predefined areas, such as political science, law and government (as one database) or business.

Subject searching allows one to bring up various databases on a single subject. For instance the Law and Legislation subject heading brings up databases such as Criminal Justice Abstracts.

Type searching allows one to search for books or articles. There is also Facts and Stats, which takes a user to various encyclopedias and dictionaries.

Name will take you directly to a single database which is handy once you are familiar with the databases and you know which one you want to search.

Later on, I'll delve more deeply into specific databases.

Labor Day Weekend Schedule

2007-08-29T14:52:00.001-04:00

The LaValley Law Library will be open normal hours this Saturday (9:00 am to 9:45 pm) and Sunday (9:00 am to 11:45pm) with a later opening 9:00 am on Monday (normal closing time of 11:45 pm). There will be no reference on Monday.

Have a good weekend!

EDotW part 2 -- OhioLINK. Library Catalog

2007-08-27T15:27:00.000-04:00

This week's spotlight is on the OhioLINK Library Catalog

OhioLINK is “a consortium of Ohio’s college and university libraries and the State Library of Ohio. Serving more than 600,000 students, faculty, and staff at 85 institutions” It includes private as well as public colleges and universities and community colleges.

From the OhioLINK homepage you can search multiple Ohio schools’ catalogs at once using the OhioLINK Library Catalog . So if an UTMOST search doesn’t show that we have an item, use OhioLINK catalog. If the resource is in another school’s collection, you will be able to request it directly from OhioLINK, although you can still ask us to do an interlibrary loan request at our reference desk.

OhioLINK is accessible via the Legal Research Links page on the LaValley Law Library's website.
There are many very useful databases within OhioLINK that I will blog about in the coming weeks.

Electronic Database of the Week (EDotW)

2007-08-20T15:38:00.000-04:00

The first database I want to highlight is UTMOST. UTMOST is the University of Toledo’s online library catalog. It contains records of all the materials available in the University of Toledo libraries. With the recent merger with MUO this does now include the medical library's records. You can search by title, subject, author, call number or keyword. For me, unless I know who the author is or the title, I prefer using the keyword. Subject searching can be tricky, for example searching "Tort Law" as a subject won't bring up any results. Using them as keywords will bring up books on tort law. Choose one of the results, and towards the bottom of the record there will be a subject line or lines. You can then click on those subject headings to call up more results on the same subject.

We have upgraded the catalog so that electronic resources we subscribe to are also now available through the catalog. For example, searching for the “ABA/BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct” will bring a record for our paper copy, the record for the serial copy that has current reports and a link to the electronic version. Please note that access to the electronic version is limited to the law library.

In the library there are two computers dedicated to UTMOST opposite to the circulation desk. You can also access the catalog from the LaValley Library homepage. It is the top link on the lefthand side “Search our catalog.”

How to Read a Legal Opinion

2007-08-17T12:55:00.000-04:00

Orin Kerr, a professor at George Washington University Law School has updated his guide:
"How to Read a Legal Opinion" It is a seven page pdf file.

Welcome Incoming Students!

2007-08-15T13:12:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the University of Toledo College of Law and the LaValley Law Library

We are starting up the LaValley Library Blog again. We will be providing announcements about the library, highlighting various electronic databases available - in the Electronic Database of the Week (EDotW) section - and other news about the law. So check back often.

Robert

Starting Points For Foreign and International Law Research

2007-03-05T14:21:00.000-05:00

For those engaged in international, comparative or foreign law research, NYU's GlobaLex has a very useful set of research guides. The newest ones are also listed in a posting on Law Librarian Blog. The NYU Hauser Global Law website also has an excellent Guide to Foreign and International Legal Databases.

Tax Time

2007-02-27T09:55:00.000-05:00

Here are links for federal, state (Ohio), and local (Toledo) tax sites.

The federal income tax this year also has a provision for a telephone excise tax refund.

As well, the federal 1040 form has another provision for a state sales tax deduction.
For Ohio, the statewide sales tax is 5.5%, while Lucas County adds 1.25% (pdf file)

Rick Goheen To Become Director Of LaValley Law Library

2007-02-22T14:07:00.000-05:00

We are pleased to announce the appointment of a new Director for the LaValley Law Library. Beginning March 12, Rick Goheen, currently Associate Director for Public Services at the Schoenecker Law Library, Univerity of St. Thomas (Minneapolis) will assume the position of Director of the Law Library and Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Toledo. Before going to St. Thomas, Rick was Associate Librarian at the University of Cincinnati's Law Library. Rick brings a wealth of insight and experience to his new position at Toledo. Please join us in welcoming him.

Oyez update.

2007-02-20T09:31:00.000-05:00

Oyez is a multimedia project, devoted to the US Supreme Court. They have just updated their site, so now you can read transcripts of arguements and listen at the same time. This feature is located under the "New Oyez Media" section.

H/T to Volokh Conspiracy

New Resource For Legal Research Guides

2007-02-02T14:11:00.000-05:00

Cornell Univeristy Law Library has now placed online the Legal Research Engine. It lets you find online research guides in all areas of the law. Just type your area of interest into the search box.

January 2007 New Acquisitions

2007-01-26T12:00:00.000-05:00

The January new acquisitions list is up, here.

The books, as usual, are in the faculty lounge.

CURRENT EVENTS IN TOLEDO AND SURROUNDING AREAS

2007-01-18T09:34:00.000-05:00

EXHIBITIONS:
Now - July 8, 2007 By Presidential Design: History of the Hayes Home - Hayes Presidental Center, Fremont, Monday - Saturday 9 am - 5 pm, Sunday noon - 5 pm

Now - January 21, 2007 The End: Mortality and Remembrance - Toledo Museum of Art, Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 4 pm, Sunday 11 am - 5 pm

Now - January 28, 2007 In Stabiano: Exploring the Ancient Seaside Villas of the Roman Elite - Toledo Museum of Art, Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 4 pm, Sunday 11 am - 5 pm

Friday's January 19, 26 and February 2 Glassblowing Demonstration, Toledo Museum of Art
7:30 pm and 9 pm

Sunday's January 21, 28 and February 4 Glassblowing Demonstration, Toledo Museum of Art 1 and 2:30 pm

January 19-21, January 26-28 and February 2-4 Docent-Led Tours: Glass Pavillon Experience, Toledo Museum of Art Friday 6:30 and 8 pm, Saturday 2 pm and Sunday 2 and 3 pm

January 25-28 Greater Toledo Auto Show, SeaGate Convention Centre Thursday 3-9 pm, Friday 11 am - 9 pm, Saturday 10 am - 9 pm, Sunday 10 am - 5 pm

January 26 - April 14 Jacob Lawrence Prints, 1963-2000: A Comprehensive Survey, Toledo Museum of Art Closed Mondays, Tuesday - Thursday 10 am - 4 pm, Friday 10 am - 10 pm, Saturday 10 am - 4 pm, Sunday 11 am - 5 pm

January 26 - February 24 Imperfect Beauty, Space 237 Tuesday - Friday 11 am - 5 pm Saturday Noon - 4 pm

January 26 - 28 2007 Fun Afloat Boat Show, Erie Street Market Friday Noon- 8 pm, Saturday 11 am- 5 pm, Sunday Noon - 5 pm

February 2 - 4 Lucas County Camp & Travel Show, Lucas County Recreation Center

COLLECTORS / CRAFT SHOWS:
January 19-21 Country Peddler Craft Show, Lucas County Recreation Center Friday 3-8 pm, Saturday 9 am - 5 pm, Sunday 10 am - 4 pm

January 27 and 28 Maumee Valley Antiques Show & Sale, Maumee Valley Historical Society - Wolcott House Museum Saturday 11 am - 7 pm, Sunday 11 am - 4 pm

MUSIC:
January 19 and 20 The Planets, Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle Theatre 8 pm

Tuesday, January 23 BGSU Concert: Winter Wonders, Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Manor House 7:30 pm

Thursday, January 25 Andre Watts in Recital, Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle Theatre 8 pm

Saturday, January 27 Symphonic Poem, Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle Theatre 11 am

Tuesday, January 30 BGSU Concert: Musical Arts Showcase, Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Manor House 7:30 pm

Friday, February 2 Club Friday Music: Fulton County Bluegrass Band, Toledo Museum of Art 6 and 9:30 pm

February 2 and 3 Dvorak New World, Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle Theatre 8 pm

Friday, February 2 Spur in Concert, Owens Community College Center for Fine and Performing Arts 8 pm

NATURE:
Friday, January 19 Oak Openings Research Forum Keynote Event, Oak Openings Preserve 4:30 -9 pm

Saturday, January 20 Travel Circle: Washington State National Park, Oak Openings Preserve 1 - 3:30 pm

Sunday's January 21 and 28 Sunday Program, Oak Openings Preserve, Buehner Center 3 - 5 pm
Sunday, January 21 Helping Hands, Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Ward Pavillion 2 - 4 pm

Tuesday, January 23 Volunteers in Parks Restoring the Oak Openings, Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Ward Pavillion 7 pm

January 26 and 27 Interpretive Naturalist Field Training, Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Metz Visitor Center Friday 9:30 to noon, Saturday 1 - 1:30 pm

Saturday, January 27 Travel Circle: Spring on the Blue Ridge & Smokey Mountains, Secor Metropark, Nature Photography Center 1 - 3:30 pm

Friday, February 2 Full Moon Walk, Swan Creek Preserve Glendale Ave. 7:30-8:30 pm

Saturday, February 3 Helping Hands, Oak Openings Preserve, Buehner Center 2 - 4 pm

Saturday, February 3 Travel Circle: Touring Turkey, Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Ward Pavillion 1 - 3:30 pm

THEATER:
Now - January 28 The Phantom of the Opera, Stranahan Theater

January 18-21 and 25-27 The Best Man, The Village Players Theatre Thursday - Saturday 8 pm, Sunday January 21 only 2:30 pm

January 19 - 21 and 25 - 28 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Toledo Repertoire Theatre Thursday, January 25 only 8 pm, Friday and Saturday 8 pm, Sunday 2:30 pm

Sunday, January 21 Cashore Marionettes Simple Gifts, Owens Community College Center for Fine and Performing Arts 2 pm

Thursday, January 25 Motown Magic, Valentine Theatre 8 pm

January 26 and 27 Over the River and Through the Woods, Oregon Community Theatre 8 pm

Sunday, January 28 Man of La Mancha, Valentine Theatre 3 pm

February 2 - 4 Over the River and Through the Woods, Oregon Community Theatre Friday and Saturday 8 pm, Sunday 3 pm

MISCELLANEOUS:
Friday, January 26 Opening Reception: Children of Children, Toledo Museum of Art 5 - 7 pm

Saturday, January 27 American Adventure: Wines of California, Michigan, Ohio and Washington, The Toledo Zoo 7-9 pm in the African Lodge

Thursday, February 1 Toledo After Hours, Valentine Theatre 6 - 10:30 pm

Now - March 31 A-Mazing Sea Maze!, The Toledo Zoo 10 am - 4 pm

January 20 and 21, 27 and 28, February 3 and 4 Cabin Fever Feeds, The Toledo Zoo 10 am - 4 pm

Saturday's January 20, 27 and February 3 Ice Carving Demonstrations, The Toledo Zoo 11 am - 2 pm

Sunday, January 21 and Thursday's January 23 and 25 Family Center: Discover Mark Rothko, Toledo Museum of Art, Sunday 11 am - 4:30 pm, Thursday's 10 am - 3 pm

Saturday, January 27 Woodland Indian Skills Day, Ft. Meigs State Memorial Park 8 am - 4 pm

January 28, 30 and February 1 Family Center: Clay Play!, Toledo Museum of Art 28th 11 am - 4:30 pm, 30th and 1st 10 am - 3 pm

Saturday, February 3 Wildwood Kids! Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Metz Visitor Center 1 - 2:30 pm

Sunday, February 4 Family Center: Write with Hieroglyphs, Toledo Museum of Art 11 am - 4:30

Pentagon Official Criticizes Legal Profession

2007-01-15T15:54:00.000-05:00

New York Times reporter Neil Lewis on Saturday reported on an outrageous attack on the legal profession by a senior Pentagon official. You can read the entire article here . Here are excerpts from the report:

The senior Pentagon official in charge of military detainees suspected of terrorism said in an interview this week that he was dismayed that lawyers at many of the nation’s top firms were representing prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and that the firms’ corporate clients should consider ending their business ties.

The comments by Charles D. Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, produced an instant torrent of anger from lawyers, legal ethics specialists and bar association officials, who said Friday that his comments were repellent and displayed an ignorance of the duties of lawyers to represent people in legal trouble....

The same point appeared Friday on the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, where Robert L. Pollock, a member of the newspaper’s editorial board, cited the list of law firms and quoted an unnamed “senior U.S. official” as saying, “Corporate C.E.O.’s seeing this should ask firms to choose between lucrative retainers and representing terrorists.”...

Mr. Stimson, who is himself a lawyer ... said, “I think, quite honestly, when corporate C.E.O.’s see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those C.E.O.’s are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms, and I think that is going to have major play in the next few weeks. And we want to watch that play out.”

In an interview on Friday, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said he had no problem with the current system of representation. “Good lawyers representing the detainees is the best way to ensure that justice is done in these cases,” he said.

Neither the White House nor the Pentagon had any official comment, but officials sought to distance themselves from Mr. Stimson’s view. His comments “do not represent the views of the Defense Department or the thinking of its leadership,” a senior Pentagon official said. He would not allow his name to be used, seemingly to lessen the force of his rebuke. Mr. Stimson did not return a call on Friday seeking comment.

Library Will Re-Open With Some Construction Still Taking Place

2006-12-31T16:33:00.000-05:00

The LaValley Law Library will reopen January 2, 2007. However, because construction will still be going on, you are encouraged to use care in entering, exiting and moving through the Library. We expect that all of the construction-- including the new technology portions-- will be in place by the end of January. Happy New Year from the entire library staff!

Saddam Trial Documents Available Online

2006-12-31T16:23:00.000-05:00

The full 200+ page text , in English translation, of the judgment and sentence issued by the Iraqi High Tribunal Trial Chamber against Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants is now available thanks to the Grotian Moment Website. They were convicted in the killings of over 100 people from the Iraqi town of Dujail. Subsequently that decision was upheld by an Iraqi appeals court (New York Times coverage), and Saddam was executed. Also available in full text online is the report of Human Rights Watch, critical of the trial and its procedures.

Other On-Campus Computer Labs For Law Students

2006-12-17T12:09:00.000-05:00

While the LaValley Law Library is closed for renovation (Dec. 17 through Jan. 1), law students who want access to computer resources may use one of the University's other computer labs. Here is a link to information about hours and location of other labs.

Library Closure

2006-12-15T11:16:00.000-05:00

The LaValley Law Library will be closed from December 17 until January 2 for renovations.

New International Civil Litigation Blog

2006-12-04T07:02:00.000-05:00

A new blog on International Civil Litigation has recently been launched. It will include coverage of topics such as personal jurisdiction, international discovery, enforcement of foreign judgments, compelling arbitration, forum non conveniens, FSIA, ATCA, substantive international law, and other elements of international litigation in U.S. courts. Information on the new entry came from another great blog source for legal developments, How Appealing.

Thanksgiving Proclamations

2006-11-23T12:57:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! In case you need some legal reading appropriate for the day, Pilgrim Hall Museum website will give you links to every President's Thanksgiving Proclamation, from George Washington to George Bush, with a link to those by the Continental Congress as well.

Thanksgiving weekend hours

2006-11-20T13:20:00.000-05:00

The Law Library will be open the following hours over this weekend:
Wednesday: 9 am to 8:45 pm
Thursday: Closed
Friday: 9 am to 8:45 pm
Saturday 9 am to 4:45 pm
Sunday 1 pm to 11:45 pm

Reference hours will be:
Tuesday: 9 am to 5 pm
Wednesday: 9 am to 3 pm
Friday: staff holiday, no reference
Saturday: 9:30 - 4:45 pm
Sunday: 2 pm to 9 pm

New Acquisitions List

2006-11-07T15:31:00.000-05:00

The October 2006 New Acquisitions list is up.

Reminder on hours this Friday

2006-11-07T14:43:00.000-05:00

Just a reminder that the library will open at 1 pm this Friday, Nov. 10, due to a scheduled power outage in conjunction with the construction. Also, as it is the Veteran's Day holiday, there will be no reference assistance on Friday.

EDotW part 8

2006-11-07T10:07:00.000-05:00

This is an update to HeinOnline. HeinOnline now has the historical Code of Federal Regulations from 1938 through 1983. Navigating it is still a bit tricky, here's part of their announcement:
"The complete CFR is available in HeinOnline for the period 1938 through 1983. Some researchers have mentioned to us that they were not able to see the 1963 through 1976 CFR content when using the “Title and Part Quick Locator” feature in HeinOnline. However, this content IS available in HeinOnline, but until we electronically index the 1963 through 1976 CFR content to the Part level (which will occur before year-end), researchers should use the “Browse By: Bindings” feature to access content from the period 1963 through 1976."

There are also links to HeinOnline's Federal Register database and the Government Printing Office's (GPO) CFR site, which has the CFR from 1996 onward.

O.E.D. Meets Cyberspace

2006-11-05T23:06:00.000-05:00

This week's New York Times Sunday Magazine carries an interesting article titled Cyber-Neologoliferation, on how the staid Oxford English Dictionary has been impacted by the Internet. Apparently the 3rd edition of the O.E.D. is being developed online. Revised installments began to appear in 2000-- after 150 typists spent 18 months keyboarding in the 2nd edition so revisions could begin. The print version of the 2nd edition-- in 20 volumes-- contained 21,730 pages and weighed 138 pounds. It is unclear whether the 3rd edition will ever be produced in paper format.

EDotW part 7

2006-10-30T10:15:00.000-05:00

Another good legal database in OhioLINK is Legal Collection.
"Legal Collection is a collection of respected, scholarly peer-reviewed publications including law journals, documents, and case studies"
While Lecal Collection has American law reviews and journals in its database, it contains more than that. For instance, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms Quarterly Bulletin from 1990 - 2002 is included, as is Hospital Law Newsletter.
The default is to search all publications, but there is a way to search specific ones. If you click on either the "Basic Search" or "Advanced Search" tabs at the top, underneath them there is a link to "Publications" which will allow you to check a box to select specific ones. There is another tab at the top, "Choose Databases", which allows one to select databases such as Legal Collections. It is not for selecting various publications with Legal Collections.

As always, if you have any questions, please contact one of us librarians.

A Criminal Justice Story To Ponder

2006-10-16T21:41:00.000-04:00

Here is an AP report out of Columbus, Ohio published last week. What is the moral of the story?

A Columbus, Ohio, man who couldn't find steady work came up with a plan to make it through the next few years until he could collect Social Security: He robbed a bank, then handed the money to a guard and waited for police. On Wednesday, Timothy J. Bowers told a judge a three-year prison sentence would suit him, and the judge obliged.

"At my age, the jobs available to me are minimum-wage jobs. There is age discrimination out there," Bowers, who turns 63 in a few weeks, told Judge Angela White. The judge told him: "It's unfortunate you feel this is the only way to deal with the situation." Bowers said he had been able to find only odd jobs after the drug wholesaler he made deliveries for closed in 2003.
He walked to a bank and handed a teller a note demanding cash in an envelope. The teller gave him four $20 bills and pushed a silent alarm. Bowers handed the money to a security guard standing in the lobby and told him it was his day to be a hero.

He pleaded guilty to robbery, and a court-ordered psychological exam found him competent. "It's a pretty sad story when someone feels that's their only alternative," said defense attorney Jeremy W. Dodgion, who described Bowers as "a charming old man." Prosecutors had considered arguing against putting Bowers in prison at taxpayer expense, but they worried he would do something more reckless to be put behind bars. "It's not the financial plan I would choose, but it's a financial plan," prosecutor Dan Cable said.

EDotW part 6

2006-10-16T17:14:00.000-04:00

Whenever I cannot find a book in our library catalog, UTMOST, I usually turn to Worldcat. Worldcat is an OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) catalog of books and other items, such as articles or sound recordings, in libraries around the world. Worldcat is a great way to find out if an item exists. In addition to letting you know if an item exists, it will also list which libraries have the item.

Worldcat is accessible from our Legal Research Links page > to OhioLink Databases > to Listed by Name U-Z

Worldcat has recently become available via its own website as well, at Worldcat.org. The advantage of going through the OhioLink steps is that this way will highlight University of Toledo's collection, if we have the item. And if we don't have it, clicking on the "libraries world wide that own item" will start off with Ohio libraries that have the item. From there, it is easy to use OhioLink to ask for an interlibrary loan.

Google's New Book Search (Beta)

2006-09-20T21:20:00.000-04:00

An interesting new online tool is Google's new Book Search. Here is how Google describes it:

Just do a search on Google Book Search or on Google.com. When we find a book whose content contains a match for your search terms, we'll link to it in your search results. Click a book title and you'll see, like a card catalog entry, some basic information about the book. You may also see a few snippets of text from the book showing your search term in context. If the publisher or author has given us permission through our Partner Program then you'll see a few full pages from the book and if the book is out of copyright, you'll be able to page through the entire book. In all cases, you'll see links that lead directly to online bookstores where you can buy the book.

FBI's 2005 Crime Report

2006-09-20T14:29:00.000-04:00

The FBI has released its annual Crime in the United States report for 2005. They have improved the web based report, with "tables grouped by topic, "browse by" options for major areas of interest, bulleted overviews for each main topic and most tables, and "data declarations" for each table to provide pertinent information that may help users understand the data presented."

It can also be downloaded in sections (PDF format) or printed out.

EDotW part 5

2006-09-18T09:07:00.000-04:00

BNA Online.
The library has switched our BNA looseleaf services from paper to electronic. Users can access it on our legal research links page. Access is limited to computers in the law school, though UT law professors do have home access; please see me for the password.

The BNA reporters cover a broad range of topics, including corporations/financial, criminal law, labor, environment, ethics, family, health care, intellectual property, taxation, litigation, trade, international issues, and homeland security. Users can access by subject or title. The reporters give news about what is going on in an area, as well as news about cases, with links to those cases. For example, the Sept. 19, 2006 issue of the Homeland Security Briefing has a story on the US and EU attempt to exchange airline passenger data. Over on the left hand column, one can browse through all the issues, focus on major topics (such as the 9/11 Commission). There is also the option of viewing cases on the subject, alphabetically or by issue date. The links take the user to reports about cases with links to the actual cases.

The positives about the electronic versions are that they are updated more quickly and going between issues is faster. Once you have the navigation down, researching using BNA Online should be a breeze.

As always, if you have any questions, just ask.

OSBA Is Expanding Casemaker

2006-09-15T14:23:00.000-04:00

The Ohio State Bar Association has announced that it is expanding its Casemaker legal database to include case law for all 50 states. These additions will be in place by the end of 2006. Other additions to Casemaker will include all state constitutions, rules of court, and current statutes.

Supreme Court Oral Arguments To Be Available Immediately

2006-09-14T16:42:00.000-04:00

This news was sent to Law Libraries by Jill Duffy at the U.S. Supreme Court:

"Beginning with the October 2006 Term, the Court will make the transcripts of oral arguments available free to the public on its Web site on the same day an argument is heard by the Court.
In the past, the transcripts had been posted on the Web site approximately two weeks after the close of an argument session. Previously, transcripts could be obtained sooner than they were posted on the Court's Web site by making arrangements in advance and purchasing them from the Court's contract reporting service.

"In the past, oral arguments had been transcribed off-site from audio recordings. The Court's current contract reporting service, Alderson Reporting Company, will now utilize the services of a court reporter in the Courtroom and high-speed technology to transcribe the oral arguments more quickly.

"Transcripts can be located by clicking on the "Oral Arguments" prompt on the home page of the Court's Web site and selecting "Argument Transcripts."

"Transcripts will be listed by case name and the date of oral argument. Transcripts are permanently archived beginning with the 2000 Term on the Court's Web site. Transcripts prior to the 2000 Term are maintained in the Court's Library."

Library to close at 5 pm on Friday Sept. 15

2006-09-14T10:40:00.000-04:00

In order to prepare for the law school's Centennial Anniversary celebration this weekend, the LaValley Library will close at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 15. The library will reopen at its normal time on Saturday of 9 a.m., though access to the rest of the building will be limited.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

EDotW part 4

2006-09-11T09:11:00.000-04:00

OHIOLink is much more than a super catalog of Ohio colleges & universities. It also features many databases. You can search via Subject, Type or Name or just do a quick search. Quick Search allows the user to search for articles in all databases, or predefined areas, such as political science, law and government (as one database) or business.

Subject searching allows one to bring up various databases on a single subject. For instance the Law and Legislation subject brings up databases such as Criminal Justice Abstracts.

Type searching allows one to search for books or articles. There is also Facts and Stats, which takes a user to various encyclopediae and dictionaries.

Later on, I'll delve more deeply into single databases. And as always, if you have any questions, please talk to one of us librarians.

Seventh Circuit Oral Arguments On the Net

2006-09-07T13:49:00.000-04:00

The web site of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin) now contains links for RSS feeds of oral arguments. To listen to the arguments you must have a browser capable of handling RSS feeds such as Internet Explorer 7 (see Library Blog post of August 28), a separate RSS player, or a subscription to I-Tunes. Go to www.ca7.uscourts.gov/ca7_rss.htm. If you have an RSS-ready browser or I-Tunes, merely click on the appropriate icon and select the argument you wish to hear. The site provides instructions for finding and using RSS players. Please note that some of the arguments, which run to 45 minutes or more, will take several minutes to download, even with a broadband connection.

News archive searching in Google

2006-09-07T10:21:00.000-04:00

Google now has the ability to allow you to search news archives. It goes back to the Eighteenth Century and you can do a date limited search. Some of the results do lead to fee based publications, while others are free. The service is a bit limited now, but Google intends to broaden the depth of its coverage as well as its scope to include international and foreign sources. This is an excellent way to search multiple databases, such as NY Times archives, Washington Post and Time magazine, along with smaller newspapers. The archives also can go back further than what is available on Westlaw or Lexis.

Electronic Database of the Week part 3

2006-09-05T09:12:00.000-04:00

Taking a detour away from looking at all the OHIOLink goodies for a week, I want to highlight an important source for law students and faculty.
HeinOnline is an electronic database of American law reviews and journals.

To use it, go to our Legal Research Links page and click on the link. You will get a "Subscribers, Please Click Here" page. Click on that link, it will take you to their welcome page/index. The link only works for computers in the law school, as it is tied to our IP addresses. (for UT Law faculty members who want home/road access, please see me.)
The Law Journal Library link at the top gives an alphabetical list of law journals. There is a search function that lets you search by author, title or full text. Westlaw and Lexis search interface may be easier to use, but their drawback is that for most law reviews they do not go back to the journal's inception. You can also use HeinOnline's navigation feature, if you have a citation to an article. For example if you need to get 4 U. Toledo L. Rev. 25 (from 1972-73), go to the alphabetical listing, click on "U" scroll down to University of Toledo, click on the title. This will bring up the list of all University of Toledo L. Rev. volumes. Clicking on 4 will bring up volume 4. HeinOnline shows the articles in PDF format, so you can view it just as it appears in paper (helpful for when you are cite checking). There is a downloading/printing option as well.

As always, if you have any questions, please ask a librarian.

Conference on Nuremberg Trial-- Oct. 6-7

2006-09-04T12:10:00.000-04:00

On October 6-7, the College of Law will be one of the co-sponsors of an important conference to be held at Bowling Green State University. It is titled The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial and Its Policy Consequences Today. You can obtain detailed conference information, including registration forms, here. For background on the Nuremberg Trials, there is an excellent website (part of the Famous world Trials site) that will give you background, chronology, the indictments and sentences, transcript excerpts and more.

Labor Day weekend hours

2006-09-01T11:42:00.000-04:00

The library will be open normal hours on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, we will be open 9 am to 11:45 pm, with reference hours from 2 pm to 9 pm.

Have a good weekend.

Resources For Legal Research Grants

2006-08-31T08:16:00.000-04:00

The University of Buffalo Law School Library has created a useful list of resources for law faculty seeking research funding. Its web page Funding Sources For Research Scholars lists some 18 sources of possible research grants.

Studying Law Through Cartoons

2006-08-29T23:43:00.000-04:00

Here is yet another aid to understanding the cases that are assigned in law school. The web site Stu's Views has nearly 500 cartoons based on the facts or law of major cases taught in Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence and Corporations. Most of the cartoons are hyperlinked to the text of the cases they parody. (Thanks to Law Librarian Blog for the information.)

Independent Film Festival Begins At Downtown Library

2006-08-29T09:19:00.000-04:00

This Thursday the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library begins for the fifth year its Independent Film Festival. Here is the schedule. Every Thursday evening for 5 weeks at the downtown Library you can see a high quality first-run feature film that will not be in your local multiplex. And best of all, these showings are free. I have attended a number of these in the past, and the films are always of high quality and thought-provoking. They begin at 6:45 pm, and generally there is an optional Library-staff-led discussion of the film afterwards.

This week's film is Familia (2005, directed by Louise Archambault). Here is the description: "Janine’s seemingly comfortable middle-class life is disrupted after her childhood friend Michele--a divorced, unemployed gambling addict--asks for help. Their daughters form an unlikely friendship, leading to cross-generational tension and the question: Must our children be burdened with the traits we despise in our parents--- and in ourselves?"

Internet Explorer 7 Now Available

2006-08-28T21:21:00.000-04:00

Internet Explorer 7 is now available for downloading from Microsoft. I am using it at home and find one great advantage-- it has the "tab" feature pioneered by Firefox that allows you to have multiple websites open at the same time, with easy navigation between them.

Electronic Database of the Week, part 2

2006-08-28T07:56:00.000-04:00

This week's spotlight is on OHIOLink.

OHIOLink is “a consortium of Ohio’s college and university libraries and the State Library of Ohio. Serving more than 600,000 students, faculty, and staff at 85 institutions”

Essentially, Ohiolink lets you search multiple Ohio schools’ catalogs at once. If the resource is in another school’s collection but not at the University of Toledo’s, you will be able to request it.

OHIOLink is a great way to get materials that are somewhere in Ohio, just not here. So if an UTMOST search doesn't return what you are looking for, don't despair, use OHIOLink. OHIOLink is accessible via the Legal Research Links on the LaValley Law Library's site. And if you have any questions, please ask one of us librarians.

Current Events in Toledo and Surrounding Areas

2006-08-25T13:49:00.000-04:00

EXHIBITIONS:
Now thru October 29, 2006, Reading, Riteing & Rithmetic - Wolcott House Museum, Maumee OH Thursday - Sunday 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm

Now thru September 15, 2006 Slippery Weasel Society - U.T. Center for the Visual Arts Gallery Monday thru Saturday 9 am - 10 pm, Sunday 10 am - 10 pm

Now thru September 4, 2006 Extreme Science - COSI, Toledo OH Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, Sunday noon - 5:00 pm

September 2 - 23, 2006 Artomatic 419 - 1717 Adams St. (Formerlly Toledo Rep Headquarters) Saturday 11 am - 11 pm

Now thru September 24, 2006 Ansel Adams - Toledo Museum of Art Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, Sunday 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

Now thru October 8, 2006 Pop Prints from - Toledo Museum of Art Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, Sunday 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

Now thru September 29, 2006 Curran Erard Art Exhibition - Space 237 N. Michigan, Toledo 11 am -5 pm

Now thru September 3, 2006 88th Annual Toledo Area Artists - Toledo Museum of Art Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, Sunday 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

Now thru October 4, 2006 Pop Prints from TMA - Toledo Museum of Art Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, Sunday 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

FESTIVALS:
Saturday, September 2, 2006 Arti Gras - Adams Street (11th - 18th) Noon to Midnight

Sunday, September 3, 2006 Tejano Festival - Centennial Terrace, Sylvania TBA

Sunday, September 3, 2006 RiverFest and Pandemonium VI Fireworks - Promenade & Festival Parks 5 0m - 10:30 pm

September 8 -10, 2006 Greek-American Festival - Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral Friday and Saturfay 4 pm - midnight, Sunday noon - 8 pm

September 8-10, 2006 Black Swamp Arts Festival - Downtown Bowling Green Friday 5 pm - midnight, Saturday 10 am - midnight, Sunday 11 am - 5 pm

MUSIC:
Wednesday, August 30, 2006 Judith Avers - B.G.S.U. 8:30 pm - 10:30 p

September 1, 2006 - May 4, 2007 First Friday - Toledo School for the Arts 9 am - 10 am

Friday, September1, 2006 Club Friday Music: The Travelers (early rock) - Toledo Museum of Art 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Saturday, September 2, 2006 Johnny Knorr Orchestra Presents the Music of Frank Sinatra with Dan Welch - Centennial Terrace 7:30 pm - 11:30 pm

SPORTS:
Sunday, September 4, 2006 Toledo Mud Hens vs Columbus Clippers - Fifth Third Field 6 pm

THEATER:
September 9 and 10, 2006 Open Auditions for the Nutcracker - Toledo Ballet Association 10 am - 4:45 pm

MISCELLANEOUS:
Now thru September 20, 2006 Birthday Special - Butterfly House, Whitehouse Monday - Saturday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, Sunday Noon- 5:00 pm

Saturday, September 9, 2006 SRO Fundraiser - Centennial Terrace, Sylvania TBA

Saturday, September 9, 2006 Family A-Fair Day - Lutheran Village at Wolf Creek 11 am - 3 pm

Saturday, September 9, 2006 Fantasy Fest in the Forest Gala - Camp Miakonda 6 pm - 11 pm

Friday, September 8 - 10, 2006 35th Annual Jewelry, Gem and Mineral Show - Stranahan Theater Friday 2 - 9 pm, Saturday 10 am - 6 pm, Sunday 10 am - 5 pm

September 9 and 10, 2006 Fall Plant Sale - Toledo Botanical Garden Saturday and Sunday 9 am - 5 pm

Newsletter for US Federal Courts

2006-08-24T09:45:00.000-04:00

The Third Branch is the newsletter for the Federal Courts. It has been around for a while, with online archives going back to 1995. It gives adminstrative news about the courts, such as new appointments and the Judiciary's new budget. While there usually isn't much earth shattering news in the newsletter, it is a good way to keep up with what is happening in the federal courts.

Labor Day Week End Hours

2006-08-23T16:50:00.000-04:00

Please note the LaValley Law Library hours for Labor Day week end:

Fri. Sept. 1: 7:30 am- 11:45 pm
Sat. Sept. 2: 9:00 am- 9:45 pm
Sun. Sept. 3: 9:00 am - 11:45 pm
Mon. Sept. 4: 9:00 am - 11:45 pm

Electronic Database of the Week

2006-08-21T08:33:00.000-04:00

I am going to try and highlight one of our electronic databases each week.

I want to start off the series with UTMOST
UTMOST is the University of Toledo's online catalog:
http://utmost.cl.utoledo.edu/ is the website, we have a link to it on the library website under "Search our Catalog"

UTMOST contains records of all the materials available at the University of Toledo libraries. With the recent merger with MUO this does now include the medical library's records.
You can search by title, subject, author, call number or keyword. For me, unless I know who the author is or the title, I prefer using the keyword. Subject searching can be tricky, for example searching "Tort Law" as a subject won't bring up any results. Using them as keywords will bring up books on tort law. Choose one of the results, and towards the bottom of the record there will be a subject line or lines. You can then click on those subject headings to call up more results on the same subject.

If you any questions, please ask one of us librarians.

For 1L's: How To Read A Judicial Opinion

2006-08-20T10:18:00.000-04:00

First year students-- you may find this short essay by Prof. Orin Kerr of George Washington University Law School useful. It is titled: How To Read a Judicial Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students.

New edition of the U.S. Government Manual

2006-08-18T11:27:00.000-04:00

The 2006-07 edition of the US Government Manual is available at the GPO website

The manual "provides comprehensive information on the agencies of
the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. The Manual also
includes information on quasi-official agencies; international
organizations in which the United States participates; and boards,
commissions, and committees."

It is broken down into various sections, avaiable in text format or PDF.

Current Events in Toledo and Surrounding Areas

2006-08-17T09:42:00.000-04:00

EXHIBITIONS:
Now thru October 29, 2006, Reading, Riteing & Rithmetic - Wolcott House Museum, Maumee OH Thursday - Sunday 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm

Now thru September 4, 2006 Extreme Science - COSI, Toledo OH Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, Sunday noon - 5:00 pm

Now thru September 24, 2006 Ansel Adams - Toledo Museum of Art Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, Sunday 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

Now thru October 8, 2006 Pop Prints from - Toledo Museum of Art Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, Sunday 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

Now thru August 27, 2006 The Art of Building: Creating Your Museum Campus- Toledo Museum of Art Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, Sunday 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

Now thru September 3, 2006 88th Annual Toledo Area Artists - Toledo Museum of Art Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm, Sunday 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

FESTIVALS:
Friday, August 18, 2006 Taste of Maumee - City of Maumee 5:00 pm - 11:00 pm

Saturday, August 19 - August 20, 2006 Maumee Summer Fair 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Sunday, August 20, 2006 32nd Birmingham Ethnic Festival - Consaul Street Noon to 9:00 pm

MUSIC:
Thursday, August 17, 2006 Jazz in the Garden - University of Toledo Faculty Jazz Ensemble - Toledo Botanical Gardens 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Thursday, August 17, 2006 Muscial Evening at Wolcott House Museum Complex 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Friday, August 18, 2006 Gwar in Concert - Headliners, Toledo 8:00 pm

Saturday, August 19, 2006 Rock for Autism Concert - Cenntennial Terrace, Sylvania OH

Sunday, August 20, 2006 ApologetiX - Clay High School Auditorium 6:30 pm

Sunday, August 20, 2006 Music Under the Stars: Quest for Cool: Jazz 7:30 pm

THEATER:
Now thru August 20, 2006 Mamma Mia - Stranahan Theater

Friday, August 19, 2006 Late Nite Catechism 2 - Valentine Theatre 8:oo pm

Monday, August 21, 2006 Law & Murder - Spaghetti Warehouse 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

MISCELLANEOUS:
Now thru September 20, 2006 Birthday Special - Butterfly House, Whitehouse Monday - Saturday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, Sunday Noon- 5:00 pm

Thursday, August 17, 2006 Silverback Society Dinner - Toledo Zoo call for times

Friday, August 18, 2006 Rock N' Roar - "Bell Bottoms and Boot Cuts" , Toledo Zoo 7:00 pm to midnight

Tuesday, August 22, 2006 Gold Circle Dinner - Toledo Zoo call for times

Welcome- and Welcome Back-- To UT Law Students

2006-08-16T23:39:00.000-04:00

To returning students, Welcome Back! To new students: Welcome! There have been a number of changes in the Law Library this summer. Probably the most noticeable is the addition of a coffee bar where you may purchase coffee and tea (only in your own close-top travel mugs). There are many other changes as well. The library is now receiving all CCH and BNA publications in electronic form instead of in paper. This has allowed us to greatly increase the number of titles for each of these publishers. We are also integrating our electronic holdings into the UTMOST online catalogue. A number of additional computers have been scattered around the library with icons on them that can assist you in your research.

The Law Library's website has been improved-- with extensive research links as one feature. Current news headlines from Jurist now scroll across the Library's homepage. Click on a headline to go to the full news story.

We have updated and expanded our collection of student course-related materials such as Nutshells, treatises, "Understanding" series, and the like. CALI exercises are posted on the two computers in the First Year Study Area, and they are also available on CDs or online-- inquire in the library to get access to either of these.

In today's electronic environment, law libraries have become information centers. Our reference librarians can help you with both paper and electronic sources. Often the best starting point for a research project is a treatise, monograph or law review article that gives you an overview and context before you begin to explore online materials. Also, remember that online materials vary significantly in reliability. Proprietary databases to which the library subscribes are reliable sources. Materials merely turned up in Google searches require much more evaluation.

We are trying to make the Law Library a comfortable place for you to study, as well as a research destination. With coffee and wireless web access, as well as dedicated printers for items you wish to download from Lexis or Westlaw, think about making the LaValley Law Library your "second home" while at Law School.

New Article By Prof. Steinbock

2006-08-16T23:34:00.000-04:00

UT Law Prof. Daniel Steinbock this summer posted a new article on SSRN: Designating the Dangerous: From Blacklists to Watch Lists, forthcoming in Seattle University Law Review.

Reading court opinions

2006-08-16T14:33:00.000-04:00

Just in time for a new school year, Orin Kerr (an associate professor at George Washington) has a short article on how to read a court opinion:
How to Read a Judicial Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students

It is a PDF document.

Moussaoui trial exhibits

2006-08-01T09:32:00.000-04:00

Exhibits from the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui have been posted on the web by the US D.C., Eastern District of Virginia.

The exhibits can be accessed here

The court also has exhibits from other notable cases, including US v. John Walker Lindh and Hamdi v. Rumsfeld. They can be accessed here

Presidential Signing Statements

2006-07-30T14:35:00.000-04:00

In June, the American Bar Association announced creation of a Task Force on Presidential Signing Statements and the Separation of Powers Doctrine. the Task Force Report as well other material is available online here. The Report will be presented to the ABA at its annual meeting on Aug. 7-8.

UT Law Prof Publishes On Post-Disaster Price Gouging

2006-07-28T22:35:00.000-04:00

The most recent issue of the Kentucky Law Journal (Vol. 94 , pg. 535) carries an article by UT Law Professor Geoff Rapp titled: Gouging: Terrorist Attacks, Hurricanes, and the Legal and Economic Aspects of Post-Disaster Price Regulation.

EUR-Lex

2006-07-28T15:51:00.000-04:00

There is a new portal to European Union Law,
EUR-lex
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/

(Thanks to Law Librarian Blog)

UT Law Dean Featured In UToday

2006-07-25T22:11:00.000-04:00

UToday July 25, 2006

Douglas E. Ray started his job as the UT College of Law's 16th dean this month. He looks forward to leading the college, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, into its second century, working with the community to continue the college's steady climb.

"I accepted this position because I think the College of Law has a bright and positive future," said Ray, who taught at the UT College of Law from 1981 to 1998. "My hope is to spend much of the next academic year working with the faculty, staff and alumni in a planning process to ensure that we make the most of our opportunities and continue the college's progress."

Ray returns to the College of Law following six and one-half years of service as dean of the Widener University School of Law and as vice president of Widener University. At Widener, he was responsible for law school campuses in Wilmington, Del., and Harrisburg, Pa., with more than 1,500 students.

As UT College of Law dean, one area of focus will be expanding opportunities for students to engage in public interest work, building upon the college's rich heritage of clinical programs, as well as upon student enthusiasm for using their legal education to help others.

"The college's clinic programs and public service externships give students the opportunity to serve the poor, learn practical skills, build confidence, and learn that a lawyer can make a big difference in a person's life," Ray said.

UT Prof's Op-Ed On Terrorism Watch Lists

2006-07-25T05:53:00.000-04:00

Read Toledo Law Professor Daniel Steinbock's column in today's Jurist, titled Keeping the 'Watch' in Terrorism Watch Lists.

Application Period For 2007-08 Fulbright Grants

2006-07-21T12:57:00.000-04:00

October 20, 2006 is the deadline for applying for 2007-08 Fulbright Grants. For information, see the Fulbright Online website.

Search For New Library Director Begins

2006-07-19T00:10:00.000-04:00

The position description for Director of the LaValley Law Library at the University of Toledo has been posted on the American Association of Law Libraries' Job Hotline. Please forward it to anyone who may be interested in applying for the position.

Call For Papers-- Canadian Legal Education Journal

2006-07-16T14:50:00.000-04:00

1ST (2007) ISSUE OF THE CANADIAN LEGAL EDUCATION ANNUAL REVIEW (CLEAR)

The Canadian Legal Education Annual Review is a peer-reviewed annual publication of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT). The aim of the journal is to foster scholarly exchanges on issues related to legal education and relevant to all Canadian law professors, graduate students and those who teach law. In particular, the journal aims to encourage critical and scholarly reflections on the aspirations, goals, objectives, values and cultures of legal education and on the processes involved in law teaching .

CLEAR welcomes submissions dealing with current issues and problems in legal education, presenting empirical studies on legal education and action research projects carried out by professors, examining new trends in adult education or new methods of instruction (including but not limited to learning technologies), and discussing faculty or university reports dealing with issues such as curricular reforms and access to legal education. In addition, the CLEAR welcomes other pieces such as personal stories and reviews of books and other media. CLEAR welcomes and encourages submissions in both English and French.

Please send your manuscripts as e-mail attachments in Microsoft Word format to clear.raedc@mac.com. All manuscripts must follow the Canadian Guide to Legal Citation. Manuscripts must be sent by October 31st, 2006 for publication in the 2007 issue, which will be published in time for the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers in June 2007.

Arts & Entertainment- Week of July 17-24

2006-07-16T11:55:00.000-04:00

Tues.- Sun., July 18-23: Toledo Museum of Art, Ansel Adams: Vision of the West, Gallery 18; Prints of Pop, Works on Paper Gallery.

Thursday, July 20: Hoffman Trio (Classic Rock), Lunch at Levis Square Concert, noon- 1:30

Thursday, July 20: Discover Downtown Toledo, Walking Tour, On the Waterfront, 1:10 p.m.

Thursday, July 20: Jazz in the Garden-- Kathy Cousins, Toledo Botanical Garden, 6;30 pm.

Friday, July 21, Noon Tunes, Toledo Botanical Garden, noon.

Friday, July 21, Rally by the River, Downtown. 5:30 pm- 9:30 pm.

Friday, July 21: Skies Over Toledo, Ritter Planetarium, 8:30 pm.

Sunday, July 23: Music Under the Stars-- Cup Full of Magic: Disney!, Toledo Zoo Ampitheater, 7:30 pm.

New Issue of Toledo Law Review Is Available

2006-07-16T07:46:00.000-04:00

The Spring 2006 issue of the University of Toledo Law Review has been published recently. Here is a link to its table of contents.

Next Week's Cultural & Entertainment Events In Toledo

2006-07-09T19:45:00.000-04:00

Here are selected cultural and entertainment events for the week of July 10-16 in Toledo and its suburbs. Please let us know whether you would like the Law Library to continue to post weekly event listings of this sort.

Mon. - Sun., July 10-16: Jamie Farr Classic Golf Tournament
Tues. July 11: Rally By the River & Fireworks. 5:30- 9:30 downtown.
Wed. July 12: Shakespeare in the Park, Wildwood Preserve Manor House, 7-9 p.m.
Wed. July 12: Triple-A All Star Game, Fifth-Third Field, 7:00 pm.
Thurs. July 13: Jazz in the Garden, Rachel Richardson, at Toledo Botanical Garden, 6;30- 8:30 pm.
Fri. July 14: Noon Tunes (lunchtime concert), Wildwood Preserve Metropark Manor House, noon to 1 pm.
Fri. July 14: Rally by the River, 5:30-9:30 downtown.
Fri. July 14: Tom Joyner Sky Show Broadcast, 6-10 am., Stranahan Theater.
Fri. July 14: Dr. Richard Putney, Toledo Architecture Stories, Toledo Museum of Art, 7 pm.
Sat. July 15: Art Fair, Wildwood Preserve Metropark Manor House. 10 am to 3 pm.
Sat. July 15: 1964 The Tribute (Beatles Tribute band), Centennial Terrace, Sylvania, 8 pm.
Sat. July 15: Willie Nelson, Stranahan Theater (Sold Out).
Sat. July 15: Discover the River Cruise, Sandpiper Boat, Downtown, 10 am to noon.
Sun. July 16: Music Under the Stars ("John Phillip SoUSA"), Zoo Ampitheater, 7:30-9:30 pm.

Affirmative Action Conference At Wayne State

2006-07-08T11:32:00.000-04:00

On July 21, Wayne State University Law School is sponsoring a program titled "The Status of Affirmative Action In Michigan and Beyond: A National Briefing". The program is at Wayne's law school from 10:00 a.m. to noon and features as the speaker Shanta Driver, National Director of the Michigan-based United for Equality and Affirmative Action. For more information contact Marshall Rose (419)372-8472 or mrose@bgsu.edu. (Free & open to the public).

For UT Faculty-- NEH 2007 Summer Grant Process

2006-07-07T18:18:00.000-04:00

The National Endowment for the Humanities will accept applications through October 2, 2006, for their Summer Stipend program. As noted in the NEH Guidelines , successful applicants receive a $5,000 stipend for two consecutive months of full-time research and writing. Recipients must work full-time on their projects for these two months, and may hold other research grants supporting the same project during this time. Summer Stipends normally support work carried out during the summer months, but arrangements can be made for other times of the year. Individuals may apply for both a Summer Stipend and a Fellowship, but they may not hold both in any given fiscal or calendar year.

The NEH specifies that applicants from higher education institutions may apply only after being nominated by their institution, after which they may apply online. A university may nominate no more than two faculty members of either junior or senior rank. The University of Toledo will select its applicants through an internal review process. An internal review committee will recommend nominations after review of a preliminary application, due by 5 pm on Wednesday, August 23. Applicants should submit the following:

1. A title page that includes the full project title, and the name, academic rank, department, and contact information for the applicant.

2. No more than a three-page (double-spaced) project narrative that summarizes the ideas, objectives, and methods of the project and its potential contribution to humanities scholarship.
3. The names and titles of two potential individuals to write letters in support of the project (one must be from outside UT).

4. A one-page project bibliography for the intended project.

5. A two-page resume that includes present and past professional positions.

The application materials should be sent by email to Dr. Richard Francis at Richard.Francis@utoledo.edu. The University plans to announce its nominations by September 1. Nominees will need to complete online submission to NEH by October 2.

Navigating Federal Agencies

2006-07-06T13:29:00.000-04:00

The law Librarians' Society of Washington DC has a new webpage up with links to laws and related materials regarding the operation of federal agencies:

http://www.llsdc.org/sourcebook/laws-links.htm

It is part of the LLSDC's Legislative Sourcebook, an excellenct site for navigating through federal materials

Call For Papers-- Junior Torts Scholars

2006-07-06T12:04:00.000-04:00

Call for Papers Reminder
Deadline: July 28, 2006

Junior scholars writing in the area of Torts are invited to submit papers for "Tort Law and the Modern State," a conference to be held at Columbia Law School, New York City on September 15-16, 2006.

The Conference is sponsored by Columbia Law School and the Randolph Speakers Fund and is being organized in connection with the launch of a newly formed peer-reviewed journal, the JOURNAL OF TORT LAW, http://www.bepress.com/jtl

Editor-in-Chief Jules Coleman, Yale Law School

Editorial Board
Mark Geistfeld, NYU Law School
John C.P. Goldberg, Vanderbilt Law School
Catherine Sharkey, Columbia Law School
Ronen Perry, Faculty of Law, Haifa University
Benjamin Zipursky, Fordham Law School

The Conference will bring together many of the world's most prominent tort scholars, representing a range of perspectives and methodologies including comparative, economic, empirical, historical, institutional, and philosophical analysis.

The Conference organizers are soliciting papers from junior (pre-tenure) scholars. Papers must be on some aspect of tort law, but all topics and methodological approaches will be considered. Submissions will be judged by the editorial board. Authors of submissions that are selected will appear on a conference panel, and will be given the option of publishing in the JOURNAL OF TORT LAW.

Junior scholars interested in being considered for inclusion must submit their papers no later than July 28, 2006. Papers should be no longer than 25,000 words. Submit your torts manuscript today via our website: http://www.bepress.com/jtl

If you have questions about submissions or about the conference, please contact: Thelma Twyman, ttwyman@law.columbia.edu

News Release From OhioLINK

2006-06-29T15:10:00.000-04:00

June 21, 2006
Seven Millionth Article Added to EJC

The seven millionth journal article was recently added to OhioLINK’s award-winning Electronic Journal Center. The EJC provides students, faculty and staff at participating OhioLINK institutions with instantaneous online access to more than 6,900 journal titles from 90+ publishers.

OhioLINK users downloaded 4.81 million articles from the EJC annually. A total of 21.9 million articles have been downloaded from the EJC since its inception in April 1998. More EJC stats may be found on the EJC Fast Facts page.

Tip: Try OhioLINK’s E-Journal Finder to see if OhioLINK offers a particular journal online. The OhioLINK E-Journal Finder searches the EJC and several other databases to help find desired journals. If you don’t find the journal in question using the E-Journal Finder, check with your librarian as there may be other means of accessing the journal online.

New LEXIS Developments

2006-06-29T10:07:00.000-04:00

Our LEXIS representative tells me of two new developments. Many of the BNA reporters are now back on LEXIS. So in addition to our direct online subscriptions to BNA, this is now an alternative source. Also LEXIS is now curing a major disadvantage that it had over Westlaw and is making unpublished federal district court opinions available 24 to 48 hours after their release. Previously LEXIS sometimes had long lag times, while Westlaw had prompt availability of district court opinions.

Library's Website Now Features Legal News Feed

2006-06-28T15:06:00.000-04:00

New on the LaValley Library's website: a news feed of current legal news from Jurist (at the bottom of the page). Click on a scrolling headline that interests you and you will link to the full news story. Also, there is now an easier link to the LaValley Law Library at the very top of the College of Law's home page.

Prof. Geoff Rapp Publishes Article On Injunctions In Sports Contracts

2006-06-26T12:15:00.000-04:00

Geoff Rapp has recently published Affirmative Injunctions In Athletic Employment Contracts: Rethinking The Place of the Lumley Rule In American Sports Law, in 16 Marquette Sports Law Review 261 (2006).

Press Release On Susan Martyn's New Book

2006-06-26T12:07:00.000-04:00

June 21, 2006 Wednesday 2:33 PM GMT

LexisNexis Publishes Consumer Guidebook on Working with Lawyers; Text Provides Information on Managing Attorney/Client Expectations

DATELINE: DAYTON, Ohio June 21, 2006
Studies show that 70 percent of Americans will hire a lawyer in their lifetime and of those who do, two out of every five find the process intimidating. Why is hiring a lawyer so much more uncomfortable than hiring a plumber or a doctor? To help consumers navigate the often unclear relationship between lawyer and client, LexisNexis has published its first consumer book, "Your Lawyer: A User's Guide."

The book, available in bookstores and online, provides consumers with the requisite information on the ethical obligations of lawyers and also lends insight on what not to expect and what happens if something goes wrong.

Written by lawyers Lawrence J. Fox of Drinker Biddle & Reath in Philadelphia and Susan Martyn, professor of law at University of Toledo College of Law in Ohio, the authors shed light on a topic that is often overlooked - what duties lawyers owe their clients."

A truly meaningful level of communication between lawyers and clients is rare," said Lawrence Fox, a 35-year veteran lawyer. "While many consumers know something of what to expect from their lawyers, in this busy world, it isn't often that complete and comfortable communication is achieved. 'Your Lawyer' offers an accessible bridge between counselors and clients, leveling the playing field and improving relationships."

Inside the book is a straightforward narrative with humorous illustrations in an easy-to-read, Q&A style. It includes definitions, sidebars, suggested questions, and more. Designed not only to be educational, the guidebook is intended to uphold and promote a higher level of ethical conduct among lawyers."

A lawyer owes four fiduciary duties to every client -- what we call the four C's: communication, competence, confidentiality and conflict resolution," said Susan Martyn, co-author of the book, who has worked in the legal profession and academia for nearly 30 years. "This book should be regarded as a tool to promote client-lawyer collaboration."

The soft-cover book is priced at $12 and is available at bookstores nationwide and online, including Amazon.com and via the LexisNexis bookstore at www.lexisnexis.com/yourlawyer/.

"Law & Sexuality" Seeks Articles

2006-06-26T11:25:00.000-04:00

Tulane Law School's journal, Law & Sexuality: A Review of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Legal Issues is looking for timely theoretical or practical articles to be published in Spring 2007. Law & Sexuality is the first and only student-edited law review in the country devoted solely to covering legal issues of interest to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Articles can focus on a wide variety of subjects including constitutional, employment, family, health, insurance, immigration and military law.

Submissions should be e-mailed to lbecnel@law.tulane.edu and will be accepted through August 31, 2006.

New Toledo Legal News Website

2006-06-22T11:47:00.000-04:00

The Toledo Legal News has rolled out a new website that is an excellent source for legal news, links to local courts, sheriffs sales with photos and maps of houses, and other useful information.

New Resource On "Fair Use" Under Copyright Law

2006-06-21T14:00:00.000-04:00

A new website, The Fair Use Network, is an excellent source for information on copyright issues for authors, or for teachers and scholars concerned about using other authors' material.

Starting Law Firm Salaries Again On The Rise

2006-06-20T12:40:00.000-04:00

The National Law Journal reports:

The associate salary war has spread from the coasts to the middle of the United States, with law firms boosting starting pay to stay competitive in a legal market where demand is mounting and the supply of top-notch first-years is waning.
Although law firms in the nation's middle regions are not matching the $135,000-plus salaries at the big shops on the East and West coasts, many are raising their beginning salaries in an effort not only to contend with other local firms but also to stake their turf where national firms have upped the ante.

Prof. Geoff Rapp Publishes New Article

2006-06-19T13:19:00.000-04:00

An new article by UT Law Professor Geoff Rapp has just appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of Northern Illinois University Law Review. The article is titled Doctors, Duties, Death and Data: A Critical Review of the Empirical Literature on Medical Malpractice and Tort Reform. It is part of a symposium issue on "Medical Malpractice: Emerging Issues & the Effects of Tort Reform".

2006-06-14T14:20:00.000-04:00

The Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report for 2005 is out. The upshot is a 2.5% increase in violent crime over last year. Of course, this will vary greatly by geographic region and type of crime.

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/2005preliminary/index.htm

Previous years reports are here:

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm

New Federal Law & Law Review Search Tool

2006-06-10T23:06:00.000-04:00

vLex.us is an interesting new web site that offers a clean simple interface to search U.S. Code, CFR, the Constitution, Supreme Court cases, federal circuit court cases and open access law journals. One problem with the site is that there is no indication how current its version of U.S. code is-- so beware of that. But for a quick search, it is worth trying out. The site says that soon it will launch another service that will offer thousands of full text documents digitized from law books, journals and reviews from different countries. However, since the site is based in Spain, it is not clear whether this new service will be an English language one. It already offers a Spanish language site.

Global Lex

2006-05-31T10:20:00.000-04:00

"GlobaLex is an electronic legal publication dedicated to international and foreign law research. Published by the Hauser Global Law School Program at NYU School of Law"

GlobalLex is an excellent source for research guides to International Law, Comparative Law and Foreign Law.
The newest additions, under the International Law link, are guides to International Environmental Law and a guide to cases and materials on terrorism.

Popular Films With Legal Themes Available From Library

2006-05-26T11:19:00.000-04:00

The Law Library's "Law & Popular Culture" collection consists of some 60 DVDs of Hollywood movies that have law or lawyers as a theme. They are displayed near the circulation desk. Feel free to check some out to view at home-- it's an inexpensive alternative to Blockbuster. Also feel free to suggest additional titles that we should acquire.

Some Blogs I Like

2006-05-23T08:33:00.000-04:00

Blogs on legal information that I look at include:
Wisblawg, which is from the University of Wisconsin, but as with most law school library blogs there is information about more than just the law school community.
Ohio Law, for announcements from the Ohio State Supreme Court.
Law Librarian Blog a member of the Law Professors Blog Network.
Ohio Legal Research Blog which is just what it sounds like.
Moritz Legal Information Blog from the Moritz Law Library at the Ohio State University.

Jurist, at U. of Pittsburgh, is an excellent source for legal news.

And for fun there is Arts & Letters Daily

There will be more to follow.

Hello

2006-05-22T10:14:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the inaugural posting of the LaValley Library blog. The purpose of this blog is to be an information resource for the faculty, students and staff of the University of Toledo School of Law.