HeinOnline Wiki

This post was written by guest blogger Adrienne DeWitt.

As we all know, part of a librarian’s job is training library patrons on electronic resources. While vendors are generally cooperative in providing company-authored training materials, finding this information may require a phone call or a bit of searching. HeinOnline, however, has created the “Hein Maintenance and Training Wiki”. This Wiki is a one-stop website for Hein training materials. Links include training guides and webinars specifically created improve Hein user knowledge. Librarians may find the "Training Guide" page particular useful. There is information there that would be useful to law review students or students writing seminar papers in helping them use HeinOnline effectively.

The Hein Wiki offers more than just training information; there is also a link for library maintenance and online accessibility problems. For example, the FAQ link answers a broad variety of questions ranging from downloading Adobe Acrobat to exporting citations. Additionally, there is also a “2.0 Customer Community Link” that provides access to Hein’s Blog, Twitter, and Facebook accounts.

Since I have discovered the HeinOnline Wiki, I first try to refer to the FAQs for all online issues before I contact my HeinOnline representative. It is a great “one stop shop” for all of your Hein training and maintenance needs. For more information and access to the HeinOnline Wiki, click here.

Bluebook Videos by Elon School of Law Library

Today, I added a new link to the "Links of Interest" section of this site: Bluebook Videos created at Elon University School of Law Library. These videos are based on the 19th edition of the Bluebook.

I first learned of these videos this May at the North Carolina-South Carolina Legal Research & Writing Colloquium. I attended a session called Citations in a Flash presented by Kathleen McLeod and Patricia Perkins. They also mentioned that Rick Palmer, Academic Technology Consultant, Teaching and Learning Technologies at Elon played an important role in the development of this project. I thought that the video that we saw did a great job of parsing out the methodology behind the rules of the Bluebook. I think these videos will be great for students that are visual learners and I was happy to learn that more videos are available for us to share with our students.

Legal Letters

I never thought much about a legal letter until this year. Sure, we wrote a client memo my 1L year, but never again did I think about this subject, until this year. A colleague and I both were asked to present what the library had to offer in the legal letters department. My colleague did a long presentation, but I was asked to come several times over the course of the semester to cover selected topics: Engagement Letters, Client Advice Letters, and Memos to the Partner.

At my school, we have three sections of Legal Letters, which totals about 60 students. Since the library did not have multiple copies of most of the materials, I decided to place these materials on Reserves at our Circulation Desk to ensure equal access to these materials. This turned out to be a great idea because these books turned out to be extremely popular.

I have to say, this is an area that I prefer to research in print over electronic. In print, I was able to easily find the type of document I needed. Online, I had to do a lot of sifting through irrelevant material.

Hat tip to Drake Law Library's Legal Writing LibGuide for giving me the inspiration to create my presentations.

If you would like to see my presentation on Engagement Letters (aka retainer agreements) please go to the User Education in Law Librarianship Wiki.

Bloomberg to Buy BNA

If you follow 3 Geeks and a Blog, you may have heard that BNA is being acquired by Bloomgerg. My first reaction was "are we going to still be able to afford BNA?" What do you think about this news? Please comment below!

New page for AALL!

AALL has upgraded its web page! Links to resources can now be found on the top center of the page and have drop down menus. A few additional links that can be expanded or contracting by clicking the + or - signs are available on the right hand side of the screen. The AALL Spectrum blog feeds into the AALL Spectrum page, which is a great feature in my opinion. Similarly, #AALL11 tweets feed into the Annual Meeting page. AALL's social media links are visible on every page. What do you think of the new design?

Gov Docs: The Basics SlideShare Presentation

Yesterday I attended a webinar called Accidental Government Document Librarian: The Basics. The session was hosted by the North Carolina Library Association Section on Government Resources and the presenter was Bryna Coonin of the Joyner Library at Eastern Carolina University. The session is great for those who need Government Document information, but do not deal with these documents on a daily basis. Ms. Coonin covered information on conducting a reference interview when gov docs materials are involved, gave lists of many useful websites, and SuDoc classification, as well as other topics. This session is available on SlideShare. The webinar is useful for all librarians, not just those in NC, that work with government documents sporadically.

Drama in the Library Facebook Page

Whether it be from patrons or co-workers, most libraries experience drama every now and then. The Drama in the Library Facebook Page is a place where library workers can go and vent, but more importantly get valuable advice from colleagues. Additionally, the page links to articles that give advice on how to help keep a healthy work environment.

Stay in touch with AALL 2011 Local Arrangements Committee

The Annual Meeting is still several months away, but you can stay in contact with the AALL 2011 Local Arrangements Committee through several avenues.

Committee Web Page

Facebook

Discussion Board

You can also stay in touch with 2011 meeting information on Twitter using #AALL11 or follow the Annual Meeting Updates.

ProQuest LibGuides

As you may have heard ProQuest has acquired LexisNexis Congressional.

In addition to finding information on the ProQuest Congressional Wiki, users can now also find relevant information for Congressional, as well as other ProQuest products, through their LibGuide. The ProQuest LibGuides are currently divided into three categories: Current Bibliographies; Getting Started; and Quick Start Guides.

Additionally, users can also suggest future guides and receive email alerts when new guides are published.

Quick Access Guide: Links to Law Library Research Guides/Pathfinders

This guide contains links to ABA accredited and provisionally credited law school libraries that have access to their research guides electronically either on the library’s website or through LibGuides. Some court and public law library guides are also included. Schools marked with an asterisk (*) did not have a link to electronic guides readily available and the link listed is the library home page. This does not mean that these schools do not offer research guides, just that I did not have access to their guides electronically at the time of this guide. The list of schools appears in the same order as it does on the ABA website. Please send any suggestions or corrections to mcosby@nccu.edu.

To access the guide click here.

AALL Management Institute

The AALL 2011 Management Institute will be held April 7-9 in Chicago, IL.

I attended the 2009 Management Institute in Tampa, FL and it truly was an enriching experience. You can read my thoughts about the Management Institute in the SEAALL Newsletter (2009 AALL Management Institute, 34 Southeastern Law Librarian 3. Spring 2009).

Sign up is limited 50 participants and is on a first come, first served basis. For more information see the AALL Management Institute page.

CALI.org Videos Available on YouTube

I read this blog post on the CALI Blog. CALI has a YouTube Channel that you can subscribe to. The CALI YouTube channel will replace the CALI Blip.TV channel.