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LIBRARY INFO - Library Highlights: 2000-2001
CORNELL LAW LIBRARY HIGHLIGHTS July 2000 - June 2001
Library Budget & Planning Following the consultants' recommendations (Sept. 2000), and the combined efforts of Dean Teitelbaum and University Librarian Sarah Thomas, the financial situation of the Law Library was substantially improved, particularly the acquisitions budget, with the following additions: Direct allocation of the acquisitions budget from the Provost's Office, currently about 5% increase per year. Firming up of the law school supplement at $225,650 per year. Additional annual income from Jack Clarke's Endowment for foreign and international law materials in the amount of $100,000. A single budget was prepared, that includes the contributions of the Cornell University Library and of the Cornell Law School. The third strategic plan was developed by the library staff, to set directions for the library, and to achieve efficiencies within the existing budget and staffing. The new plan: Manages the transition from the physical to the online world of information through the integration of print and online sources. Focuses on increased education and training programs for students and faculty, using the Library Web site as the major conduit for information. Supports the expanding international and multidisciplinary programs of the Law School. Formal discussions were initiated with the Law School IT (Information Technology) Department, CUL IT and the Law Library technology team, to draw up a list of services provided and specific technology needs. Progress was achieved in resolving some of the dual support issues.
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Student Services In the fall of 2000, the law-trained librarians taught the Legal Research part of Legal Methods to first-years. In the spring of 2001, they team-taught the three-credit hour Advanced Legal Research seminar. Web pages were designed for the two courses. Workshops and training for students included: LL.M. Research Orientation in August; Academic Orientation program; Cornell Law Review, International Law Journal, and Journal of Law & Public Policy programs; Law Library tours for new students. Several research sessions were taught during substantive law classes. Library presentations were conducted at Admitted Students Program, Librarianship as an Alternative Career, Academics as an Alternative Career, and Minorities in the Law Conference. The popular "Sail into Summer" program (May 2001) provided a research refresher to students before their summer clerkships. Numerous individual research appointments were scheduled with faculty and students. The Carrel reservation system was expanded from 30 to 70 carrels, to allow students with writing projects to keep materials together in a carrel. Web registration was a new feature. Several sessions on Rare books were conducted during French Law Class (Jan. 2001), and English Legal History (Prof. Sherwin, Feb. 2001), to give students a better appreciation of legal history and the context of their legal studies. Professor Brian Simpson, Michigan, gave a lecture on Rare Books in April 2001. 36,678 materials were checked out, or in library use. 5,160 reference and research questions were answered. 43 bibliographies and handouts were produced. 295 instruction sessions were conducted to 3,515 participants, and 20 tours to 249 participants.
Publications Published 23 issues of InSITE, annotations of new and useful legal web sites, sent electronically to over 1,150 subscribers. It is also available as a searchable database. Published its annual Library Guide, increased content on its web site, and created new
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web guides: Legal Ethics, International Commercial Arbitration, and European Union Law. Updated the Foreign and International Law Sources on the Internet: a guide to web sites, providing annoted links to texts of laws and court decisions, research guides and commentaries, with annotations. Published the Law Library Letter newsletter, with news of Library services and resources, and Law Library Update for research assistants.
Faculty Services Created and maintained two new web sites for Professor Martha Fineman, one called Feminism and Legal Theory Project, the other one called Gender, Sexuality, and Family.
Redesigned and maintained the Death Penalty Project Web site, used by Professors Steve Garvey, Sheri Johnson, and John Blume. Presented a Faculty Workshop in December 2000 on "Electronic Publication of Legal Scholarship," discussing HeinOnline, JSTOR (Scholarly Journal Archive), LSN (Legal Scholarship Network), and LEDA (Legal Electronic Document Archive). Continued an active "Faculty Liaison" program, whereby each of the five lawyer-librarians is assigned to a number of law faculty, and provides a variety of services. Prepared many prospective faculty bibliographies for active Faculty Appointments Committee. Sent E-mail announcements to faculty on important legal information of the day.
Gifts and Endowments Thanks to Dean Teitelbaum's efforts, the Law Library received an endowment from Jack Clarke, resulting in $100,000 per year, for the acquisition of foreign and international law materials.
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The Law Library also received a new endowment with the establishment of the Sheppard A. Guryan JD' 67 Endowment toward the annual acquisition of books and related materials on the History of Jurisprudence and American Legal Thought. The Law Library is currently the beneficiary of the CUL Sidney Meisel's Rare Book Preservation Endowment, provided by Eliot Meisel, an ILR graduate. Two law rare books have been preserved from that fund.
Collection The foreign law collection inventory was completed. The analysis of the data is in progress, toward recommendations to faculty library committee as to what to keep in print, and what to choose in electronic format, as well as possible cooperative arrangements with other libraries within NELLCO (New England Law Libraries Consortium) and other library groups. The Law Library is continually taking active steps to manage the transition from the physical to the online world of information, while realizing the continuing value of historic print collections in law, and focusing on print items that are not available in electronic form. 10,163 volumes were added, and 5,490 titles were cataloged.
Technology The new Library management system, Voyager, that controls acquisitions, claiming, cataloging, and circulation of library materials, required much staff time to operate. Thousands of active purchase orders were migrated to the new system, several hundreds of fund codes identified and corrected, three thousands serials check in records were created, and over eleven thousand individual pieces received on these check-in records. The library also migrated to a new, web-based bindery control system, as the first library on campus.
Outreach and Partnerships Started a collaborative effort with the student editors of the Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion, to make selected portions of the Donovan Nuremberg Trials collection available to the public on the Internet. The Law Library is making acid free print and digital copies of selected documents, and the editors are using the copies to solicit commentary and related articles from scholars, that will be published online at http://www.lawandreligion.com. The Library is also preparing a detailed index of the documents that can be accessed over the Internet. Continued partnership with Hein Digital Journals
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Project, at http://heinonline.org/, winner of AALL 2001 Best New Product Award. All issues of Cornell Law Quarterly (now Cornell Law Review) from inception to date, and Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy have been digitized. Because of its partnership, Law Library and the entire campus (including the medical campus in NYC) have access to over 225,000 law review articles free of charge (normal cost is $4,000 per year). Access to Hein Online journals is provided via the Library Catalog. Outreach to Law School Alumni: offered two CLE programs to alumni during June 2001 Alumni Reunion: 1. Lectured on "Distance Learning, Internet Legal Research, and the Future" (with Peter Martin). 2. Presented session on Legal Ethics Research on the Internet. Provided a substantial amount of legal information and legal research assistance to the community at large, particularly undergraduate and graduate students, including formal class sessions and continuously on an informal basis. Continued collaborative relationship with ILR (Industrial and Labor Relations School), particularly for collection development. Joint work with the ILO (International Labor Organization), including the ILO web mirror site, that benefit campus community.
International Connections Librarian from Nigeria visited the Law Library, as part of a visit to LII (Legal Information Institute), and attended IALL (International Association of Law Libraries) meeting in Dublin, Ireland, with a special scholarship arranged by the Library Director. The Law Library hosts and maintains the IALL web site at http://www.iall.org. Charlotte Bynum taught a course on legal research in Palestine in August 2000; Claire Germain taught legal research to French law students in Paris in January 2001, and a week-long course on "Law Information Sources Worldwide," in Barcelona, April 2001.
Staff The Head of Cataloging, Jean Pajerek, assumed managerial responsibility for the acquisitions department, and was promoted to Head of Technical Services.
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