Cornell Law Library Annual Report 2009-2010

Highlights July 2009 June 2010

Law Library Impact on Law School Programs Avon Global Center for Women and Justice Three Research Attorneys – Jean Callihan, Amy Emerson, and Thomas Mills – have actively worked with the faculty, staff, and students at the Center, Jean, I just wanted to take a moment and providing research training thank you. So many times, the for the students, as well as important thank yous are purchasing books needed Jean Callihan, Sara Lulo, Amy Emerson, and overlooked, and I feel that you for the Center’s work. The Maithili Pradhan, Women and Justice Fellow, were a very important part of the Research Attorneys were work together on Avon Center projects. research that went into making this essential in building the Legal article a reality.

Warmly, Jocelyn Getgen, Avon Resources section of the Center’s web site, which provides access to treaties Center Fellow and other international and regional documents, statutes, and case law from around the world relating to gender-based violence. Cornell Law School established the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice, led by Sital Kalantry, Faculty Director, and Sara Lulo, Executive Director, with a generous grant from the Avon Foundation. The Center's mission is to work with judges, legal professionals, governmental and non-governmental organizations to improve access to justice in an effort to eliminate violence against women and girls.

CeRI: Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative Associate Law Librarian Pat Court worked with CeRI on setting up project research and on training law students to do research in linguistic and social media topics, such as online communities participation and the effect of moderators on blogs. The Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative is a multidisciplinary collaboration that brings together faculty and students from several disciplines and the legal informatics professionals of the Legal Information Institute. The focus for CeRI, with principal researcher Prof. Cynthia Farina, is on using technology to improve the basic notice-and-comment process of federal rulemaking, to engage in theoretical and applied research about the technology and practice of e-rulemaking.

Scholarship@Cornell Law Number of new articles added July09-June10 197 A major project this year was to add depth to the Total number of items in repository as of June 30, 2010 487 electronic scholarship repository of our law faculty Total number of downloads July09-June10 66,749 publications.

Jean Pajerek, Head of Information Total number of download for all items 229,864 Management, coordinated a revision of the layout of the web repository, known as Scholarship@Cornell Law, and worked with staff to add timely updating and historical backfiles. In a luncheon program on December 4, the library presented information to an engaged group of faculty on how the library works to showcase and support their scholarship.

Acknowledgements from Scholars “We thank Claire Germain and the Cornell University Law School Library for their many forms of assistance.” ~ Robert A. Hillman, in Principles of the Law of Software Contracts

“My deep appreciation goes to Ms. Jane Drumheller, Library Associate, Cornell University Law School.” ~ Rabia Bhuiyan, JSD, in Gender & Tradition in Marriage & Divorce “I’m grateful to Julie Jones and Amy Emerson of the Cornell Law School Library for tracking down all kinds of sources for me.”

Cynthia Grant Bowman, in Unmarried Couples, Law and Public Policy

Teaching The law librarians taught several research courses, including a 3-credit seminar in Advanced Legal Research and a course for LL.M. students in U.S. Legal Research. They team-teach the Lawyering courses both semesters to first year law students, and lead directed reading courses in foreign and international law topics. Students are particularly appreciative of the research instruction when they are on the job.

“I was prepared for just about all of my [research] duties, and kicked the posteriors of all my peer summer associates, despite getting a measly B in my lawyering class.”

“It was nice to have the ability to research in the books – particularly during the litigation unit. I ended up teaching other summers how to use the library.”

Iantha Haight teaching “Research in the Real World” to first year students.

“Advanced Legal Research was a big help to my summer job. I would recommend this course to anyone before their 2L summer job.”

Nuremberg Trials on CyberTower The impact of the Donovan Nuremberg Collection and the outreach Cornell Law Library accomplishes based on the collection continue to be strong. This year, a staff team (Thomas Mills, Jean Pajerek, Jean Callihan, Iantha Haight, Amy Emerson, Elizabeth Teskey, and Janet Gillespie) produced a video for Cornell’s CyberTower series on our “Nuremberg Archives.” It debuted at Reunion in June to an appreciative audience, and continues to be viewed on the web, shedding light on the quest for justice for victims of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Thomas Mills filming “Nuremberg Archives” for CyberTower.

The Competitive Edge: new blog To give our law students “The Competitive Edge” in their studies and job searching, Research Attorney Iantha Haight created a new blog that advances legal research, scholarship, and education among Cornell Law students and the broader research community. With contributions from numerous law library staff, as well as some student postings, the blog focuses on online resources, research tips, library news, Cornell law scholarship, and other items of interest to Cornell law students. Begun in February 2010, topics have included researching Supreme Court Justice nominee Elena Kagan, using Bloomberg Law, studying for the bar on iPhone/iPod touch, and the Olympics and the Law.

Death Penalty Project When Prof. Blume needed a Chinese court opinion on a death penalty case, he turned to his librarian liaison Amy Emerson. Extensive research in legal sources and web documents did not find it, so our contacts in Beijing and Shanghai were contacted for assistance. We were able to get the text – in Chinese! The library then drafted a willing Chinese LL.M. student who quickly and capably translated the decision, which was the beginning of a great research relationship between Frank Zhang and Prof. Blume.

John H. Blume, Director of the Cornell Death Penalty Project.

I just wanted to thank you all for your help with my project for Cornell's Death Penalty Clinic. The case my teammates and I have been working on has been a challenging research project because much of the "authority" is science based and not law... I greatly appreciate the advice and counseling of the law library faculty. Most importantly, the law library's willingness to go the extra mile to get a recent and highly relevant issue of Applied Neuropsychology made a big difference. I now have a much better understanding of how the IQ tests work, why the scores fluctuate, and how experts test a person's adaptive functioning.

Thank you so much, Jeremy Smith Kathy Hartman assisting Jeremy Smith 2L.

The Law Library thanks our generous donors for these Gifts and Endowments Jack Clarke ’52 Comparative Law Book Fund Foreign, Comparative, & International Law Lapkin Foundation Donovan Digital Project Henry and Ellen Korn Donovan Collection Sheppard A. Guryan ’67 Law Library Endowment History of Jurisprudence & American Legal Thought Arthur H. Rosenbloom ’59 Law Library Endowment Israeli Law Earl J. Bennett 1901 Collection Statutory Material Judge Alfred J. Loew Memorial Fund Education & Other Acquisitions Harry Bitner Research Fund Research Fellows Sheppard A. Guryan ’67 Law Librarian’s Endowment