Blog Archive: 2011

New CALI Lesson on North Carolina Primary Legal Sources

CALI has just posted a new lesson on North Carolina Primary Legal Sources (primary legal sources are documents that actually contain the law like constitutions, treaties, statutes, regulations, and cases). This hour-long lesson covers both print and online versions as well as low-cost options such as CaseMaker and the free web.

The lesson was co-authored by our very own Julie Kimbrough, Assistant Director for Collection Services, and Nikki Perry over at North Carolina Central University School of Law.

If you haven't set up a CALI account yet, stop by the reference desk for UNC's activation code.

Klinefelter Wins AALL Distinguished Lectureship Award

The Law Library is pleased to announce that Anne Klinefelter, associate professor of law and director of the Kathrine R. Everett Law Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, is the winner of the second annual Distinguished Lectureship Award.

Klinefelter is the author of a substantial body of innovative scholarship on privacy, new communications technologies, copyright, licensing, the First Amendment, and the PATRIOT Act. She has spoken at local, national, and international conferences and several law review symposiums and has taught for many years in law and library schools. Klinefelter' s lecture will be presented at the AALL Annual Meeting in Boston and will be published in Law Library Journal.

From the December 2011 AALL E-Newsletter

Bloomberg Law Available to Law Students

­The library is now pleased to offer access to the Bloomberg Law database to students and faculty. Bloomberg Law offers access to primary law content similar to Westlaw and Lexis, but offers a variety of unique content that may be useful to law students, particularly those contemplating a corporate/business law practice:

Phantom Sculptor Leaves Gifts at Libraries

Take a quick break to see the small delicate sculptures a mystery woman has been leaving, as a thank you, in libraries across Scotland.

New and Quick Way to Reserve Study Rooms (through the web and your smartphone)!

In coordination with the Law Library, the IT department is pleased to announce that students who wish to reserve either a school or a library study room can now do so from a single place.

Students may go to My Carolina Law - Website Management - Study Room Reservations (or https://my.law.unc.edu/manage/studyroom/) to reserve any study room in Van Hecke-Wettach Hall.

UPDATE: This may also now be done from your smartphone: https://my.law.unc.edu/manage/studyroom/quickreserve/.

Supreme Court Apps

Two FREE apps for iOS and Android OS devices

OyezToday tracks the current business of the U.S. Supreme Court in the form of abstracts in all cases granted review. They share SCOTUS audio in a searchable format linked to transcripts. With a simple flip and tap, It is possible to identify and create clips of segments or turns to share and repurpose. They also make written opinions available shortly after release.

PocketJustice focuses on the Supreme Court's constitutional jurisprudence regardless of Term. The free version provides abstracts, voting data, searchable arguments+transcripts, and opinions in the top 100 most frequently employed cases found in con law casebooks.

To download, search for the apps by name in the App Store (iPhone/iPad) or Android Market.

Is there legislative history in N.C.?

A recent article by Thomas P. Davis, N.C. Supreme Court Librarian, in Legal Reference Services Quarterly, 30:85-94, 2011, examines the issues surrounding the use of legislative history in N.C. courts. The article is available online from computers on the UNC Chapel Hill campus.

CALI Lessons to work on iPads, iPhones, other mobile

Starting this school year, CALI Lessons are going to look a lot different. Content of the lessons will remain the same, but the new-look lessons will include features you've been asking us about for awhile: Lessons are, of course, still compatible with desktops, but they now work on smartphones or tablets: the iPad, iPhone, and Android. No, not an app that you have to download, just browse to http://www.cali.org/ on your tablet or smartphone, login to the website, and run the lesson like normal.

Carpeting Project in Library

Contractors will be working to replace worn carpeting in the law library between June 21st and June 29th. The project will include replacement of the carpet on the stairway that leads from the 5th floor faculty area to the 3rd floor of the library, parts of the Reading Room and other areas of the library.

U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978

The law library has purchased The Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978. U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978 contains the world's most comprehensive online collection of records and briefs brought before the nation's highest court by leading legal practitioners. It includes transcripts, applications for review, motions, petitions, supplements and other official papers.