Bloggy Notion:

News of the Hastings Law Library

If you have citation to a UN document that includes a symbol (some examples are: A/62/50 or ST/ADM/SER.B/517 or E/CN.4/2006/10/Add.2) go to UNBISnet, the United Nations Bibliographic Information System of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, and search here.

Many UN document symbols start with a letter (the first component of the symbol which reflects the parent organ issuing the document or to which the document is being submitted):
A/- (General Assembly)
S/- (Security Council)
E/- (Economic and Social Council)
ST/- (Secretariat)

Coverage on UNBISnet is from 1979 onward, however, they are adding older documents on a regular basis.

Posted by Julie Horst at 11:52 AM | Permalink

Above is the entryway to the new library.

Above are the stairs from the 4th floor to the 5th floor.

Posted by Vincent Moyer, FCIL Librarian at 04:25 PM | Permalink

To see what items you have checked out and when they're due, which books you have on hold, and whether or not you owe any fines, click on View Your Record, a link at the bottom left of the Hastings Online Public Access Catalog homepage.

Posted by Julie Horst at 11:25 AM | Permalink

Bobby G. Frederick, Note. Tattoos and the First Amendment Art Should Be Protected as Art: the South Carolina Supreme Court Upholds the State's Ban On Tattooing. (White v. South Carolina, 537 U.S. 825, 2002, No. 01-1859) 55 S.C. L. Rev. 231-251 (2003).

Pager, Chet K.W., M.D. Blind Justice, Colored Truths and the Veil of Ignorance, 41 Willamette L. Rev. 373-433 (2005).

Posted by Julie Horst at 09:06 AM | Permalink

To see a list of recent cases organized by topic (including but not limited to: Antitrust, Bankruptcy, Commercial Law, Criminal Justice, Education, Environmental Law, Family Law, Health, Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment, Products Liability, Real Property or Tax), look in the Westlaw Directory under Legal Periodicals & Current Awareness | Westlaw Highlights & Bulletins | Westlaw Topical Highlights.

If you're interested in recent cases by jurisdiction, the following states have summaries of recent federal and state judicial, legislative, and administrative activities: California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. The state bulletins are found in the Westlaw Directory under Legal Periodicals & Current Awareness | Westlaw Highlights & Bulletins | Westlaw State Bulletins.

Find Circuit Splits: You can read the arguments in each circuit and then decide how the circuit split should be resolved. Find these at Split Circuits - A blog dedicated to tracking developments concerning splits among the federal circuit courts, written by Professor A. Benjamin Spencer from the University of Richmond School of Law.

Look at subject specific current awareness resources such as BNA's International Trade Reporter and Family Law Reporter. These resources list hot topics of current interest to practitioners and academics.

The Lexis Hot Topics webpage is a good place to read about interesting new laws and proposed legislation. Another great source for current topics are newsletters. One way to access them on Lexis is to go to News & Business > News > By Industry & Topic > Legal where you can select categories such as: Banking Law, Bankruptcy Law, Corporate Law, Employment and Labor Law, Entertainment Law, Environmental Law, Health Care Law, Insurance Law, International Law, Litigation, School Law, Securities Law and more.

Posted by Julie Horst at 08:59 AM | Permalink

Tired of reading textbooks and want to read something with implications for your future? There are two copies of Unbending Gender: why family and work conflict and what to do about it by Professor Joan Williams available at the Circulation Desk in the First Floor Library. They can be checked out for one week. This will give you enough time to finish reading the book before the discussion that will take place on Friday, March 2 at 12:40 in room A.

The library has additional copies that can be retrieved from our storage space. Just click here to pull it up in the library's online catalog and let us know you want it by clicking the Request button. Books that we bring from storage can be checked out for one month.

Posted by Julie Horst at 09:02 AM | Permalink

As we begin preparations to move back into 200 McAllister, the library staff has begun reorganizing the collection.
Students looking for items in the call number range KF1 - KF 3200 (approximately the position of Milgrim on Trade Secrets, should also browse along the west wall (the Hyde Street street). This is where the books are being stored while they're being processed for the move.

If you have any problems locating an item, please ask someone at the Reference Desk for assistance.

Posted by Julie Horst at 09:53 AM | Permalink

There will be a free public screening of a documentary movie addressing death penalty issues at the San Francisco Public Library (a block away from Hastings) on February 22nd at 6 pm. Join Professor Rory Little as he moderates a post-screening panel. Full info is here.

If capital punishment is a topic of interest to you, there are other films in the Hastings Law Library dealing with that theme. These are available at the Circulation Desk for a 3-day borrowing period.

Posted by Julie Horst at 08:52 AM | Permalink

The Shepard’s® are now located in the front of the Circulation Desk. The Federal set is on the left side, and the California and the Pacific Reporter sets are on the right side next to the Witkin's®. We have changed the location of other sets of books in preparation for the eventual move back to the 200 building. Here are more changes:

* The Pacific Reporter volumes have been placed in storage. You can get .pdf versions from this database on Westlaw.
* Exams were moved to the Gold Reading Room in Alcove 3. Exams are also online at the library website.
* The Pacific Digest is now in between the California Statutes and Amendments to the Code and the California Regulations towards the back of the First Floor Library.
* The Restatements are now in the Gold Reading Room in Alcove 12.

As we continue to change things around, we will keep you posted.

Posted by Julie Horst at 09:08 AM | Permalink

Here is the list of Lexis classes and individual meeting times. The schedule changes each month so to find out about future sessions, contact Debbie at 415-595-5048.

Posted by Julie Horst at 08:19 AM | Permalink

How would you like to study Environmental Law in Costa Rica, International Negotiations in Norway, or Human Rights and Sustainable Development in South Africa? There are many opportunities for studying abroad; it's an experience that will broaded your horizons as well as your job prospects. If you are a student enrolled in an ABA-approved law school and have successfully completed your first year of study, you may earn credit toward the J.D. degree for participating in an approved program under the Rules of Procedure and Criteria. Check out the list of foreign programs at the ABA's Section of Legal Education & Admisstions to the Bar website.

Posted by Julie Horst at 09:09 AM | Permalink

On Wednesday, February 14th, there will be Judicial Clerkship Panel in the federal district courtroom of Judge William Alsup, just a block and a half from here at 450 Golden Gate, at 3:45 pm. The panel will feature a former U.S. Supreme Court clerk, a former 9th Circuit Court of Appeals clerk, former U.S. District Court clerks, and a former CA Supreme Court clerk.

A clerkship is a great opportunity to work with those who make the law. The experience usually enhances your marketability for almost any legal career. If you're interested, check out Prof. Cohen's webpage with more info here. The judicial internship program at Hastings will give you all the tools you need to work with a judge, even research skills.

(If you're planning on attending Wednesday's panel, please RSVP to careers@uchastings.edu or on HastingsCareers.com)

Posted by Julie Horst at 10:29 AM | Permalink

Recently someone was wondering which country had more Buddhists: Singapore, South Korea, or Sri Lanka. A new favorite website makes this easy to find out -- check out NationMaster. This massive central data source is a handy way to graphically compare nations with its vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, UN, and OECD.

Look here to see if your answer is correct.

Posted by Julie Horst at 04:00 PM | Permalink

This is the view from the 5th floor looking slightly down through the atrium to the back of the Circulation Desk area.

Posted by Julie Horst at 03:05 PM | Permalink

Thurgood Marshall Law Library: Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights

Since 2001, staff members at the Thurgood Marshall Law Library at the University of Maryland have worked to create an electronic archive of United States Commission on Civil Rights publications. They have worked with a number of partners on this ambitious project, including the United States Government Printing Office and The United States Commission on Civil Rights. The site is easy to use, as visitors can locate various publications merely by consulting the materials by title, date, or subject. The subject listing is quite thorough, as visitors can look through headings like "Alaska", "Migrant Workers", and "Welfare reform". Browsing by year is an equally fruitful proposition as documents such as "Racism in America and how to combat it" from 1970 and 1992's "Civil rights issues facing Asian Americans in the 1990" will be of interest to legal scholars, historians, and others.

This entry courtesy of InSITE, a current awareness service of Cornell Law Library. The law librarians at Cornell evaluate potentially useful Web sites, select the most valuable ones, and provide commentary and subject access to them.

Posted by Julie Horst at 09:42 AM | Permalink

Benton, Jeffrey M. Note. The Fifth Circuit Loses its Way in an Attempt to Maneuver Through the Fog of Seaman Status. (Becker v. Tidewater, Inc., 335 F.3d 376, 5th Cir. 2003.) 41 Hous. L. Rev. 1017-1051 (2004).

Posted by Julie Horst at 03:31 PM | Permalink

A congressional committee may request a special study in a specific subject area relating to proposed legislation; these are called committee prints. Committee prints often provide valuable information such as statistical analyses or historical background research.

Here's more info from the Government Printing Office:
"Congressional committee prints are publications issued by congressional committees on topics related to their legislative or research activities. They are an excellent resource for statistical and historical information, and for legislative analysis. The subjects of the committee prints vary greatly, due to the different concerns and actions of each individual committee. Some basic varieties of committee prints include: draft reports and bills, directories, statistical materials, investigative reports, historical reports, situational studies, confidential staff reports, hearings, and legislative analyses.

The prints are generally viewed as internal background information publications and often are not announced for public distribution. Procedures for the printing and publication of these prints differ with each committee, and formats are inconsistent. Few prints have been allocated serial numbers, but most have not. The individual committee prints are not a part of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, because those documents come from the Senate and the House of Representatives as a whole.

Committee prints do not have a consistent numbering system or publication history, the reason being that these papers are printed copies of committee members’ work. The Senate has a numbering system for its committee prints, but the House does not (e.g. "S. Prt. 108-3").

GPO Access contains congressional committee prints for the 105th Congress (1997-98) forward. Documents are available in ASCII text and, in some cases, in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)."

Posted by Julie Horst at 10:11 AM | Permalink

Hastings has acquired a license for Corel WordPerfect X3 (PC version only) that allows students to install the program on their own computer at no charge. To get a copy, bring a blank CD to the Computer Lab and follow the posted instructions to burn your CD.

Posted by Charles Cotner at 10:09 AM | Permalink