by Kerry Fitz-Gerald
It’s that time of year again, when law students head to summer jobs and recent grads start thinking about practicing law, not just studying it. In hopes of providing a little confidence boost (plus some practical research instruction), the librarians at the UW and SU have once again teamed up to present a half-day free training program for interested students. In order to accommodate students’ schedules, the program is offered twice.
Our first session was held May 18. About 40 participants were treated to a series of presentations covering Legal Research in the Real World, Washington and Federal Legislative Research, Lawyer’s Practice Materials and Washington and Federal Regulatory Research. Evaluations were positive, with participants saying that they can certainly see how this material will be useful for their work.
For those unable to make the first offering, the program will be offered again at the University of Washington on June 15 from 12:45 until 5pm.
by Kerry Fitz-Gerald
Yes, it’s that time of the year again. The law librarians of Seattle University and the University of Washington are offering a free, half-day legal research workshop to help prepare students for summer work. Two identical sessions, one at each university, will cover topics such as Legal Research in the Real World, Washington and Federal Legislative Research, and Lawyer’s Practice Materials.
The first session will be held at Seattle University on Wednesday, May 18, from 8:30 to 12:45. The second session will be held at the University of Washington on Wednesday June 15, from 12:45 until 5:00.
For more information or to register, click here.
by Erin Hoffrance
I had the opportunity to attend the 2011 LLOPS Professional Development Workshop held at the Seattle University School of Law Annex. And I have to say, what a great location! It was also the first time in two years that I was able to enjoy the program without the stress of being a member of the Professional Development Committee. The first session, Mining SEC Documents, was led by Elizabeth Osborne, who is very knowledgeable about the world of the SEC, filings, documents, etc. Her handout listed definitions of the most common SEC documents, and she discussed the types of information you can find within each type of document. This is truly great information for those reference requests I receive to research public companies. For instance, the 8-K has unusual events, so it might be beneficial to monitor those for any types of changes that occur between 10-K and 10-Q filings. The Workshop attendees had many questions for Elizabeth, and she answered them all quickly with her wealth of knowledge and handy tips. Continue reading 'Great Ideas for March: 2011 LLOPS Workshop'»
Planning for the annual professional development workshop is well underway, and we’re very excited about the program that we’re putting together. Registration will open in mid-February; we hope that we’ll see you all March 15th at the Seattle University School of Law Annex for what promises to be an informative and interesting day of programming.
Program descriptions are not yet finalized, but below is a sneak preview of what is being planned.
Managing Electronic Resources: The rapid increase in the availability of resources in electronic formats has created many new resource management challenges for libraries. Chris Mulready, acquisitions librarian at Boeing, will address issues including cataloging, access and serial control. Continue reading 'Professional Development Workshop: March 15th'»
by Karen Helde
The programs at this year’s WestPac Annual Meeting raised a number of 
provocative questions. Can you use superheroes and comic books to teach law school students concepts of law and justice? Do popular films provide a forum to work out knotty social and legal issues like the definition of marriage? Does WestlawNext mean the end of the world as we know it? Continue reading 'Wine Law: A Tasting'»
by Kate Stockert
Do you have a family member notorious for passing along newspaper clippings of various sorts? Both my aunt and mother clip articles for me in seemingly greater volume than the GPO spits out Federal Register pages. I get at least two copies of every article that might be of interest to me, sometimes more if it relates to libraries. Recently my aunt sent me a clipping about Seattle Public Library’s event “The User Experience in the 21sth Century Library” which piqued my interest.
The event took place on Saturday, June 12th and offered the perfect mix of thought-provoking, riveting, and humorous dialogue. Moderated by Virginia Anderson, a member of the Library’s Strategic Planning Advisory Committee, the panel seated four participants: Joan Frye Williams, a “library futurist” and consultant; George Needham, a library consultant and VP at OCLC; Robert Spector, a published author and expert on customer service; and Tim Pfeiffer, Senior VP of Store Design at Starbucks.
Continue reading 'Review: “The User Experience in the 21st Century Library”'»
by Barbara Swatt Engstrom
Where to begin with a review of this spring’s American Society of International Law conference? Maybe with how hard it is to choose just one program to attend for any given time slot when two others look equally interesting; or the keynote speech that made major national news; or how the panelists engage in real debate on issues; or maybe how nice it is to be in Washington D.C. in the springtime?
Well, it turns out that springtime in D.C. was a lot like springtime in Seattle. Cold and rainy. Maybe it was the all the snow they got this winter, but the cherry blossoms weren’t quite there yet. In the long run, I didn’t have much time for wandering around among the cherry blossoms anyway because the conference schedule was packed.
Continue reading 'Springtime at the ASIL Conference'»
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