The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP) is now accessible through HeinOnline with the added benefit of direct linking to many articles. Give it a try!
The IFLP indexes nearly 300,000 articles and book reviews across more than 500 periodicals. Links to the full text of more than 34,000 items are available. The IFLP covers public and private international law, comparative and foreign law, and the law of all jurisdictions other than the United States, the UK, Canada, and Australia.
For the fifth consecutive year we surveyed 1Ls during First Week library tours about their use of digital communication tools. Our apologies for this late delivery — though the pizza may be cold it’s still worth having.
In addition to telling us their favorite pizza topping (answer below), more than 470 members of the class of 2014/15 responded to questions about:
• their preferences in electronic communication;
• their social networking activity;
• their usage of blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, e-books, and Twitter; and
• the types of electronic devices (smart phones, e-book readers, etc.) they owned.
You can see all the survey questions (and the responses) here. Below are some highlights, revealing a continuation of some trends we have been watching develop.
• E-mail use continues to plummet vis-à-vis text messaging as the preferred means of written electronic communication. The percentage of those favoring e-mail fell this year to 37%, down from 45% in 2010, 55% in 2009, 62% in 2008, and 67% in 2007. At the same time, entering students’ preference for text messaging rose to its highest level yet, 46%, overtaking e-mail as the most popular form of written electronic communication. This result is consistent with the findings of a Pew Internet & American Life Project 2011 study detailing that 73% of American adults who own cell phones (83% of Americans) send and receive text messages. The study further found that young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 averaged nearly 110 texts per day, translating to more than 3,200 per month.
• Facebook remains the dominant social networking site for these students, favored by nearly 86%. Significantly, this group is also using Facebook more often than predecessor classes; frequency of use increased for the fourth straight year, with 49% reporting logging on to the site more than once per day, compared to 2010 (46%), 2009 (39%), and 2008 (28%).
• For the first time, our survey included questions about Twitter. We’ve learned that nearly 38% of the entering class have a Twitter account, although only 5% tweet more than once per day. Another 5% tweet a few times per week and 14% tweet occasionally. But, that tells only half the Twitter story: 26% of the class are regularly following more than five Twitter feeds with another 5% following between one and five feeds. We would expect both types of Twitter usage to increase over time.
• Blogs and RSS feeds are still not an important part of most students’ lives. Just over a third of the 1L class arrived at NYLS as subscribers to or readers of blogs (a slight decrease from last year) and only a very small number (8%) take advantage of RSS or e-mail subscriptions that push the information directly to them.
• Similarly, podcasts have still not gained much traction – usage has more or less stagnated for the past three years with 49% of the class not having downloaded or listened to a podcast and another 7% not even knowing what a podcast is. Last year’s numbers were 47% and 10%, respectively.
• The popularity of Macs compared to PCs continued to increase, albeit at a slower rate, rising to 51% from 50% in 2010, 39% in 2009, and 31% in 2008.
• Internet Explorer continued to lose popularity while Google Chrome made big gains as the browser of choice. Some of Chrome’s gains came at the expense of both Firefox and Safari. While Chrome usage surged from 12% to 22%, Firefox dropped from 36% to 24% and Safari from 30% to 28%.
• When asked which search engine they use most often, respondents again identifiedGoogle by a wide margin (94%), with Yahoo a mere 2% and Bing barely 1%. Interestingly, 44% of those surveyed “sometimes” use a different search engine to perform an identical search after receiving results from an initial search, perhaps recognizing that individual search engines can have limitations and failings. That number is nearly identical to the results of 2010’s survey. An additional 5% “usually” use another search engine to supplement their results (compared to 8% for 2010) and nearly 7% “always” do so (compared to 5% in 2010).
• For just the second time, the survey asked students which among certain specified electronic devices they owned. Among “smart phones,” Blackberry lost ground this year (from 40% to 32%) to the iPhone (up to 37% from 22%) and the Android (at 21%). Ownership of an iPad or other tablet device increased from 5% to 16% and ownership of an e-book reader increased from 4% to 14%.
• Of great interest is that despite a large increase in the number of students owning e-book readers and tablet devices, the actual use of e-books showed an unexpected drop-off – 50% compared to last year’s 56%. A reluctance to move away from traditional books seems to linger.
• Finally, after last year’s brief upset, Pepperoni regained its crown as students’ favorite pizza topping, pulling in 26% of the vote compared to Extra Cheese the nearest contender with 15%. Mushrooms, at 13%, continued to repeat as a third place finisher.
While legal research isn’t rocket science, it can be quite challenging, especially when you are just getting started with a project. Why not try our Developing a Research Strategy template? It’s designed to help guide you through important stages of the research process, serving as both a roadmap and a checklist. Copies are always available at the Reference Desk, but you can also find them on our web site.
Are you sometimes grossed out when you use the computers in the library labs? Well, you’re not alone! Here’s an excerpt from an email a student sent us during finals time:
“Dear [library administrators]:
“… Do you happen to know whether the maintenance staff cleans the
computer lab keyboards each night? I’ve noticed several times when
I’m here that the keyboards are messy with crumbs or sticky keys or
white dust….”
The answer is that computer keyboards are sensitive equipment. It’s not feasible to have maintenance staff clean them. The only way to keep the keyboards clean is to keep food and drink out of their environment.
NYLS rules prohibit bringing food or drink into the library labs. If everybody honored these rules, then there’d be no more keyboard gross-outs.
Library staff patrol the labs, and work to enforce the rules. But we’re not trained as cops, and we can’t do it all by ourselves. We need your help to solve this problem. Only heightened awareness, and a little bit of peer pressure, are likely to improve this crummy situation.
Welcome back!
Hope you all had a relaxing and rejuvenating winter break. Alas, all good things must come to an end.
All of us at the Mendik Library wish for you a rewarding and fulfilling semester. We’d love to be a part of your success and hope you will let us help you with all your research projects and information needs.
Good luck and best wishes for a great semester! We’re looking forward to strengthening our partnership.
The Mendik Library Staff
That’s right; it’s not us, but your fellow students, who want the library to remain QUIET during finals. Please do your part. Even if you can study amidst noise and commotion, remember that not everyone else can. At this time of year, even a little noise for a short time around those who are preparing for finals, doing take-home finals, or writing papers, is the height of rude behavior.
Please remember, all reading and stack areas in the Library are QUIET STUDY ZONES. You should avoid conversation and unnecessary noise. Be particularly mindful of the need for quiet as you enter and leave the Library. Voices in the corridors and elevator vestibules carry into the reading areas and disturb those trying to study.
The Library can get crowded, and tensions can mount. The only way to maintain an appropriate study atmosphere is through student cooperation. Please keep this in mind always, and especially at this time of year.
Thanks to everyone for their anticipated cooperation. And best of luck to you all on your exams.
The ABA Journal has just released its fifth annual list of the top 100 law blogs (or blawgs). The alphabetical list is annotated, with short descriptions of each blog.
New York Law School students from the Program in Law and Journalism rip cases from the headlines, break them down and assess their merits (and the media’s accuracy in reporting the case). Though its name pays homage to English As She Is Spoke, a laughable, incoherent 19th century Portuguese guide to the English language, these bloggers have shown they know of what they write.
Effective Monday November 7, study areas and computer labs in the Mendik Library at 185 West Broadway will remain open to NYLS students 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This Study Hall schedule will remain in effect through the end of the exams period, except over Thanksgiving recess.
During the Study Hall period all areas behind the Circulation Desk, including the Reserve Collection and the Reserve Reading Room, will close at 11 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, and 10 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Library opens for business at 8 a.m. on weekdays, and 9 a.m. on weekends.
During overnight Study Hall hours there are no librarians on duty; security guards patrol Library rooms and study areas. All Circulation transactions, including borrowing and return of books, as well as charge-out and charge-in of Reserve materials must be complete by regular closing time. Policies regarding food, drink and quiet study remain in effect.
Overnight Study Hall is for NYLS students only; you’ll need your NYLS ID to stay at closing time, and to enter the Library after closing. Please have your ID ready to show the guard.
Extended Study Hall hours are suspended for Thanksgiving break, Wednesday November 23 through Sunday November 27. 24-hour Study Hall resumes at 8 a.m. on Monday November 28.
Happy Halloween from the Mendik Library! As a Halloween treat, here’s your opportunity to be entered into a drawing to WIN one of more than a dozen valuable study aids and texts we will be giving away (see a sampling of titles below).
Click here to access the Haunted Halloween Hunt. Each slide includes one question (there are only 5) plus helpful guidance on sources and steps to get you to the answer. Press Enter to reveal each step in the research process and to move on to the next question. Click here to access a PDF answer sheet (or pick up a copy at the Reference Desk) and submit your completed copy at the Reference Desk by 5 PM on Monday, October 31st to enter the drawing.
Among the titles winners will choose from are:
Reading like a Lawyer – Time-Saving Strategies for Reading Law like an Expert
Persuasive Written and Oral Advocacy
Guide to Legal Writing Style
Legal Writing and other Lawyering Skills
New York Practice Hornbook (Siegel)
The Question Presented: Model Appellate Briefs
Winning an Appeal
Questions & Answers: Evidence
Legal Interviewing and Counseling Nutshell
For those Library patrons who tend to minimize the impact of spilled coffee, read about the nightmare that ensued on a United Airlines flight last year from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. The Wall Street Journal report is here.
If you’d rather watch than read, check out the referenced movie, Fate is the Hunter. Follow Glen Ford as he discovers the cause of the fatal plane crash he is investigating – a spilled cup of cockpit coffee (which short-circuited the plane’s instruments). Here’s the less than stellar New York Times movie review (from December 10, 1964).
Moral: Use spill-proof mugs!