LIBR 220-02
LIBR
220-11
Resources and Information Services in Professions and Disciplines
Topci: Legal Resources
Summer 2008 Greensheet
Marc Lampson, MLIS, JD
E-mail
Emergencies: (206) 441-9178 ext. 17
Office Location: At the Online Discussion Board entitled, “The Hallway.”
Office Hours: Anytime in the Hallway or by e-mail; phone calls between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. only please, and only in emergencies. I am a chronic e-mail checker, so I’m much more accessible through e-mail.
| Greensheet Links Textbooks and Readings Course Requirements |
Resources Blackboard Blackboard Tutorials SLIS eBookstore |
Students must self-enroll for this course on Blackboard prior to the first day of class, officially designated as June 6. You will be required to use a password access code which I will provide using MYSJSU Messaging system no later than June 2.
Course Description
This course will introduce current and aspiring information professionals to the basic legal resources for the federal legal system and the California legal system. The course will cover those resources that are likely to be of interest to legal professionals and the general public, particularly people visiting Public Libraries and Public Law Libraries.
The course is designed for people with little or no initial familiarity with legal resources, but who have an interest in learning about these resources to be able to help other people – for instance, library patrons - find legal information.
The emphasis will be on answering legal resource questions that one is likely to receive at a reference desk in a public library.
Course Objectives
The fundamental objective of this course is for the student to learn the basic resources that both lawyers and non-lawyers are likely to need and use when seeking out legal information and are therefore likely to ask information professionals for assistance in finding.
In pursuit of this objective, the student will:
- Learn the federal and state governmental units that make primary law and the type of primary law they make;
- Learn how to identify the major types of primary law and secondary authority for both federal and state jurisdictions;
- Learn where the nearest brick-and-mortar law library is and how to find materials in it;
- Learn how to use online resources – both "free" and "pay-for-view" resources – in locating legal information;
- Learn the major print, online, and pay-for-view sources for legal information;
- Learn how to find – in print, in pay-for-view databases, and on "free" Web sites - the major types of primary law and secondary authority for both federal and state law;
- Learn how to answer questions from patrons about basic legal resources and direct those patrons to the best sources for legal information;
- Learn the relative merits and shortcomings of in print, online, and pay-for-view sources for legal information;
- Learn strategies for developing search terms for using "finding tools" in print, online, and pay-for-view databases for legal information;
- Research, write, and produce a guide to a specific area of law (a "pathfinder") that could be utilized by patrons needing legal information.
LIBR 220 (legal resources) primarily supports the following SLIS Core Competencies:
- use the basic concepts and principles related to the creation, evaluation, selection, acquisition, preservation and organization of specific items or collections of information;
- recognize the social, cultural and economic dimensions of information use;
- demonstrate proficiency in the use of current information and communication technologies, and other related technologies, as they affect the resources and uses of libraries and other types of information providing entities;
- demonstrate oral and written communication skills necessary for group work, collaborations and professional level presentations;
- contribute to the cultural, economic, educational and social well-being of our communities.
In addition, this section supports the following SLIS Core Competencies:
- design, query and evaluate information retrieval systems;
- understand the system of standards and methods used to control and create information structures and apply basic principles involved in the organization and representation of knowledge;
- use service concepts, principles and techniques that facilitate information access, relevance, and accuracy for individuals or groups of users;
- understand the nature of research, research methods and research findings; retrieve, evaluate and synthesize scholarly and professional literature for informed decision-making by specific client groups;
- articulate the ethics, values and foundational principles of library and information professionals and their role in the promotion of intellectual freedom;
- compare the environments and organizational settings in which library and information professionals practice;
Textbooks and Readings
Required Texts
The required textbooks for this course are:
- Steven Elias & Susan Levinkind, Legal Research: How to Find & Understand the Law (14th edition 2007) Berkeley: Nolo Press. If you have an earlier edition, the oldest edition you should use is the 13th edition.
- Lisa Guerin & Patricia Gima, Nolo’s Guide to California Law (9th edition 2006) Berkeley: Nolo Press. If you have an earlier edition, the oldest edition you should use is the 8th edition.
Recommended Texts
Many texts on legal research and the legal system are in print. Any one of them published in the past 5 years would probably provide additional help but I do not recommend that you spend lots of money on any other text other than the two listed above.
Go to SLIS eBookstore.
Course Requirements
Blackboard and Self-Enrolling
Students must self-enroll for this course on Blackboard prior to the first day of class, officially designated as June 6. You will be required to use a password access code which I will provide using MYSJSU Messaging system by at least June 2.
Assignments
The assignments for this course are:
- Quizzes & Research Assignments (200 points)
The student will take five online, timed quizzes worth 40 points each. These quizzes will be posted approximately every 2 weeks. While quizzes may be somewhat unusual in a graduate course, they are designed with a specific purpose in mind – answering reference questions – and will involve not just rote learning but actual hands-on familiarity with legal resources.
The idea of the "quiz" is to represent as well as possible in the print format the type of reference question one might receive at a reference desk and for which one would be expected to have a relatively "ready" answer. The quizzes will also be somewhat unusual in that to answer many of the quiz questions, will have to first complete a research assignment, usually in a "brick and mortar" law library. The quizzes, in conjunction with the corresponding research assignment, in the aggregate will be worth 200 points. - Discussion Boards (50 points)
About once a week, though it will vary, I will post a new topic for a new discussion board that focuses on the topic for the upcoming two weeks, e.g., secondary sources, statutes, etc. I will generally pose a question or two to get the discussion rolling and then I’ll "lurk" while students actively participate in the discussion. The questions will not typically have a "right" or "wrong" answer; therefore, students should not expect the instructor to intervene because I have found such intervention usually stops discussion.
Likely (though these may vary too) Discussion Board Topics:- Legal Systems
- Free Internet Legal Research – Report other helpful sites; Evaluate sites; evaluate relative merits of "free online sites" to print and pay for view
- Secondary Sources
- Westlaw/Lexis
- Constitutional Law
- Statutory Law
- Case Law
- Regulatory Law
- Comparative Access for Patrons: Print, Free Online, Pay-for-View DBs
- Free-For-All Discussion on “Legal Research”
A separate, ongoing "discussion board" will also be posted called "The Hallway," where I will actively participate around questions concerning course logistics, assignments, quizzes, and other sorts of questions that arise in hallway conversations after "class." The Hallway Discussion Board will not be graded. - Special Project (50 points)
Students in the final weeks of the course will work on and then submit a one-page, double-spaced "search strategy" sheet describing a legal topic of their choice and describing how they would advise a patron to research that topic. The due date is August 8, 2008. The project will be graded based on a checklist that I will provide to you when the project is officially "assigned" near the final two weeks. At the end of the course we will post these strategy sheets for the benefit of all.
Late Assignments
Points earned for late assignments will be reduced by10 percent for every 24 hour period between the due date and the submitted date.
Grading
In the final grading process, the highest number of points actually earned by a particular student in the course will be taken to be the top of the scale; all other grades will be determined in relation to the highest number of points actually earned. For instance, if the student earning the highest number of points earned 290 points of the 300 possible, then anyone earning 97% of 290 points would receive an A, and so on.
Students earning less than the highest number of points achieved, will be graded on a percentage basis in reference to the highest number of points achieved in the course under the standard SJSU SLIS Grading Scale utilized for all SLIS courses:
| 97-100 | A |
| 94-96 | A- |
| 91-93 | B+ |
| 88-90 | B |
| 85-87 | B- |
| 82-84 | C+ |
| 79-81 | C |
| 76-78 | C- |
| 73-75 | D+ |
| 70-72 | D |
| 67-69 | D- |
| Below 67 | F |
In order to provide consistent guidelines for assessment for graduate level work in the School, these terms are applied to letter grades:
- C represents Adequate work; a grade of "C" counts for credit for the course;
- B represents Good work; a grade of "B" clearly meets the standards for graduate level work;
- A represents Exceptional work; a grade of "A" will be assigned for outstanding work only.
Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0.
In the final grading process, the highest number of points actually earned by a particular student in the course will be taken to be the top of the scale; all other grades will be determined in relation to the highest number of points actually earned. For instance, if the student earning the highest number of points earned 420 points of the 430 possible, then anyone earning 97% of 420 points (417 points) would receive an A, and so on.
Incompletes
Incompletes will be granted only in rare and extreme emergency situations.
Students who cannot fulfill all the work for a course due to a medical or family emergency may be assigned an Incomplete only if arrangements are made with the instructor.
Please see the University policy on incompletes:
info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/soc-fall/rec-15.html
Academic Integrity
Your own commitment to learning, as evidenced by your enrollment at San José State University, and the University's Academic Integrity Policy requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty members are required to report all infractions to the Office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. The policy on academic integrity can be found at http://sa.sjsu.edu/student_conduct.
Reasonable Accommodation of Disabilities
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability,
please e-mail me as soon as possible. Presidential Directive 97-03 requires
that students with disabilities register with the Disability Resource Center
(DRC) to establish record of their disability.
No matter where students reside, they should contact the SJSU DRC to register. The DRC Web site: http://www.drc.sjsu.edu/
One Washington Square - San José, California USA, 95192-0029
Phone: 408-924-2490
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