Category: Books

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What Can I Check Out?

You might be surprised to learn that quite a few of our books are available to check out. About a quarter of our collection is available to circulate (if you don’t count the case reporters and digests downstairs).  Like most law libraries, we keep the primary sources and most multi-volume secondary sources here in the Law Library so that they will be available for everyone to use. But that means that there are still many secondary sources you can check out!

ANTPAC record for a book that can be checked out

If you are unsure whether the book you want circulates, just look inside the front to see whether it is stamped “Library Use Only.” You can also double-check by looking it up in ANTPAC and checking the status column. If the status says “NOT CHCKD OUT” (as opposed to “LIB USE ONLY”) you’re free to check it out.

The standard check-out period for law students is three months.

Related links: UCI Law Library – Borrowing

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Mendez v. Westminster

Want to know more about the landmark school segregation case addressed by today’s guest speaker Judge Rick Aguirre? Check out Mendez v. Westminster: School desegregation and Mexican-American rights. Strum “provides a clear, cogent, and concise examination of the case, the major players involved, and the decision’s influence in educational law and civil rights jurisprudence.”1

By the way, this 2010 title is from the University of Kansas’s award-winning “Landmark Law Cases and American Society” series. Over 40 additional titles from this series are available at UC Irvine Libraries – you can browse the list on ANTPAC.

Philippa Strum, Mendez v. Westminster: School Desegregation and Mexican-American Rights. (Univ. Press of Kansas) 186 pages.
Langson Library – KF4155 .S77 2010.
Check Melvyl to see if it’s on the shelf at Langson, or to request an ILL from another UC library.

1 René Luis Alvarez, Mendez v. Westminster: School Desegregation and Mexican-American Rights by Philippa Strum, 51 Hist. of Educ. Q. 138 (2011) (book review).

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Clinic Orientation 2011 – Materials

Here’s an overview of the Law Library’s presentation during Clinic Orientation, held Friday August 19, 2011.

UCI Law Research Guides - Clinics A guide to clinical resources from the Law Library is at http://libguides.law.uci.edu/clinics. The guide is organized by tab, with one tab for each core clinic, a home tab with helpful resources for all clinics, and a tab with information about passwords and using the VPN. Highlighted resources include deskbooks in the Clinic Office, practice guides, treatises, specialized databases, call number ranges for specific topics, and news feeds. New resources will be added throughout the semester, so continue to check back for updated content.

When using ANTPAC to locate resources in the Law Library, there are 3 important locations to know aside from “Law Library Clinic Collection” (Clinic Office):

  1. Law Library Reserves – the area behind the Service Counter (2 hour check-out)
  2. Law Library Reading Room – the Main Level open shelving (some may circulate)
  3. Law Library – the Lower Level compact shelving (some may circulate)

For additional guidance, see our updated floor plan.

Clinical students are welcome to visit or email the Reference Desk to discuss research strategies, or for assistance locating or using any of the Law Library resources. Students should be careful not to divulge any confidential information about their cases or clients.

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Orientation – Class of 2014

Law Library tours and related Library orientation activities are the afternoon of Thursday, August 18. Here’s some useful information for 1Ls.

  • Books in print or online are found in several ways. Two places to start:
    • ANTPAC – for books, journals, and other resources at UCI campus libraries, including the Law Library
    • Melvyl – for books, journals, and other resources at libraries all over the world
  • For off-campus access to anything on the web that the library pays for, you usually need to connect to a Virtual Private Network (VPN.) During the school year, we encourage you to use the UCI Law VPN. Check the VPN Instructions from UCI Law IT.
  • Lexis and Westlaw account questions can be directed to student representatives.
  • Hours on the Law Library website are updated daily. There’s also a google calendar. UCI Law Library – Hours.
  • Course materials and related resources are available. Check out:
    1. Textbooks and study aids on reserve — how to find them, how to check them out. UCI Law Library Blog – Course Reserves
    2. Study aids in the Law Library – how to find them, how to check them out, and what kinds are available. UCI Law Library – Study aids
    3. Audio case files from CVN Law School
    4. Online lessons in a variety of doctrinal areas from CALI (Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction)
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Textbooks and study aids on reserve

Course reserves for Law 511 (Fall 2011)

Professors can choose to put books “on reserve” in the Law Library. Course reserve books usually include the required texts, and sometimes a professor may also include study aids. Important notes about course reserves:

  • List of books. To see what’s on reserve for your class, search by Professor or by Course Name in ANTPAC.
  • Course Names in ANTPAC for law school classes follow this pattern: LAW ### – [Description].
  • 2-hour checkout. You can check out course reserve books for 2 hours at a time, and ANTPAC will tell you if a book’s available.
  • Library-use only. Course reserve books stay in the Law Library.
  • Come to the service counter with the call number of a reserve book to check it out.
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Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made

The ABA Journal recently asked 30 influential lawyers—including our own Dean Chemerinsky—what book they would recommend that every lawyer read.  The list focuses on books that many of us have not yet read, and the recommendations come from lawyers across a broad spectrum of public and private practice settings.  The list is a great source for summer reading and ideas to kick-start a law student reading group:
http://www.abajournal.com/gallery/30lawyers30books/569

Dean Chemerinsky’s pick, a judicial biography of Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953-1969), is available in the Law Library:
Jim Newton, Earl Warren and the Nation He Made (Riverhead Books, 2006). 614 pages.
Law Library – KF8745.W3 N49 2006.
Check ANTPAC to see if it’s on the shelf.

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Typography for Lawyers

book coverThe Typography for Lawyers website made a splash when it launched, with its opinionated and informed take on legal document design. Written by a former professional font designer who is currently a civil litigator, the blog recently evolved into a book. Now both the blog and book offer advice, anecdotes, and examples.

The Law Library recently purchased the book in response to a law student’s suggestion.* Now you can come check out the author’s design aesthetic in print, and see for yourself the differences between print-optimized and screen optimized fonts.

Matthew Butterick, Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished & Persuasive Documents. (Jones McClure Publishing) 216 pages, paperback.
Reading Room – KF250 .B88 2010.
Check ANTPAC to see if it’s on the shelf.

* The Law Library welcomes your feedback. Let us know if you have a suggestion!

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PDFs from HathiTrust

HathiTrust IconReminder to cite-checkers: you can log into HathiTrust to download the scanned versions of entire books and other documents. Use your UCInetID and password (not your LawNetID). To login to HathiTrust:

  1. go to www.hathitrust.org
  2. click on the “My Collections” link in the top navigation bar
  3. click on the “Log in” link
  4. select “University of California, Irvine” from the pull-down list of HathiTrust Partner Institutions and click on the “Login” button.
  5. you will be transferred to a UCI authentication display, where you can enter your UCInetID and password
  6. click on the “Home” link to search HathiTrust
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Finding books on your phone

Freedom Bound - result… or other mobile device will soon be a little easier. Search for Law Library books and other resources in the spiffy new mobile version of Melvyl (uci.worldcat.org.) The beta site is at uci.worldcat.org/awsm. After a few weeks of testing–in June–the updates will move to the regular mobile site at uci.worldcat.org/m.

The Melvyl website is one of many projects from CDL (California Digital Library) in collaboration with University of California campus libraries and affiliated institutions. CDL and its partners are working to give researchers “reliable and seamless access to books and articles.” Give the new mobile site a try and let them know how they’re doing!

. . . or other mobile device will get easier this summer. You can search for books (and other resources) available on campus in the spiffy new mobile version of uci.worldcat.org.
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