• Selected
• Entire List

Abstract:
Robert C. Berring's writings about the impacts of electronic databases, the Internet, and other communications technologies on legal research and practice are an essential part of a larger literature that explores the ways in which the forms and structures of published legal information have influenced how American lawyers think about the law. This paper reviews Berring's writings, along with those of other writers concerned with these questions, focusing on the implications of Berring's idea that in the late nineteenth century American legal publishers created a "conceptual universe of thinkable thoughts" through which U.S. lawyers came to view the law. It concludes that, spurred by Berring and others, the literature of legal information has become far reaching in scope and interdisciplinary in approach, while the themes struck in Berring's work continue to inform the scholarship of newer writers.

legal information, legal history, legal research, classification

Abstract:
Discussing the role of the law library in legal education is necessary and essential, both because of the demands libraries place on increasingly tight law school budgets and space, and the challenges that libraries face as the information they collect and organize has moved largely from print to digital formats. This paper explores the roles of academic law librarians in supporting faculty scholarship within the context of the forces affecting libraries, librarians, and legal education in the (still early) twenty-first century. Although it has been more than 30 years since the widespread adoption of the legal research databases in the 1970s, the legal information environment continues to be seen as changing and uncertain, roiled by such new developments as working paper services providing pre-publication looks at new articles, growing interest in blogs and other varieties of short form legal scholarship, and the potential for open access publishing to reduce or eliminate reliance on printed law journals. As these developments continue to affect the processes of legal research and scholarly communications in law, what implications do they have for the role of law librarians in those processes?

law libraries, scholarly communication, law librarians, legal scholarship

Abstract:
Bob Berring has suggested that the forms in which legal information is published and distributed can be influential in the development of legal knowledge. This article tests the possibilities of that idea by examining the role of greater availability of legislative history information on the increased use of legislative history in the early twentieth century. The article explores the availability question in light of developments in the history of the printing and distribution of Congressional documents, while looking specifically at the impacts of late nineteenth century changes in the systems for publication and distribution of federal documents. Part II of the article introduces the primary approaches to statutory interpretation in United States courts, provides comparisons with other common law jurisdictions, and describes the publication history of Congressional committee reports and records of debates on the floor of Congress. Part III discusses uses of Congressional materials in nineteenth century courts, and how legislative history was viewed in contemporary treatises. Part IV explores possible explanations for the increased uses of legislative history by federal courts in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Part V examines the impacts of the Printing Act of 1895 and other changes in the distribution system for government publications on the greater availability of legislative history in the early twentieth century. Part VI discusses the continued applicability of concerns about availability in the twentieth-first century information environment, twenty years after Justice Jackson's lament was deemed anachronistic in light of technological advances.

Jackson, legislative history, Bernstein, statutory interpretation

Abstract:
On November 6, 2008, the J. Michael Goodson Law Library at the Duke University School of Law held a number of events in celebration of its newly renovated and expanded space. This is an edited version of the program, "The 21st Century Law Library: A Conversation," that was held as part of that celebration.

law library, law libraries, duke, library space, 21st century, twenty-first century

Abstract:
This article applies to legal scholarship the ideas developed and argued in John Willinsky's 2006 book: The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship regarding the responsibilities of scholars to make their works widely available through open access mechanisms via the Internet. Willinsky's access principle states that "A commitment to the value and quality of research carries with it a responsibility to extend the circulation of such work as far as possible and ideally to all who are in interested in it and all who might profit by it." For Willinsky, the transformation of scholarly journals from print to online formats means that not only researchers and scholars, but "scholarly societies, publishers, and research libraries have now to ask themselves whether or not they are using this new technology to do as much as they can to advance and improve access to research and scholarship." This article considers the roles and responsibilities under the access principle of legal scholars and the institutions that support the creation and communication of legal scholarship for improving access to legal information

The article begins with a presentation of Willinsky's access principle, then introduces the movements for open access to law and to scholarship in other disciplines, addresses questions regarding access to the legal journal literature in the U.S., the U.K., and South Africa, discusses means for enabling access to legal literature through open access journals and scholarship repositories, and describes one law school's experiences in providing open access to its own scholarship. It concludes with suggestions for law schools and law libraries wishing to pursue the implications of the access principle in their institutions.

Abstract:
James M. Donovan’s article: 'Skating on Thin Intermediation: Can Libraries Survive?' argues that librarians place more emphasis than they might on providing service to library users at a time when information seekers are relying less on intermediaries, and that over-emphasizing service to the detriment of other values diminishes the status of librarianship as a profession. The article presents two contrasting models of librarianship. This article discusses Donovan’s models and comments on the continuing importance of the service model to librarianship.

professions, librarianship, law librarianship

Abstract:
Professors Danner and Bintliff argue that understanding academic freedom and faculty tenure is important for academic librarians, both to gain better perspective on the concerns of faculty researchers and teachers, and to highlight matters of common concern to librarians and faculty. The authors discuss the basic tenets of academic freedom and tenure, then compare academic freedom with the intellectual freedom concerns of librarians. The article concludes by introducing several current issues of importance to librarians, faculty, and everyone concerned with academic freedom on university campuses.

academic freedom, faculty tenure, librarians' tenure, law school administration