Inside this issue:

• BePress SelectedWorks


• Research Support


• New Exhibit in Rare Book Room


• CCH Intelliconnect


• Law Library Website Redesign


• CALI 5


• Civil War Research


• Bloomberg's New Look

Dear friends and colleagues,

The start of the semester for academics is like New Year’s Day for the rest of the world.  It offers a bright beginning and we all seem to have a reinvigorated spring in our step.  The year glistens with possibility and promise—especially with a new dean in place to lead us.

In keeping with the spirit of the season, the law library has some recent developments to share with you.  Please take a moment to look at the CALI platform changes, the law library website redesign, and other fresh and exciting innovations taking place.  

This fall the Library will transfer your publications from your current faculty web page to BePress’ SelectedWorks platform.  Why the switch?  SelectedWorks offers several interesting and unique features:  your publications will be optimized for retrieval in Google and Google Scholar – leading to an increase in downloads.  You can further increase your readership by utilizing built-in subscriber lists and RSS feeds.  Colleagues will be able to sign up for notifications of newly distributed articles, new works in progress, presentations and other notable activities.    SelectedWorks also allows for more customization when it comes to categorizing your collected works – enabling you to create your own subject headings to most accurately describe your areas of expertise. 

Your librarian liaison will contact you this semester to set up an appointment so that we can tailor the page to your specifications and acquaint you with all its features!

Research Support Offered for Writing Requirement Courses

In addition to supporting faculty research projects, the BC law librarians assist students with selecting their writing paper topics and conducting their research.  Law librarians are available to meet with students enrolled in writing requirement courses.  You can alert students to this service by placing a link on your Blackboard or TWEN course website to the appropriate law librarian.  In addition, the law librarians can schedule group sessions during the common lunch hour to aid your students in beginning their writing requirement submission. If you are interested in these services, please contact your law librarian liaison.

New Exhibit in Rare Book Room

Beginning the week of September 12, a new exhibit will be awaiting your viewing pleasure called "The Golden Age of Legal Publishing in Massachusetts."  Some of the highlights are the first post-American Revolution printing of Blackstone's Commentaries, the first American edition of Montesquieu's The Spirit of Laws, many works of Supreme Court Justice and Harvard Law professor Joseph Story, and a beautiful first edition of Simon Greenleaf's Treatise on the Law of Evidence.   Please come visit, and contact Laurel Davis, Curator of Rare Books, at davislp@bc.edu if you have any questions about the exhibit or access to the Rare Book Room.

Spotlight on CCH Intelliconnect

Do you remember using large black looseleaf binders from CCH Publishing for your research?  Well, those binders are disappearing from our shelves as the Law Library works to expand access to its collection by subscribing to resources such as CCH in electronic format.

CCH Intelliconnect covers a broad scope of legal specialties ranging from banking to bankruptcy to corporate governance to environmental compliance to securities to tax – and many more.  Our BC faculty and students may register for access to CCH Intelliconnect; point your browser to http://intelliconnect.cch.com.proxy.bc.edu.  Sign in as a new user by using your BC e-mail address and then creating a unique password. This system allows you to create research folders on the CCH Intelliconnect system to save your research results.

Questions about CCH Intelliconnect?  Please contact your law librarian liaison for more information and training on the CCH Intelliconnect platform.

BC Law Library Website Redesign

This summer the law library website underwent a redesign in response to student and faculty feedback from surveys that were conducted last academic year. The homepage now features a prominent search bar to quickly query the Holmes One Search system. Links to the most used library resources are highlighted, along with frequently requested information such as how to get research help and library news. Each page within the website has also been updated and edited to make the site easier for our users to navigate. Please take some time to visit the redesigned website and submit your comments through our feedback form.

New CALI Interface

This summer, the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) launched a new interface for its CALI Lessons with a cleaner look that is viewable in any browser and on mobile devices. In addition, improvements have been made to the LessonLink feature that you can use to easily track student usage of assigned CALI Lessons. It's simple to create LessonLinks, and the student scoring data shows up in your CALI profile's "My LessonLinks" page as long as students run the lessons through the exact links you give them.  Here's a LessonLink video to show you how. If you have any questions about using CALI Lessons in your courses, please contact Ed Tech and lawedtech@bc.edu.

Civil War Research: Current State and Future Developments
October 19, 2011    12:15 PM
Library 253

The 150th Anniversary of the start of the Civil War has focused attention once again on this important era of American history. During the past decade Civil War scholarship has shifted its focus from military strategy, tactics and the political ramifications of the conflict to more personal and civilian oriented aspects.  Join Legal Information Librarian Mark Sullivan for an examination of these new developments and for a review of some exciting new resources for Civil War researchers.