Newsletter August 2007 - Welcome Issue


Welcome, New and Returning Students!

Boston College Law Library staff are glad you're here. Summers are quiet around the library, and we welcome the excitement and bustle that come with your return. We're here to point people in the right directions, and we encourage you to ask any questions you might have. With this newsletter we draw your attention to several new or revised library services and policies, and to what a few law school professors have to say about Harry Potter and the Law.

Peace, Filippa
Filippa Marullo Anzalone
Professor and Associate Dean for Library and Computing Services, Law School


Announcing: Reference on the Run


This semester reference librarians will staff a "reference outpost" in the snack bar on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from 12:30 - 2. Stop by with your library and research questions, or just to say hello.


Announcing: New Food and Drink Policy


Check out the do's and do not do's of the new policy. See real-life examples in the display cabinet at the entrance to the Library. Read the policy here.

Announcing: Campus-Wide Print Management Program

In August the University introduced a print management program under which students receive 500 pages free per semester. After that, each page printed is 3 cents; costs will be charged to Eagle Bucks accounts. Law students also have the option to print search results on Westlaw and LexisNexis supplied printers located in the photocopy area on Level 1 of the Law Library, room 175. Print jobs sent to these printers through WESTLAW and Lexis/Nexis accounts bypass the University's Print Management System and are free. To learn more, click here!


Just for fun...


Announcing: The best ice cream in town!

New Englanders love ice cream. After extensive research, two members of the library staff compiled a 'Best of' guide to their favorite local ice cream spots. Here are 3 of their top choices:

White Mountain Creamery
19 Commonwealth Ave.
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
617-527-8790


White Mountain (located across from the BC main campus), has a solid and much deserved reputation.
Emack & Bolio's
1663 Beacon St.
Brookline, MA 02445
www.emackandbolios.com
617-731-6256

A great choice on a warm day when you can eat outside and people-watch in Washington Square!
Cabot's
743 Washington St.
Newtonville, MA 02460
www.cabots.com
617-964-9200

A great neighborhood ice cream shop. Prices are fairly reasonable and the ice cream is very good.



Special Report: Harry Potter and the Law

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone     Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets     Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban     Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire     Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


Are you a Harry Potter fan? If you answer "yes", you're not alone. Among the faculty and staff here at Boston College Law School who identify themselves as Harry Potter fans are Filippa Anzalone, Kent Greenfield, Ingrid Hillinger, Dorothea Rees, Kelly Deneen, Ann Carey, Joan Shear, Maris Abbene, Paul Marzagalli, Diane Ring, Jeannette Lane, Zygmunt Plater, Marguerite Most and Mike Cassidy.

Even if you don't consider yourself a Harry Potter fan, you might want to take a look at what some law school professors are writing about Harry Potter. Check out any of the following articles, available through the Law Library webpage in HeinOnline.
  • Law professors from several schools explore the law and culture of Harry's world, and the failings of the formal source of legal authority in the wizarding world. Jeffrey E. Thomas et al., Harry Potter and the Law, 12 Tex. Wesleyan L. Rev. 427 (2005-2006).
  • In Harry Potter and the Half-Crazed Bureaucracy, Professor Benjamin Barton examines how the Harry Potter series presents a government (The Ministry of Magic) that appears to exist solely for the benefit of the bureaucracy, and that lacks elections and a free press. 104 Mich. L. Rev. 1523 (2006).
  • In Harry Potter, Ruby Slippers and Merlin: Telling the Client's Story Using the Characters and Paradigm of the Archetypal Hero's Journey, Professor Ruth Anne Robbins suggests that Harry Potter "can help us as lawyers invoke more effective characterizations of clients." 29 Seattle U. L. Rev. 767 (2005-2006).
  • Professor Aaron Schwabach focuses on the legal regime governing the application and selection of curses as Unforgiveable in his article Harry Potter and the Unforgivable Curses: Norm-Formation, Inconsistency, and the Rule of Law in the Wizarding World, 11 Roger Williams U. L. Rev. 309 (2005-2006).
  • In Kidlit as Law-and-Lit: Harry Potter and the Scales of Justice, Professor William P. MacNeil explains why he thinks the reading audience has broadened from children to an "implied audience" of lawyers in the fourth book of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of the Fire. 14 Law & Lit. 545 (2002).