Newsletter Winter 2007

Dear Students,

Greetings! We hope that the semester is proceeding smoothly.

This issue of the Law Library Newsletter is full of information to help you with your research and technology needs.

Please take a look at it and contact the Law Library staff with questions about anything from rare books to the way back machine!

Peace, Filippa

Filippa Marullo Anzalone

Professor and Associate Dean for Library and Computing Services, Law School

Legal Blogs and the Courts    

Minnesota Public Radio recently featured a segment on the extent to which legal blogs are making their way into judicial opinions. If you are interested in listening to it, click here.

Source: First Movers - Tomorrow's Legal Scholars Today

From the Library�s Email Reference Box (lawref@bc.edu)

Dear Student,

A title search in Quest, the Library Catalog, retrieved several records, and the link to link "Check Online Availability� indicated that BC subscribes to many online services that contain the �Harvard Business Review�; but only one of them, EBSCOHOST Business Source Complete, covers the right time period. Plugging your the citation information into the "find it" form retrieved an �article not found� message. Going back to the "Find It" form and clicking the "EBSCOHOST Business Source Complete" link provided an expandable list of volumes and issues. I scanned the table of contents for the issue you specified until I found the article in html and PDF formats. I assume you would prefer the PDF, as it can be used for pinpoint cites.

Lessons from the Librarian:

• Many articles are available to us electronically in full text through subscription services. They can be located by finding the journal title in Quest and then checking the online availability links.
• Legal Information Librarians are only an e-mail away. We try to check the lawref@bc.edu mailbox at least twice a day and provide you with an answer no later than the next business day.

Regulations Research

Locating and tracking the status of federal and state regulations can be a cumbersome process. Luckily, the major online research vendors, LexisNexis and Westlaw, provide strong resources for ready access to this information. Public access is also available from the U.S. government for the CFR and the Federal Register.

   Finding Federal Regulations

The introduction of Westlaw�s RegsPlus service in February 2006 streamlined federal regulatory research. Entering CFR as the database identifier automatically takes a researcher to a unique set of resources: an electronic index to CFR; links to notes of decisions (both court and agency decisions); KeyCite flags to indicate if any proposed regulation is pending; links to full-text references to Federal Register and links to prior versions of a particular CFR cite.

LexisNexis offers access to the CFR, a separate archive of CFR back to 1981, and a complete backfile of Federal Register, as well as agency decisions, all as separately searchable files. Shepard�s symbols will alert searchers as to status of promulgated regulations and citing documents; there is no equivalent to the Westlaw alert system for pending federal regulations.

   Finding State Regulations

Both Lexis in the STREGS file and Westlaw in the ADC-ACAD database allow access to all states� administrative codes with one search. Entering this sample search statement: nicotine /5 yield retrieves the three states� regulations governing nicotine levels in cigarettes or smokeless tobacco products. These regulations from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Texas can then be checked with a KeyCite search for history or citing references. Learn more about state regulations here.

   Workshop on regulations research

Watch the Counselor for the date and time of the Law Library�s upcoming workshop this spring.

Introducing BNA-ALL

The library recently subscribed to a large collection of databases, BNA-ALL. BNA (Bureau of National Affairs) is a leading publisher of legal information products in law, tax, labor, environment, business, and more. Our subscription to BNA-ALL includes electronic access to U.S. Law Week, Daily Labor Report, and other popular titles. BC faculty and students can also sign up for e-mail alerts in many different subject areas. The content of BNA-ALL is available on LexisNexis and Westlaw to members of the BC Law community. The BNA databases and e-mail alerts are widely used in law firms, so take the opportunity to become familiar with them now!

The Way Back Machine

Content on the Web disappears with alarming frequency � here today and gone tomorrow. The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Access is free to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public. The archive includes over 144,000 articles; over 51, 500 movies; over 36,400 items (2,239 bands) in the Live Music Archive; and there�s more. Not everything is archived, but it�s a good place to begin, if the website you want has disappeared. You can browse the Archive, or, if you have an old URL, begin your search with The Way Back Machine. Try typing the URL into the search box and click �Take Me Back�.

Breaking News!

Wireless Network Change
The BC Wireless network named RoamAbout is current being phased out of service. You should now use the wireless network named BostonCollege. Network Services is also in the process of setting up a secure wireless network that supports data encryption. Notification will be sent when this service becomes ready for use.
Wireless Network Details and Configuration Information

Protect Your Computer - keep it Virus-Free and Up-to-Date!
Have you configured your laptop to automatically receive virus and Operating System Updates? If not, find out how here. We cannot stress enough how important this is. You may lose network privileges if your laptop is not up-to-date.

Print Management
The University is currently rolling out a mandatory print management system for all computing labs and public computers in the libraries and public areas. The Law School will install the new print management system in June. This system will change the way in which students print in the Law Library and Career Services computer labs. Instead of printing directly to a particular printer, print jobs will be sent to a central print server. Students will need to visit a print release station. At the release station, the student will need to swipe his/her Eagle ID through a card reader, select the print job from a list of print jobs the student has sent to print, and release the job to the printer. The print management system has been in test at the University's main computing lab, the O'Neill Library, and the computer labs at the Carroll School of Management. More information about the print management system will be sent to the student body once the system is installed at the Law School.

Help for your computer

Computer Repair Service Center
The Service Center located on the Chestnut Hill campus has temporarily moved to a Carney Hall, Room 131.
Information about Hardware Repair

Student Computing Help Center Spring Semester 2007 Hours (Note: Hours are subject to change)

Student Computing Help Center After Hours and Emergency Help
ATR, the Law School�s Technology Department, also supports the faculty and staff at BC Law. Consequently, we can only respond to emergency situations (potential loss of data) outside of the hours set forth above. ATR staff work Monday � Friday from 8:00 a.m. � 5:00 p.m. Students requiring assistance during evening or weekend hours should call 617-552-HELP or seek help at the Campus Technology Resource Center (CTRC) located in the O�Neill Library building on the Chestnut Hill Campus.

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