The law library is organizing a focus group of law students to help us better understand your research experiences in your summer positions. Our interest is in both your research successes and your research failures, as your feedback will help us better tailor our offerings in legal research instruction to reflect your real-world research experiences in the workplace.
The session will be held on Monday, Oct. 5, at 12:00 noon, in Rm. 320 of Williams Library.
Lunch will be provided.
To participate, sign up at: http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/students/signupfg.cfm.

During the Spring 2009 semester, the Law Library conducted a survey asking students to comment on various aspects of the library. 573 students completed the survey, providing more than 1,300 separate responses. We thank everybody who completed the survey. We read every comment.

In May, the library published initial findings from the survey, focusing on qualitive responses.

Based upon student comments, the library used the Summer break to make several improvements so that the buildings, equipment,, and services better meet student current usage and needs.

Highlights from the survey responses are:

• The purchase of new chairs for the Reading Room;
• The instalation of three new free self-serve digital scanners;
• The move of the Wolff reference desk to a new location;
• The implementation of changes to the library's catalog, GULLiver, which will make it easier to locate library materials;
• The creation of a new online system for students to remotely reserve group study rooms.

The library has posted a page with the most frequent comments from the Spring Student Survey alongside library responses.

We greatly appreciate student input. Please feel free to continue this dialog through our Law Library Feedback Blog, a place where we post answers to your student questions.  You can send us your comments through our suggestion page, linked from the library's home page.  The library will use the Feedback Blog to respond.

The Williams Library collection will be shifting over the next few weeks.  When areas are in the process of being shifted the material housed there will be temporarily unavailable.   At most an individual book will be unavailable for the hour or two that it takes to move the material in the library. If you have problems finding materials during the move please contact the Williams Circulation desk for assistance. 

The Library staff will post updates on a Collection Shift Page on our website, as well as posting signs, indicating what sections will be affected during this shift.

This Thursday, September 17th is Constitution Day, a day to commemorate the 1787 signing of the U.S. Constitution. Georgetown Law Library has compiled a Research Guide featuring resources available on the Web for the study of the Constitution. One such resource is the Interactive Constitution, available from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Both the Williams and Wolff libraries have put up displays to observe this significant day for the legal community.  You can stop by the Robert Oakley Reading Room of the Williams library and pick up a handout detailing the legislative history of Constitution Day, as well as fun facts on the Constitutional Convention. While you're there, help yourself to a pocket copy of the Constitution too!

In the Wolff library, check out the display which supports the Law Center’s Constitution Day Panel discussion on “Defining Human Rights: What Role Does International Law Play in Our Constitutional System?” Included are relevant cases, such as the Supreme Court’s Paquette Habana decision (175 U.S. 677 (1900)), as well as books by law professors, David Cole, of Georgetown Law and Jordan Paust, of University of Houston Law Center.

During the Spring 2009 semester, the Law Library conducted a survey asking students to comment on various aspects of the library.  573 students responded, providing more than 1,300 separate responses. The Library is reviewing all feedback, and we plan to publish a detailed response during the summer. As a preliminary response we are happy to post several charts summarizing the results.

One of the more interesting results from the survey is a list of reasons people come to our library.  The top reason is to study in a quiet environment, followed by conducting research for class, printing, and borrowing books.

View more of the 2009 Survey results on our website.  From that page you can also see our survey results from 2008 and 2007.

This is valuable input, and we want to thank everybody who completed the survey.


2009 responses to question of why students visit the Georgetown University Law Library

Ever wanted to write a sequel to your favorite book?  Well, now you can write the first sentence. 

Perseus Books is collecting these sentences and will publish them on May 30th. 

Learn more about the project and submit your ideas.

My favorite so far:  

“It turned out not to be the worst of times at all; they got so much worse later.” —From A Tale of Three Cities by Charles Dickens

The Law Library has acquired the newly published Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History. This comprehensive, six-volume reference work covers U.S., international, and foreign legal subjects, tracing their development from ancient to modern periods. Like most subject-specific academic encyclopedias, the articles are written and signed by experts in the field, usually law professors (including several members of the GULC faculty), and they contain extensive cross-references and bibliographies.

The print version of the set is still being processed, but the Library has also purchased an online version which is available now. Please take a look at this valuable new resource.

It’s hard to believe, but summer is nearly upon us. If you would like a refresher on how to do efficient and cost effective research before you leave for your summer or permanent positions, consider attending one of the law library staff’s Cost Effective Research Training sessions. Each session will cover how to receive research assignments and craft a research plan, how to use Lexis & Westlaw efficiently, and what free/lowcost options exist for research beyond Lexis & Westlaw.
The 50 minute sessions will be held at the following times in the Williams Library’s Computer Learning Center (CLC):

· Wednesday, Apr. 22, at 3:30 p.m.
· Thursday, Apr. 23, at 4:30 p.m.
· Monday, Apr. 27, at 1:00 p.m.
· Wednesday, Apr. 29, at 4:30 p.m.

Registration is not required, but the library staff asks that students register so they can better control the size of the training sessions. Registration is now open at http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/students/signup.cfm.

The annual Georgetown Law Library survey has finished, and we got a great response from students.  All students who completed the survey were eligible for a drawing to win an Apple iPod Touch.  We're happy to announce that Lara Turner, a fourth-year evening student was selected at random for the prize.  Congratulations Lara!

Thanks to everybody who completed the survey this year. We value all of the feedback, and we'll read every comment we received. Our annual survey is a great way for us to gauge student satisfaction and information needs. This year, we received 573 responses from students in all program years, including feedback from JD, LL.M., SJD and joint degree students. Following is a quick chart showing the responses received.

One question in the survey asked for feedback on content people are seeking on our website, allowing people to pick multiple options. The highest-ranked item is our collection of past exams. We're happy to see that people also turn to our website to search for books, get general research help, and check to see when the library is open.  Here's a quick chart showing the results of this question.

You can view results of prior surveys on pages for the 2008 Survey and 2007 Survey. We will publish results of the 2009 law library survey when we can.

       Many scholars have followed the decline in law as an autonomous discipline.  Now, many research inquiries into the law also require serious research in other disciplines like economics, history, sociology or psychology.  To help students researching in areas outside of traditional legal research, the library has created a Social Sciences Interdisciplinary Research Guide to point students to resources available through the Georgetown University Law Library as well as the Georgetown University Library.  Aside from pointing students to general social science databases, the guide is also broken down to offer specific research advice in particular social science disciplines. 

    As always, let us know if you have additional thoughts about information that should be included on the research guide.