State-specific legal research instruction: Curricular stepchild or core competency?

Legal Reference Services Quarterly

Volumn 28, Issue 1-2, 2009, Pages 151-177

  Trotta, Victoria K ^a   Difelice, Beth ^a  

^a ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Courses; Research; State; Survey; Syllabus

Indexed keywords

EID: 71049175220     PISSN: 0270319X     EISSN: 1540949X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/02703190902961536     Document Type: Article

References (28)

1. Frederick Hicks, The Teaching of Legal Bibliography, 11 L. Lib. J 4 (1918).
2. Robin K. Mills, Legal Research Instruction After the First Year of Law School, 76 L. Lib. J. 603 (1983).
3. S. Blair Kaufman, Advanced Legal Research Courses: A New Trend in Legal Education, 6 Leg. Ref. Servs. Q. (3/4) 123 (1986).
4. Gary Hill, Survey on Legal Research Instruction, AALL Publications Series No. 56 (W. S. Hein & Co. 1989).
5. Ann Hemmens, Advanced Legal Research Courses: A Survey of ABA-Accredited Law Schools, 94 L. Lib. J. 209 (2002).
6. Kaufman, supra n. 2, at 123.
7. Hemmens, supra n. 2, at 231-232.
8. Kaufman, supra n. 2, at 127-128.
9. The eleven-question survey was created using Survey Monkey. The ALL-SIS was selected for the survey because it is a principle vehicle for communications among academic law librarians. That population includes those law librarians most likely to be teaching advanced and specialized legal research courses. The survey was distributed in June 2008 to 1,125 subscribers.
10. Legal research courses for 1L students are excluded from our results because those courses are under the control of the legal research and writing programs at most ABA-approved law schools. According to the survey results, thirteen law schools indicated that they provided state-specific content in the context of the 1L legal research and writing courses. Moreover, nineteen survey respondents indicated that they provided more informal opportunities for instruction.
11. The study revealed one law school that used to offer a formal state-specific ALR course but subsumed it into the new and presumably improved "Advanced Legal Research" in 2007.
12. One hundred and eleven, or 55.5%, do not disclose their employment statistics publicly on their Web sites.
13. The University of Akron School of Law ALR course, available at http://www.uakron.edu/law/library/alr.php (last accessed 13 Sept. 2008). Interview with Lynn Lenart, Asst. L. Libr., Ref. Services, U. Akron Sch. L.
14. Fordham University, available at http://law.fordham.edu/index.htm. Interview with Janis Greer, Ref. Libr., Fordham U. L. Sch.
15. Golden Gate University School of Law Course Catalog, available at http://www.ggu.edu/courses/catalog/browse_law.do?lawType=LAW3. Syllabus available online. Telephone interview with Marisa Diehl, Ref. Libr., Golden Gate U. L. Sch.
16. Interview with Professor Patricia Cervenka, Marquette U. L. Sch.
17. Syllabus for Fall 2008 class supplied by Professor Sally Wise, U. Miami. L. Sch.
18. University of San Francisco, available at http://www.usfca.edu/law/current/ElectiveCourseDescriptions.html#C. Interview with Lee Ryan, Senior Ref. Libr., U.S.F. L. Sch.
19. The University of Texas at Austin, School of Law, available at http://utdirect.utexas.edu/loreg/clap.WBX?ccyys=20089&class_unique_number=28885. Interview with Jane A. O'Connell, Dir. Faculty and Student Services, U. Tex. L. Sch.
20. Interview with Stephanie Marshall, Faculty Services Libr., Tex. Wesleyan L. Sch.
21. Western State University College of Law, available at http://www.wsulaw.edu/currentstudents/spring2007info.asp. Interview with Scott Frey, Ref. Libr., W. St. U. L. Sch.
22. The states that do not have legal bibliographies in this series at the present time are: Florida, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Utah.
23. Indiana University Bloomington Law Library's Web site, available at http://www.law.indiana.edu/lawlibrary/research/guides/statelegislative/index.shtml.
24. CALI, available at http://www2.cali.org.
25. More lessons have probably been added since this article was written. To see an updated list, go to http://www2.cali.org/index.php?fuseaction=lessons.subjectlist&cat=LR.
26. CALI Author Information, available at http://www2.cali.org/index.php?fuseaction=teaching. caliauthorinfo.
27. Instructions for submitting proposals for new lessons are available at http://www2.cali.org/index.php?fuseaction=static.lrcap.
28. Supra, n. 21.