Ross-Blakley Law Library Blog

With the New Year, you will need a new Westlaw password!  Westlaw just announced that all academic users will be required to update their passwords within the next few weeks.  By changing your password now you can avoid being temporarily locked out of your Westlaw account.

Follow these steps to change your password:
Log into lawschool.westlaw.com
Click the blue “Update” link to the right of your name
Then click the blue “ Manage OnePass Profile” button
Enter and re-enter a new password
Click the “Save” button

If you have any questions about the process, please contact Westlaw Customer Support at 1-800-850-WEST … Continue Reading

 Visitors to the Law Library

For those of you who make photocopies, print or scan documents at the Ross-Blakley Law Library at Arizona State University, please note the following changes on how you pay for copying and scanning.  

The print account funding system has changed, effective December 29, 2014.  The Law Library’s printing and copying system utilizes the University’s Print Anywhere program. In order for visitors to print, copy, or scan at the Law Library, they must first purchase a Print Anywhere Guest Card from any Sun Devil Bookstore location.  Bookstore hours may vary, so please plan ahead if you need to purchase a card.   Cards can … Continue Reading

Intersession has started at the Law School, and our hours have been heavily pruned to reflect that.

From Wednesday, December 17 – Saturday, January 10th, our hours will be as follows:

Monday – Saturday from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, with Reference Librarians available Monday – Friday from 8:30 am – 5:00 pm.

To celebrate the holidays, the library will be closed on the following days:

Thursday-Sunday, December 25-28th

Thursday, January 1

We will be open until 8pm on Sunday, January 11th to allow incoming students to prepare for the beginning of the semester.

Starting today, December 3, the Ross-Blakley Law Library will be open until midnight so that you can study just a little bit longer.  Why don’t you stay, work on an essay, look at some law books, seek hiding nooks, and watch our tweets so you can get some treats?

We open at the usual time (7 am on weekdays and 8 am on weekends), and the reference librarians will be on duty during their usual hours, from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm on weekdays.  This schedule will continue through Monday, December 15, the day before finals end.  Say you will join … Continue Reading

Finals are approaching and the Law Library wants you to take a break and have a treat.  During the reading and exam period we will send out special Treat Tweets.  When you get the Treat Tweet, come to the Reference office or the Circulation desk in the Law Library and get a treat!  We will have candy and fruit to help you get through the long hours of studying.  Sign-up to follow us on Twitter at:  http://twitter.com/asulawlibrary

Good Luck on Your Exams!

The Law Library will have shortened hours Wednesday – Friday this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday:

Wednesday, November 26: 7 am – 7 pm

Thursday, November 27: Closed

Friday, November 28: 8 am – 5 pm

We will resume regular hours on Saturday, November 29.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

After final exams are over and you have some free time on your hands again, you may be interested in checking out a new exhibit which traces Sandra Day O’Connor’s life through photographs, artifacts, and other visual imagery.  The exhibition, titled “The Cowgirl Who Became a Justice: Sandra Day O’Connor,” examines the intersection and divergence of the ranch life of O’Connor’s childhood and her years spent as a judge in both Arizona and Washington, D.C. It runs through May 23rd at the McClelland Irish Library at the Irish Cultural Center in downtown Phoenix.

We received a great student question recently: What can I do if I need something for work and I cannot access it on my academic Westlaw/Lexis/Bloomberg account due to use restrictions?

Answer: Each of the legal vendors imposes use restrictions on your academic account.  The restrictions vary, but generally limit use of your account to educational purposes related to law school coursework.  If you need to conduct research for work or for another purpose outside of your coursework, however, the library has a number of resources you can utilize without worrying about violating a license agreement:

WestlawNext Patron Access (accesisble on four public … Continue Reading

Costumes gone awry, haunted houses, and mean-spirited decorations – oh my!  Have care while celebrating Halloween this week, because as these cases show, Halloween is fertile ground for lawsuits:

Mary and Her (flaming) Little Lamb
Susan and Frank Ferlito attended a Halloween party dressed as Mary and Her Little Lamb.  Frank’s lamb costume consisted of hundreds of Johnson & Johnson cotton balls glued to a set of long underwear.  While at the party, Frank tried to light a cigarette using a butane lighter and set his costume aflame, causing significant burn injuries.

Frank sued. A jury … Continue Reading

Tribal law can be difficult to find for a variety reasons: individual tribes may not have the resources to publish their laws, may choose not to make them available electronically, or even may restrict outside access to their laws.  The new Library of Congress Indigenous Law Portal helps researchers find difficult-to locate tribal law materials by bringing together digitized historic Library of Congress resources with current resources available on tribal websites.  The Portal can be both searched and browsed by geographic region, state, and tribe name.

In addition to this new Portal, when researching tribal … Continue Reading