Ross-Blakley Law Library Blog

The Law Library will be closing at 7 pm on Wednesday, November 27.  We will be closed Thursday, November 28 and will reopen from 8am-5pm on Friday, November 29.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

The Ross-Blakley Law Library is pleased to announce the annual Ross-Blakley Law Library Award for Exemplary Student Research.  The purpose of the award is to encourage students to focus on practical skills and to refine their research skills beyond ordinary proficiency to their personal best.  The award also serves as a means to showcase extraordinary student research.

Two award recipients will be selected.  The first place winner will receive $500.00 and a Certificate of Recognition.  The second place winner will receive  $250.00 and a Certificate of Recognition. Winners will be invited to publish their paper in the Sandra Day … Continue Reading

CALI, the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, is a consortium of law schools that researches and develops computer-mediated legal instruction. The CALI Library of Lessons includes more than 800 lessons covering over 30 legal education subject areas. They are designed to augment traditional law school instruction, and are written by law faculty and librarians.

As an ASU Law Student you have access to hundreds of CALI lessons and tutorials.  Stop by the front desk of the Law Library for your free authorization code and register online at www.cali.org.  We also have free CALI cds at the front desk.

You can also … Continue Reading

“I cannot teach anybody anything.  I can only make them think.”
- Socrates

As a law student you have no doubt experienced the Socratic Method instructional model, which is based on the asking and answering of questions in class with the goal of stimulating critical thinking.  You can thank Christopher Columbus Landell for that, who as the Dean of Harvard Law School from 1870 to 1895 introduced this method to legal education.  Before Landell, legal instruction was based on the lecture model, in which students memorized material from an instructional textbook and were lectured on that material in class.

Many law professors now … Continue Reading

The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, the Library of Congress and the Government Printing Office (GPO) mark Constitution Day today by launching a new app and web publication that make analysis and interpretation of constitutional case law by Library experts accessible for free to anyone with a computer or mobile device.

The new resources, which include analysis of Supreme Court cases through June 26, 2013, will be updated multiple times each year as new court decisions are issued.

Get the App:  The app can be downloaded for free from iTunes. A direct link is here: beta.congress.gov/constitution-annotated. An Android version is … Continue Reading

If you would like to celebrate Constitution Day, there will be a program at Hayden Library on Constitution Day. 

Join us on Constitution Day, Sept. 17th to hear ASU Professor T.J. Davis speak on the history of voting rights.

• Tuesday September 17, 2-3pm
• ASU Libraries Location: Hayden Library C-6A/ East Campus: Tempe 
• Cost: Free

For more information E-mail: danton@asu.edu Website: ASU Libraries: Constitution Day    Phone: 480/965-1798

A good vocabulary is essential for a law student.  It allows you to communicate effectively, boosts your powers of persuasion, and helps you make a good impression.  In his article for the September 2013 ABA Journal, Professor Bryan Garner cites research reviewed by University of Virginia professor emeritus E.D. Hirsch Jr., who states that studies have solidly established the correlation between vocabulary and real-world ability.  In fact, Hirsch affirms that the research reveals “there’s no better index to accumulated knowledge and general competence than the size of a person’s vocabulary.”

To … Continue Reading

We have some short videos for you to view to get to know the Ross-Blakley Law Library.  You can access them here:  1L Orientation Videos.

Need some help with your assignments from your legal research and writing class?  Take a few minutes to check out the Law Library’s 1L Research and Writing Tutorials.

We are looking forward to meeting you on your Legal Research and Writing class library tours in the next few weeks.

The Technology Enhanced Collaborative Space (TECS) is located on the first floor of the Ross-Blakley Law Library in room #112D. TECS is intended for collaborative work or study specifically for groups, defined as two or more users actively using the room and its technology. The room has a capacity for five people and includes the following equipment:

• Media table specifically developed to promote collaboration
• Computer
• Laptop Connectivity for 5 laptops
• Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
• Two 37” video displays
• Skype Capabilities

Study group participants can share content from their laptops on the two 37” video displays by pressing the corresponding switcher. Analog laptop electrical outlets and audio outlets … Continue Reading

If you’ve been around this summer, you’ve undoubtedly noticed some construction going on around the building.

As part of this construction, starting Monday, the large mound of rocks to the South of the Law Library will be dismantled to make way for a service road (don’t worry, the area adjacent to the Reserve Reading Room will still be nicely landscaped). This project will also fix drainage problems … Continue Reading