Hurricane Irene

Due to the impending visit of Hurricane Irene, the Law Library will completely close starting at 6pm on Saturday, August 27th. We plan to reopen at 8am on Monday, August 29th. You will not have 24/7 swipe card access during this period when we are closed. Make sure to check your Hofstra email and the Hofstra Campus Alert page for updates. Stay safe!

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

White House To End Hundreds Of Government Regulations

According to the Associated Press, on Tuesday, the White House announced plans “to end or cut back hundreds of government regulations, an effort the Obama administration says will save businesses $10 billion over five years. The administration says many of the regulatory reforms focus on small businesses.” Read more here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

JURIST

The start of a new school year is the best time to become acquainted with JURIST, the real-time legal news and research site that brings you the very latest legal developments from the United States and around the world. Created and maintained by faculty and students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, JURIST is self-described as "the world's only law school-based comprehensive legal news and research service."

The Law Library's home page offers continuous feeds from JURIST with breaking legal news. But JURIST is so much more: a great resource for background on national and international legal issues, updates on new legislation, and commentary, with timely links to case decisions and other primary materials "behind the legal news" that are not often found on standard news sites.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

U.S.C. Title 51: National and Commerical Space Programs

Congress added a new Title to the United States Code. Title 51 is "National and Commercial Space Programs". Over the past five decades, a substantial amount of legislation was enacted relating to national and commercial space programs. In the United States Code, some of these provisions appeared in title 15 (Commerce and Trade), some in title 42 (The Public Health and Welfare), and some in title 49 (Transportation). No distinct title for national and commercial space programs existed in the United States Code because the organizational scheme for the Code was originally established in 1926, before such programs were contemplated.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Online Resources: RAND Health Database

If you are looking for a resource on health care, try the RAND Health Database. RAND is a searchable database of abstracts and full text research studies on health and health care issues produced by the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit institution devoted to the improvement of policy and decision making through research and analysis.

To access RAND Health Database:

• Go to the Library's home page, click "Online Resources"
• Click the "Health Law / Medicine" link
• Scroll down to "RAND Health Database"

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

ABA First Year Student Guide

The ABA has published an informative law school survival guide entitled “How to Survive the First Year of Law School.” This helpful guide provides new law students with information on case briefing, outlining, study aids, career planning and more. The guide aims to help law students avoid the potential pitfalls and take advantage of all the opportunities available in law school. Click here to access the entire guide.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Real and Virtual Tours rolled into One

Did you miss our Library Walking tours in the excitement of Orientation? Would you like a refresher of where to find what in the Library now that you will be doing research for a paper? Check out our Online Library Audio Tour on the Library's webcasts page. There are 7 mp3 files. You can download just the parts that interest you or the whole tour and then take the tour on your favorite mp3 player or phone (with headphones, of course).

You will also find an Online Tour of the Library's web site, which will give you good tips for databases to use for paper research.

Enjoy your travels!

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Michigan Lawmakers Introduce Anti-Foreign Law Legislation

Michigan’s House of Representatives recently introduced a bill that would ban any laws deemed "foreign." The bill seeks to limit the enforcement and application of "foreign laws that would impair constitutional rights." Read more here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Library Raffle Winners To Be Announced

Lots of students entered their names in the Library Welcome Raffle at the Welcome BBQ and Organization Fair yesterday. Look for an email tomorrow announcing the three winners!

Winners will be able to pick up their prizes--Starbucks gift card, white T-shirt and black T-shirt--through Friday August 26, from Dianne Kaplan in Room 102B, the Law Library Director's office.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Zap! Bang! Bing!--Has Google Lost Its . . . Pow?

I wanted to share an interesting InfoTip from Mary Ellen Bate of Bates Information Services:

"Most people have assumed that Google will always be their go-to search engine. In fact, the verb "to Google" suggests that, for most of us, Google defines what a search engine is. I'm reminded of Velcro, Kleenex and Escalator, all brands that have come to represent the generic product because they were the first and the best in their field. (OK, Google wasn't the first search engine, but it was the first to use link analysis to calculate relevance.)

I recently saw a press release from Hitwise, a firm that studies web market share and consumer activity. According to Hitwise, Google's share of the search engine market is down to 66%, from 71% a year ago, with Bing its nearest competitor at 28%, up from 25% last year. Even more interesting to me was that, based on Hitwise's analysis, the "success rate" of searches was significantly higher for Bing (80%) than Google (68%). Wow! [cue the music from "Jaws"]"

Hat tip to Bates Information Services www.BatesInfo.com/tips

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat