Friday, February 28, 2014

The Best Snow Is Made Of Paper

Every entry in the Goodson Law Library's Snowflake Contest was unique – but only a few could be winners! A panel of service desk staff members judged twenty beautiful submissions, and chose 3L Hilary Campbell's entry (top of photo) as the first-prize winner of a dozen snowflake cookies! Tied for second place were library staff member Tonya Cates (bottom left) and 3L Michael Budahn (bottom right). The second-prize winners will each receive a small batch of snowflake cookies.


We’d like to thank all of the students, faculty and staff who submitted entries to our first-ever Snowflake Contest...and we hope these will be the last snowflakes we see around Duke Law School this year!



Monday, February 24, 2014

Win a Piece of the Law Library at PILF!

Attending this year's PILF Auction and Gala on Saturday, March 1? The Goodson Law Library has contributed several great items for the auction portion of the evening. Plan your bids accordingly to win:
  • "Property rights" in a study carrel for the 2014-2015 academic year: A perennial favorite at the PILF Auction! Although study carrels in the Goodson Law Library are generally available on a first-come, first-served basis, the winning bidder of this auction will enjoy a plaque in a selected study carrel (Levels 1 and 4 only) that entitles him/her to evict any "squatters" during the academic year.
  • 24 hours in the Digital Initiatives Lab during spring 2014 finals: During final exams, the study rooms are packed. Library seats are at a premium. Wouldn't you love to have a private spot in the library for you and your study group, where you can close the door and be undisturbed? The winning bidder for this item can do just that, by cashing in a day-long reservation for the Digital Initiatives Lab on Level 3. Whether you plan to have a marathon study session or to project video games onto the display screen, the room will be yours to enjoy for a full 24-hour period.
  • Law School Survival Kit gift basket: lovingly assembled by the library's Reference Services department, this basket is chock-full of goodies to help you get through the rest of the semester. Expect plenty of delicious snacks, useful supplies like highlighters, and a few fun items to cheer up those final exam blues.
  • A Day at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park with Assistant Dean Melanie Dunshee: Melanie Dunshee, Assistant Dean for Library Services, will host up to 4 students at a Durham Bulls baseball game during the 2014 season (date to be determined by the winning bidder and Dean Dunshee). She will even include a ballpark hot dog for each lucky attendee!
  • A Night at Drag Bingo with Prof. Jennifer Behrens: Head of Reference Services and Lecturing Fellow Jennifer Behrens will host a table for up to 9 students at an upcoming Drag Bingo event at the Durham Armory. Date will be determined by the winning bidder and Prof. Behrens (graduating students: note that only one date remains for the spring 2014 semester – Saturday, March 22; for returning students, several dates are scheduled during the fall semester). Drag Bingo combines all the excitement and prizes of traditional bingo with fabulous drag performances. As an added bonus, it is a fundraiser for the AIDS Alliance Service – Carolinas, so your donation to PILF will do double the good!
The PILF Auction & Gala is Duke Law School’s annual fundraiser for its Public Interest Law Foundation, which provides stipends and grants to students who choose to pursue summer employment in the public sector. Auction tickets are on sale daily in the Duke Law School Star Commons for $20 in advance; on the day of the auction, tickets will be $25 at the door of the Durham Convention Center. To learn more about PILF and its fundraising events, visit their website. We hope to see you at the auction!

Monday, February 17, 2014

Let It Snow...In the Library

What a winter! This semester has brought several days of class cancellations (and accompanying make-up days) due to inclement winter weather. Whether you adore the snowy season or prefer the comforts of the indoors, you can channel that love or loathing to create a snowflake for the first-ever Goodson Law Library Snowflake Contest!

Now through Tuesday, February 25 at 5:00 p.m., Duke Law School students, faculty and staff can create a cut-paper snowflake to be displayed behind the Goodson Law Library service desk. Submit your entry to the Circulation/Reserve desk to be added to the display. A panel of three Goodson Law Library staff members will award a lucky winner the prize of bragging rights and one dozen homemade snowflake cookies!

Snowflake contest rules:
  • Snowflakes must be submitted for display by Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 5:00 p.m.
  • Snowflakes must be made of white paper (some scrap paper will be available at the Circulation Desk).
  • No additional colors should be used for the snowflake paper or its embellishment. If glitter or other decorative material is used, it must be white/clear/ iridescent.
  • Finished snowflakes must not exceed 4 inches in diameter.
  • Please mark your NetID on the back so that the creator of the winning snowflake can be contacted, while the judging remains anonymous.
Submit finished snowflakes at the Duke Law Library Circulation/Reserve Desk, during staffed hours. Contest winner(s) will be announced by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, February 28, 2014. We cannot guarantee that all submitted snowflakes will be returned to their creators after the contest.

Questions? Contact Collection Services Associate Andrea Davis in the Law Library.

Monday, February 10, 2014

BrowZine: Academic Journals on the Go

Keeping up with the latest scholarly literature can be a challenge: old journal issues pile up into office clutter. Articles you found online are lost as soon as you close your browser, if you didn't keep track of your search history. A link in an email might lead to a publisher pay wall, if you haven't authenticated your computer with your University credentials. Is there a better way to keep your scholarly research organized?

If you're a tablet user, consider BrowZine. The Duke University Libraries have partnered with BrowZine to provide thousands of its subscription journals through a tablet "newsstand" app, which is available for iPad, Android and Kindle Fire devices. Instructions and download links are available at http://library.duke.edu/research/browzine. Once the app is downloaded, Duke users should select Duke University from the Institutions list, and enter their NetID and password (security note: these credentials are not provided to the app's designer). BrowZine users can then browse the library of journals by subject area or title.

The "Law and Legal Studies" category currently contains 130 titles, but there are thousands more available in other social sciences, humanities and sciences – making this app especially useful for interdisciplinary legal researchers. Once journal titles have been added to your bookshelf, you can browse available issues, and tap on individual article names to download the full text courtesy of the Duke University Libraries. BrowZine integrates with citation management software like Zotero, and also cooperates with popular file storage and annotation apps like DropBox and iAnnotate.

One note of caution: A test-drive by the Goodson Blogson did reveal that there may be a minority of titles included erroneously within BrowZine which provide only indexing, and not the full text of articles. In those cases, the table of contents will list a price for accessing the full text of articles. Remember that researchers at Duke should never have to pay to access scholarly articles -- even if they are not available through Duke's print or online subscriptions -- since current Duke students, faculty and staff are eligible to receive articles via interlibrary loan service. If you encounter a citation to an article within BrowZine which is not provided in full text, Ask a Librarian for assistance first, instead of pulling out your credit card! BrowZine makes it easy to email such troublesome citations (or useful ones, for that matter) by clicking the Share icon in the top right corner when viewing an article.

Happy researching!