Survey Says . . .

Beginning on Monday, March 16, the library will conduct a survey of all patrons. We are trying to learn which sources are used most often, so we will ask people what materials they use and we will keep track of books that are off the shelf. This information will be useful as we make decisions about what to add to and subtract from our collection. The survey will run for two weeks.

Thanks for your help as we try to determine how best to serve the students, faculty, and public patrons that visit the library.

PAST Program

PAST is a summer program here at the law school. These students are not regular enrollees and will not have the usual IDs. They DO have access to the computer labs.

Please verify their names on the enrollee list and give them a visitor code.

LRWA Research

The LRWA open memo project involves four jurisdictions:

• Florida
  
• Illinois
  
• Maryland
  
• North Carolina
  

When shelving, please pay special attention to these jurisdictions, as well as to the general legal research materials:

• American Jurisprudence
• Corpus Juris Secundum
• American Law Reports

Thanks for you help.

Banned Books Week

September 29 to October 6 is Banned Books Week. This annual event is sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA). In 2006, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) received a total of 546 challenges. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. Public libraries, schools and school libraries report the majority of challenges to OIF.

Celebrate your freedom to read! Click here for more information on books that have been banned or challenged.

“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” ---- Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., in Texas v. Johnson

BARBRI Students

BARBRI classes are being offered here at Mason. These students are given IDs by BARBRI and so long as they are wearing their ID tags, there is no need for them to sign in at the Circulation desk to use the library. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Library Fine Amnesty Week

In honor of National Library Week, April 16-20, we will forgive up to $10 in fines per patron. To qualify, they MUST have returned all overdue books.

Please contact me, Mike, or Maya for help with forgiving fines. You will need to use the supervisor's access code.

ABA Site Visit

The American Bar Association visits each fully-accredited law school once every seven years. They will be here at Mason from Sunday, March 25 to Wednesday, March 28.

Please pay special attention to the condition of the library as you shelve over the next week. We want to ensure that everything is as neat and orderly as possible. Thank you.

Westlaw Classes

The librarians are teaching Westlaw to the 1Ls this week. Classes are at noon, 4:00 and 8:00 pm. All classes meet in room 222 - the electronic classroom outside the library. Questions about registration should be directed to Iva or Paul.

Library Classes for 1Ls

This week, the librarians are teaching case research to 1Ls as part of their LRWA class. See the schedule here.

Please pay particular attention to the second floor when shelving this week; they will be using the digests and reporters.

Celebrate Intellectual Freedom

September 23 kicks off Banned Books Week. This annual event, sponsored by the American Library Association, raises awareness of books that are challenged or banned.

20th Century classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Grapes of Wrath, All the King's Men, and The Lord of the Rings have been banned or challenged.

Celebrate your fREADom and read a banned book!

Library Classes on Secondary Sources

This week, the Librarians are teaching classes on using secondary sources. These sessions are for 1Ls as part of their LRWA class.

When shelving this week, please pay particular attention to the first floor, especially CJS and the Restatements. Students will use these sets for in-class exercises. Thanks!

All classes meet in Room 222 (outside the Library)

Monday: 12 noon - 1:30, 4: 00 – 5:30

Tuesday: 12 noon - 1:30, 4: 00 – 5:30, 8:00pm – 9:30pm

Wednesday: 12 noon - 1:30, 4: 00 – 5:30, 8:00pm – 9:30pm

Thursday: 12 noon - 1:30, 4: 00 – 5:30

It's National Library Week!

National Library Week is the time each year that communities nationwide celebrate and promote the contributions of our libraries and librarians.
Every day, all over the country, libraries connect millions of people with a remarkable wealth of resources. Despite the Internet and downloadable media, the number of items circulated in the nation’s public libraries has grown every year since annual figures became available in 1990. If you haven't been to your public library in a while, go check it out.

Here at Mason, we are offering two programs this week. On Tuesday at noon, it's Summer Survival Skills and on Wednesday at 5:00, Preparing to Practice in Virginia. Please join us. Evaluation forms for these programs will be returned to the circulation desk. Please forward these to Mike and Maya. Thanks!

Columbus Day & LRWA

Although there are no classes, the library will be open as usual on Monday, Oct. 10 (8 am to 11pm).


Next week, the first year students begin working with the state materials on the second floor. Please pay special attention to shelving and shelf reading in these areas, as they will get a lot of usage over the next few weeks.

LRWA Exercises

First year students will be turning in their homework for the secondary source classes at the Circulation Desk. There is a box on the shelves behind the desk for this purpose. I will pick them up. Thanks!

Research Classes Begin Next Week

Next week, Rae Best and I will be teaching the first year students how to use secondary sources. The students will use AmJur, CJS, ALR, & the Restatements to answer several questions. These collections will get a lot of use over the next two weeks, so please shelf read these areas during your shift, and ensure that everything is shelved properly. Thanks!