BLS Library Blog

On Thursday February 6, Professor Elizabeth Fajans and Librarian Kathy Darvil will host a workshop on how to effectively research and write your seminar paper.  The workshop is from 4-5:30 and is located in Room 602.  Topics covered included sources for selecting your topic, sources for researching your topic, and how to effectively organize and write your paper.

If you are unable to attend the workshop, there is no need to fear.  Kathy Darvil created an online research guide to support the seminar.  The guide is available at guides.brooklaw.edu/seminarpaper.  From the guide’s landing page, you will be able to access a recording of this year’s presentation, Professor Fajan’s slideshow on how to write your seminar paper, and Kathy Darvil’s online presentation on how to research your seminar paper.  Also listed and described on the guide are all the resources (as well as several others) that were discussed in the workshop.  If you should need further help selecting or researching your topic, please stop by the reference desk for assistance.

Bloomberg Law has made significant enhancements to their citator, BCite, available on BloombergLaw.com:

“The enhanced Bloomberg Law Citator (BCite) makes it easier to navigate the content related to a case and to find related documents across all of Bloomberg Law. BCite now features separate tabs for the Direct History, Case Analysis, and Table of Authorities and provides expanded filtering options designed specifically for related tasks. For instance, the Direct History tab includes filter options for History, Court, and Date, while the Case Analysis and Table of Authorities tabs add filters for Analysis, Case Status, Citation Frequency, Court, and Judge. The new Citing Documents tab provides the ability to find documents citing to your court opinion across many content sets, including court materials, administrative and regulatory documents, legislative content, and secondary sources, like books, treatises, and BNA analysis.”

Users can now easily see all documents, including secondary sources, that cite to a particular case, and filter or search within those citing documents. Remember that BloombergLaw.com is free for all BLS students with no academic use restriction. Your passwords will be active until the end of the calendar year in which you graduate.

For questions on how to access or use BloombergLaw.com, see a Reference Librarian, or contact our BLS Bloomberg Relationship Manager, Erica Horton (ehorton@bna.com)

On Monday, February 20, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Brooklyn Law School will cancel all classes and close most of its offices. The BLS Library will be open from 9am to 10pm.

Brooklyn Law School is providing an opportunity to participate in the National Martin Luther King Day of Service. On Monday, January 20 2014, BLS students will join thousands of volunteers across the country as they take the opportunity to carry on Dr. King’s mission of service to others. BLSA and BLSPI are spearheading a day of service by recruiting volunteers to participate in a Read-A-Thon from 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM at PS 375 Mosaic Prep Academy at 141 E. 111 St., New York, NY 10029. Volunteers will work with students as they practice their reading skills. BLS students who want to participate can meet up in the BLS Courtyard at 9:30 AM. For more information on the Read-A-Thon, visit: www.allforgood.org.

Dr. King, the most important voice of the American civil rights movement, was born on January 15, 1929 and is only the third American whose birthday is recognized as a federal holiday. In 1964, Dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize at age 35, the youngest person ever to receive this high honor. He donated the prize money from that award to help fund his fight for civil rights in America. Four years later, Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

The BLS Library’s first floor book display case features several print items about Dr. King including the 1978 King: A Biography by David L. Lewis (Call # E185.97.K5 L485 1978). It notes that Dr. King was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. During his term, he traveled and spoke wherever there was injustice, protest and action. He led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world and provided what he titled a “Coalition of Conscience” inspiring him to write his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. The letter became a call to action that started the Civil Rights revolution, with its drives in Alabama for voter registration for blacks, and the March on Washington, where he delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech” in front of 250,000 people.

A newer book, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Morality of Legal Practice: Lessons in Love and Justice by Robert K. Vischer (Call # KF373.K523 V57 2013), looks at our understanding of the lawyer’s work by exploring how Dr. King built his advocacy on a clear set of moral claims regarding the demands of love and justice in light of human nature. Dr. King never shirked from staking out challenging claims of moral truth, even while remaining open to working with those who rejected those truths. His example is an inspiration for the legal profession and a reminder that truth-telling has the capacity to move hearts and minds. Dr. King’s success would have been impossible absent his substantive views about human nature and the ends of justice.

In addition to the print items, the display case has a page from the BLS Library’s digital copy of Becoming King: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Making of a National Leader.