As we approach the start of a new academic year, I’m excited to welcome our new students and welcome back our returning students on behalf of the library team, who have been busy preparing to support your success in the months ahead. Below you will find important information about casebooks and study aids to help you get ready for your first week of classes, ensuring you start the semester on the right foot.
CASEBOOK INFORMATION
Current editions of required print casebooks adopted by BLS faculty & many print study aids are in BLS Library’s first-floor “Reserve” collection. Students can borrow these sources for 2-hours at BLS Library’s first-floor circulation desk. The circulation desk is staffed starting at 8am M-F, and availability of adopted course texts is often good on early weekday mornings. Also, the BLS student chapter of the National Lawyers Guild organizes a textbook exchange, and BLS students can contact this chapter at nlg@brooklaw.edu
- More information on the casebooks and study aids available through the BLS Library can be found here: https://guides.brooklaw.edu/course_bar_prep/introduction
- Information on casebooks and study aids specifically for incoming 1L students can be found here: https://guides.brooklaw.edu/1l/casebooks_study_aids
If your textbook publisher is West Academic or Foundation Press:
- Brooklyn Law School opted in to West Academic’s Early eBook Access Program. This program provides BLS students free, temporary access to adopted West Academic and Foundation Press ebooksone week before classes start and for the first two weeks of class. It is designed to help with any inventory, shipping, financial aid, or drop/add period issues. Access is available starting today.
- You can create an account or sign in with your school email address at eproducts.westacademic.com. Full instructions for access are available here. Students who experience any issues or have specific questions can contact the account manager for Brooklyn Law School: Dan Madonna, Dan.Madonna@WestAcademic.com.
- “If students would like to continue their access after the trial ends, they have the option to purchase a discounted eBook on their bookshelf.A 15% discount will be applied at checkout and all notes and highlights will appear when they sign in.”
If your casebook publisher is Aspen Publishing:
- Aspen Publishing created a BLS-specific purchase portal, so that all BLS students (not just those new to Aspen) can obtain a 15% discount on their orders of educator-selected Aspen course texts, regardless of format.
- If your purchase your Aspen text using this portal, you will receive temporary access to the digital copy while you await delivery of your physical copy.
- You can purchase your course materials by searching a course number or a professor’s name, clicking on the “View Course Titles” button, and adding the corresponding products to your cart.
- In order for this discount to be applied at checkout, create an account on Aspen Publishing.com using your BLS email address, then verify the BLS email address. (No coupon code needed.) Verification is most often done at the time of creating an account but can also be done on the My Account page when logged in. Any unverified account will see an “Email Address Not Verified” warning on the My Account page.
- If you experience any issues, Aspen Publishing.com provides both “Visit Our Help Center” and “Contact Us” links (near bottom of web page).
- Note: This portal facilitates purchase of current editions of Aspen course texts. If your professor has selected a previous edition of a course text, the discount is not available using this portal.
STUDY AID INFORMATION
BLS students can also access a digital collection of many study aids in Aspen Learning Library (In BLS Library’s SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION – (ASPEN)).
- Aspen Learning Library includes titles in the series listed below. Descriptions of these series and a study guide series comparison chart is available here.
- Emanuel Law Outlines/Emanuel CrunchTime;
- Examples & Explanations;
- Friedman’s Practice;
- Glannon Guides;
- Inside Series; &
- In Other Words Audio & Video Series.
- Tip: Remote access to Aspen Learning Library requires implementation of the BLS proxy server instructions for one web browser. Librarians recommend implementing the proxy instructions for Firefox.
- Need initial help implementing the BLS proxy instructions? Email: library.lab@brooklaw.edu .
More information on the casebooks and study aids available through the BLS Library can be found here
- Guide with information about casebooks and study aids available for upper level courses: https://guides.brooklaw.edu/course_bar_prep/introduction
- Guide with information about casebooks and study aids available 1L students courses: https://guides.brooklaw.edu/1l/casebooks_study_aids
“Books are kind of expensive. Do I really need to get this one?” It was the week of orientation and a 1L student, who had stopped by my office with a few questions, pointed to a book on my desk.
The Bluebook.
1Ls ask the darndest questions. The first thing that came to mind was to recite a long, prepared speech I had made many times before in class about the importance of standardized legal citation, and helping others find sources efficiently and accurately. My next thought was to tell the student a few choice quotes about The Bluebook from Goodreads.
Wait a minute. Goodreads? You turn to Goodreads when BookTok recommends Ali Hazelwood’s vampyre-werewolf novel, and you wonder if it measures up to her STEMinist titles. But for law school textbooks?
Well, it turns out there are plenty of reviews of popular legal textbooks on Goodreads.
Some students loved Civil Procedure (Glannon et al.): “So clear and well written. Would honestly read again.”
Others were baffled by Criminal Law and Its Processes (Kadish et al.) and perhaps by some aspects of legal education: “this textbook felt like playing where’s waldo for every criminal law concept….like just tell us?”
Yet others took the practical and likely still ethical approach to Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law (Lerman et al.): “If I had to read a whole textbook about legal ethics, I’m FOR SURE going to count it in my Goodreads goal.
”
When it comes to The Bluebook, there’s plenty of love from some quarters:
Along with a bit of confusion when it comes to the recurring characters: “Like literally what is the deal with Id.? He’s everywhere and way too easy – totally seems like a player.”
And it wouldn’t be law school without detractors, but even those reviewers often recognize the important role the Bluebook plays in legal education and beyond: “A necessary evil, it is the only book to which I have feelings of resentment. However, it is helpful and organized fairly well, I couldn’t have got through law school without it!”
In the end, I responded to the student with a pared-down version of the speech about becoming proficient in legal citation, and the importance of helping readers accurately identify sources and find them quickly. I emphasized that the Bluebook is used heavily in the 1L Gateway classes, and throughout one’s legal education at BLS. I didn’t cite any of the Goodreads quotes, though I may have paraphrased that last one about needing the Bluebook to get through law school.
I also told the student that while they should procure their own copy, BLS Library does have several copies of the Bluebook on Reserve. These copies can be borrowed for two hours at a time from the Circulation Desk, and while they will not substitute for a personal copy, they can be used in a pinch.
After we had chatted on the topic for several minutes, the student was convinced to get their own print copy. Who knows, maybe one day they will leave a review for The Bluebook on Goodreads?
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