The Law Library is pleased to welcome Priya Rai, Deputy Librarian in Charge at the Justice T.P.S. Chawla Library, National Law University in Delhi, to Cornell Law School.

Ms. Rai’s visit is made possible through the Bitner Research Fellows Fund.  This endowment is designed to provide foreign law librarians with exposure to Cornell Law Library’s excellent resources and the expertise of its professional librarians, while learning about advanced legal research in a global context.

Ms. Rai will present at the faculty workshop on Wednesday, July 25, 12:00 Noon, in the Weiss Faculty Lounge.  Entitled “Access to Legal Information in the Digital Age: A Comparative Study of Electronic Commercial Databases and Public Domain Resource in Law,” her presentation will include the results of her research involving law students and faculty from leading law schools in India. In addition to comparing open access and commercial legal databases, she will discuss initiatives to promote access to legal information to all Indian citizens.

Ms. Rai is the 2012 recipient of the FCIL-SIS Schaffer Grant.   This grant provides financial assistance for a foreign law librarian to attend the American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting, which she will do immediately prior to visiting Cornell.

We have a new scanner for library users installed in the Reading Room.  The Bookeye 4 has a book cradle, which means you no longer have to place the book face down on the scanner, scan the page, pick up your book, turn the book, and place the book down again.  All you have to do is turn the page and scan!

It will scan materials up to 24.4 by 16.9 inches (620 x 430 mm) in resolutions up to 600 by 400 dpi.  You can choose to create JPEG, TIFF, or PDF files, and choose whether to e-mail the file or save it to your flash drive.  And, of course, your scans can be black and white or color.

You can learn more about the scanner model here.  For help using the scanner, check out the video tutorial available on the scanner’s screen, or ask at the Circulation Desk or Reference Desk.

 

Dear Students:

Be sure to check out the new scanner (next to the printer) in the reading room during your next trip to the library. Please try it out and let us know what you think.

Features of the BookEdge Plus KIC Scanner

KIC BookEdge Plus embodies state-of-the-art walk-up scanning solutions for students and faculty.  Using a touch screen, scan in black and white or color and at resolutions up to 600dpi and output to a variety of formats including searchable PDF, JPEG, TIFF, PNG, even MP3 audio files.

 

 

 

 

 

  • Scan/copy up to 24×17 inch bound or unbound material at twice the speed of a high-speed copier
  • Create full color electronic images and/or paper copies with a single touch
  • Review large electronic images at nearly full-size before printing copies
  • Electronically collate and print copies
  • C r e a t e searchable PDF, JPEG, TIFF, PNG and editable text files
  • Create audio files from text for MP3 players, including iPods
  • Create, collate, and print reports with title pages and style templates
  • Go ‘green’. Promote minimal use of paper and ink

KIC has many ways to store, send and print information.

  • USB drive
  • E-mail, FTP
  • PDF and searchable PDF
  • Audio Podcast
  • Local or Network Printer

All the best,

Library Staff

Have you ever been on the 4th floor of the Law Library and wanted to access the wireless network with your smartphone? Well, your life just got better because wireless connectivity is now available on that floor. The 4th floor’s traditional laptop ban remains in effect as laptops can create bothersome noise. However, most other devices these days have silent keyboards. This makes iPhones, iPads, etc compatible with the quietly studious atmosphere of the 4th floor.

Connect away….

Electronic filing of court papers with public access to many of the documents is now the standard for federal courts through PACER. And now New York State Courts have an e-Filing System, NYSCEF. NYSCEF permits the filing of legal papers by electronic means with the County Clerk and the courts in certain case types in designated venues, as well as electronic service of papers in those cases. Tompkins County is not yet one of the venues; click here for the list of current counties eligible.

For free public access, any individual can search via the “search as guest” function on the Log In screen; no NYSCEF account is required. However, the judge can order the county clerk to seal particular documents or the entire case. “Sensitive” documents can be viewed by attorneys consented in that particular case and by the public at the county clerk computer.

A demonstration video designed to familiarize filers with its functionality is available here. How to get to the Courthouse is no longer the first problem new lawyers have to deal with. NYSCEF and PACER on the web take you there virtually!

On the go and needing simplicity? Connect to the new mobile version of the law library website using your smartphone or i-Pod. It puts core information at your fingertips, including hours, contact information, and library news. One may also access the library catalog, query our legal research engine, schedule a research consultation with a librarian, keep up with our blog, and more.

Many thanks to Webmaster Sasha Skenderija for developing the mobile interface, and Librarians Iantha Haight and Jean Callihan for organizing the content.

Have you ever shown up for class, or come to the library to do research, only to discover that you didn’t bring your laptop with you? No need to resort to taking notes by hand! The Law Library has two laptops ready to loan out should you find yourself in this predicament. The laptops may be checked out to law students for three hours at a time, for use within Myron Taylor Hall. The laptops have secure wi-fi access to the Internet and are loaded with the Microsoft Office suite of programs. The Law Library also has available for loan: headphones and earbuds (loan period three hours), a flash drive (loan period three hours), and five digital audio recorders (useful for recording lectures; loan period one week). Students must have a note from their professor in order to check out one of the recorders. Equipment can be checked out at the circulation desk in the Reading Room – just ask!

You may have noticed that QR Codes are popping up everywhere, and the law library is no exception. QR stands for Quick Response. Originally created by Denso-Wave, these two-dimensional codes can be scanned by a camera phone to link directly to online information. The phone must be equipped with a QR Code reader; various readers are available for different phones and may be downloaded for free (a few phones come with a reader pre-installed). Here is an example of what a QR Code looks like. This one links directly to our list of online resources:

Here in the law library, QR Codes are useful to students and faculty who want to make a quick transition from a print item located on the shelf to an electronic version of the same material. They are especially helpful in circumstances where the most current material is needed. Accordingly, you will start to see more of these codes posted throughout the library as we move into the fall semester.

It’s tempting and convenient to use free Wi-Fi networks in public places like airports and coffee shops when you’re on the move, but did you know that such networks are prime targets for hackers looking to steal sensitive information from Wi-Fi users?  Apart from security concerns, maybe you’d just like to use your mobile device or laptop in an environment that’s more conducive to quiet concentration, but where?

On May 23, 2011 Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) rolled out “eduroam,” a secure Wi-Fi service, available at all RedRover locations on campus, and at participating institutions of higher learning around the world.  According to CIT Network and Communication Services, “eduroam is a secure, world-wide roaming access service for the research and education community.   It allows students, researchers, faculty and staff from participating institutions to obtain Internet connectivity at their home institution, or when visiting other participating institutions.”   Eduroam is secure because it encrypts the Wi-Fi portions of data transmission; Cornell users log on using their Cornell net id and its associated password.  Tulane, Georgetown, and the University of Chicago are among the currently participating eduroam institutions.  Penn State, Yale, and UC Davis are beta-testing eduroam for eventual implementation.  Canadian universities using eduroam include McGill University and the University of Toronto.

To get started using eduroam, visit CIT’s “How to Set Up eduroam” page at: http://www.cit.cornell.edu/services/redrover/howto/eduroam/setup/index.cfm.  You’ll need to register your device and and install the SecureW2 software (Windows) or the configuration profile (Mac OS X and iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad).   There’s also a FAQ page at: http://www.cit.cornell.edu/services/redrover/faq.cfm#eduroam.  More information about eduroam, including information about participating member institutions, is available at: http://www.eduroam.org/.

The Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project recently released a report showing that computer and cell phone usage have increased significantly throughout the world, especially in certain countries such as Russia and Argentina. The report also looks at the use of social media and email, and analyzes technology usage by age group and gender. The full report is available here.

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