Medical Marijuana: A Growing Concern?
Sunday July 22, 2012 10:45am - 11:45am @ HCC-Room 205
Jaye Anne Barlous and Kelly Reynolds
The legalities of medical marijuana is a fascinating example of state and federal laws at war. Although 15 states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, the drug remains a banned substance under federal law, raising issues of Congress's pre-emption authority under the Supremacy clause. To further befuddle researchers, state laws often involve a complicated quagmire of referenda, statutes, regulations, ordinances, and judicial opinions. This program delves into the conflict between the federal government's enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act, and state and local laws underscoring the therapeutic benefits of cannabis. The speakers will also address practical concerns surrounding lawful access to medical marijuana. Whether the medicinal use of marijuana is ultimately slated for eradication, or achieves legalization, this presentation will challenge you to take a fresh look at this complex and rapidly changing area of law.
Connect with Patrons by Creating Strong Research Guides
Monday July 23, 2012 10:45am - 11:45am @ HCC-Room 202
Catherine M. Dunn, Morgan Stoddard, and Sara Sampson
Preparing Strong Research Guides: Lessons from the Georgetown Law Library
Georgetown Law Library Research Guide Style Manual
The advent of online technologies has led to an explosion of available research resources, making the efforts of librarians to direct users to the best sources more critical than ever. One of the ways libraries can meet this need is by creating and updating online research guides for its users. This session will cover best practices for preparing these guides--including the initial decision to develop a guide in a particular area or of a particular type--the steps taken to create it, and how to markets a guide's use once completed.
Diversify Your Teaching Portfolio with Tutorials!
Monday July 23, 2012 1:15pm - 2:15pm @ HCC-Room 207
Cindy Guyer and Karen Skinner
Software Comparison Spreadsheet
| Tutorial Production Handouts
Sample Tutorial Slides and Script
| Bibliography on Tutorials
Legislative History Tutorial
| Spring Review Tutorial
| Statutes in Print Tutorial
Today's challenges of teaching legal information literacy include limited face time with users, demanding millennials who want more than lectures, and the introduction of new and changing research interfaces. Creating web-based tutorials is one way to address these challenges while, simultaneously diversifying your teaching portfolio. Tutorials can be instructional, reinforcing, and/or assessment-focused. Discover the components of three types of tutorials and the best practices for ensuring your tutorials are tailored to the learning needs of your particular audience. Also learn about the various free and proprietary software options for creating tutorials. To assist in the tutorial production process, participants will be provided with tips and cautions, templates and samples, sources for multimedia content, and a selected bibliography of sources about creating and utilizing tutorials.
Riding Solo: Legal Research Competencies for the Solo Practitioner
Tuesday July 24, 2012 8:30am - 9:45am @ HCC-Room 208
Charles A. Pipins, Michael Bird, and Katy Stein
Handout: Pre-Trial Skills Bibliography
The number of law school graduates who start solo practices has grown substantially in recent years. For the law school class of 2008, NALP reported that 3.3 percent of these graduates were working as solo practitioners. For the class of 2010, that number soared to 5.7 percent of reporting graduates. With increasing numbers of law students entering solo practice, legal research instruction must address economically realistic options for conducting comprehensive legal research. This program will address the trends of students entering solo practice, and law librarian panelists will discuss how these changes influence legal research instruction at their institutions. In addition, panelists will present ideas and examples of lesson plans focused on introducing students to research without the use of expensive legal research databases.
What Were They Thinking and Where Do I Find It?: Strategies for Starting Legislative History Research
Tuesday July 24, 2012 10:15am - 11:15am @ HCC-Room 208
John Cannan, Matthew E. Braun, Susan C. Sullivan, Margaret M. Wood, and Meg J. Evans
Strategies for Starting Legislative History Research
Resources on Congressional Procedure
A law library patron walks up to the reference desk and says: "I have this statute, and I need find out why Congress passed it." What is a reference librarian to do? Depending on the library, and perhaps the particular patron, the answer may be to consult a print index to a collection of government documents in microform. In another library, there may be compiled legislative histories in print or electronic format that can meet the patron's needs. Still, elsewhere, a database may serve as a one-stop shop for searching and retrieving committee reports and hearings and legislative debates. The panel will engage in a role-play and roundtable discussion on how law librarians from various types of institutions can quickly, yet thoroughly, utilize available resources to help patrons find the materials that just may answer the question: "What were they thinking?"