Author Archives: Hastings Law Library

Noise & Food in the Library and Gold Reading Room

There have been repeated complaints about the noise level in the Law Library and Gold Reading Room. As we head toward the exam period, please be considerate of others and keep conversations to a minimum.
Additionally, there has been a problem with food, drink, and related waste being brought into the library and not properly discarded. Food is prohibited in the library. You may bring bottled water and other covered drinks into the library (but not into the computer lab).
Thanks for your cooperation.

1L Doctrines Set to Music!

A law student (Josh Keesan, class of 2009 , Boalt), dissatisfied with traditional study aids for 1Ls, has put considerable effort into creating an alternative. Check out: The Law of Rock, Vol. 1. For the first time, complex legal doctrines can be learned by resorting to these lyrical memory aids.
Samples from the album are available for the folowing topics:
* Contributory Negligence
* Promissory Estoppel
* Mens Rea

What is a Hornbook?

hornbook2.jpg A hornbook is a informative text that serves as primer for study. The hornbook originated in England in 1450, and has been favored in various areas of study over the years. Originally, it referred to a leaf or single-page of text containing basic study materials for children; it was covered with a sheet of transparent horn and then attached to a small wooden frame with a handle. In recent legal studies, a hornbook has become a common term used to describe a one-volume treatise written primarily for law students on subjects typically covered by law school courses. Unlike casebooks, which are collections of cases (or parts of cases) chosen to help illustrate and stimulate discussion about legal issues, hornbooks attempt to summarize and explain the law in a specific area. One popular set of hornbooks is “West’s Hornbook Series.” Hornbooks can be a great place to find a clear explanation of a point of law. The library has hornbooks on most subjects at the circulation desk. The library’s most popular hornbooks are listed on our study guides webpage.

Law Library of Congress is Digitizing Hearings

The Law Library of Congress has about 75,000 volumes of Congressional hearings. The library has partnered with Google, Inc. to digitize the hearings and make them freely available to Congress and the public. The first sets of digitized hearings have been released, at http://www.loc.gov/law/find/hearings.html. The topics covered are Freedom of Infomration/Privacy, Immigration, and the U.S. Census .

Library Access

We are 99% finished in the renovation and have now re-opened. Who can use the library?
• Current Hastings students can of course use the library during regular library hours.
• Members of the California Bar, Hastings alumni, and law students from other law schools may use the library whenever it is open (including evening and weekend hours). Library hours are listed here. These library patrons are required to sign-in at the first floor Security Desk after showing appropriate ID, and then they will be issued a visitor pass good for that day.
• The general public may use the Hastings Law Library from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. All library visitors are required to show a state-issued ID and to sign-in at the first floor Security Desk. Visiting library patrons will be issued a visitor’s pass good for that day, if they can state a valid reason for entering the library. Visitor passes must be worn at all times while in Hastings’ buildings. The Security Desk cannot issue visitor passes to members of the general public for evening and weekend access.

Writing a Law Review Note or Seminar Paper

Here are two books that might be helpful when you start thinking about writing your law review note or seminar paper:
- Scholarly Writing for Law Students: Seminar Papers, Law Review Notes, and Law Review Competition Papers, by Elizabeth Fajans and Mary R. Falk (3rd ed. 2005) [See description on publisher's website]
- Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review, by Eugene Volokh (2d ed. 2005) [See author's website]
They both include information about choosing a topic, writing & editing your paper, and getting your paper published.

Research in Historic Newspapers

A partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities called the National Digital Newspaper Program has released a new web site called Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers at http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/. You can read from 226,000 digitized pages from newspapers in California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Kenturcky, Utah and Virginia. The dates of coverage are 1900 to 1910. You can also search for information about newspapers published from 1690 to the present.
The National Digital Newspaper Program will continue the project over the next twenty years, to create a national digital repository of newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 from all of the states and territories of the U.S.

One Stop Recall Information

Six federal agencies – the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency – have teamed up to bring you recalls.gov. Billed as a “one stop shop” for U.S. Government recalls, you can look at recent recalls, or search for all recalls. You can also sign up for email alerts.