It doesn’t rain in West Texas very often but when it does you might need an umbrella!
Remember, the Circulation desk has a limited number of umbrellas that you can borrow when the rain catches you unaware and unprepared.
All we ask is if you borrow an umbrella, please return it so we can loan it out again!
As you submit articles this spring, keep in mind the language of the journal publication agreements.
Many academic authors inadvertently give away the copyright to their work by signing broad publication agreements that give the journals the copyright.
Generally, most law journals have amended their publication agreements to account for authors retaining copyright, thus retaining the ability to share their work (or use their work) as they see fit.
But there are likely some journals that are behind in updating their publication agreements. If you want to use or share the work that you created, it is best to make sure that you retain the right to do so.
That’s where the SPARC Author Addendum may be useful. If you find that a publication agreement does not contain language allowing you to retain copyright, you might decide to include this addendum to ensure that you do, in fact, retain copyright.
Additionally, if you are unsure about the rights granted by specific journals, please visit SHERPA/RoMEO for more information about publisher copyright policies.
Do you find yourself struggling with keeping up-to-date on the latest news in your areas of interest? Do you want a more convenient way to get your daily updates than going to a dozen bookmarked sites? RSS Feeds may be the solution. Almost all websites with continually updated content (such as this blog, for example) use RSS (short for Rich Site Summary, but often also called “Really Simple Syndication”) to push content in a format-neutral form (so that future site redesigns automatically update old content). The plus side is that these RSS feeds can be read by other programs that aggregate them into one place.
Aggregating feeds is done with an RSS reader program. There are a number of them out there, but I recommend Feedly, which is 1) free; 2) available on the web or as an app for iOS and Android; and 3) really clean and user-friendly. You can add feeds by just searching the name of the website or entering the page URL. There are even alternative apps that connect to your Feedly subscriptions if you don’t like Feedly’s interface.
Once you’ve found the Reader you like, you just need to add feeds. Depending on the site and your reader, you can generally just either search for the site or the URL, but you can also look for the RSS feed icon, which looks something like this:
Clicking on the RSS icon will take you to a URL that is just the feed you can add to your reader. Once you’ve added sites, you can then go to your reader and start reading. It’s also easy to add or remove a site at a later time, so you don’t have to worry about getting it right the first time.
To help you get started, here’s a few sites I subscribe to with my RSS reader (with feed URLs):
I hope this helps you find ways to keep up-to-date on your latest news.
Do you love to research and write? Did you know you can get paid for it if you have the winning submission to one of the many legal essay competitions that happen each year? Some contests provide a specific topic or hypothetical for students to respond to, while others simply want an essay on a general field of law, leaving the specifics up to the prospective authors. There are monetary prizes and the winners often also get the opportunity to attend a conference or be published in the hosting organization’s publication.
Our friends at Richmond Law keep the Legal Essay Contest Catalog, a comprehensive list of all the essay competitions out there targeted at law students. You can filter your search by topic and contest deadline. There are lots of contests open this spring and summer–on topics from maritime law to constitutional law to labor & employment law, so get researching and writing! Don’t forget to come see a librarian if you need help coming up with a topic–we can get you started on the right path!
Wednesday, February 24th at the Library’s biweekly PB&J . . . and a Demo program, you can win a prize just by showing up with a friend. So grab your law school bestie and stop by the Collaborative Commons for a delicious, FREE sandwich.
In addition to regular old creamy and crunchy peanut butter, and grape jam and strawberry jelly, recent PB & J sandwich offerings have included these tasty fillings:
It’s so much more than just plain old PB&J, so come check it out on Wednesday!
Students will also learn about an awesome study tool, CALI lessons!
The Reporter 