Flicker photo by silverlunace

Starting Saturday, December 22, 2012, the Law Library will be closed until January 7, 2013 for Winter Break.  The Law Library will reopen on Monday, January 7, 2013 at 8 am.

Winter Break/Spring Semester Hours:

• Friday, December 21, 2012:  8am – 6pm
• Saturday, December 22, 2012 – Sunday, January 6, 2013: Closed
• Monday, January 7, 2013 – Friday, January 11, 2013:  8am – 6pm
• Saturday, January 12, 2013 – Sunday, January 13, 2013:  10am – 6pm
• Monday, January 14, 2014: Spring Semester Begins, Regular Hours

For a complete list of library hours, check the Law Library’s Hours page.

Flicker photo by photosteve101

For many of you, this is the first time in the past four months that you haven’t had your day meticulously planned out.  No classes, study group meetings, student org events, or final exams.  What is a law student to do with all of this free time?  Here are a few suggestions:

1. Sleep.  Many of you were probably sleep deprived over the past couple of weeks of the semester.   Now is the time to hit snooze and make sure you get the doctor recommended 8 hours.  Naps are also encouraged!
2. Shopping.  If you’re like me, you probably put off all of your holiday shopping during exams.  Who has time to shop when you worried about your contracts final or a moot court brief?  Don’t fret, you can still find some great deals out there in the last few days.  If all else fails, drop people a big IOU and pick up something at a day after Christmas sale.
3. Bar Application.  If you didn’t get your Georgia Bar application in by December 5, no worries, you can still meet the final deadline of  March 6, 2013 (late fee required).
4. Read a book.  Reading may be the last thing you want to do right now.  However, think back to your time prior to law school when you used to actually read for fun.  If you need a few suggestions, check out our previous blog post for summer reading.
5. College Football.  Conveniently, classes let out right around the time college football bowl season begins.  Games started on December 15 and will last until January 17, 2013, the national title game.  You can keep up with all of the bowl coverage and find a complete schedule on ESPN’s College Bowl page.
6. Atlanta Botanical Garden.  If you need to get out and stretch your legs, one of the biggest holiday events going on in Atlanta right now is the Garden Nights Holiday Lights at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.   The holiday lights will last until January 5, 2013.  To get more information, check out the Garden Nights info page.
7. Atlanta Falcons.  Checkout the hottest team in the NFL right now, the Atlanta Falcons.  The Falcons are currently leading the NFC South division with a league best 12-2 record.  Don’t miss the chance to see the Falcons play their final home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on December 30, 2012 at 1:00 p.m.   Game Day Preview
8. Atlanta Hawks.  The Hawks are putting together another solid year, currently bested in their division only by the Miami Heat.  There are several opportunities to see a home game over the winter break, so stop by “The Highlight Factory” and support your Hawks.  Hawks Schedule

Photo by Flicker user @Doug88888

With exam season in full swing, the Law Library would like to extend a helping hand to you as you navigate the maze of law school exams.  While we can’t take the exam for you, we can offer you a quiet place to study, access to the best study aids available, and last but not least, free coffee and hot tea.

The Law Library will have free coffee and hot tea for law students in the Law Library Conference Room on the following dates:

• Thursday, November 29th
• Monday, December 3rd
• Thursday, December 6th
• Monday, December 10th

Good luck on all of your finals!

Need a mental break from contracts or torts?  Want to test your gaming skills against your fellow study group members?  You are in luck!   Circulation now has the following games on reserve for students to check out:

• Chess/Checkers Set (2 available)
• Playing Cards (4 decks available)
• Apples to Apples (1 available) 
• Scrabble (1 available)
• Cribbage (1 available) 
• UNO (1 available)
• Phase 10 (1 available) 
• Dice (1 pack available)

When you think Halloween, you often think about delicious candy and costumes.  But what about the law?  What impact does Halloween have on the legal profession?

A Buffalo attorney, Daniel B. Moar, wrote an interesting article for the New York State Bar Association Journal on this very topic.  The article, entitled “Case Law From the Crypt,” discusses situations were common Halloween traditions, like haunted houses and provocative costumes, have landed some people in hot water.

Here are just a few of my favorite cases from Moar’s article:

• Haunted House:  “In Mays v. Gretna Athletic Boosters, Inc., the plaintiff was so startled by a haunted house ‘monster’ that she ran straight into a cinder block wall, crushing her nose.  The plaintiff argued that the lack of lighting and darkened wall presented an unreasonably dangerous condition that the defendant owed a duty to protect her from. The court disagreed, noting that the conditions complained of were the very attributes of a haunted house.”
• Provocative Costumes:  “In Devane v. Sears Home Improvement Products, Inc., a female sales employee filed a sexual harassment lawsuit based in part on comments made by a male manager regarding her doctor costume.  Specifically, upon seeing the employee’s costume, the manager unbuckled his pants and while pointing to his groin, said ‘here Doctor. It hurts here.’  The Court of Appeals of Minnesota affirmed the district court’s judgment against the employer for sexual harassment and hostile work environment.”
• Egg Throwing: “Courts have also imposed civil and criminal liability on egg throwers. For example, in one case a married couple made the ill-advised choice to ignore trick-or-treaters that visited their house, with the inevitable result that their house was then pummeled with eggs.  However, the couple identified one of the egg throwers as a neighborhood child (specifically, the child who lived directly next door to them). The child was convicted of felony vandalism and ordered to pay civil restitution.”

For more interesting stories of Halloween intersecting with the law, checkout Moar’s article.

Back in the good ole days, before libraries had computers and fancy online catalogs, librarians  used card catalogs to organize and locate books.  Fast forward to today, and most people have never used one except when they were a small child.  While card catalogs may go the way of the dinosaurs in libraries, they still have a few uses in a home or apartment setting…

Like a mini bar:  http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/an-old-card-catalog-as-a-minib-82087

A bookshelf: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/look-card-catalog-bookshelf-an-78031

Or a kitchen island: http://www.homejelly.com/one-of-a-kind-repurposed-kitchen-islands/

So the next time you think about throwing out that old card catalog, or you see one at a yard sale, remember that there is more to this little jewel than simply organizing books.

Unless you have been under a rock, or working tirelessly on Legal Bibliography assignments, you know that Georgia State Law is in the process of planning for a new building.  The Law Library will make up a significant portion of that new building.  The chance to design a new building does not happen often, so of course everyone had their “wants” as well as their “needs.”  To signal the end of Law Library week, here are a few items that some of the law librarians thought would be a good addition to the Law Library if they had it their way.  Keep in mind, many of these are over the top and inspired in part by Cornell Law Library’s Squash Court.

Nancy Johnson, Associate Dean for Library and Information Services and Professor of Law

Windows, terraces, and views!  Lucky for us, we will have all of these great features in the new Law Library.

Trina Holloway, Acquisitions/Serials Librarian

Because law school can be stressful, how about a hot tub and Legoland.

Austin Williams, Reference/Student Services Librarian

Who needs a squash court when you can have an indoor soccer field.  Anyone can have a coffee shop in the library, but nothing hits the spot after a long study session like some Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ‘n Biscuits.

Terrance Manion, Director of Information Technology and Librarian

How about a library hawk? Better yet, Supreme Court bobbleheads and  a pair of 300-thousand year old wooly mammoth tusks.

It’s that time of the year again.  No, not the time when McDonald’s brings back the McRib Sandwich, although word on the street is that it will be back by the end of 2012.  It’s Law Library Week!

Law Library Week (Oct. 1st – Oct 5th) is that special time of year when students celebrate the awesomeness that is the Law Library, and the Law Library provides students with all those wonderful things that make them happy:  free coffee, candy, cookies, and last but not least, prizes.

This year, we have several events on tap that should make it a memorable week:

• Facebook Trivia Contest:  Everyday this week we will post one trivia question on the Facebook page.  The first person to bring their answer to the reference desk will receive some exclusive, never been seen before GSU Law Library swag.  If you want to be apart of the contest, add us on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/georgiastatelawlibrary
• Movie Viewing Parties: Every afternoon at 3:30 p.m. we will be playing a movie on the projection screen in the Law Library Conference Room.  The order of the movies are as follows:  Monday – The Firm, Tuesday – To Kill a Mockingbird, Wednesday – The Princess Bride, Thursday – Chicago, and Friday – A Few Good Men.
• Free Coffee and Cookies:  On Wednesday, Oct. 3rd  we will be providing free coffee and cookies throughout the day in the Law Library Conference Room.
• Free Candy:  Stop by the Reference Desk for your sugar fix throughout the week.
• Daily Blog Posts:  Check out the Law Library Blog, The Blackacre Times, throughout the week for daily blog posts on library related topics.

Enjoy all the festivities!

Got something to say?  Tell us!  If you didn’t know, the Law Library has a online suggestion box where you can leave us comments or suggestions.

You might be asking yourself what sort of comments are appropriate.  We are willing to hear anything you would like to say.   We will also accept any suggestions you have for new resources.  Here are a few sample comments:

• The chairs in the library are too high.
• Can we add Ally McBeal to our DVD Collection?
• You should make a research guide on Roman Law.
• The people at the Reference Desk are too awesome!

So how can you get to the suggestion box?  The suggestion box is located under the About Us section of the Law Library’s Hompage.  You can also locate it by going to the direct link for the page.

As of November 1, 2012, the Georgia State Archives will no longer be open to the general public.  The closure of the archives is a result of a $732,626 budget cut to the Secretary of State’s office budget.  However, this does not mean that the State of Georgia will no longer have a state archives.  Some employees will be retained to take care of critical documents. (Source: Georgia Archives Closing Due to Budget Cuts)

The state archives closure is significant not just for Georgia, but also the United States.  Secretary of State Brian Kemp released a statement on Thursday, September 13, 2012, which acknowledged that “Georgia will be the only state in the country that will not have a central location in which the public can visit to research and review the historical records of their government and state.”   The public will still be able to have some limited access, but that will be by appointment only and will depend on the schedules of the remaining employees.

The archives was used mostly by individuals and state officials looking to conduct genealogy and historical research. (Source: Georgia to Cut Off Public Access to State Archives)

There is a chance that the archives could re-open, but it will depend on funds from future legislative sessions.