Announcements and News

Resources for Recent Grads Studying for the Bar

Recent graduates studying for the bar have access to the following library resources:

• On campus access to online legal research tools listed here (not ProDoc, WestLaw, or Lexis Nexis).
• Study carrels (All study carrels for the February bar are already reserved. If you graduate in May, then this is a good time to request a carrel.
• Ability to check out books from the law library. (When you come to check out the book, please tell us you are a recent grad.)
• The law library keeps many bar prep books behind the desk. You can borrow BarBri books, Kaplan PMBR books, Emanuel Law in a Flash flash cards, PMBR videos, Gilbert Law Summaries audio recordings, and Sum and Substance audio recordings.
• Access to the building and facilities equal to current students.

Thanksgiving week hours

The law library will have reduced hours during Thanksgiving break. Due to a recent schedule change, the law library will close early, at 3pm, on Wednesday the 21st.

• Mon and Tues: 7am to midnight
• Wed, the 21st: 7am to 3pm
• Thurs, the 22nd: CLOSED
• Fri, the 23rd: 8am-5pm
• Sat, the 24th: 9am to 10pm

Thursday Only! Women's Law Society Silent Auction

The Women's Law Society is having a silent auction all day Thursday in the Almni Room on the first floor of the law library. Bids close at 6pm.

• Door prizes and food
• Raffle tickets! You could win a 16GB iPad.
• Silent auction!
  • Gift certificates to restaurants
  • Jewelry
  • Bar review materials
  • Car washes, pedicures, dance lessons, and more!

Proceeds benefit Hispanas Unidas, working to reduce teen pregnancy and high school drop out rates.

28th Anniversary of the Sarita Kenedy East Law Library building dedication

On this day in 1984, the Sarita Kenedy East Law Library was dedicated.

Videos posted for Online Legal Research Outside of Lexis and Westlaw

If you missed last Wednesday's legal research workshop, you can watch it online now. Short segments of 3 to 7 minutes each are posted, so go right to the topic you want, and watch for a short informative study break. Click here for videos and slides.

Red Mass

Red Mass is this Thursday, October 25. The Red Mass ceremony originally started as a St. Mary's law tradition, and has now become a San Antonio legal tradition, with wide spread participation from the San Antonio Bar Association and the local legal community. Click here for more info.

Did you know, the law library keeps an exam bank?

The law library keeps a bank of old exams given by professors at St. Mary's law. You can visit the exam bank by clicking http://www.stmarytx.edu/law/library/index.php?site=xzp1dx or by googling "St. Mary's texas exam bank".

Research Workshop, Wednesday the 17th

Lexis and Westlaw are great for legal research, but they are only part of the picture. Come learn some tricks to get the most out of an internet search engine, tips for navigating across specialized legal research databases, like HeinOnline and LLMC, and the world of court dockets and public records - practical information at the local level.

Topic: Online Legal Research Outside of Lexis and Westlaw
Date: Wednesday, October 17, 12 pm - 12:45 pm
Location: Room 217 in Law Library
Presenter: Wilhelmina Randtke, Electronic Services Librarian (wrandtke@stmarytx.edu)

Movies at the Law Library

The law library has movies about law and lawyers, available for a 3 day check out, free of charge. Movies are on the first floor of the law library, down the hall on your right when you walk in. Ask at the desk, and we'll point at them for you.

Here's a list of movies about lawyers available at the law library.


Newly arrived last month: Johnny Be Good.

Reduced Hours Fri., Oct. 5 to Mon., Oct. 8

Law Library hours for Columbus Day weekend:

Friday, October 5th: 7AM to 5PM
Saturday, October 6th: 9AM to 6PM
Sunday, October 7th: 10AM to 6PM
Monday, October 8th: 8AM to 5PM

And, remember, no classes on Monday. Tuesday the 9th is a Monday class schedule.

New books at the Law Library

A list of all the books and materials newly arrived at the law library in the past month is available at: http://www.stmarytx.edu/law/library/index.php?site=2012SeptemberNewBooks

Research Workshop, Wednesday the 3rd

Are you writing a paper this semester? Wondering where to start, middle, and end? Join law librarian Mike Martinez today at noon for some pointers and tips on where to start and on research tools to help in selecting a good topic.

Topic: Resources to Help Research Papers
Date: Wednesday, October 3, 12 pm - 12:45 pm
Location: Room 217 in Law Library
Presenter: Mike Martinez Jr., Head of Student Services (mmartinez17@stmarytx.edu)

New flatbed scanner in the law library

The law library has a new flatbed scanner set up. This isn't the 16-step scan to thumb drive which you may have used earlier in the semester. This is a normal scanner hooked up to a computer, so you can see a picture of each page as you scan it, then click and drag files to a thumbdrive or email them directly from the machine.

The scanner is set up at one of the public computers at the corner of the law library Circulation Desk. If you need to scan a few pages out of a book, come check it out.

List of newly arrived books at the law library.

Click here for a list of new books which arrived at the law library in August 2012. .

New issue of Moot Points, the law library newsletter.

The new issue of the law library newsletter is out. Click here to read the August/September 2012 issue .

Highlights include:

• Restaurant review of Casa Chacon - good food just a half mile from the School of Law.
• List of 1L guidebooks available for checkout at the law library.
• Spotlight movie from the law library's DVD collection.

1Ls, here are things you need to know this week:

• You are not yet able to print in the law library. The main campus activates this. Main campus tells us that you will be able to print starting Monday the 20th. We will post an update here when you are able to print. Tuesday Update: 1Ls CAN PRINT now. The St. Mary's print system is a 14 step process and is not so intuitive. For instructions on printing, click here.
• You can't check out books until Monday, the 20th. The main campus activates this, just like the printing. Wednesday Update: 1Ls can check out books now.
• Register your Westlaw account. Your registration code and instructions are on a white sheet of paper in the right hand flap of the folder you got during orientation. That paper says in giant red letters to REGISTER NOW! So, register now, before your registration code expires.
• Register your LexisNexis account. Your registration code and instructions are on a red and silver half-sized sheet of paper in the right hand flap of the folder you got during orientation. REGISTER NOW! before your registration code expires.
• Your syllabuses and course information are located in an area of Westlaw called TWEN pages. To get to those, register your Westlaw account, click on the TWEN tab, click the big orange button to "Add a Course", find your course in the list, and add it. If you do not see a course, don't panic. Your professor may or may not use TWEN, and should tell you about this on the first day of class.
• If you got your St. Mary's ID card before Wednesday, August 15th, then you should be set up for off-campus access to all the law library databases listed here. If you can't log into these from off campus, please email Wilhelmina Randtke ( wrandtke@stmarytx.edu ) and let her know there is a problem.

New Books at the Law Library: July 2012

In the past month, the law library acquired 233 new books for use by students, faculty, and other library visitors. To view these newly acquire books, visit http://www.stmarytx.edu/law/library/index.php?site=2012JulyNewBooks .

Welcome our new Faculty Services Librarian Brian Detweiler

This week, incoming Faculty Services Librarian, Brian Detweiler, joins the law library. He recently studied library science at the University at Buffalo. Previously, he worked as an attorney in domestic violence programs with the Legal Aid Society of Rochester.

June Hours of Operation

The Sarita Kenedy East Law Library will be operating on Summer Hours during the months of June and July. Please see the June and July 2012 calenders and the Hours & Directions page for further information regarding these reduced hours of operation.

Library Retirements: Garry Stillman and Mr. O

Two members of the Sarita Kenedy East Law Library retired in May 2012. Garry Stillman retired after 23 years of service to the law library. Manuel Olivarez, or "Mr. O" for short, retired after 12 years of service to the law library.

Librarians Mike Martinez and Katy Stein win award from State Bar of Texas

Law librarians, Mike Martinez and Katy Stein (now at University of Houston), won a Stars of the Texas Bar award for Best Feature Story for their article on "Cost Effective Legal Research". The award will be presented on June 14 at the State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting.

The award winning article was adapted from a CLE presentation. CLE materials are available at http://www.stmarytx.edu/law/pdf/CLE2011MartinezStein.pdf .