LIBR 220-10
Resources and Information Services in Professions and Disciplines
Topic: Legal Resources
Summer 2014 Greensheet
Marc Lampson, MLIS, JD
E-mail
Emergencies: (206) 441-9178 ext. 115
Office Location: Anytime by email (marcinseattle@gmail.com).
Office Hours: Anytime by e-mail; please use marcinseattle@gmail.com rather than any internal email system; phone calls between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. only please. I check e-mail frequently, so I’m much more accessible through email.
| Greensheet Links Textbooks SLOs Competencies Prerequisites |
Resources Canvas Login and Tutorials iSchool eBookstore |
Students will be automatically enrolled in this course. The first day of class is officially designated as Monday, June 2. The course will be automatically available to students in the course on that day.
Course Description
This course will introduce current and aspiring information professionals to the basic legal resources for the federal legal system and the California legal system. The information about the California system should be roughly applicable to other state legal systems as well. The course will cover those resources that are likely to be of interest to legal professionals and the general public, particularly people without a legal background visiting Public Libraries and Public Law Libraries.
Special attention is given to introducing course participants to legal materials that particularly pertain to the intersection of law and information such as privacy laws, copyright, libraries and social justice, the First Amendment's right to access information, etc.
The course is designed for people with little or no initial familiarity with legal resources, but who have an interest in learning about these resources to be able to help other people – for instance, library patrons - find legal information.
The emphasis will be on answering legal resource questions that one is likely to receive at a reference desk in a public library.
Course Requirements
Enrolling
As noted above, students will be automatically enrolled in the court for the first day of class on Monday, June 2.
Assignments
The assignments for this course are:
- Quizzes & Research Assignments (200 points) Various quizzes will pertain to Student Learning Objectives 1-7, depending on the topic of the week and the quiz.
The student will take five online, timed quizzes worth 40 points each. These quizzes will be posted approximately every other week during the summer session. While quizzes may be somewhat unusual in a graduate course, they are designed with a specific purpose in mind – answering reference questions – and will involve not just rote learning but actual hands-on familiarity with legal resources.
The idea of the "quiz" is to represent as well as possible in the print format the type of reference question one might receive at a reference desk and for which one would be expected to have a relatively "ready" answer. The quizzes will also be somewhat unusual in that to answer many of the quiz questions, will have to first complete a research assignment, sometimes in a "brick and mortar" law library, but often online. The quizzes, in conjunction with the corresponding research assignment, in the aggregate will be worth 200 points. - Discussion Boards (50 points) Various discussion boards will pertain to Student Learning Objectives 1 - 7, depending on the topic assigned for the week or weeks involved and the topic of the Board.
Generally every week I will post a new topic for a new discussion board that focuses on the topic for the upcoming week or two, e.g., secondary sources, statutes, etc. I will generally pose a question or two to get the discussion rolling and then I’ll "lurk" while students actively participate in the discussion. The questions will not typically have a "right" or "wrong" answer; therefore, students should not expect the instructor to intervene, though I will be present and will participate when it seems appropriate.
Likely Discussion Board Topics:- Legal Systems
- Free Internet Legal Research – Report other helpful sites; Evaluate sites; evaluate relative merits of "free online sites" to print and pay for view
- Secondary Sources
- Westlaw/Lexis
- Constitutional Law
- Statutory Law
- Case Law
- Regulatory Law
- The Intersection of Law and Information
- Comparative Access for Patrons: Print, Free Online, Pay-for-View DBs
- Free-For-All Discussion on “Legal Research”
- Special Project (50 points) This assignment pertains to Student Learning Objective 8.
Students in the final weeks of the course will work on and then submit a one- or two-page, double-spaced "search strategy" sheet describing a legal topic of their choice and describing how they would advise a patron to research that topic. The due date is August 8, 2014. The project will be graded based on a checklist that I will provide to you when the project is officially "assigned" near the final two weeks. At the end of the course we will post these strategy sheets for the benefit of all.
Late Assignments
Points earned for late assignments will be reduced by 10 percent for every 24 hour period between the due date and the submitted date.
Grading
Three-hundred (300) points will be available for the course work. The person receiving the highest number of these 300 points will receive an “A,” and the points achieved will be the reference point for all other grades in the course.
Students earning less than the highest number of points achieved, will be graded on a percentage basis in reference to the highest number of points achieved in the course under the standard SJSU SLIS Grading Scale.
In the final grading process, the highest number of points actually earned by a particular student in the course will be taken to be the top of the scale; all other grades will be determined in relation to the highest number of points actually earned.
For instance, if the student earning the highest number of points earned 290 points of the 300 possible, then anyone earning 97% of 290 points (281 points) would receive an A, and so on.
Incompletes
Incompletes will be granted only in rare and extreme emergency situations.
Students who cannot fulfill all the work for a course due to a medical or family emergency may be assigned an Incomplete only if arrangements are made with the instructor.
Please see the University policy on incompletes:
http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/soc-fall/rec-15.html
Recommended Texts
Many texts on legal research and the legal system are in print. Any one of them published in the past 5 years would probably provide additional help but I do not recommend that you spend lots of money on any other text other than the two listed with this Greensheet/syllabus.
Course Workload Expectations
Success in this course is based on the expectation that students will spend, for each unit of credit, a minimum of forty-five hours over the length of the course (normally 3 hours per unit per week with 1 of the hours used for lecture) for instruction or preparation/studying or course related activities including but not limited to internships, labs, clinical practica. Other course structures will have equivalent workload expectations as described in the syllabus.
Instructional time may include but is not limited to:
Working on posted modules or lessons prepared by the instructor; discussion forum interactions with the instructor and/or other students; making presentations and getting feedback from the instructor; attending office hours or other synchronous sessions with the instructor.
Student time outside of class:
In any seven-day period, a student is expected to be academically engaged through submitting an academic assignment; taking an exam or an interactive tutorial, or computer-assisted instruction; building websites, blogs, databases, social media presentations; attending a study group;contributing to an academic online discussion; writing papers; reading articles; conducting research; engaging in small group work.
Course Prerequisites
LIBR 210.
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
- Describe the federal and state governmental units that make primary law and the types of primary law they make.
- Identify the major types of primary law and secondary authority for both federal and state jurisdictions.
- Locate the nearest brick-and-mortar law library and find materials in it.
- Identify and describe the relative merits and shortcomings of the major print and online (both "free" and "pay-for-view") legal resources.
- Use print and online sources to find the major types of primary law and secondary authority for both federal and state law.
- Answer questions from patrons about basic legal resources, and direct patrons to the best sources for legal information.
- Develop strategies for defining search terms to use with "finding tools" in print, online, and pay-for-view legal resources.
- Create guides ("pathfinders") for patrons needing legal information.
Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)
LIBR 220 supports the following core competencies:
- B Describe and compare the organizational settings in which library and information professionals practice.
- I Use service concepts, principles, and techniques to connect individuals or groups with accurate, relevant, and appropriate information.
- J Describe the fundamental concepts of information-seeking behaviors.
Textbooks
Required Textbooks:
- Elias, Stephen (2012). Legal research: how to find and understand the law (16th ed.). Nolo Press. Available through Amazon: 1413316182
- Tucker, V. & Lampson, M. (2010). Finding the Answers to Legal Questions. Neal-Schuman. Available through Amazon: 1555707181.
Grading Scale
The standard SJSU School of Information Grading Scale is utilized for all iSchool courses:
| 97 to 100 | A |
| 94 to 96 | A minus |
| 91 to 93 | B plus |
| 88 to 90 | B |
| 85 to 87 | B minus |
| 82 to 84 | C plus |
| 79 to 81 | C |
| 76 to 78 | C minus |
| 73 to 75 | D plus |
| 70 to 72 | D |
| 67 to 69 | D minus |
| Below 67 | F |
In order to provide consistent guidelines for assessment for graduate level work in the School, these terms are applied to letter grades:
- C represents Adequate work; a grade of "C" counts for credit for the course;
- B represents Good work; a grade of "B" clearly meets the standards for graduate level work;
For core courses in the MLIS program (not MARA) — INFO 200, INFO 202, INFO 204 — the iSchool requires that students earn a B in the course. If the grade is less than B (B- or lower) after the first attempt you will be placed on administrative probation. You must repeat the class the following semester. If -on the second attempt- you do not pass the class with a grade of B or better (not B- but B) you will be disqualified. - A represents Exceptional work; a grade of "A" will be assigned for outstanding work only.
Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).
University Policies
General Expectations, Rights and Responsibilities of the Student
As members of the academic community, students accept both the rights and responsibilities incumbent upon all members of the institution. Students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with SJSU's policies and practices pertaining to the procedures to follow if and when questions or concerns about a class arises. See University Policy S90-5 at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/S90-5.pdf. More detailed information on a variety of related topics is available in the SJSU catalog at http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/catalog/departments/LIS.html. In general, it is recommended that students begin by seeking clarification or discussing concerns with their instructor. If such conversation is not possible, or if it does not serve to address the issue, it is recommended that the student contact the Department Chair as a next step.
Dropping and Adding
Students are responsible for understanding the policies and procedures about add/drop, grade forgiveness, etc. Refer to the current semester's Catalog Policies section at http://info.sjsu.edu/static/catalog/policies.html. Add/drop deadlines can be found on the current academic year calendars document on the Academic Calendars webpage at http://www.sjsu.edu/provost/services/academic_calendars/. The Late Drop Policy is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/aars/policies/latedrops/policy/. Students should be aware of the current deadlines and penalties for dropping classes.
Information about the latest changes and news is available at the Advising Hub at http://www.sjsu.edu/advising/.
Consent for Recording of Class and Public Sharing of Instructor Material
University Policy S12-7, http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/S12-7.pdf, requires students to obtain instructor's permission to record the course and the following items to be included in the syllabus:
- "Common courtesy and professional behavior dictate that you notify someone when you are recording him/her. You must obtain the instructor's permission to make audio or video recordings in this class. Such permission allows the recordings to be used for your private, study purposes only. The recordings are the intellectual property of the instructor; you have not been given any rights to reproduce or distribute the material."
- It is suggested that the syllabus include the instructor's process for granting permission, whether in writing or orally and whether for the whole semester or on a class by class basis.
- In classes where active participation of students or guests may be on the recording, permission of those students or guests should be obtained as well.
- "Course material developed by the instructor is the intellectual property of the instructor and cannot be shared publicly without his/her approval. You may not publicly share or upload instructor generated material for this course such as exam questions, lecture notes, or homework solutions without instructor consent."
Academic integrity
Your commitment, as a student, to learning is evidenced by your enrollment at San Jose State University. The University Academic Integrity Policy F15-7 at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/F15-7.pdf requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty members are required to report all infractions to the office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. The Student Conduct and Ethical Development website is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/studentconduct/.
Campus Policy in Compliance with the American Disabilities Act
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, or if you need to make special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible, or see me during office hours. Presidential Directive 97-03 at http://www.sjsu.edu/president/docs/directives/PD_1997-03.pdf requires that students with disabilities requesting accommodations must register with the Accessible Education Center (AEC) at http://www.sjsu.edu/aec to establish a record of their disability.
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