The Ginger (Law) Librarian

Too often, searching for relevant information and the ultimate analysis of facts to law is disjointed. That's because teaching the analysis of the law is often left up to the doctrinal professors or the writing professors. But analysis is inherent to the legal research process. Using the 4-step legal research process to find relevant information requires that the researcher has the ability to analyze the law to select the material that will aid in their arguments.  Legal research is inevitably a back-and-forth process. The researcher starts with secondary sources to get a better understanding of the cause of action. The researcher moves onto the codified law to understand what needs to be analyzed in light of the facts of the case. The researcher then continues with binding and persuasive precedent to craft arguments by comparing facts and analogizing or distinguishing from case precedent.  A researcher cannot begin to know what types of binding and persua...

Image from AALL Twitter During Bryan Stevenson 's keynote at AALL in Austin  (login req'd), he noted and expounded on 4 things that will improve justice: Get proximate to injustice Change the narratives that sustain injustice Stay hopeful Do uncomfortable things His message is an important one, and law librarians certainly have a role to play in improving access to justice.  Throughout his keynote, I couldn't help but connect these 4 things to the issues facing law librarianship, in general. Like improving justice, law librarians need to work to improve the state of our profession to ensure that we can continue to assist with access to justice issues, among other things, for years to come.  In that regard, we can do similar things to improve law librarianship:       1. Get proximate to the issues facing law librarianship There is a myriad of issues facing law librarianship : budgets , staffing , librarian support ,...

AALL in Austin is just around the corner. I'm excited to be surrounded by my favorite cohort of humans and feel inspired by all of the wonderful programs!  If you're in Austin, please drop by the Austin Convention Center’s Exhibit Hall 4, Poster #29: You Can't Write Without Research: Developing a Scholarly Research Writing Program at Your Law School.  Safe travels to Austin!