Moritz Legal Information Blog

The blog post title isn't intended as click bait, but it is a bit of a misdirect as I am just  a librarian, so I can't speak for all librarians. So what does this librarian think about Wikipedia? It's a useful tool like all databases and websites, but it is only useful if you know how the site is organized and where it gets its content so that you can make an educated assessment of your search results. Which is why a recent article, The Wikipedia Ourboros , is so interesting. If you're trying to get a little traction on your research so you have a basic framework to understand what you're looking for, Google and Wikipedia aren't the worst places to start. But they're not remotely where your research should stop. The lead of the article says it all: "The online encyclopedia chews up and spits out bad facts and its own policies are letting it happen." Here's the critical quote: The rule of Wikipedia is that authority trumps accuracy. Edit

Perhaps if you are a law student now, you don't have strong memories of Beanie Babies, which were popular in the 1990s. That's a shame because the novelty plush toys made Americans pretty frenzied in a way that I still can't fathom. Maybe it's because I was in my late teens when they hit the market. In other words, I was "too cool" to be impressed by much. But still, people paying $5,000 for a small stuffed animal simply because of economic conditions driving demand leaves me without words. It's inexplicable Slate.com has a great article on the subject, Plush Life: Why did people lose their minds over Beanie Babies?  The article posits that in a nutshell, people wanted them because they were hard to get. But what's the legal angle? The article includes a photo of a divorcing couple divvying up Beanie Babies in a courtroom with a judge overseeing the process. Seriously. The collection was valued at between $2,500-$5,000. Conceivably legal fees to co

The New York Times featured "information sleuths" at the New York Public Library in yesterday's edition. My favorite quote from the story: "In a certain sense, the work I do begins where the Internet ends,” Mr. Boylan said. “Certain things you can’t find with Google.” The New York Public Library features nine full-time researchers. The takeaway from the story? You can call them. You don't have to be in New York. Just like when you graduate from law school, you're welcome to get in touch with us here in the law library. And if you're interested in work that requires you to learn something new every day, consider librarianship--- law librarianship in particular if you're at Moritz getting your J.D.

Did you know that Ohio State is among a select group of “Big 10” and other major research universities participating with Google in a major book scanning project that first launched nearly a decade ago?    The Google Books Library Project is the largest project of its kind ever undertaken to digitize printed materials in academic research libraries.   OSU began pulling and sending books from campus libraries two years ago and now it’s the Law Library’s turn to participate.   Out-of-copyright books in the public domain (published pre-1923) have been identified for the project.     Books will be unavailable to patrons for a period of about eight weeks, while they are in transit and being scanned at a facility out-of-state.   If you have a question or need an item right away, please contact the Circulation staff who can assist with locating a copy through interlibrary loan. Digital copies of the scanned books eventually will be made available to users through a digital archive known

The idea of fugitives seems old fashioned to me: I can't fathom committing a crime and somehow hiding out to avoid prosecution. It just seems like a lot of work. And also, U.S. Marshals on the hunt for a guy on the lam? That sounds like a TV show to me rather than a modern-day reality. So how intriguing is it that Columbus is home to its very own fugitive from justice, Tommy Thompson the Shipwreck King of Ohio? Well, he is a fugitive no more . Mr. Thompson raised $55 million in equity and debt financing in an effort to salvage gold from a sunken ship. Investors did not see the return they thought they would and have filed suit. When he disappeared after skipping out on a warrant, he became a fugitive. For some time, he's been living in a Hilton in Florida. Mr. Thompson's latest case (a criminal complaint for failure to appear) was filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida. Check out Bloomberg Law's docket (case 9-mj-080499-DLB) for more info

We've written here fairly extensively about Twitter, and it's no wonder. Twitter presents a fascinating opportunity for librarians to learn new systems for organizing data. Hashtags are really just like the subject headings in a library catalog and can give a person insight into collective consciousness. Now you have at your fingertips a resource for learning about the collective consciousness of faculty. The Faculty Lounge has an informal, mostly accurate census of law faculty around the country who are on Twitter . Not on the list yet is our newest professor tweeting: Ric Simmons! Follow him @4thAmdBlog to read the latest on search and seizure law.

In continuing recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, here are several exhibitions which might be of interest: At the Library of Congress website, The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom .  The physical exhibit is in the Thomas Jefferson Building at the Library of Congress, but the online exhibit features a great deal of multimedia , including interviews with author Toni Morrison, Tuskegee Airman Lee Archer, and NAACP lawyer Benjamin Hooks. Also at the Library of Congress website is Voices of Civil Rights , a solely online exhibition focusing on oral histories of individuals of the Civil Rights Movement. Closer to home, the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum recently concluded an exhibit on Civil Rights in Cartoons and Comics .  You can also learn about their newest exhibits here .