Welcome back, everyone! The Zief Law Library team hopes you had a wonderful and restful winter break. The library resumes regular services on Monday, January 9th and will have the following hours:
Zief Research and Reference services:
Have a great semester!
Hi All!
Please note that the law library will have the following adjusted hours for the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday:
See you then!
Way to go everybody! Congratulations on all of your hard work and accomplishments! Now it is time to enjoy friends and family. The Zief Law Library wishes all a relaxing and cheerful holiday season. Even though we are sure you love the Zief Law Library, we know time away will restore your energy for the new semester.
Please note that the law library will have the following adjusted hours for Holiday Break:
See you then!
Final Exam Season is upon us and with that comes plenty of preparation, stress, and excitement. We’re in the home stretch. The Zief Law Library is here to help and support you through it all and we have a variety of study spaces to meet your needs.
We know that sometimes you really need to buckle down and focus on your work and the slightest noises really throw you off your game. We’ve designated Club ’59, a large silent study room on the upper-floor, just for you.
Just look for this sign:
If silent study isn’t your thing, please choose a different area to study so your quieter classmates can get things done. There are other areas of the library that are still quiet but where your classmates won’t be bothered by the occasional clickety-clack of your keyboard or whispered exam tips from your study buddy. These spaces can be found on the library’s upper floor.
Just look for this sign:
We understand that sometimes you want to work in groups or you just need a break from all of the quiet awesomeness that is happening in other areas of the library to catch up with your friends. These spaces can be found on both the main and lower floors of the library.
If you see this sign, you know you’re in the right place:
The bottom line is that there is a place for everyone here at Zief. We invite you to find a great study spot that fits your needs.
The Zief Law Library added new materials to its collection in November 2023. Topics from November include: administrative law, animal law, capital punishment, criminal law, data protection and privacy, immigration law, evidence, and legal accounting. Click the titles below or explore our monthly New Materials at Zief Law Library webpage for the complete list of recent arrivals.
USF School of Law, many thanks to those who submitted to the Zief Pets Winter-Themed Costume Contest! It’s now time to determine first, second, and third-place costumes…
STEP 1: Visit the Zief Pets wall located on the first floor of the Zief Law Library to view this year’s talented pet contestants.
STEP 2: Fill out the Zief Pets Winter-Themed Costume Contest VOTING SURVEY.
Winners will be announced on Monday, December 11th, 2023. For community members still hoping to win, it’s not too late to fill out the Zief Pets Winter Costume Contest Submission Form! Visit the original ZiefBrief blog post, “Zief Pets Presents Winter-Themed Costume Contest!” for more information on the contest.
Hi all!
Please note that the law library will have the following adjusted hours for Thanksgiving 2023:
Wednesday, Nov. 23: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm (Research Help until 12:00 pm)
Thursday / Friday, Nov. 24-25: CLOSED
Saturday / Sunday, Nov. 26-27: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
For a full calendar view of our current and upcoming hours, visit our Law Library Hours of Operations website. We hope you all have a safe and restful holiday!
See you then!
Calling all pets! Celebrate the Winter season with Zief Law Library’s Zief Pets Winter-Themed Costume Contest! Submit pictures of your pets in their Winter-themed costumes or festive attire for your chance to win a special prize. Law school community members will vote on their favorite pets and prizes will be awarded to first, second, and third place. Outfits can include themes such as Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Boxing Day, Lunar New Year, winter season, and more!
All submissions will be featured on the Zief Pets Wall in the Zief Law Library. To participate, please fill out the Google Form by Sunday, December 3rd, 2023, using the QR code on the image below or visit https://bit.ly/3SrYE30. Winners will be announced on Monday, December 11th, 2023.
The Zief Law Library added one new title to its collection in October 2023. Click the title below or explore our monthly New Materials at Zief Law Library webpage for the complete list of recent arrivals.
With finals soon arriving, it is the perfect time to think about the strategies of a successful law school exam experience. By now, you may have figured out an effective study approach, but here are some additional tips in case there’s something new that could be helpful.
Create a schedule. It is helpful to create a finals study schedule, where you can factor in any additional time needed for reviewing concepts, and completing practice questions and exams. Perhaps create a game plan, or a day-by-day schedule for each class. Maybe you need to allot more for study time for your more challenging courses. But be sure to budget time for current assigned readings and assignments, so that you don’t fall behind.
Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Review your syllabus, class notes and highlighted sections of your casebook to create a ”hit-list” of topics to study. Flag the material that you find most difficult, so you can focus on any knowledge gaps. Then, you can prioritize topics you struggle with the most, over topics you’ve already mastered.
Team up with a great study group, partner, or study aid. Study groups can be a valuable learning tool. For some students, talking through material with classmates could help your understanding and retention of course materials. But if studying with classmates is not your thing, use the authors of the study guides as your friends and study partners. Additionally, try some study guides, available in print and as eBooks through the library, such as as Glannon Guides, the Emanuel Crunch Time, and Questions & Answers. These can help you review material through flow charts and summaries; they also provide short-answer, multiple choice, and essay questions and answers, so you can test your knowledge.
Complete your outlines and then work on editing down and memorizing them. So much material is covered in law school that it can seem quite jumbled in your mind. The professors construct the exams to see how well you can link all of the concepts together; this shows that you can apply the skill of analyzing numerous concepts at the same time. Reviewing, editing down, and memorizing your outlines will help you recognize how all of the facets of the particular law class work together in building the overall meaning and understanding of the subject. Need help making an outline? Try one of the library’s Emanuel Outlines available online or in-print at the circulation desk.
Pay attention in class. One last piece of advice that seems to always work is to pay attention in class. Yes, this seems obvious, but paying attention in class will truly save you time because your class notes will make sense and save you from time spent having to learn new concepts and laws. Really focus on what the professor says in class; this will also give important hints about what is expected for the exam. Also participate in class; the discourse you have with the professor is great for the learning experience and professors love it. If you are nervous about talking in class, a good tactic is to go to class with a list of questions. These may be from the reading or questions that you had after evaluating the material from past classes.
Maybe if you follow these great tips, you will not end up like the poor chap below:
Celebrate the spooky season with Zief Law Library as we introduce Zief Pets Presents: Halloween Costume Gallery! Whether a dog, cat, iguana, or even a pet rock, Zief Pets wants to see your pets’ best Halloween looks!
Submit pictures of your pets in their Halloween costumes or festive attire, and we will display them on the Zief Pets wall in Zief Law Library from Monday, October 30th to Monday, November 6th. To participate, please fill out the Google Form by October 30th, using the QR code on the image below or visit bit.ly/ZiefPetsHalloween23.
A contentious (gnarly) debate is whether listening to music while studying is a bad idea or if it can actually be quite helpful. In the WebMD article “Can music Help You Study” by Cheryl Whitten and Dan Brennan discuss pros and cons of listening to music while studying. Even USF law students have had discussions about music being beneficial or distracting while studying. The argument of what type of music should be used is even a more passionate argument; this debate can sometimes broach the subject of good or bad taste in the listener (jokingly and good-natured teasing, we hope).
Even though there is a 1990s study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine entitled “The Mozart Effect” stating that listening to classical music, specifically Mozart’s sonata for two pianos, improves spatial reasoning skills, problem solving, and test scores, it may just simply a matter of improving one’s mood during a stressful time. In the 2023 blog post “Music and Studying: It’s Complicated” Crystal Raypole states that music is helpful during finals because it can motivate; this probably has to do with the firing of neurons in the brain whether it’s slow music to relax or faster dynamic music to inspire. Raypole also discusses how listening to music while studying can be detrimental because students who listen to music with lyrics can become distracted. Even music without lyrics can hinder concentration. Also, what about the idea that students who use music to help them memorize may need to create the same environment during the actual exam for it to work?
The best test to the music or no music debate is to find out for yourself. All students are different and study in a myriad of ways; music may help some and hinder others. A good idea for finding out what works best for you is to experiment with different study music playlists on YouTube, Spotify, or your streaming service of choice. Do what’s best for you even if it’s only studying in the bathtub, wearing a wetsuit while listening to 1960s surf instrumentals.
During October, the Zief Law Library will have Law & Literature as the book display. The display spotlights the relationship of law and literature. This not only deals with the legal themes in fiction, but the philosophical debate of whether law on its own has inherent meaning and worth or if it must be considered along with a much larger cultural context.
There is also a debate between the supporters of the “law in literature” and the “law as literature” theories. The “law in literature” theory maintains that works of literature with details and descriptions of legal cases and processes give understanding to the essence of law. The “law as literature” position supports the idea that legal writing such as the actual written laws are subject to interpretation as any type of literature should be.
Want to learn more? Check out Zief’s Collection Spotlight on the first floor, across from the Circulation Desk!
Titles in the display include:
The Zief Law Library added new materials to its collection in September 2023. Topics from September include: capital punishment; constitutional law; contracts; criminal procedure; estate planning; evidence; technology and the law; and trial practice. Click the titles below or explore our monthly New Materials at Zief Law Library webpage for the complete list of recent arrivals.
In part two of this post, we provide a look at some accessible practices for hyperlinks and colors for text and backgrounds.
Hyperlinks are helpful for creating accessible documents so that screen readers do not read each individual character of a web address, or URL, aloud, thus cluttering the information with unnecessary characters. They also aid in organizing multiple links on a single document.
Creative fonts and colorful text on colorful backgrounds can be aesthetically pleasing, but can also create a learning barrier for learners with low vision. Choosing fonts and backgrounds that are easily read creates an inclusive learning environment, both in print and online.
Microsoft Word has an Accessibility Checker function that will automatically review your document for accessibility. Select ‘Review’ and click on the ‘Accessibility’ icon to explore. In addition to using the Accessibility Checker function, use Read Aloud to listen to the Word Document and follow with adjustments for an easier listening experience.
For more information on how to create accessible Word Documents, PowerPoints, and Google Docs, please visit the USF ETS Create Accessible Documents Page.