LIBR 538D: Specialized literatures: Legal Bibliography -- course syllabus

 

Department/Program: Master of Library and Information Studies
Year: Winter 2005-2006, Term 2, Section 901
Course Title : Legal Bibliography
Course Schedule: Thursdays, 6-9 p.m., January 5 - April 6, 2006
Location: Law Library Training and Meeting Room, top floor, UBC Law Library, 1822 East Mall
One class will be held at the SLAIS computer lab, one class will be held at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin
Instructor: Teresa Gleave
Office location: SLAIS TEF Room 321
Office phone: 604-822-0051 (SLAIS) 604-631-4804 (Work)
Office hours: 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. Thursdays before class in classroom
E-mail address: tgleave@van.fasken.com

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Course Goal:

• To gain skills particular to legal bibliography
• To introduce basic concepts of Canadian law
• to survey legal resources and libraries

Course Objectives:

• to gain an understanding of the Canadian legal system
• to review legal research methods and legal reference services
• to examine Canadian legal research tools, both print and electronic
• to survey law library practice

Course Topics:

• Law libraries and librarianship generally
• Canadian legal system
• Canadian legislative process and materials
• Primary and secondary legal materials in print and electronic formats
• English and American materials

Prerequisites and/or Course Restrictions: LIBR 500, LIBR 540, LIBR 560.

Format of the course: Lectures, class discussion, IT labs on specified evenings

Required and Recommended Reading:

Required:

• McEllven, Douglass T. Legal research handbook, 5 th ed. Toronto: Butterworths, 2003. This is available from the instructor at a competitive price.
• Weekly readings from handouts and websites

Course Assignments, Due dates and Weight in relation to final course mark:  

ASSIGNMENT	DUE DATE	WEIGHT
Finding statutes and regulations	January 19	10%
Updating statutes and regulations	January 26	10%
Case Law	February 9	10%
Law library visits	February 23	10%
Online search strategies	March 2	10%
Reference questions	March 16	10%
Major assignment	March 30	30%
Class Participation		10%

Course Schedule and location :

DATE	CLASS TOPIC	ASSIGNMENT DUE	CLASS LOCATION
January 5	Introduction, law and law libraries generally		Law Library
January 12	Canadian legislative process; primary materials		Law Library
January 19	Primary materials continued: legislation	Finding statutes and regulations	Law Library
January 26	Case law	Updating statutes and regulations	Law Library
February 2	Case law continued		Law Library
February 9	Secondary materials	Case Law	Law Library
February 16	Reading week no class
February 23	Online legal resources	Law library visits	SLAIS Computer Lab
March 2	Legal research on the web	Online search strategies	Law Library
March 9	Secondary materials continued		Fasken Martineau DuMoulin
March 16	Legal reference services	Reference questions	Law Library
March 23	English and US materials on the web		Law Library
March 30	Collection management and management issues	Major assignment	Law Library
April 6	Practical issues, wrap up		Law Library

 

Attendance: The calendar states: “Regular attendance is expected of students in all their classes (including lectures, laboratories, tutorials, seminars, etc.). Students who neglect their academic work and assignments may be excluded from the final examinations. Students who are unavoidably absent because of illness or disability should report to their instructors on return to classes.”

This is a weekly class and attendance is vital to keeping up with the materials. Please notify the instructor by email as soon as possible if you will miss a class or will be late with an assignment.

Evaluation: Based on participation in class and written assignments.
Weekly assignments 60%, major assignment 30%, class participation 10%

Other Course Policies as Relevant –subscription to course discussion list

Written & Spoken English Requirement: Written and spoken work may receive a lower mark if it is, in the opinion of the instructor, deficient in English.