Dear Law students, it is nice to see you back! Your library was busy during the study break, and we have two major additions that will make the Law Library even more comfortable place to study: new computers in the classroom and new/ remodelled study spaces at the 2nd and 4th floors.
Nahum Gelber Law Library will be closed Saturday, Dec. 22 through Tuesday, Jan. 1.
Happy holidays!
“Every gentleman ought to know a little of law, says Coke, and perhaps, say we, the less the better”.
It is not a message intended to discourage our students in their quest for legal wisdom but merely a quotation from the recent addition to the Law Library Rare Books collection, The Comic Blackstone (original 1844 edition). This witty and infinitely entertaining book was written by Gilbert Abbott à Beckett (1811 –1856), an English humorist, journalist, and a lawyer, who belonged to a family claiming descent from Thomas Becket. It is so well written and so gently humorous that I am sure it will be appreciated even by exams-stressed Law students. These are few more quotes from The Comic Blackstone:
Recently, I have seen several Law students pondering for a while in front of the McGill recycling/ garbage bins trying to figure out where to put their empty coffee cups. These are few simple tips that should help to solve this problem:
Apparently, there has been quite a bit of confusion about where the Law students can find the exams from previous years or get a laptop with the secure exam software. To save you some trouble and time, this is a short summary of what we have and what we do not have at the Library:
Good luck with your exams!
As of September 2012, all the publications of the Senate of Canada and the House of Commons are available in electronic format only. Therefore, Publishing and Depository Services / Éditions et Services de dépôt will no longer sell and distribute Parliamentary publications in paper format. PDS are working closely with the Senate of Canada and the House of Commons to make these publications available in PDF format on the Government of Canada Publications web site. Meanwhile, you can find all the latest Reports of the Committees of the Senate of Canada and the House of Commons here.
As you probably know, there is a heated debate going on in Ontario about the future of articling. In May 2011, the Articling Task Force was established by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a result of the rising number of unplaced articling candidates seeking access to the licensing process in Ontario. The Task Force produced a 100-pages report released on October 16th, 2012, where the majority recommended a five-year pilot project, to begin in 2014, for a law practice program as an alternative option to the current articling system. The LPP (law practice program), delivered by one or more third-party providers, would combine a skills-training component and a co-op work placement for a total of eight months. Four dissenting members of the Task Force instead suggested replacing articling with a two- to three-month comprehensive transitional pre-licensing program that would consist of online courses and exams. They also called for the law schools to introduce additional experiential education programs that would allow students to gain the practical skills they need to enter the workforce. You can find the full text of the report here.
We are pleased to announce that we have a new exhibition/ book display at the Law Library. It features a selection of the rare books that were restored in honour of and in recognition of the achievements of several McGill Law Faculty professors and other distinguished members of the Canadian legal community. Each book is accompanied by a book plate and a short description of the work performed by professional restorers.
Last week, I saw a number of 1st year students seeking an advice of a librarian on how to cite the sources that they used in their first memo. Thus, I decided to give you some not-totally-unsolicited advice on this matter.
First, when your TL gives you a piece of paper, a pdf, a photocopy of something, etc., do not hesitate to ask what this is and from where it is coming. This will save you quite a bit of time when you are pressed to finish your work but discover suddenly that this photocopy is in fact a book chapter, and you have no idea about the book title and/ or author. Second, do not wait until the last minute to make your footnotes. Everybody works differently, but my experience shows that if you ‘cite while you write’, you will save time. You will have your paper AND your footnotes ready, save for the final proofing, when you finish writing the last paragraph. On the contrary, if you leave all your footnotes to be done when your paper is written, you will end up trying to figure out where you found this or that quotation and, pardon me, freaking out about supra(s) and idem(s) when you are totally short of time. Third, use the Red Book in conjunction with your common sense and with some reasoning. Do not just scan and skim the text of a section, expecting that a correct form of citation will jump in your eyes. Red Book is not the Bible, so do not expect that it will necessarily have an answer to your particular question. When you have something to cite, think about what rule fits the best your type of source and then, apply this rule.
Last, to cite a source, proceed as follows:
If you would like to know what kind of treasures are kept in the glass enclosed Rare Books Room on the second floor of the Law Library, sign up for a half-an-hour (or longer) tour of the Law Rare Books. To sign up for a tour, please send a request to me, Svetlana Kochkina, svetlana.kochkina@mcgill.ca, and I will notify you when we will have a necessary number of participants.