Wisconsin State Law Library

Join us for our Winter Open House

On Wednesday, December 12, take a break from your day to head over to our open house at the David T. Prosser Jr. Library. From 3:00 to 4:30, enjoy sweet and savory refreshments in the relaxing atmosphere of our reading room. Challenge us - or your colleagues - to games of skill including Euchre, Exploding Kittens, Jenga, Uno, and more. We're looking forward to seeing you there!

Please join Wisconsin State Law Library staff for card & tabletop games*, and light appetizers
*Exploding Kittens, Euchre, Uno, Connect Four, Jenga, Blink, Coup & more

Wednesday, December 12
3:00 - 4:30 p.m.
Reading Room
David T. Prosser Jr. State Law Library
120 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd

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What's New in Online Research - Carol Hassler

Digital collections are an integral part of our services to you and we're happy to report several updates.

Newspaper archives

Badgerlink is a statewide service that provides online collections to Wisconsin residents, and partners with local libraries to deliver them to their users. Researchers turn to Badgerlink's newspaper sources to search for recent and historical information. Use the following newspaper databases to research individuals, historical legislation, or court cases. Access Badgerlink from our Articles & Journals page.

Newspapers.com Library Edition - World collection
A historical archive from the 1700's through the 2000's, with coverage of regional, state, and local newspapers.

U.S. Newsstream
Current access - with articles back to the 1980's - for national and regional news, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and more.

HeinOnline updates

U.S. Congressional Serial Set
A recent addition to our HeinOnline collections, this archive provides access to thousands of House and Senate reports, the American State Papers, and much more. Content continues to be added to this resource; over three quarters of the Serial Set is now available in either HeinOnline or the HathiTrust digital library. For a quick overview of what's included, and search options, check out this recent blog post on the Serial Set collection.

Gun Regulation and Legislation in America
Firearms continue to be a prominent topic of discussion in America. This collection pulls together periodicals, legislative histories, Congressional Research Service reports, court materials, and more to provide a one-stop location for researchers.

Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture, and Law
This collection brings together Federal and state case law, statutes, and more. Over 500 new titles were added to this collection this year, making it a quickly growing resource. You can log in with your library card to search this collection. However, anyone who registers on HeinOnline's website can search this collection for free as well.

U.S. Federal Legislative History Library
Do you need to do a Federal legislative history? Try searching this collection first to see if someone has already compiled one. The FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act of 2016: A Legislative History of Public Law No. 114-185 is one new addition.

HeinOnline journal alerts

I love using email alerts to keep up with new journals. Scanning the table of contents is a quick way to dive into a new issue. Email alerts now offer a "Proxy (Off-Campus)" link which will lead you straight to the login option in our library catalog. Use the Proxy link from your email to jump right to that article after logging in.

Here's an example of what you'll see in a typical email table of contents alert:

Practice: Tips
Longtime Lawyers Offer Advice for Newcomers
104 A.B.A. J. 28 (2018)
Pp: 28-29
Proxy (Off-Campus): https://0-www.heinonline.org.wiscl.wsll.state.wi.us/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/abaj104&div=244

Learn more about following your favorite journals in HeinOnline with our tutorial.

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New Books - Kari Zelinka

New Edition! Long-Term Care: How to Plan & Pay for it, by Joseph L. Matthews
Call Number: KF 3826 L6 M38 2018

There are many difficult decisions to make when discussing long term care. Whether you or your clients are considering at-home care, organized senior residences, nursing facilities, Alzheimer's care, or hospice, an overview of each is covered in this book. Use the resource directory in the appendix to find contact information for national organizations on aging and various facets of long term care.

Other topics include:

• Medicare and Veterans benefits
• Medicaid coverage for long-term care
• Long-term care insurance
• Guardianships, conservatorships, financial and health care decisions
• Elder fraud

New Book! Bankruptcy Issues for State Trial Court Judges, 4th edition, edited by Michaela M. White
Call Number: KF 1524 B37 2012

This deskbook was recently added to our collection and provides state judges with a short primer on how state law affects bankruptcy proceedings. The structure of the bankruptcy court system is outlined including jurisdiction, appeals, and state court jurisdiction. Chapters 7, 11, 12 and 13 bankruptcy filings are discussed. Bankruptcy concepts are defined, such as automatic stay, property of the estate and debtor, and much more. The lengthy appendices contain applicable bankruptcy statutes and rules as well as contact information for U.S. bankruptcy judges, clerks, and the trustee program.

Other Chapters include:

• Bankruptcy stays and injunctions
• Dischargeability law
• Bankruptcy and domestic relations law
• Bankruptcy and criminal proceedings

See our latest New Titles list for a list of new books and other resources.

For assistance in accessing these or other resources, please contact our Reference Desk.

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Tech tip - Heidi Yelk

Proximity searching now available on HeinOnline

HeinOnline has introduced new search syntax options for searching the law journal library. Searching for terms within the same sentence, paragraph, or segment is now possible with proximity operators.

HeinOnline follows the established standard of "slash s" (/s) and "slash p" (/p) for sentence and paragraph proximity. The "slash seg" (/seg) operator finds terms within 100 words of each other. Check out this blog post for more details.

Using the Advance Search / Field Search option is one of the best ways to focus search results in HeinOnline. Field searching words in the title together with words in the text can help researchers locate more specific articles.

Refining by date (either before or after running the search) will help you locate articles within a target period: for example, food labeling in the 1970's vs. food labeling in the 2010's. For more information about the updated search syntax and other tips see the HeinOnline Blog.

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Library news - Carol Hassler

Reaching out at the Judicial Conference

This year's Judicial Conference took place in Lake Geneva at the end of October and early November. Julie Tessmer, State Law Librarian, shared information about the library's services and collections to judges and attendees. The library also provided the following research guides at our table and on our website:

• Bail and conditions of release
• Briefs and opinion writing
• Drug and treatment courts
• Electronic evidence
• Jury trials
• Professional resources for criminal law judges
• Scientific evidence

After Hours access

Would you like the convenience of using the State Law Library later in the evening or on weekends? You can - by becoming an After Hours subscriber. Subscribe now to enjoy a full year of library access at times convenient for you.

After Hours users can read and check out books, use our public computers and databases - including Westlaw and HeinOnline, make photocopies, and enjoy a quiet space for research and study.

A calendar-year subscription includes access to the library from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, and a key fob for convenient entry into the building. New subscribers will gain access from the time they subscribe to the end of the 2018 calendar year. Subscribe now and save!

Upcoming classes

Watch our website as  new 2019 classes are added. Do you have a class suggestion? Contact Michael Keane with suggestions or requests.

Coming up in 2019:

Public Records
Tuesday, February 12, Noon - 1 p.m.
Location: David T. Prosser Jr. Library training room
Learn first hand how to find public records on individuals and businesses in this information packed class. Discover criminal records, state and local court records, business entity records, liens, real estate records, and more. We'll help you find the government agency sources for Wisconsin public records. Register Online

Milwaukee Bar Association Conference

Jennifer Waite, Librarian at our Milwaukee branch, attended the Milwaukee Bar Association's Law & Technology Conference on November 30th. The conference included topics about digital threats, security breaches, artificial intelligence, information architecture, and the deep web. About the conference, Jennifer says, "I found the session on information architecture particularly applicable to our mission as librarians, to ensure equal access to justice. It gave me a lot to think about with regards to improving our work flows and best practices in our storage and access structures. The session on the deep web was eye-opening to know what kind of information and services are available through the lesser-known segments of the internet."

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December Snapshot

Lit Library Displays
Photo by Carol Hassler

Enjoy a little light during these shorter days! Our reading room and service desks are decorated with lit displays of silver baubles and pinecones. And don't forget to check out Lady Justice, ready for winter's chill.

We are accepting snapshots! Do you have a photo highlighting libraries, attractions or points of historical interest? Send your photo the editor at carol.hassler@wicourts.gov to be included in a future issue.

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