Wisconsin State Law Library

What's New - Connie Von Der Heide

Holiday Closings

The Wisconsin State Law Library and the Milwaukee and Dane County Legal Resource Centers will be closed Thursday, November 28 in observance of the Thanksgiving Day state holiday. On Friday, November 29, the Dane County Legal Resource Center will remain closed but WSLL and MLRC will be open regular hours.

To submit a question or request while the libraries are closed, you may call the Wisconsin State Law Library Reference Desk at 608-267-9696 or Ask a Librarian online. We will respond as soon as possible on November 29. For library locations and hours, please visit our About Us: Locations page.

Upcoming Classes

There's still time to register for our November legal research classes, all of which have attorney CLE credits pending. Class descriptions and registration information are available on our Classes webpage. Don't delay, sign up today!

Ethics Research via Westlaw
Wednesday, November 6, 10:00-11:00 a.m.
Location: Wisconsin State Law Library training room, Madison

Wisconsin Briefs Online
Thursday, November 14, 9:00-10:00 a.m.
Location: Wisconsin State Law Library training room, Madison

HeinOnline: The Information Source You Need, Where You Need It
Tuesday, November 19, 12:00 -12:50 p.m.
Location: Milwaukee Public Library, Meeting Room 1

WiFi Improvement

WSLL recently had a third WiFi access point installed to improve signal strength in and around the Conference Room. To learn more about that room and several others available for hourly rental at WSLL, please visit our Room Rental web page.

DCLRC News

The DCLRC's collection of print materials was recently re-arranged to improve aesthetics and allow for easier browsing, and to provide space for display of materials that are new or of special interest. Here's a rundown of where to find things:

• The United States Code Annotated (USCA) is now shelved toward the back of the library, near the newspapers.
• Wisconsin law reviews and all general treatises (KFs) are now shelved closer to the service counter.
• The Laws of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Statutes and Wisconsin Administrative Code are now shelved in a contiguous arrangement.
• Wisconsin treatises and practice manuals remain conveniently located in the center aisle. This includes Criminal and Civil Jury Instructions and Wisconsin Statutes Annotated.
• The new display area in the aisle next to the library entrance provides space for featuring new and specialized materials on a changing basis. On the endcap closest to the main door are items of interest to pro se litigants, and on the other end is a place where community interest flyers or announcements of upcoming events may be posted. (Because DCLRC is an agency of the court, attorney business cards and similar postings are prohibited.) Contact Lisa Winkler, DCLRC Librarian regarding materials to post there: (608) 266-6316 (ask for her) or Lisa.Winkler@wicourts.gov.
• In the coming months the Reference, Drug & Treatment Courts, and Everyday Law collections will undergo collection development and maintenance - so watch for some new titles in those areas.

Bring Toys for Tots Donations to WSLL

For the second year in a row, WSLL is serving as a donation site for the United States Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program which distributes presents to less fortunate children during the holiday season. The program works with local communities across the country to collect and distribute the donated toys. In 2012, nearly 16.8 million toys were distributed to more than 7 million children nationwide.

Donations of new, unwrapped toys and books appropriate for children up to age 12 may be dropped off at WSLL between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday from November 1 through December 4. WSLL is in the Risser Justice Center in downtown Madison. Use the entrance at 120 MLK, Jr. Blvd., next to Milio's sandwich shop.

Staff News

WSLL is pleased to introduce Amber Sheely, part time library assistant, who joined the staff in mid-October. Amber works at the circulation desk most mornings and assists with shelving and filing updates into library materials. A graduate of the UW-Madison School of Library & Information Studies, Amber has previously worked at a library circulation desk and also as a cashier and at the customer service counter at a Madison grocery co-op. Welcome, Amber!

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This Just In... - Pete Boll

New Title! Food and Drug Law: Federal Regulation of Drugs, Biologics, Medical Devices, Foods, Dietary Supplements, Cosmetics, Veterinary and Tobacco Products, Sixth Edition, by Roseann B. Termini.
Forti Publications, 2013.
WSLL Call Number KF 3869 .T47 2013

A new title at WSLL, the latest edition of this treatise provides a comprehensive overview of the increasingly specialized practice area of food and drug law. Fifty-eight chapters are divided into 12 "volumes" conveniently contained in one physical book. Topics include:

• FDA-Criminal and Civil Enforcement Strategies
• Medical Device and Radiation Emitting Products Regulation
• Dietary Supplements, Herbs and Botanicals Regulation
• Food Regulation-Safety, Recalls, Claims, Additives, and Allergans
• Human Drug Regulation-Approvals, Promotion, Marketing, Warnings, Accountability, and Postmarket Surveillance
• Professionalism, Politics, Foreign Corrupt Practices, Product Classification, Globalization, and the Future

Updated! Prosecutorial Misconduct: Law, Procedure, Forms, 4th ed, 2013 supplement by Joseph L. Lawless.
LexisNexis Publishing, 2008 and updated through 2013.
WSLL Call Number KF 9640 .L38

Long considered the definitive treatise on this topic, Prosecutorial Misconduct provides a comprehensive and scholarly analysis of of prosecutorial abuse for both federal and state jurisdictions - from the initiation of a criminal investigation through the appeal and post-conviction stages. It also includes a collection of motions, briefs, and arguments from actual cases, including:

• The Jayson Williams murder case
• The Clinton/Lewinsky grand jury probe
• The Linda Tripp wiretap investigation
• The Wen Ho Lee espionage prosecution
• The Oklahoma City bombing trial, United States v. Terry Lynn Nichols
• The prosecution of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh

The 2013 supplement updates chapters on Abuses of the Discovery Process, Prosecutorial Abuses in Opening and Closing Arguments, Prosecutorial Misconduct at Sentencing, and Actions and Sanctions for Prosecutorial Misconduct.

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 in Brief - Heidi Yelk

Sometimes Older is Better

Recently, a library user came to us with a printing problem on WestlawNext. After some quick investigation, and testing and re-testing in different browsers, we determined that the printing problem was actually a browser problem: the latest version of Google Chrome wasn't "playing well" with WestlawNext. It was easily solved by switching to a different browser, but this incident got me to wondering: In today's world of "stealth" automatic updates, when the latest version of something that's been installed on your device doesn't work well, how can you revert back?

One answer is the website oldapps.com. According to its about section, the mission of oldapps.com is "to provide our users with a wide assortment of current versions of familiar software, and their predecessors, for free." Even if you don't need a prior version, oldapps can be used as a reference tool that has compiled all the specs, such as release history, dates, size, and even screenshots of older software. The community section of oldapps provides help and tips, such as how to uninstall software.

In most cases, it makes sense to allow automatic updates to your computer's operating system and software. However, if you encounter a problem with a newer version of software, it may help to uninstall the new one and re-install a prior version. During that process, be sure to disallow "automatic updates" - and then keep in mind that any security patches included with new updates will not automatically install on your device.

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WSLL Recommends: Jones on Evidence

This monthly column highlights a legal research tool, in print and/or electronic format, that is not freely available on the internet. We hope it will increase your knowledge of sources with which you might already be familiar and help to expand your legal research toolkit.

In its second century of publication, Jones on Evidence: Civil and Criminal continues to be an influential treatise on all areas of civil and criminal evidence. Originally published in 1896 by Burr W. Jones, Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin, the seventh edition by Clifford S. Fishman, began publication in 1992 and consists of five main volumes and a tables/index volume which are updated annually.

Jones on Evidence is primarily a practitioner's tool rather than a theoretical treatise. The set integrates coverage of the Federal Rules of Evidence and the latest revised Federal Rules of Procedure, concisely explains the law, and provides guidance on how to work within the law and apply the rules. Fishman highlights significant recent decisions and includes numerous footnote references which cite to to resources such as American Law Reports, American Jurisprudence 2d, Proof of Facts, Am. Jur. Trials, etc.

Topics include:

• Burdens of proof
• Relevance
• Substantive inclusionary and exclusionary rules
• How the evidence was obtained
• The source of the information
• The form of the evidence
• Procedure
• Prejudice; judicial economy
• Objections and countermeasures

Jones on Evidence is also available via Westlaw. Users can access Westlaw for free in one of our libraries.

For additional resources on evidence researchers may want to check out Mueller and Kirkpatrick's Federal Evidence, The New Wigmore: A Treatise on Evidence (multiple titles) or Weinstein's Federal Evidence: Commentary on Rules of Evidence for the United States.

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Odds 'n' Endings - Julie Tessmer

New WI Blue Book Now Available

The 2013-14 State of Wisconsin Blue Book is now available in print and online. The feature article in this edition is, "The Wisconsin Historical Society: Collecting, Preserving, and Sharing Stories Since 1846."

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Many of us know well the lyrics of Gordon Lightfoot's hit song telling the tale of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald's tragic fate during the gales that swept across Lake Superior on November 9 & 10, 1975. I recently went looking for more information and found this document on the U.S. Coast Guard web site: National Traffic Safety Board Marine Accident Report, SS Edmund Fitzgerald Sinking in Lake Superior November 10, 1975

Released May 4, 1978, the report analyzes several theories on the cause of the shipwreck and makes numerous recommendations for changes in shipping policies and regulations, directed to the U.S. Coast Guard, the American Bureau of Shipping, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

A March 13, 2013 Screening Level Risk Assessment Package issued by the NOAA Office of Maritime Sanctuaries and Office of Response and Restoration analyzes environmental risks and makes recommendations with regard to the Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck site.

This webpage provided by the National Weather Service Office in Marquette, MI describes advancements in marine forecasting since the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which remains to date the largest ship ever to have gone down in the Great Lakes.

Other Notables for November

11th - Veterans Day

28th - Thanksgiving Day. Keep everyone healthy by reviewing the USDA's Let's Talk Turkey: Consumer Guide to Safely Roasting a Turkey

Coming Up in December

Mark your calendar: The Wisconsin State Law Library will hold its annual Winter Holiday Open House on Tuesday, December 17, 2013, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. in the Reading Room. We invite you to stop by for a visit and some light refreshments.

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