Wisconsin State Law Library

Online Classes a Popular Addition - Amy Crowder

2020 has been a challenging year for many people, and prompted the State Law Library to rethink how we provide our services. That process has resulted in popular additions to our training classes.

The State Law Library provided the occasional webinar prior to 2020. When the Wisconsin Court System chose Zoom to hold court hearings and other events, we recognized it as an opportunity to reach our class attendees. In May, the library offered our first webinar of the year - a public records class. The response was terrific. Looking to expand upon this success, the library continued to offer webinars through the rest of the year. Classes included Wisconsin legislative history, alternative search engines and search techniques, the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access website, and dockets systems throughout the United States.

Attendees embraced the opportunity to learn while working remotely. We estimate that our instructors have reached 700-800 attendees through the library's webinars and other virtual training opportunities. We have been able to expand our class audience to attorneys, public and academic librarians, paralegals, state employees, and court officials and staff who are located anywhere in the state.

Frequent guest lecturer Beverly Butula, Director of Library Services at Davis|Kuelthau, taught two webinars with the State Law Library this year. Butula says of the webinar experience, "This approach provides a wide array of topics in a convenient platform, and the audience reach has grown exponentially. Quite a success." We agree!

Besides our hosted webinars, Deputy Law Librarian Heidi Yelk provided virtual tours of the State Law Library, our services, and legal research techniques to staff from several state agencies. Web Services Librarian Carol Hassler presented webinars to librarians and library staff in the South Central Library System. Carol also presented on providing legal reference services to librarians attending Government Information Day and a legislative history class for a local paralegal association.

The State Law Library did not predict that we would be offering webinars via Zoom in 2020, but the live, online format has helped us reach more people throughout the state. We look forward to continuing and expanding upon our webinars in 2021. Watch our Classes page and this newsletter for updates to our schedule and new webinar opportunities.

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New Books - Kari Zelinka

New Book! Cyberbullying Law, by Thomas A. Jacobs, 2020
Call number: KF 2846 .J33 2020

Cyber abuse crosses into the areas of family law, employment law, and civil, criminal and juvenile justice. Author Thomas A. Jacobs gives insight into the rights and responsibilities of all parties involved. Attorneys will likely confront cyber abuse in the forms of harassment, stalking, or intimidation, no matter what area they practice in. First amendment freedom of speech is explored in depth, as it is often claimed as a defense in these cases. The appendices provide tables of state laws on cyberbullying, revenge porn, and sexting, as well as federal and global responses to cyberbullying. Don't wait to familiarize yourself with what constitutes cyberbullying and its consequences. Check out this book today!

Chapters include:

• History of the rights of minors
• Due process in school, juvenile, and family law cases
• First amendment freedom of speech and expression
• Cases of protected digital speech
• Family court and cyberbullying issues
• Sexting, revenge pornography, e-stalking, and defamation
• Civil litigation against bullies/ school districts, Title IX, internet service providers, and cyberbullying insurance
• Cyberbullying in the workplace

New Book! Automated Vehicle Law: Legal Liability, Regulation, and Data Security, by Jeffrey K. Gurney, 2020
Call number: K 4034 .A98 G87 2020

If you are not familiar with automated vehicle law, you are not alone. Autonomous vehicles may be many legal professionals' first encounter with artificial intelligence. This book serves as a reference guide in this quickly evolving area of law. It is divided into five areas including legal background, regulation, civil liability, data privacy, and criminal law.

Chapters include:

• State regulation of motor vehicles and driving
• Automated vehicle guidance and laws
• Automated rental vehicles
• Automated ride sharing vehicles
• Federal regulation of data privacy and security
• State data privacy and security laws
• Liability for cybersecurity breaches and cyberattacks
• Automobile crimes
• Physical and digital interference with automated vehicles
• Right to seize and search highly automated vehicles and their occupants
• Searches of automated vehicle data

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

Lexis extends free patron access program

As the health emergency continues, many law libraries continue to offer services remotely. Under these conditions, LexisNexis recently announced a continuation of their free remote access service. Library users can visit this patron access free trial page to obtain a temporary ID at no cost. Processing of each request takes approximately one day.

Grid view on LexisNexis

If you have not recently used Shepards on LexisNexis you may be interested in the Grid View, which is a new way to quickly visualize how your case has been treated by citing courts. The graph below shows how a Third Circuit decision, TKR Cable Co. v. Cable City Corp, 267 F.3d 196, has been cited by federal circuit courts. In addition to an Analysis by Court, the Grid View also provides Analysis by Date. Grid View can be used to identify trends or see where circuits may split.

To find the Grid View, look to the upper right corner when displaying a Shepards List. Click on the pie-like graphic to see the grid view.

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Library News - Carol Hassler

Librarians Reach Out

This year's Judicial Conference was held remotely, but the State Law Library was still able to reach out to judges throughout the state at the online event. In the past, we've hosted an information table over the course of the conference. This year we provided information about our services, as well as new research guides including:

• Autonomous vehicles
• Criminal Law Judge Resources
• Fourth Amendment

Holiday Closures

All three library locations will be closed on December 24, 25, and 31, as well as January 1 for state holidays. Call the Reference Desk at 608-267-9696 and leave a voicemail, or Ask a Librarian online while we are closed. We will respond to you the next business day.

Free Westlaw Classes

The library is working on our 2021 webinar schedule. In the meantime, our readers may be interested in the following free webinars offered by Thomson Reuters:

Advanced Case Law Research and Citation Checking Skills
Tuesday, December 8, 2020 12:00-1:00 p.m. CST

This course will cover how to access and utilize KeyCite for case research and also show advanced searching techniques using content fields and Key Number topics.
1.0 CLE Credit Pending (IL, KS, MN, MO, NE, WI)

Topical Research on Westlaw - Civil Rights Litigation
Friday December 11, 2020 10:00-11:00 a.m. CST

This course will focus on finding case law, statutes, regulations, and administrative documents, as well as secondary sources, specific to a topical area of practice, in this instance Civil Rights. Exploring the variety of ways topical research can be performed using Westlaw, the breadth and depth of these materials will be highlighted, along with a review of the best techniques to effectively and efficiently conduct searches within each content type.
1.0 CLE Credit Pending (IL, KS, MN, MO, NE, WI)

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December Snapshot

Open House Collage

For many years, we've held an open house event during the winter months with games and appetizers. Here's a look back at previous parties. We're missing all of our library users this year!

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

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