Wednesday, January 17, 2007
This is one of the last two days I will spend learning and working in the Law Library of the University of Notre Dame Law School. I went over all of the information I dispenced over the last 4.5 months; Westlaw, LexisNexis, HeinOnline, and Legal Trac were the databases I used to find Electronic Formatted materials. I spent a lot of time searching for information utilizing the print sources here in the library/reference area. What I have learned (thats slightly different from this student population that primarily uses the Hesburgh Library) is that they like using the print sources more often times than the electronic sources. As a couple of law students have told me, they will more often times use the electronic sources in the evenings and weekends, when the research librarians are not available.

The students and the faculty have a lot of respect for Dwight and his team; the entire library faculty and staff have autonomy in their jobs which makes for an excellent work environment. This experience made me realize that if I were 20 years younger, I would have seriously considered a full time career as a Law Librarian. I didn't understand the necessity of a law degree prior to this rotation, but now I do. Beth, Chris, Warren, and more importantly, Dwight have made my rotation experience valuable and I am forever grateful for their assistance and insight into this profession. I spent a lot of time learning and being able to put it into practice by assisting 1L students, faculty, and the general public who utilizes our libraries during business hours. This library is a community that is much different from previous library experiences I have had. I have met some very dynamic students here at the Law School, and I look forward to reading about their successes in the legal profession.