Academic Legal Writing - Eugene Volokh [52]
F. Talking to Your School's Reference Librarians
Most law schools' reference librarians are happy to help students with their research. They can help with specific research questions, such as “How can I get this unpublished source?” or “How can I gather this sort of data?” They can also help you craft a general research strategy—including the literature search, the search for relevant cases and statutes, the search for relevant newspaper articles, and even the search for a topic within some general field.
Don't be bashful about consulting the librarians. They are busy, but at most schools helping you is part of their job, and a part they often enjoy. They also tend to be trained lawyers themselves, often lawyers with great credentials but with no desire to work in a law firm. And research is what they do, so they've often seen tasks like yours and can quickly see what you might miss.
1. If you've selected a topic
Once you've selected a topic, make an appointment with a reference librarian near the start of your research, and see what advice the librarian can give you.
Do some research beforehand: Think about your research plan first, record in a file whatever searches come to mind, and run them to see what you get. It's always good to do some work of your own before asking someone else for advice—the advice will be more helpful, and the advisor will take you more seriously if you've shown a willingness to put in some effort yourself. But don't wait until you've done months' worth of research. Ask a professional for help near the beginning.
When you go to the meeting, bring a list of the research you've done, preferably in a nicely formatted printout. Also, be ready to explain clearly what your article is about. You don't have to be completely certain, but the more precise you are, the more helpful the librarians can be. Write your topic down beforehand, to make sure that it has jelled in your mind.
2. If you're looking for a topic
If you're looking for a topic, the librarians can help point you where to look—they know the best treatises in the field, the best loose-leaf legal news services, and the like. Again, look around a bit yourself, and make clear to the librarian that you've looked and where you've looked. But if you've tried hard yourself and haven't found something, don't hesitate to ask for help.
Librarians can also point you to areas that are related to your current target area, areas that you might find interesting but might not otherwise have thought about. Ask them specifically about this, to see if the question jogs their memories.
One point to keep in mind, though: Librarians can point you to helpful places to look, and can help you do a literature search—but they can't tell you themselves whether a claim you're considering is novel, nonobvious, useful, and sound.
For advice on that, you should talk to a professor who works in the field. Even professors will tell you that there's no substitute for a full literature search, coupled with careful and critical thought; but at least scholars who write in the field can give you a somewhat better sense of which claims and topics are likely to be more successful and which are likely to be duds. Knowing what makes for good scholarship in a particular field is the professors' job; it is not the librarians'.
3. If you have questions about a specific task
You should also ask librarians when you have questions about a specific task—for instance, how best to formulate a particular Westlaw or Lexis query, how to find unusual sources (for instance, administrative agency decisions that may not be on Westlaw or Lexis), and the like.
These questions may best be asked by e-mail, because that helps you precisely identify the question. Mention in the e-mail what you've already tried and where you've already looked, so that librarians can help you better and so that they'll see you're not asking them as a first resort. And proofread the e-mail, so it is clearer, more precise, and more