*There's a famous line from a space fantasy film of some renowned,
"This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."
Have you ever wished you knew someone with superpowers to help you in a desperate moment? For example, when you are told to prepare a brief on a deadline, submit an essay, research a statute's legislative history, or find a statistical report for a project? Or maybe you just need suggestions on how to find a Bluebook rule to format your citation correctly.
As an aside: Locating the proper Bluebook Citation Rule is probably an underappreciated superpower.
Librarians aren't superheroes, but we do have the ability to draw upon a force that even Obi-Wan didn't possess. We know how to use the online library catalog like a pro! Granted, not as cool as wielding a lightsaber.
But we can locate the top law databases or a list of all legal databases, or all databases on campus. Once we've linked to that database, we know how to refine a search to get only the information we seek and not pull down the thousands of "hits," that ordinary mortals sort through. We know what to do if we get "zero," hits as well.
We do this all the time because it is our job. We have gained experience finding stuff, and more importantly, you can take advantage of our experience as law librarians by making a request.
The law library may seem more distant. It may seem as if there are no librarians around because of covid-19 restrictions, but that's just not true. We are here to help.
Four quick ways to find a reference librarian:
- You can ask for us at the circulation desk during library hours
- You can email us day or night at asklawref@law.wisc.edu
- You can reach us using the library Chat service
- You can call us at: (608) 262-3394
*Princess Leia READ poster from Out of Print - https://outofprint.com/www.outofprint.co
Submitted by Jenny Zook, Reference Librarian on September 14, 2021
This article appears in the categories: Law Library
