I hope you are all doing well! As law schools across the country make the transition to remote learning, some legal publishers have agreed to provide free online access to their coursebooks for the duration of the Spring Semester. I have included relevant information below along with other online resources that you may find useful at this time. Free coursebook access from other publishers may also be forthcoming so please keep an eye out for communications from your professors, publishers, and librarians related to online access in the days ahead.
Bluebook Online:
You should have received an email from me last Friday, March 20th with a unique access code for online access to the Bluebook. You can use this code to create an account here: https://www.legalbluebook.com/Public/Login.aspx
West Academic:
West Academic is offering law students that are being moved to online classes access to electronic casebooks through June 1st. Students can call (877) 888-1330 and speak with a customer service representative for help getting eBooks.
*Please note: West Academic is only providing eBooks to students under certain circumstances. Examples: If the student is relying on the course reserve copy and the library is closed; if the student’s book is in their locker, went home for spring break and book is locked in the school, etc. So, have a reason for needing access when you call. It is always safe to say you are relying on the course reserve copy and the law library is closed.
Also, West Academic advised that the process for getting the eBook is much faster/smoother if students create a West Academic account online BEFORE calling. Please go here to create your account: https://eproducts.westacademic.com/.
Wolters Kluwer:
Wolters Kluwer is providing free online access to their publications
A list of professors and corresponding Wolters-Kluwer coursebooks can be found below.
Here are their instructions for creating an account:
1. To get started, students should visit https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/user/signin and create a Bookshelf account with their buffalo.edu email address.
2. Once students create an account with an institution-provided email address, they should log in and click on the “Explore” tab in the upper left corner of the screen. This tab provides access to the freely available e-textbooks.
*It is probably easiest to search for publications by title in VitalSource Bookshelf. Upon selecting a title, simply click Borrow to add a title to your library. Please note: Your account is limited to seven titles.
***Since initially posting this message on Friday afternoon, Carolina Academic Press has informed me that they have also partnered with VitalSource. As with the Wolters-Kluwer publications above, after creating an account, simply search by title and select the Borrow option to add titles to your library. Please note: Your VitalSource account is limited to seven titles from all publishers.***
CAP publishes several textbooks used for LAWR, including:
- Legal Argument: The Structure and Language of Effective Advocacy;
- Legal Analysis: The Fundamental Skill;
- Plain English for Lawyers;
- Understanding and Mastering the Bluebook;
- A Lawyer Writes: A Practical Guide to Legal Analysis; and
- An Advocate Persuades
Law students will continue to have free online access to all current study aids published by West Academic: https://gate.lib.buffalo.edu/login?url= ... demic.com/.
CALI:
Law students who have registered using the authorization code below will have access to CALI (http://www.cali.org/). CALI offers lessons created by law faculty and librarians, free e-texts for law school courses, and much more. Please contact me (briandet@buffalo.edu) if you need assistance registering. UB's student authorization code is NEWYBFstu141 (case sensitive).
Kanopy Films:
Lastly, should you have already exhausted the Netflix and Amazon lineups, you can sign up for an account through Kanopy (https://buffalo.kanopy.com/), who just announced they will be offering a wide selection of films for streaming at no cost for the next 30 days.
Should you have any questions about the information above, or if my colleagues and I can be of assistance in any way during the days and weeks ahead, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will do everything we can to help you through this transition with a minimum of disruption and difficulty.
Thank you and all the best,
Brian