This guide is intended to offer guidance on basic practice resources to students and attorneys going into private practice, starting their own law firms, or working as legal interns and summer associates This is not intended to be a complete representation of all of the resources available. It is merely a starting point.
One of the most important resources for determining what to include in a private library is Legal Information Buyers Guide and Reference Manual (Rhode Island Law Press: Providence 2011) by Ken Svengalis. This book is a textbook on how to create a private law library as well as a current review of the materials which a private law library might contain. One chapter, entitled "Building and Maintaining Your Law Library" discussed the essential components of a private law library and also does a comparison of price for on-line services. Other chapters include evaluating legal materials, strategies for dealing with publishers, and how to save money by buying used law books. Legal Information Buyers Guide and Reference Manual may be accessed through Lexis Advance.
Research guides are a useful tool for new researchers starting out on a new area of law or wanting to expand your research knowledge in a particular area.
The Chickasaw Nation Law Library's page of Research Guides and LibGuides is accessible at http://libguides.okcu.edu/lawlibrary.
The Law Library of Congress has a Guide to Law Online, which is an annotated guide to sources of information on the government as well as law available online. http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide.php
Another good place to find research guides on legal topics is the Law Librarians Resource Exchange (LLRX) at http://www.llrx.com/
Hornbooks and nutshells can provide a nice review of research strategies and sources in specific areas, such as legislative history and administrative law research.
The Chickasaw Nation Law Library has research guides that are specific for individual jurisdictions. While not every state is included, we currently have research guides for Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. These will typically have the call number KFA-KFW. Search our catalog to get the exact call numbers and locations.
