Our colleagues at the Harvard College Library have just launched Tools of the Trade: A Library Starter Kit for College Freshman. Don’t let the title put you off, though: it’s a useful kit for anyone doing research at Harvard, including law students. Tools includes some introductory tips to doing research well with Harvard’s extensive yet diffuse collection, advice on how to get the most from HOLLIS, suggested major (non-law) databases to get acquainted with, and intros to using Citation Linker and RefWorks.
The material in Tools for the Trade is thorough yet concise; if you need to clear your head of some other legal topic, it’s well worth spending 10 or 15 minutes browsing through its contents to pick up some tips. It’s also a great thing to take a look at before starting a research project, especially if you’re working on an interdisciplinary topic that will take you outside your legal research comfort zone.
Hat tip: Cheryl LaGuardia, Research Librarian, Services for Academic Programs, Widener Library
