This Week in the Law Library ... September 21, 2026
This week in the Law Library we're teaching Researching Case Law & Using Citators, Researching Secondary Sources, Advanced Legal Research Transactional Law, AI & the Law, and Introduction to Law & the Legal Profession. We're also highlighting Disability Law resources.
This Week’s Research Sessions
Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026
Introduction to Law & the Legal Profession
- 12:30pm - 1:50pm
- Ron Jones Electronic Resources Instructional Services LibrarianRon Jones Electronic Resources Instructional Services Librarian
AI & the Law
- 1:30am - 2:50pm
- Profs. Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Shannon Kemen, Ashley Russell, and Michael Whiteman
Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026
Lawyering I, Cohort 5
- 9:00am - 10:25am
- Researching Secondary Sources
- Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian Shannon Kemen
Advanced Legal Research: Transactional Law
- 11:10am - 12:05pm
- Instructional & Reference Services Librarian Laura Dixon-Caldwell
Lawyering I, Cohort 3
- 1:30pm - 2:50pm
- Researching Secondary Sources
- Electronic Resources Instructional Services Librarian Ron Jones
LLM Research Writing
- Researching Cases & Using Citators
- 3:05pm - 4:30pm
- Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian Shannon Kemen
Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026
Lawyering I, Cohort 1
- 10:40am - 12:05pm
- Researching Cases & Citators
- Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Instructional & Reference Services Librarian
Introduction to Law & the Legal Profession
- 12:30pm - 1:50pm
- Ron Jones Electronic Resources Instructional Services LibrarianRon Jones Electronic Resources Instructional Services Librarian
AI & the Law
- 1:30am - 2:50pm
- Profs. Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Shannon Kemen, Ashley Russell, and Michael Whiteman
Featured Study Aids
- Disability Law and Policy
- Available via the West Academic Study Aid subscription, this study aid provides an updated overview of the major themes and insights in disability law and serves as a compelling compendium of stories about how our legal system has responded to the needs of impacted individuals. It also charts significant concerns about the welfare of people with disabilities that have been raised by the turbulent years of the pandemic and the rapid developments of technologies that are not always accessible to all who need to use them. In the thirty-plus years since the 1990 enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, huge strides have been made in protecting and improving the rights of people with disabilities to have equal access to all aspects of the worlds around them, both physical and virtual. But these worlds are still all-too-often designed and built without considering the fact that nearly every human being has experienced, or will experience, at least a period of “disability” during their lifetime that makes accessing everyday constructs of our society difficult or impossible. So the work continues, led both by long-term advocates and people who were not yet born when the ADA was signed into law.
- Available via the West Academic Study Aid subscription, this study aid provides an updated overview of the major themes and insights in disability law and serves as a compelling compendium of stories about how our legal system has responded to the needs of impacted individuals. It also charts significant concerns about the welfare of people with disabilities that have been raised by the turbulent years of the pandemic and the rapid developments of technologies that are not always accessible to all who need to use them. In the thirty-plus years since the 1990 enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, huge strides have been made in protecting and improving the rights of people with disabilities to have equal access to all aspects of the worlds around them, both physical and virtual. But these worlds are still all-too-often designed and built without considering the fact that nearly every human being has experienced, or will experience, at least a period of “disability” during their lifetime that makes accessing everyday constructs of our society difficult or impossible. So the work continues, led both by long-term advocates and people who were not yet born when the ADA was signed into law.
- Federal Disability Law in a Nutshell
- Available via the West Academic Study Aid subscription, this Nutshell presents an overview of the major federal disability laws with emphasis on the statutes, regulations, and significant points of substantive and procedural law. The sixth edition includes significant focus on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), including its 2008 Amendment and accompanying regulations. Features coverage on constitutional rights; the definition of "disabled"; Rehabilitation Act of 1973; employment discrimination; programs and services; and housing, education, and transportation. Also reviews the many relevant areas of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including the 2004 Amendments and two recent Supreme Court cases under the IDEA.
- Understanding Disability Law
- Available through the Lexis Nexis Digital Library study aid subscription, this text discusses important statutory and constitutional issues relating to disability discrimination. It provides analysis of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Fair Housing Act Amendments, and other laws as they relate to the controversial issues of disability rights. The book also discusses the leading cases on each of the major topics of disability law and suggests ways of thinking about unresolved questions and debates over legal policy. The fourth edition adds new information on every important topic. It includes thorough discussion of the Supreme Court's Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller ruling about emotional distress damages in ADA, Section 504, and ACA cases, as well as the Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools decision concerning exhaustion of administrative remedies in special education cases. It provides new sources on the intersection of race and disability and on accommodations in family unification services for parents with disabilities.
Featured Database
This Practical Guidance provides overview documents on disability discrimination and accommodations, as well as checklists, forms, and other practical guidance on these issues.
Featured Guide
Disability law focuses primarily on the enforcement of various Federal and state statutes which have been enacted to remedy and prevent discrimination against individuals with disabilities. While disability law is largely covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (Pub. L. No. 101-336), there are many other federal laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination against disabled individuals in many areas, such as employment, housing, and education.
Featured Treatise
Mental Disability Law: Civil and Criminal
Available on Lexis, this 3-volume treatise discussion of the entire body of law affecting the mentally disabled. It provides thoughtful answers to practically every research, counseling or litigation problem that could conceivably arise in this area. Each chapter of this treatise contains practical checklists and commentary to highlight and clarify case authority. Extensively annotated, it contains a table of cases and cites hundreds of authoritative secondary sources.
Featured Video
In April 2024, the Department of Justice published a rule updating its regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The rule sets technical requirements for state and local governments to follow to make sure that their websites and mobile apps are accessible to people with disabilities. This webinar provides a summary of the rule. The summary is designed to provide introductory information about the rule’s requirements.
Featured Website
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 defines how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Accessibility involves a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological disabilities. Although these guidelines cover a wide range of issues, they are not able to address the needs of people with all types, degrees, and combinations of disability. These guidelines also make web content more usable by older individuals with changing abilities due to aging and often improve usability for users in general.
Posted Sept. 21, 2026 by Susan Boland