Libraries Closed for Labor Day Holiday

The Wisconsin State Law Library, Milwaukee County Law Library, and Dane County Law Library will be closed on Monday, September 5 for the Labor Day state holiday. We will respond to questions and requests on Tuesday, September 6. 

To ask a question while we are closed, call us at 608-267-9696 or Ask a Librarian online.

Wisconsin State Law Library is a Pokéstop

There is a park near my house that has always enjoyed regular traffic, mostly from joggers and dog walkers. However, lately this tiny park has exploded in popularity, with players gathered beneath the trees intent on their phones. They're playing Pokémon Go and the park is a Pokéstop - a GPS-tagged waystation within the game.

The Wisconsin State Law Library serves as a Pokéstop, along with several downtown landmarks. While you're playing Pokémon Go be sure to stop by the library to grab some Pokéballs and other goodies. The library has public wifi and outlets where you can charge your phone. We're located on the second and third floor of the Risser Justice Center.

 

WSLL Recommends: Neighbor Law

Problems with neighbors can be fraught with emotion, as well as difficult to research. When we get questions about trees, boundary disputes, or fences one of our favorite books is Nolo's Neighbor Law: fences, trees, boundaries & noise. This book is written in plain language with the non-attorney reader in mind and provides overviews of the issues and sample letters.

Chapters on tree damage and boundaries include sample letters and agreements on particular aspects of each issue. This book is supplemented by FAQs and articles on Nolo.com's Neighbors legal topic page. 

If you just need a quick statutory reference, flip to the tables in the back with 50 state surveys on the following: 

• Injury to trees
• Private nuisance
• Boundary fence disputes
• Adverse possession
• Right-to-farm

Check out Neighbor Law: fences, trees, boundaries & noise from the Wisconsin State Law Library and Dane County Law Library. 

School Buses to Display Flashing Amber Lights

Thanks to a new regulation, newer school buses in Wisconsin are now required to be equipped with amber lights which are flashed prior to coming to a stop. (Wis. Admin. Code Trans 300.54) A Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) press release explains:

"Flashing amber lights are a signal that the school bus is preparing to stop, so drivers need to slow down, pay attention and proceed carefully. Drivers are allowed to pass a moving bus with flashing amber lights, but they should do so cautiously."

Drivers are still prohibited from passing a stopped school bus with red flashing lights (Wis. Stat. 346.48). Watch a DOT video explaining the new regulation or read a brochure for more information about school bus warning lights. 

Photo credit: By Dickelbers (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons 

Environmental Law Books on Display

Our current Reading Room book display features several resources on environmental law. Browse these books in the library or check them out by mail. 

From left to right:

• The ABCs of Environmental regulation
• Wisconsin water law in the 21st century
• Environmental liability and real property transactions
• Before Earth Day: the origins of American environmental law, 1945-1970
• Global climate change and US law

From left to right:

• Principles of Constitutional environmental law
• Environmental law handbook
• Environmental law practice guide
• The Clean Air Act handbook

Meteoric Matters

Meteors are often used in legal literature as devices to describe an incredibly rare or unlikely event. The Perseid meteor shower, by contrast, is an annually spectacular show and is at its peak right now. Perseid meteors appear as the earth passes through the debris of the Swift-Tuttle comet  As you look up to enjoy the display (provided cloud cover dissipates), here's a quick roundup of law review articles that look at legal issues beyond the planet's borders.

Astronaut Scott Kelly posted this amazing photo of the Perseid meteor shower from space last August.
Photo from NASA archive.

• Asteroids and Comets: U.S. and International Law and the Lowest-Probability, Highest Consequence Risk, Gerrard, Michael B. , Barber, Anna W.  6 N.Y.U. Envtl. L.J. 4 (1997-1998)
• Developing a Law of Asteroids: Constants, Variables, and Alternatives, Roth, Samuel. 54 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. 827 (2015-2016)
• These aren't the asteroids you're looking for: classifying asteroids in space as chattels, not land.. Tingkang, Andrew. 35 Seattle U. L. Rev. 559 (2011-2012)
• Mining the Final Frontier: Keeping Earth's Asteroid Mining Ventures from Becoming the Next Gold Rush, Feinman, Matthew  14 Pitt. J. Tech. L. & Pol'y 202 (2013-2014)
• Planetary Defense: The Legality of Global Survival, Kunich, John C.  41 A.F. L. Rev. 119 (1997)
• When Wishing on a Star Just Won't Do: The Legal Basis for International Cooperation in the Mitigation of Asteroid Impacts and Similar Transboundary Disasters, Seamone, Evan R. 87 Iowa L. Rev. 1091 (2001-2002)
  

All articles in this list are available full text through the library's HeinOnline subscription. Most library users can access HeinOnline from anywhere with their library card number. Ask a librarian for help logging in to HeinOnline or to sign up for a free library card. 

WSLL at Your Service: August 2016

August is National Breastfeeding Month. In recognition, we compiled a resource guide on Wisconsin and Federal laws regarding breastfeeding in public and in the workplace. Read through this guide in our August newsletter, along with our usual columns featuring library news and new books.

Here's what's inside:

• What's New: New staff; AALL annual meeting 
• This Just In: New and updated library materials 
• Tech Tip: Targeted searching with Google 
• Breastfeeding in Public and the Workplace: WSLL Resource Guide
• Odds 'n' Endings: August 7, 1848: Election of judges

As always, your comments are welcome. Please direct them to the editor, Kristina.Martinez@wicourts.gov.

Job Posting: Library Assistant

Are you a detail-oriented individual looking for part-time work? The Wisconsin State Law Library is searching for a Library Assistant, 15 hours per week. Qualified applicants must be available to work Monday through Friday, 8-11 AM.

Duties include: staffing the circulation desk, filing looseleaf services, shelving, moving and shifting book collections, creating invoices, issuing library cards, and other collection maintenance activities.

Skills include: excellent customer service skills in person and on the phone, working in the circulation system and other computer tasks, cash handling, ability to follow written directions, and to do multiple tasks with a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail

Pay: $9.67/hour
Start date: Monday, August 29, 2016

Location: The Wisconsin State Law Library is located on a bus line, just off the Capitol Square at 120 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Madison.

To apply: Please email your resume and cover letter to elspeth.gordon@wicourts.gov. You must include your hours available for work.