Jenkins' 2015 Year in Review

2015 was the year of online materials at Jenkins. We introduced online CLEs, expanded our member databases to include LexisNexis ebooks, and provided online legal research tips. But we didn't forget our foundation as a legal research repository - we developed new resource guides, explored historical figures and events, and increased our print collection. Here are some of the highlights from the past year:

Jenkins started the year by becoming an approved distance learning CLE provider. We now offer 10 on-demand video CLE classes. Our Distance Learning options include 6 classes taught by Dan Giancaterino, the Jenkins' Education Services Manager: Caselaw Searching with Fastcase, Google for Lawyers Part 1 and Part 2, Medical Searching for Lawyers Part 1 and Part 2, and Simple Information Security for Lawyers. The other 4 classes are from our Wednesday evening speaker series: Being the Boss in a Law Practice presented by David Koller, Esq., Effective Brief Writing presented by Theodore C. Forrence, Esq., Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship: A Survey of Basic Start-Up Issues presented by E. Carolyn Hochstadter Dicker, Esq., and Vaccines and the Law presented by Valerie Borek, Esq.

Our member databases received a big boost this year. We recently launched the LexisNexis Digital Library, which includes over 250 LexisNexis ebooks. This resource is a great asset for our members and contains treatises, forms, federal and state laws, and more. The most popular Pennsylvania titles among Jenkins' members are the Pennsylvania Law Encyclopedia, Pennsylvania Laws Governing Business Entities Annotated, and Pennsylvania Civil Practice, 5th edition. And the most popular New Jersey titles are the New Jersey Transaction Guide, New Jersey Pretrial Practice, and New Jersey Corporations and Other Business Entities. The LexisNexis Digital Library is powered by OverDrive, which many public libraries use to loan their ebook collections. For those wanting more help with OverDrive, check out the OverDrive Help page. We've also created videos on Managing Your Bookshelf, Reading and Annotating, and Downloading.

A number of our other member databases received interface upgrades. General OneFile, HeinOnline, LegalTrac, and ProQuest Congressional all revamped their platforms this year. With the new database upgrades, we also refurbished our video tips: https://www.youtube.com/user/jenkinslaw/videos.

We've shared research and database tips on our blog. Many of our most popular tips dealt with finding materials online: Search the Philadelphia Code Online, Finding Pa Ethics Opinions Online, Finding Purdon's Pa Statutes Online, and NOAA's Local Climatological Data Available for Free Online. We also expanded the content of our blog this year and began highlighting historical legal figures, like John Bouvier, F. Carroll Brewster, and George Wharton Pepper, and events, like the History of May 1 and Magna Carta's 800th Birthday.

With the influx of resources available to Jenkins' members, our reference librarians continue to create Resource Guides that highlight materials available in print, on the library's Lexis and WestlawNext computers, and on members' desktops via the member databases. This year we launched 4 new guides to bring our total to 20: Dictionaries, Thesauri, and More, Jury Practice, Pennsylvania Real Estate & Landlord Tenant Law, and Pennsylvania Wills, Trusts, and Estates.

And for those bibliophiles cringing at the influx of electronic resources and materials - do not fear! We still collect print materials and our print collection expanded by over 800 titles this year, many from ABA, NBI, and PBI. Three of those titles were new editions of old favorites: The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, 20th edition, Buck's County Orphans' Court Manual, 4th edition, and Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Civil Practice Manual, 17th edition. Some of the more popular 2015 titles were Act 95: The New POA Law: Changes & Best Practices, Contract Law for the Twenty-first Century Lawyer: Critical Analysis and Practical Application, Litigating in Orphans' Court, and New Jersey Consumer Fraud.

This was an exciting year for Jenkins and we're looking forward to continuing our growth in 2016.