Thursday, December 18, 2014

By John Papadopoulos, JD 1993, Chief Law Librarian, Bora Laskin Law Library

Earlier today:

Just a quick update from our (now traditional) end of term law library all-nighter…

As of 2 am, we have 31 JDs in the library finishing up their papers. We had 40 at midnight. My experience is that the ones that are still here at 2 am will still be here at 5 am.

We have had a steady trickle of citation questions all evening. I even took a 1:30 am phone call on citing Israeli Supreme Court decisions! The place is now actually quite lovely. The Bora Laskin Law Library isn’t the stressed out place it was the last few weeks. Tonight everyone here is super focused and the atmosphere among the students is very collegial and supportive—in some ways this is the student academic experience at its best. It’s a nice privilege for me to be able to see this and play a small role.

Staff took turns, one taking a shift until 8 pm, another until midnight, another from 12 am to 4 am, and another from 4 am to 8 am. And finally, the “sweep” at 7 am to ensure that the printers are all working. Every year, when I ask for volunteers for a sleepless night, I am impressed by how keen our librarians are to give up their own time to help our students out and hopefully take a little stress off their shoulders.