Award of Accomplishment in Legal Research Skills ProgramLee Peoples, Director & Kathleen (Katie) Brown, Associate Director

Oklahoma City University Law School Library

In the Spring of 2011 the OCU Law Library launched its Legal Research Award Skills Program.

The program is designed to supplement the Legal Research and Writing course currently offered and provide additional practice related skills to the students.

Students do not receive course credit for participating instead they earn points by attending the variety of research trainings offered by the reference librarians. An award is presented to the student after acquiring 20 points along with a letter from the library documenting the specialized research trainings completed for potential employers.

Points Based Legal Research Skills Program

2012-2013Lee Peoples Katie Brown Jennifer PrillimanTimothy Gatton

2011-2012Lee Peoples

Katie Brown Jennifer PrillimanTimothy GattonDarla Jackson

Participation and Completion Numbers by Year

7 3 8 9

5455

3440

142

262

offeringsparticipants

Training Offerings and Student Participants Per session in the 2011-2012 Fiscal Year

4 = 1.5 hour Legal Information Literacy Workshop. 

4 = Specialized research workshops

(1.5 hours each)

1 = library skills sessions called Brown Bags. 

(50 Min.)

1 = team, student organization, or center research training.

(30-90 Min.)

1= presentations in substantive and experiential law classes requested by that course’s instructor. (30-90 Min.)

Exceptions: No points are offered for required LRW trainings or the Advanced Legal Research course.

Program Points are Earned in a Variety of Ways

24

185

253

Student Participants

Spring 2011 Fall 2011 Spring 2012

5

8

23

Award Recipients

Spring 2011 Fall 2011 Spring 2012

NewsletterBlog postsTwitterWebpageWord of mouth

Program Advertising

Other Law Schools with Similar Programs

Texas Tech University School of LawBoston University School of LawFlorida Coastal School of LawLa Verne College of Law

“…the Research Certificate courses helped me immensely! In preparing for my appellant

brief and oral argument, I was able to finish my research in half the amount of time of my

classmates, and I was able to come away from my research with better, more concise information. For my oral argument, I was

able to find information my classmates didn't even know existed! The research certificate

put me way ahead in my research and writing class. Thank you so much for organizing the

classes and I know it will be a huge advantage in the future.”

Student Testimonials

”I think it is the most relevant and practical experience in law school. … I feel very comfortable using the library

now;and I feel like I could actually talk about with a potential

employer.”

“The classes have been REALLY great for my job this summer!”

“The program has helped me to refine my general research skills, which I feel makes me more employable as a law school graduate. I would highly recommend any student who want to succeed in her internship, and in her legal career to seriously consider earning OCU Law’s Accomplishment in Legal Research Skills”

“I thought the program was wonderful it really helped to take some of the intimidation out of all

the different sources”

Reference Librarian Instructors by Year