All Westminster Law Library (WLL) patrons, including
SCOL alumni, area attorneys, DU main campus students, and public patrons, have
free access to the two Westlaw Public Access Computers (PAC) currently located
on Level 3 of the WLL, on the far south end.
While the databases are much more limited than the law student’s
password protected Westlaw, you can research all state and federal cases and
statutes, plus some Colorado practice materials. Simply double click on the Westlaw icon on
the desktop to open the program, scroll down to accept the terms of use, and
choose the Westlaw databases that you wish to search.
You will need to purchase a print/copy card at the
Level 2 Circulation Desk if you want to print any research results on the
LawDuplex4x50 printer. You cannot email
your research results; use the LexisNexis Academic database from the WLL
homepage for that option.
Research results can be printed or saved in one of two
ways to a flash drive. The first is as
an html document and the second is as an Adobe PDF file that you have created in
the same way as if to print. For html open
your case/statute and click anywhere on the document. To print an html document click on the print
icon in the upper right corner (not red), then choose html (not PDF) and click print. In order to save as an html document, click
on the print icon and then select html (not PDF). Put your flash drive in and go to the drop
down menu “File” , “Save page as” , click on “Save in” E (or whatever
drive your flash drive is showing up as) ,“Save as Type” , “Web Page
Complete”, then name your document and save.
To create an Adobe PDF document to either print or
save to a flash drive, click the print icon (without red) at the top right of
your document, then on the screen which opens choose PDF (not html) on the
dropdown menu. You can then choose to Keycite
(the equivalent of Shepherds in LexisNexis Academic) the direct history to
ensure that your case or statute is still good law. To find additional sources which cite your
authority, choose Keycite citing references for a list of cases which also tell
you the Westlaw topic and key number for the headnote in which you are
interested for your research. Select
full text or other request and then ok.
Your ability to either print or save occurs at this point.
Your document appears in PDF format on the next
screen. In order to print, click the
print icon in the top left corner, and a narrow window should appear for you to
enter your name or initials to identify your print jobs on the printer
itself. Click print on the next menu and
your document is sent and held by the printer on any level for two hours. You do not get charged for sending the
document to the printer, only if you print your document before it disappears.
In order to save the document to your flash drive, put
your flash drive in and go to the drop down menu “File”, “Save page as” , click on “Save in” E (or whatever drive your flash drive is showing up as) , “Save as Type”, “PDF” (or Word, etc.), then name your document and
save.
Printing and saving your search results can be
frustrating because of glitches in the popup blockers. If you go through the entire process to print
your document as a PDF, but do not see a narrow window across the screen where
you can enter your name to identify the print job, it is a popup blocker
problem. At the top of the page select the
drop down menu “Tools”, “Options” and then “Content”. This window will provide a method to make
exceptions to the popup blocker. Make
sure “Block popup windows” is checked. Check
to see whether both the addresses print.westlaw.com
and web2.westlaw.com appear in the
bottom half of the screen. If they are
not there, type in one of them in "Address of Website" and click allow, which will
move it to the lower half of the screen.
Repeat for the other address if missing, and click ok. Retry your print job.
Written By Catharine Cott, Reference Librarian
Posts
