Eric C. Berg, research & instructional services librarian and adjunct professor, will write blogs for the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL)’s Research Instruction & Patron Services (RIPS) Special Interest Session during the 2022-23 academic year.

The RIPS blog unites research and reference librarians from different types of law libraries. Berg’s first post about Teaching State-Specific Legal Research was published on Sept. 6.

“I’ve worked in both a law firm library and an academic library, and I try to bring both perspectives to my writing,” Berg said.

In his first post, Berg explains that each state has its own legal quirks and suggests ways law librarians can help student researchers or lawyers who may be new to a jurisdiction.

Berg also suggests that law schools consider offering state-specific legal research courses like the one he teaches at Kline, “an upper-level course dedicated to legal research in Pennsylvania, perhaps one of the quirkiest states in the union,” referencing Pennsylvania’s archaic legal terminology and two intermediate appellate courts.

Berg graduated from Rutgers Law School in 2011 and was a personal injury litigator for several years. His passion for legal research led him to obtain a master’s degree in library and information science from Rutgers in 2020. He joined Drexel’s Kline School of Law in January 2021.

“I’m hoping to write more about the nuts and bolts of legal research,” he said. “For instance, I’m working on a draft about the Federal Appendix—the case law reporter that published ‘unpublished’ decisions of the United States Courts of Appeals—and its demise.”