The Law School’s Election 2000 website, which proved to be an invaluable resource during the election, recently won the Association of Law Libraries publications award in the nonprint division. The award will be presented at the annual AALL conference this July in Minneapolis. Accepting will be Erika Wayne, Reference and Internet Services Librarian, who developed the website.

Election 2000 served as a leading resource during the election, drawing hits from a wide range of users—from legal scholars and the media to national search engines and the Department of Justice. During the 15-day period leading up to the final Supreme Court decision, the site was accessed 1,400 times. On December 12, the day of the decision, it received 763 hits.

Wayne credits faculty and staff with helping her put Election 2000 together. “For example, Paul Lomio [the library’s Assistant Director for Information Services], who is the biggest news junkie in this whole building, was first in the office each day,” she said. “When I came in, he would ask me if I knew about such-and-such a case or did I hear the latest about a breaking news story?”

The librarian said Professor Pam Karlan and other faculty members would drop by on their way to class to provide her with updates and new leads. “Even my father, who lives in central Florida, would send me news clips from local papers in Seminole County before they made the national radar,” Wayne said. “Truthfully, the database project turned into a Law School team project.”

She followed a morning ritual: Check CNN, the Orlando Sentinel, the Miami Herald, the Palm Beach Post, the Tallahassee Democrat, and the Atlanta Constitution. “At least they had the news stories, then I had to search out the legal references,” she said.

Wayne admitted that gathering the legal information sometimes took a bit of sleuthing, but most often “it just took being friendly and talking to lots of clerks and assistants. One clerk even took the time to fax me 300 pages.”

Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends who use the site can’t say enough good words about Wayne, Lomio, and the entire library staff.

“As much as our library is closed to the general public, when you put up a good website that’s made available to everyone and they find it useful . . . that’s quite a service,” Wayne said. Visit the site at http://election2000.stanford.edu