Alexandra Siek
Senior Lecturer III
Education
- B.A. 1999, Lake Forest College
- J.D. 2005, University of New Mexico School of Law
- M.L.I.S. 2012, San Jose State University
Contact Information
Ph.:
(505) 277-1018
Office:
1360G
siek@law.unm.edu
Website
Bio
Alexandra Siek is the Law Library's Academic and Instructional Outreach Librarian. To ensure that legal research has a meaningful role throughout the curriculum, Prof. Siek liaises with ELA professors to provide research support to students writing their first open memo, creates customized topical and process-oriented research guides for professors to use and share with their seminar students, and offers orientation sessions to new law school faculty members so that they are aware of the instructional support that is available. She directly supports students engaged in legal research by providing group training sessions and one-on-one consultations to RAs and students in seminars, clinics, student-edited journals, and extramural competitions.
She teaches both Introduction to Legal Research and Applied Legal Research and provides backup to other library functions, particularly research support and reference.
Before joining the UNM Law Library Faculty, Professor Siek performed crime and intelligence analysis for the Los Angeles Police Department, managed the UNM Law Library's Faculty Research Pool, and performed Reference and collection maintenance services for the UNM Law Library.
Courses
Introduction to Legal Research
This course focuses on transferable skills that are the building blocks in the process of gaining research proficiency. Students will gain familiarity with the legal system and legal information sources so that they are able to design efficient research strategies that allow them to find, evaluate and use sources of legal information to resolve specific legal issues.
Applied Legal Research
This course focuses on incorporating legal research into both practitioner's work and scholarly writing. It introduces legislative history and bill tracking, administrative law, court rules, and secondary sources such as practice guides and treatises and exposes students to unique resources and challenges presented by topical research areas.
Publications
Executive Summary of Reciprocity, Sup. Ct. St. N.M. (2013). Co-authored with Barbara Lah, Daniel Marquez, and Patrick Redmond.
Available at: UNM-DR
Presentations
The #RefDesk is Open: Remote Reference During the Pandemic and Beyond, Southwestern Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting, April 2021.
Leveraging Services to Market and Build Strategic Partnerships, Southwestern Association of Law Libraries Conference, Little Rock, AK; April 2019 (Panelist).
More Bang for Your Buck: Legal Research for the New and Not So New Attorney, State Bar of New Mexico, 2018 Annual Meeting, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM; August 2018.
Preparing Students for Summer Externships and Employment, Southwestern Association of Law Libraries / Houston Area Law Librarians Joint 2018 Conference, Houston, TX; April 2018.
Summer Research Series: Research Methods for Summer Internships (5 Videos, 2017).
Federal Statutes, Regulations, and Related Federal Materials, New Mexico Public Education Department Staff (2016).
Information Connections: New Mexico Legal Research Resources Statewide, New Mexico Library Association Conference (2015).
