Joseph Custer
![[photo of Joe Custer]](../../images/photos/library/custer_joe.jpg)
Associate Director / Head of Tech Services Subjects: Legal Research, Advanced Legal Research
Phone: 785-864-9262
E-mail: jcuster@ku.edu
Profile
Joseph Custer came to the Wheat Law Library in the summer of 1995 as the Collection Development/Reference Librarian. In the summer of 1998 Joseph was promoted to the position of Associate Director. He retained his duties as Collection Development Librarian. He participates in the legal research component of the Lawyering course and teaches Advanced Legal Research. He has published several articles and one book in the areas of legal research and law librarianship. Joseph is also a Contributing Editor to a newsletter published by Civil Research Institute.
Representative Publications
“The Truthiness of Thinkable Thoughts Versus the Facts of Empirical Research,” 2009 AALL/LexisNexis paper of the year award; Chapter on “Arkansas Legal Research and Referendum Law” in “Exploring Research and Referendum Law” (Haworth Press 2009); “Kansas Legal Research” (Carolina Academic Press, 2008) (with Christopher Steadham); “The Law in ‘Bleeding Kansas’: A Selected Bibliography of Legal Documents from Prestatehood Kansas, 1803-1861,” in Statehood for Materials: A Fifty-State Research Guide (Haworth Press 2006)(with Robert Mead & Mon Yin Lung); “Librarians: Guardians of Public Well-Being or Protectors of Intellectual Freedom,” 4 Synergy (Australian) 1 (2006); “Information Policy and Intellectual Freedom in American Libraries Before and After September 11, 2001,” 34 International Association of School Librarianship Reports (2005); “Non Legal Resources: Online News Sources,” (CALI 2005); Kansas Legal Research and Reference Guide, 3rd ed. (Michie Academic Press/KBA 2003).
Education
M.B.A., University of Kansas (expected graduation 2011); M.L.I.S., University of Missouri, 1991; J.D., University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 1989; B.A., University of Northern Iowa, 1983.
Admitted
Missouri 1990
Career History
Adjunct Professor, Emporia State University, 2000-present; Associate Director, KU Wheat Law Library, 1998-present; Collection Development and Reference Librarian, KU Wheat Law Library, 1995-1998; Director of Information Services, Gage and Tucker, Kansas City, Mo., 1991-95; various legal clerking positions including Public Defenders Office, St. Louis, 1989-91; law clerk, Haskins Law Firm, Arkansas, 1987-89.
Current Service
President, Mid-America Association of Law Libraries, 2008-present; Member, Wheat Law Library Strategic Planning Committee, 2000-present; Vice Chair, Law Library Journal Executive Committee, 2009-present; Member, University Librarian Committee on Promotion and Tenure, 2008-present; Member, Ad hoc Law School Committee on Promotion and Tenure, 2008-present.
Member
American Association of Law Libraries; Mid-America Association of Law Libraries; Kansas Bar Association; Missouri Bar Association (Chair, Government Relations Committee, 2009) (Member, Program Committee, 2009); Southwestern Association of Law Libraries.
