Frequently Asked Questions
- How can I search the H2O collection?
- What cases does H2O have access to?
- What does it mean to be a Verified Professor?
- Who can view my casebooks?
- How do I give credit to folks whose book I adapted?
- I’d like to work with others (colleagues, support staff, librarians) on my H2O casebook - can I do that?
- I already have an outline for a casebook - what’s the best way to get it into H2O?
- Does H2O offer teaching notes?
- I’m teaching a new course with H2O and would be interested in talking to others teaching similar courses - can H2O help me with that?
- I’d like to help my students get the most out of the digital H2O casebook - any tips?
- Some of my students have said they want a print version - can I provide them with one?
- How do I stay up to date on interesting H2O casebooks?
- I am a student and would like to take notes on my digital casebook - how do I do that?
How can I search the H2O collection?
Anybody can search the H2O collection - users do not have to be logged in to do so*. Simply click the Search Casebooks button at the top of the H2O website. Once you’ve arrived at the H2O Casebook Collection, use the search window and drop-down filters to find resources you can use.
* Note that if you want to clone or take notes on a book that you find, you do need to be logged in.
What cases does H2O have access to?
As of August 2024, H2O now has access to new and up-to-date cases via CourtListener and the Caselaw Access Project (CAP). CourtListener has all 6.5M+ cases from the Library Innovation Lab's Caselaw Access Project, which covers cases from 1658 to 2018, as well as millions of more recent or unpublished decisions collected directly from court websites. When you use H2O, you'll now automatically get cases from this larger and more up-to-date collection. CourtListener is run by the Free Law Project - for more information, check out their website.
What does it mean to be a Verified Professor?
Anybody with an H2O account can create a new casebook for their own purposes, but only casebooks by Verified Professors will show up in the H2O collection and in web searches. Verified Professors also have access to features like teaching notes, image upload and video embedding which are not available to general users. To become a Verified Professor, check the box at the bottom of your Profile and click Save to send a request to our team.
Who can view my casebooks?
H2O makes as much of our content free and open to the public as possible. If you are a Verified Professor, your casebooks are completely public and discoverable in the H2O Collection and in search engines to be read by anybody with an internet connection. If you are a standard user, the only people who will be able to view your published casebooks are people who have the link - people with the link will not need to have an account to view it. A book by any user that is still in “Draft” mode is private to the author and any collaborators they have added to the book.
How do I give credit to folks whose book I adapted?
Our Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license for sharing and re-use of all H2O casebooks is dependent on giving appropriate credit to authors whose work you may be borrowing. Because of this, we take care of giving credit to the original author of all resources in a given casebook through the “Credits” tab of all H2O books. We also encourage you to add acknowledgements to your introductory headnote or to an acknowledgements section!
I’d like to work with others (colleagues, support staff, librarians) on my H2O casebook - can I do that?
Yes! Many of our authors work with support or in teams to create their books. You can add collaborators to your casebook through the “Settings” tab. In addition to inviting collaborators you can manage attribution and editing permissions there.
I already have an outline for a casebook - what’s the best way to get it into H2O?
You’re halfway there! Many of our authors report that the most time consuming part of creating their casebooks is deciding on the resources and structure they want to include. Once you have that, you can speed up the process considerably. Using H2O’s Quick Add feature, you are able to copy and paste an entire outline into H2O, clean up your entries, and begin annotating or adding text. Our Quick Add video shows you how.
Does H2O offer teaching notes?
Verified Professors in H2O are able to view teaching notes from other professors directly in that professor’s H2O casebook. As they choose to do so, Verified Professors can add teaching notes to their casebooks to give others the tools they need to pick up the material and start teaching. These can be found in sections throughout the book that are only viewable by other Verified Professors.
I’m teaching a new course with H2O and would be interested in talking to others teaching similar courses - can H2O help me with that?
We encourage professors who are teaching courses with H2O to lead discussion groups among colleagues teaching the same or similar topics. We are especially eager to support professors teaching courses from new perspectives, or teaching completely new courses, and are sometimes able to provide a small amount of funding for support staff to help manage the group. If you’d like to lead a discussion group, or if you’re wondering whether such a group exists for a course you’d like to teach, reach out to us at info@opencasebook.org.
I’d like to help my students get the most out of the digital H2O casebook - any tips?
In our work with students, we have found that just as many prefer to read a digital version of a casebook as a physical one. When factors like cost and ease of use are factored in, almost all are satisfied with a digital version. In order to help students make the most out of a digital reading experience, we have built a Take Notes feature for students to be able to actively read and annotate a casebook. You can share this option with your students at the start of the semester.
Some of my students have said they want a print version - can I provide them with one?
Any H2O casebook, section, or resource can be exported and printed by anybody viewing the book - students who would like to print all or part of their books are able to do so themselves. If you’d like to provide students with something more formal, you may also export your book to Word and either convert it to a PDF to distribute to students to print, or use a print-on-demand service to create an inexpensive physical book that students can buy and use for the semester. Note that print versions of a casebook will not include the content available through links or videos that you include in your books.
How do I stay up to date on interesting H2O casebooks?
The “Follow” button works much like a bookmark, and allows you to add casebooks to the “My Follows” portion of your dashboard. As changes are made to those casebooks, you’ll see a red icon show up in the top right corner of the book - click through to view the book and find the changes in the “History” tab.
I am a student and would like to take notes on my digital casebook - how do I do that?
Our Take Notes feature was built to support students as they actively read their digital H2O casebooks. When you are viewing a casebook, simply click ‘Take Notes’ to have a copy of the book added to your dashboard. From there, use the annotation features to mark up the book as you’d like.
Read more about the various reading options for your H2O casebook.