Featured Faculty: Dwight King
Dwight King’s work is all about helping.
Ask Michelle Manzoian ’10, just one of the many students and faculty of the Law School whom King has assisted. After coming to a dead end researching a regulation for a tort case while she was a summer associate in Cleveland, Manzoian had no idea what to do. So she called King.
“He directed me to HeinOnline, which contained volumes of the Federal Register for the years that I needed, and explained to me how to steer through them,” she remembers. “Because of his help, I was able to find a quote in a 1972 volume which my firm referred to as ‘the golden quote.’ It was a game changer for the case.”
As Research Librarian and Head of Research Services, King spends his days ferreting out such hard-to-find statutes and cases that make a difference in the work of faculty and students. Each fall he teaches Legal Research, training students how to navigate through the Kresge Law Library and its collections.
“I’ve always worked in libraries, from high school on up,” says King. After earning his J.D. in 1980 from the University of Michigan, he decided to specialize as a law librarian, and received his M.L.S. there the next year. He as been at Notre Dame for 23 years, and attributes his long tenure in part to such pleasant coworkers.
“Dwight and the rest of his colleagues in Research say ‘yes’ first when someone asks them for help, always eager to get information quickly and accurately,” says Joe Thomas, Librarian and Head of Technical Services. “He is exceptionally good at his job and exceedingly good at lots of other things, too.”
His article Profiling Minority Law Librarians: An Update was recently accepted for publication in the LAW LIBRARY JOURNAL. The article reflects his long involvement with the American Association of Law Libraries, its Committee on Minorities, and its Black Caucus. The article reviews a 2007 survey sent to all minority law librarians examining their education and work experience.
When not providing help in the Kresge Library, King provides help in the community. He regularly works multiple hours a week at the Downtown Soup Kitchen and reading to children at a local public school.
To learn more about Dwight, visit his faculty profile page.
