Author archives

Jennifer Chapman is the foreign, comparative and international law librarian, University of Virginia School of Law. Her scholarship has appeared in the Journal of International and Comparative Law, Fordham Law Review, Denver Law Review and the Journal of the Legal Writing Institute, and in the library and information science texts Antiracist Library and Information Science: Racial Justice and Community and The Role of Citation in the Law. Prior to joining UVA Law, she was the research and faculty services librarian at the Thurgood Marshall Law Library at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. Chapman earned her J.D. from the University of Maryland Carey School of Law in 2017, where she was editor-in-chief of the Maryland Journal of International Law. She earned her M.L.I.S. from the University of Maryland in 2022 and her B.A. in art history from James Madison University in 2000. Before attending law school, she served as collections and exhibitions manager and assistant curator for the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, Maryland.

The CIA World Factbook, the Access to Information Crisis, and the U.S. Role in the World

Terminating the publication of the CIA World Fact Book is yet another example of this administration’s actions to remove public access to long established, accountable and accessible government documents. Jennifer Elisa Chapman shines a spotlight on how this “essential part” of the U.S. and the CIA’s legacy ended on February 4, 2026, impacting cross disciplinary researchers, educators, journalists and students. And as we are within another time of war and crisis and uncertainty, we need this information and opportunity to engage with the world now more than ever. Chapman also identifies archived versions of this resource that remain available online.

Subjects: Competitive Intelligence, Government Resources, KM, Legal Research

The Librarian as a Trusted (Human) Assistant

Jennifer Chapman concisely conveys the importance of identifying for patrons that AI’s confidence doesn’t equal competence. Chapman states that as law librarians we are naturally skeptical of certainty. The law teaches us to question everything, and library school teaches us how to verify everything. We, not generative AI, are the trusted human assistants that need to help our patrons effectively use technology tools.

Subjects: AI, Education, KM, Law Librarians, Legal Profession, Legal Research, Legal Research Training, Search Strategies