Criminal Law Library Blog

BY:Claire M Germain, Edward Cornell Law Librarian and Professor of Law Cornell University and Director, Dual Degree Programs, Paris & Berlin

Claire Germain is interested in all aspects of legal information, from rare books to digital libraries, and often writes on these topics, most recently "Digitizing the World's Laws: Authentication and Preservation." the topic of this posting. For several years she has been actively advocating for effective measures to bring about authentication and improved preservation of digital law locally, nationally, internationally, and globally.

In the United States we especially appreciate her efforts as AALL President in 2006 when she commissioned an AALL Fifty State Survey, which revealed that a significant number of the state online legal resources were deemed official, but none were authenticated by standard methods. As I write this in 2010, work continues on efforts to adopt the findings and recommendations of this Survey in all fifty states. With her paper "Digitizing the World's Laws: Authentication and Preservation", Claire Germain continues her tradition of advocacy from a global perspective.

David Badertscher

Rather than provide a lengthly discussion we have chosen to highlight the paper by presenting the following excerpts.and let you the reader click on the above link and enjoy reading the entire paper.
_________________________

Abstract:
Many countries now provide online access to statutes, codes, regulations, court decisions, and
international agreements. Digital law issues that have emerged include authentication of official
legal information and preservation for long term access, particularly for born digital legal
information which has no paper equivalent. This article is part of a chapter forthcoming in
“International Legal Information Management Handbook” (Ashgate 2010).
_________________________

Official and Authentic Digital Legal Sources
The terms “official” and “authentic” are sometimes used interchangeably but mean
different things. An online official legal resource is one that possesses the same status as
a print official legal resource. In the United States, for instance, the definition of an
official version of court opinions, statutes, session laws, or regulatory materials is one
“that has been governmentally mandated or approved by statute or rule. It might be
produced by the government, but does not have to be.” (American Association of Law
Libraries 2007) This definition is firmly rooted in the print world. Courts and public
officials turn to official legal resources for authoritative and reliable statements of the
law and require citation to such sources in the documents that come before them. By
itself, an online official legal resource offers no such automatic assurance.

Authenticity refers to the quality and credibility of the document. It means that the
text is provided by competent authority and that it has not undergone any alteration in
the chain of custody.2 An online authentic legal resource is one for which a government
entity has verified the content by to be complete and unaltered from the version approved
or published by the content originator. Typically an authentic text will bear a certificate
or mark certifying that the text is authenticated. The standard methods of authentication
include encryption, especially digital signatures and public key infrastructure (PKI), or
similar technologies.3 Authentication of digital law varies by country; some provide
authentication through a digital signature or PKI infrastructure, others through secure
servers and certificates (Hietanen 2007).
_________________________

Authenticity matters because in an environment where online sources are replacing
official print versions of legal information, citizens need to be able to trust digital
versions of the law, in the same way that they have trusted print. Because the digital
medium is vulnerable to errors in management and control, corruption, and tampering, it
is of utmost importance to make digital legal information not only official but authentic.
What is at stake is the transmission of official documents, "the word of the law," to
future generations (Germain 1999).
_________________________

Conclusion
As legal information systems mature worldwide, authenticity is seen as an essential
issue by some who want to guarantee the integrity of official information. There is a
great role for librarians as the research experts in providing access to legal information
and as custodians of information for the long term, in any format, print or digital. The
successful advocacy efforts of the American Association of Law Libraries in the USA
show that librarians can influence information policy decisions for the benefit of all
citizens. There is a great interest in bringing this advocacy to the international level to
develop international standards, possibly within the International Federation of Library
Associations, a major stakeholder for information policy.

TITLE: JUSTICE BRENNAN
SUBTITLE: Liberal Champion
AUTHORS: Seth Stern & Stephen Wermiel
PUBLICATION DATE: October 4, 2010
PUBLISHER: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
PAGE COUNT: 688 pp.
ISBN: 978-0-547-14625-7 (Paper)
PRICE: $35.00

Stern, a reporter for CQ, and Wermiel, a law professor and former WSJ reporter, team up to chronicle the career of US Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, who served on the High Bench during a tumultuous period from 1956 to 1990. Working from a repository of newly-released documents, as well as interviews with friends, family, colleagues, and Justice Brennan himself, the authors show how Brennan staked a liberal claim with the progressive side of the Warren Court during the mid-Twentieth Century, often invoking civil rights and privacy protections for minorities, women, and the working class. Especially revealing and insightful are the authors’ revelations about the inner workings of the Supreme Court, how the Justices arrive at their decisions, and the infrequent, yet riveting, confrontations between Brennan and his conservative counterparts. The book is a historian’s guide to the tactics and strategies behind many of the legal battles of the era over the extent of Constitutional rights and the legal struggles over such contentious issues as desegregation, affirmative action, school prayer, the death penalty, and abortion. Aimed at a scholarly audience; highly recommended for academic and law libraries, as well as larger public libraries.

Philip Y. Blue, New York State Supreme Court Criminal Branch Law Library, First Judicial District, New York, New York

On JUly 28, 2010, Skyriver Technology Solutions, LLC and Innovative Interfaces, Inc. filed a complaint against Online Computer Library Center, Inc.(OCLC) in the District Court Northern District of California alleging federal and state antitrust violations and unfair competition. More specifically the complaint states that OCLC "...is unlawfully monopolizing the bibliographic data, cataloging services, and interlibrary lending markets and is attempting to monopolize the market for integrated library systems by anticompetitive and exclusionary agreements, policies and practices."

OCLC has responded though a Statement from Larry Alford, the Chair of the OCLC Board of Trustees and Jay Jordan OCLC President. The Statement reads in part:

"We at OCLC believe the lawsuit is without merit, and we will vigorously defend the policies and practices of the cooperative
.
"OCLC's General Counsel, working with trial counsel, will respond to this regrettable action by SkyRiver and Innovative Interfaces following procedures and timetables dictated by the court. This process will likely take months or even years, not days..".

We are not particularly surprised by this action because in our view it is a manifestation of growing concerns and tensions resulting from the increasing commercialization of many organizations serving libraries and other sectors of the information community. Those interested in this issue should also read, or perhaps re-read, Joni Cassidy's posting on this blog: Skyriver: Could It be a Contender?

Here are some other documents and postings we recommend to those interested in following this action. :

Complaint: Docket No 10-cv-03305-BZ

Link to Statement from OCLC Board of Trustees and President about Skyriver, Innovative Interfaces Complaint..

Library Journal article discussing the founding of SkyRiver as a competitor of OCLC and its potential impat on tehnical Service

"SkyRiver Tech and Innovative Interfaces Seeks Access to "OCLC's Unlawfully Acquired Database" in Unfair Competition Complaint" August 10 posting on Law Librarian Blog.

Like others who have expressed their condolances, I felt both saddness and a sense of loss upon hearing that Gloria Dinerman, a prominent Information Sepecialist and business person, had passed away in New Providence, NJ on Sunday July 17, 2010. As mentioned in the obituary below, Gloria will be remembered by all of us for her "....unique style, sharp wit, and cultural savvy". I also remember her as a person of humanity and caring who was always ready to lend assistance when needed.

David Badertscher

Below is an obituary from the Home News Tribune July 21, 2010. followed by links to two articles by Gloria.:

OBITUARY:

GLORIA COHAN DINERMAN
AGE: 82 COLONIA
Gloria Cohan Dinerman passed away in New Providence , NJ on Sunday July 17, 2010, after a long battle with pulmonary hypertension. Gloria was born in Brooklyn , NY and raised in Mt. Vernon , NY by her beloved mother Betty Weinberg Green. Determined and active in sports and the arts, she graduated Davis High School and attended Pembroke at Brown University , majoring in English. She met her husband Max there and they married in 1948. Before the marriage ended they had three sons, Douglas, Peter and Robert. Gloria pursued several careers while raising three small children by herself including administrative work at First National Bank, managing an urban renewal project, managing stock broker training for LF Rothschild's, and providing financial advice to municipalities for the State of NJ . She was a resident of Colonia , NJ until a few months ago. She always valued books and libraries. As a young mother Gloria became active in the Woodbridge library system. She earned a Masters in Library Science and started her own library services company, The Library Co-op, which she owned until 2008. She became active in several library related organizations including the Special Library Association from which she received a special Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. Gloria got the most out of life and used her abundant energy for playing tennis, traveling and supporting those things she loved; her family and friends, children, dogs, the Yankees, and the NY Giants. Family and friends will remember her unique style, sharp wit, and cultural savvy.
She is predeceased by her eldest son, Douglas, and is survived by her son, Robert, daughter-in-law Linda and their three children Kathryn, Gregory, and David of New Providence, NJ; her son Peter, daughter-in-law, Mary and their son Bryan of Lafayette, CA.

Gloria, always a forward-thinking woman, donated her body to the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School . Donations in her name may be sent on-line or by mail to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital 501 St. Jude Place Memphis, TN 38105. There will be a celebration of her life on Saturday July 24th 11:00am at The New Providence Presbyterian Church 1307 Springfield Avenue, New Providence, NJ 07974 (908) 665-0050. Reception to follow.

Published in Home News Tribune on July 21, 2010

TWO ARTICLES BY GLORIA:

Dinerman, Gloria. "If you Don't Know, Ask:The Art and Craft of Survey Development and Analysis", in Information Outlook, Volume 6. No. 7. July 2002.

Dinerman, Gloria. "Managing an Information Business", in Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science LIb-Pub, 2d Edition, Miriam A. Drake, ed., CRC Press, 2003,

Many thanks to Jonathan Stock, recently retired as Supervising Law Librarian at the Connecticut Judicial Branch Law Library at Stamford, for writing this fine, thought provoking article. It has been published in the July 2010 issue of AALL Spectrum and we have linked to the Spectrum article with Jonathan's permission.

Jonathan's article is truly an allegory which can be considered from many perspectives, not the least of which are Jonathan's impressions of recent efforts to help save many of the court law libraries in Connecticut from possible oblivion.

Before linking to the actual article, I would like to share a bit of our e-mail exchange after his article first appeared in AALL Spectrum

DAVID BADERTSCHER: Thank you for sending the article. I had not yet seen it in final form. Like much great fiction, your article is not really fiction in the most fundamental sense. This is fine allegorical writing. Keep this up and we will all be calling you the John Bunyon of the library world!

FROM JONATHAN'S RESPONSE: ... It did end up being a bit like John Bunyan, with modern updates and annotations from Kurt Vonnegut and Joe Heller. T.S. Eliot luanches, but Yeats gets a walk-on too. So does Neville Chamberlain: a people far away of whom we know nothing. It all started one weary night a few months ago as the stupidity of it all soaked in. The first thing that came to mind was from Catch-22. It was the place where the bad guys (maybe Captain Black) consign Yossarian to a shrink. They may put him up on pentathol before starting their question. The first one is:
"Where were you born, Yossarian?'
"In a State of Innocence."

Now, please go to Chambers of the Sea: Who Needs Law Libraries? It's All Free on the IInternet and enjoy Jonathan Stock's article for yourselves.

David Badertscher

Catherine Lemann, President of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) has announced the winners of the 2010 AALL awards that will be presented at the AALL Annual Meeting in Denver. These awards provide recognition to achievements of law librarians based on services to the library profession and contributions to legal literature and materials. AALL is to be commended for this Awards Program. We offer our congratulations to all the winners.

Here is a list of the AALL Awards and nmes of the recipients::

The Marian Gould Gallagher Distinguished Service Award

Marie E. Whited, Law Library of Congress

The Joseph L. Andrews Bibliographical Award

Kent C. Olson, University of Virginia Law Library, Principles of Legal Research

AALL Spectrum Article of the Year Award

James M. Donovan, University of Georgia School of Law Library, "Back Away from the Survey Monkey! Optimize Research Results with an Honest Assessment of Methodology," AALL Spectrum, November 2009

Law Library Journal Article of the Year

Stephanie L. Plotin, UCLA Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library, "Legal Scholarship, Electronic Publishing, and Open Access: Transformation or Steadfast Stagnation," 101 Law Library Journal 31 (2009)

Law Library Publications Award

Nonprint Division: Rutgers University Law School Library, Same-Sex Marriage: A Selective Bibliography of the Legal Literature

The AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers Awards Program

Open Division:

Carol A. Parker, University of New Mexico School of Law, "The Need for More Uniform and Consistently Rigorous Standards for Assessing Law Librarian Performance in Tenure and Continuous Appointment Policies"

New Member Division:

Daniel J. Baker, O'Quinn Law Library, University of Houston Law Center, "Citations to Wikipedia in Law Reviews"

Student Division:

Benjamin J. Keele, Indiana University School of Library and Information Science, "What if Law Journal Citations Included Digital Object Identifiers?: A Snapshot of Major Law Journals"

Deborah E. Shrager, The Catholic University of America, School of Library and Information Science, "Moving Past Web 2.0h! An Exploratory Study of Academic Law Libraries"

Minority Leadership Development Award

Sean H. Crane, University of Arizona, Cracchiolo Law Library

AALL Public Access to Government Information Award

Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, Ithaca, New York

Robert L. Oakley Member Advocacy Award

Ohio Regional Association of Law Libraries County Law Library Special Interest Group

Chapter Professional Development Award

One-Time Program: Northern California Association of Law Libraries (NOCALL), Clearing the Economic Fog: Understanding the Issues and Moving Forward in the Economic Crisis, 2009 Spring Institute

Excellence in Marketing Awards

Best Brochure: Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School, Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library - Biennial Report 2007-2009

Best Campaign: Riverside County Law Library, Legal Research 102

Best Newsletter: K&L Gates Library & Research Services, ASKtheLibrary: News from K&L Gates Library & Research Services

Best PR Toolkit: Thomas M. Cooley Law Libraries, Food for Fines offered by the Thomas M. Cooley Law Libraries

Best Use of Technology: Ross-Blakley Law Library, Arizona State University, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Ross-Blakley Law Library Indian Law Portal

Best New Product Award

Fastcase, Inc., Fastcase Legal Research iPhone App

Emerging Leader Award

Sarah K.C. Mauldin, Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP

Innovations in Technology Award

Trudi Busch, Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP, and Jennifer Doyle, Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, BuildingBridges With Technology: VLC Wiki (Volunteer Librarians Coalition Wiki - Supporting the Volunteer Lawyers Network)

Volunteer Service Award

Kathleen Kelly, Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P.

Brian D. Striman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Schmid Law Library

According to George Prager, Head of Cataloging at the NYU Law Library, the examples offered by the Library of Congress illustrate differences between Anglo American Cataloging Rules Second Edition (AACR2 )and Resource Description and Access (RDA). Some examples have only a few fields; others are more complete. Some are made-up examples. Some examples illustrate more than one category but only appear in one category. RDA citations and other comments accompany some examples.

To see the various categories of examples offered, with commentary, go to:

http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/RDAtest/rdaexamples.html

Jaclyn McKewan, Virtual Services and Training Librarian at the Western New York Library Resources Council in Buffalo writes:"People not picking up instant messages is continuing to be a problem, so I created a 7-minute Camtasia video that shows people what to do when they get that message on the screen saying "New IM has arrived." It covers receiving the message, sending, and a bit of info on transferring patrons. I originally created it for our Ask Us 24/7 librarians, but figured that everyone else may find it useful as well"

Actually Jaclyn is being very modest regarding her efforts. As important as the Instant Messaging component is it is only a small part of this fine resource that she has created. Areas covered include receiving and sending instant messages (IM), finding articles online, finding books online, reference sources, and search techniques. It is a multi-featured resource, useful to all librarians (both experienced and inexperienced) involved in any type of virtual reference and research. After reviewing her material I contacted Jaclyn and am posting it here with her permission.

David Badertscher

Many of us just learned the sad news that Nylink, which has served New York State Libraries for 37 years, is phasing out its operations and will be closing in one year. We understand that Nylink will be closing its operations primarily due to a steep decline in its revenue stream which has seriously degrated Nylink's ability to remain fully self supporting and continue delivering an acceptable level of service to its members beyond this period. Throughout the years many of us have come to rely on Nylink for its sustained high level of dedicated, personalized service. Nylink will be missed. We wish the employees a good 12 months and every success in the future

David Badertscher

For additional details see:

Letter to Nylink members from Executive Director W. David Penniman May 17, 2010

May 17, 2010 Press Release Announcing Nylink Closure in One Year.

FAQ Regarding Nylink Phasing Out Operations

Sarah J. Rhodes, Digital Collections Librarian at the Georgetown University Law Center writes: "The Chesapeake Project Legal Information Archive, now in its third year, is pleased to welcome a new law library partner. See the announcement below."

ANNOUNCEMENT: HARVARD LAW SCHOOL LIBRARY JOINS THE CHESAPEAKE PROJECT LEGAL INFORMATION ARCHIVE.

Cambridge, Mass. (May 9, 2010)--As the first annual National Preservation Week begins, the Chesapeake Project Legal Information Archive is pleased to announce that its digital preservation efforts are expanding with the addition of a new partner library, the Harvard Law
School Library.

By joining the project, the Harvard Law School Library is taking part in
the first collaborative digital preservation program of its kind in the law library community. Libraries participating in the project share costs, resources, and expertise to preserve important Web-published, born-digital legal materials within a shared digital archive.

"We are thrilled to become part of this project addressing the crucially important issue of preserving born-digital materials," said John Palfrey, Vice Dean of Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School. "We feel fortunate to be participating in such a very relevant,
collaborative project, harnessing the economies of scale and benefitting from the training and expertise of our new partners who have already been working in this area."

The Harvard Law School Library is currently prioritizing content for preservation and will be developing its digital archive collections in the coming months.

The Chesapeake Project was launched by the Georgetown, Maryland State, and Virginia State Law Libraries in 2007 as a collaborative digital archive. Today, as the project expands with a new partner library, it is also working with the Legal Information Preservation Alliance (LIPA)
in the formation of the new Legal Information Archive, a collaborative digital preservation program for the law library community modeled after the Chesapeake Project.

For more information, visit the Chesapeake Project at www.legalinfoarchive.org or the LIPA Web site at www.aallnet.org/committee/lipa. Additional information about the first annual National Preservation Week is available at
www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alcts/confevents/preswk/index.cfm.

The following is being posted as an urgent message at the request of a law librarian colleague :

As I am sure you know this year is on track to produce a budget disaster for libraries in New York City. The cuts currently proposed will result in massive layoffs and cuts in public service. A small group of library workers and concerned citizens has started a postcard campaign to highlight support for public libraries and ask the City Council to restore as much funding to library budgets as possible.

The idea is that we are going back to an old fashioned postcard writing campaign. Individuals are encouraged to write postcards in support of libraries and mail them to the offices of City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer. His office will collect the postcards and present them to the City Council, en masse as a sort of Miracle on 34th Street statement. Any postcards will do. We suggest being creative, but inexpensive postcards, ten for a dollar in Time Square, work great too.

This effort was started by the group Urban Librarians Unite and is now being endorsed and supported by Queens Library Guild Local 1321, Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO), and Desk Set. It is not a part of the formal campaigns by the city public libraries, and it is our intention to augment, not compete, with those official efforts. We are asking you to pass the word to your members, encourage them to solicit postcards, and promote the campaign. As we move forward we hope to organize events including a possible read-in to support New York City libraries.

The deadline for sending postcards to Council Member Van Bramer is Tuesday, June 15. But, of course, there is no time like the present for information profession and librarian colleagues to support one another.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope that you will ally yourself with us as we fight for every dime we can get for public libraries in the city.

Sincerely,

Christian Zabriske
Urban Librarians Unite

Jonathan Stock who along with others has been working tirelessly to save six threatened law libraries in Connecticut from closure due to financial constraints. Here is Jonathan's latest report, received as an e-mail on May 6, 2010.:

The Connecticut General Assembly closed down last night. We now know that the bill, its substance merged with the 2011 Budget, passed. You will find herein as an attachment [ see download link below] the latest bulletin from the Judicial Office of External Affairs. We have saved at least three of the six threatened law libraries: Bridgeport, Litchfield, and Hartford. Depending on the Branch's negotiations with the Department of Public Works, we may also get back the Willimantic Law Library as well as the Willimantic Courthouse.

The good news Jonathan writes about would not have occurred without his continuing, tireless efforts along with those of many other people and organizations such as the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), Southern New England Law libraries Association (SNELLA).
You may also want to review other postings on this blog regarding efforts to save law libraries in Connecticut:

Separation of Powers Regarding Judicial Funding in the State of Connecticut
http://www.criminallawlibraryblog.com/2010/02/separation_of_powers_regarding_1.html

Help Save Connecticut Courthouse Libraries By Spreading the Word
http://www.criminallawlibraryblog.com/2010/01/help_save_connecticut_courthou.html

Click on the below link to download the document referenced in Jonathan Stock's e-mail:

Connecticut Judicial Branch - External Affairs Division - 2010 Legislative Session Update Number 5 May 5, 2010

David Badertscher

"On January 21st, 2009, President Obama issued a Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government in which he described how: 'public engagement enhances the Government's effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge.'

To support the President's open government initiative, DOT has partnered with the Cornell eRulemaking Initiative (CeRI) in a pilot project, Regulation Room, to discover the best ways of using Web 2.0 and social networking technologies to: (1) alert the public, including those who sometimes may not be aware of rulemaking proposals, such as individuals, public interest groups, small businesses, and local government entities that rulemaking is occurring in areas of interest to them; (2) increase public understanding of each proposed rule and the rulemaking process; and (3) help the public formulate more effective individual and collaborative input to DOT. Over the course of several rulemaking initiatives, CeRI will use different Web technologies and approaches to enhance public understanding and participation, work with DOT to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of these techniques, and report their findings and conclusions on the most effective use of social networking technologies in this area...."

Quote from U.S. Department of Transportation Website.

Elaborating on this initiative, Barbara Brandon reports in an e-mail that:

"Last fall Cornell’s e-Rulemaking Initiative ran a test of how to increase rulemaking participation on a closed rule. They have just started a new test on an active proposal on how to prevent distracted driving by truck drivers who are texting while operating a vehicle. See http://regs.dot.gov/e-rulemaking.htm and http://regulationroom.org/#login.

This joint effort by DOT in conjunction with Cornell is also part of that agency’s efforts to comply with the Obama Administration’s Transparency Initiative. I think it is important for librarians to give this a look and see what they think of this particular effort. Expanding rulemaking participation beyond the closed circle of Washington beltway interest groups is a key benefit that the Internet can offer to good governance"

The Alabama Supreme Court and State Law Library is pleased to announce the launch of its new website. Please check us out at http://judicial.alabama.gov/library.cfm. As part of our redesign, we are proud to present the full text of the Alabama Rules of Court—Civil, Criminal, Small Claims, Juvenile, Appellate, and Judicial Administration and the accompanying forms.

Mary Alice Baish, Director of Government Relations and Emily Feldman, Advocacy Communications Assistant (both of the American Association of Law Libraries, AALL), have been doing a tremendous job serving as advocates for high quality and highly accessible legal information on the web in a format that can be authenticated.

The following is an e-mail from Emily which mentions the work of the White House open government working group and includes a request for suggestions regarding specific types of information and datasets you would like to see agencies publish. Although Emily's e-mail is directed primarily to law librarians I am posting it here because of the value of this initiative to the entire legal community.

FROM: Emily Feldman
March 10, 2010

The White House’s open government working group has held several meetings with stakeholders, including AALL, to develop criteria to measure agency open government plans, which must be published by April 7. At a meeting last Friday, I was pleased to learn that the working group adopted Mary Alice’s suggestion that Executive Branch agencies be evaluated based in part on whether they commit in their plans to publish new information (e.g., reports and publications) on their Web sites, in addition to new high-value datasets in XML on Data.gov.

We’re looking for specific types of information and datasets that you’d like to see agencies publish. The working group is also very interested in any cross-agency datasets you’d like to see added to Data.gov (e.g., crime data from DOJ/DHS, health data from EPA/HHS).

Some of the suggestions we’ve received so far include:

· All historic content that agencies have digitized (presuming that agencies followed the Paperwork Reduction Act and didn’t make exclusive deals)

· All the legislative histories that have been digitized by the Department of Justice Library

· Dataset on "charges of discrimination" filed from the EEOC

Are there other information holdings or datasets that you’d like to see added? Please email me the title and name of the publishing agency by COB next Wednesday, March 17.

Thanks,

Emily

Emily Feldman
Advocacy Communications Assistant
American Association of Law Libraries
25 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 500
Washington, D.C. 20001

202-942-4233

Fax: 202-737-0480
efeldman@aall.org

http://www.aallnet.org/aallwash

103nd Annual Meeting & Conference / Denver, CO. / July 10-13, 2010

Oregon County Law Libraries Planning Grant, Request for Proposals

"Summary: The Oregon Council of County Law Libraries (OCCLL), representing 36 county law libraries throughout the state, received a planning grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the LSTA, administered by the Oregon State Library. The OCCLL has administrative responsibility for implementing the grant project. The grant project team seeks the services of a professional library consultant who will guide the OCCLL through the planning process. The general duty of the consultant is to facilitate the accomplishment of project goals and activities".

Oregon Law Libraries RFP Rev4_1

For more information, contact:

Laura J. Orr

Law Librarian

Washington County Law Library

111 NE Lincoln St

Hillsboro, OR 97124

Phone: 503-846-8880

Email: lawlibrary@co.washington.or.us
URL: http://www.co.washington.or.us/lawlibrary
Oregon Legal Research Blog: http://oregonlegalresearch.blogspot.com/

Two days ago I posted information on this blog related to the New York Court of Appeals decision (Maron v. Silver, 16 ' Larabee v. Governor, 7 ; Chief Judge v. Governor, 18) addressing judicial compensation in that state within the framework of separation of powers. Today I have learned that the State of Connecticut is also confronted with separation of powers issues related to its judiciary. These issues relate at least in part to the unilateral reduction of Other Judicial Expense line items (where the law libraries are placed) by the Office of Policy and Management (Executive Branch) after the initial budget allocations have presumably been agreed upon.

Of special concern to many readers of this blog is the severe negative impact these judicial line item reductions are having on judicial law libraries in the State of Connecicut, as indicated in testimony of the Connecticut Chief Court Administrator to the Appropriations Committee included in this post and by the many expressions of concern among Connecticut citizens as reported elsewhere.

The Chief Court Administrator of Connecticut, Judge Barbara M. Quinn has argued before the Appropriations Committee on February 9 that the unilateral reduction of Other Judicial Expense line items by the Executive Branch infringes on the Separation of Powers and can be remedied by OPM simply transmitting the Judicial request unchanged to the legislature. Two sections of Judge Quinn's testimony are especially important and are highlighted below in this posting. The section on Law Libraries which highlights the importance of law libraries in Connecticut to both the Judiciary and the public has relevance both in Connecticut and throughout the nation. A second part of Judge Quinn's testimony highlighted below is her statement on "Concurrence in Allotment Reductions and Rescissions," which frames the issue nicely.

Sections of Testimony Highlighted:

Law Libraries
"The Governor's proposed budget provides no funding for law libraries. If this provision is enacted, it will be the second year in a row of zero funding. This is a critical gap; law libraries cannot function without updated research materials.

Let me explain something about law libraries that makes them different from your local library where perhaps you could curtail purchasing new books for a while and then start up again. Because the law is constantly evolving, the most up-to-date information must be made available to anyone who has cases pending before the court. Up-to-date legal research tools, in both electronic and printed form, are essential in order for judges to render rulings that are consistent with law and legal precedent because case law is only as good as the last case decided. And that case law is updated daily. This is what makes law libraries distinct from other libraries - just not buying the latest books is not an option"

Concurrence in allotment reductions and rescissions
Undoubtedly, the most critical budget reform that we seek is one that would curb the unilateral and increasingly untenable budget reductions that are imposed upon the Branch after the Legislature has adopted the budget. Virtually all of our budgetary problems over the past 2 years, and in particular this year, are the result of allotment reductions and rescissions about which neither the Branch nor the Legislature were consulted. I would respectfully propose to you that in the future, any post-budget adoption reductions that are made to the Judicial Branch should require the concurrence of the Legislature. The Branch will be submitting legislation for your consideration that would implement these vital budget reforms.

A bill, "An Act Concerning Funding For the Judicial Branch" (No. 5148) which seeks to correct the matter has recently been introduced in the Connecticut legislature.

Below are links to the full text of both the Testimony and pending legislation referred to in this posting.

Testimony of Chief Court Administrator to Appropriations Commett

An Act Concerning Funding For the Judicial Branch

SigInt Technologies, LLC seeks a Senior Level Digital Library Programmer
Analyst to support a US Government Agency.

Salary range: $125,000.00 - $135,000.00

We are growing our hardcopy-centric collection to include a substantial
amount of digital content. You will have the opportunity to chart the course
as we incorporate a variety of electronic data sources into the collection
and make them available to our users. You will have the freedom to select
the tools you deem best and implement them as you see fit. You'll work
directly with library management to collect requirements and propose and
implement solutions. You will lead and direct other developers who will
assist with the implementation.

A masters degree in Library Science, Computer Science, or comparable is
required. Knowledge of Koha, MARC records, Linux, and a scripting language
such as Perl or Python is also required. Experience with PHP, Java/J2EE,
Tomcat, MySQL, STILAS, VuFind, and SOLR is preferred, but not required.

SigInt Technologies provides an outstanding compensation package, including
a Roth or Traditional 401K plan with 100% matching, full medical benefits, a
technology allowance, paid professional memberships and conferences, and a
very flexible work environment. The salary range is $125,000 - $135,000 and
depends on your level of experience. Ten holidays as well as three weeks of
vacation are included. A yearly allowance of $5,000 is provided for
technology, professional memberships, and conferences. Your contribution of
$16,250 (IRS limit) to your 401K plan will be matched by SigInt Technologies
for a total annual retirement contribution of $32,500.

The job is at Fort Meade, Maryland. You must be able to work on-site at
least three days per week. A security clearance is required. Individuals
already possessing a security clearance are highly encouraged to apply.

--
John S. Roberts
SigInt Technologies, LLC
John -AT- SigIntTech -DOT- COM

Since first hearing about the planned closure of of six of the fifteen courthouse libraries in Connecticut I have contacted I have heard from a number of people (both librarians and non-librarians) from throughout that state. By all accounts the announced closures will prevent attorneys, judges and members of the public from accessing the up-to-date legal materials they need. They will especially hurt disadvantaged citizens and pro se litigants, who are especially vulnerable and may be unable to access official legal resources and will be required to struggle to travel to far-away courthouses. While the dire budgetary circumstances are the state currently faces are understandable, it is essential that Connecticut’s public law libraries and courthouses remain open. They are irreplaceable.

To help spread the word, the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) has been working closely with the Southern New England Librarians Association (SNELLA) to oppose the announced closures . Kate Hagan the AALL Executive Director has distibuted an e-mail (see below) which details that effort. It includes some useful links for those who want to become active in saving Connecticut court libraries.

People are also urged to search the directory of state legislators and government employees at the of Connecticut Website for other contacts that could be helpful in this effort. This web site includes a directory of state employees, a directory of state legislators, and a directory of federal legislators serving Connecticut, all with links for e-mail contact information.

Additionally I have included a link at the end of this post to enable you to download the November 18, 2009 written testimony of Judge Barbara Quinn, Chief Court Administrator at an Appropriations Committee public hearing on Deficiencies. In this statement she includes a section on "Closing law libraries".

Please help spread the word about the importance of saving Connecticut courthouse libraries.

David Badertscher

AALL has been working closely with the Southern New England Law Librarians Association (SNELLA), to oppose the announced closure of six of the 15 courthouse libraries in Connecticut. They are jointly sponsoring online petitions to save the courthouse libraries in Bridgeport, Hartford, Litchfield, Milford, and Norwich. The sixth library, at the Willimantic Courthouse, is not staffed and its small collection will likely be moved to the local public university. Each petition includes a compelling statement by a leader of the local bar association, whose members stand ready to join forces with us. Attorneys and pro se litigants will be deprived of local access to current and historic legal materials, as well as the knowledge and expertise of professional librarians, if we do not stop these proposed closures.

The petitions are open to all residents of Connecticut, so please help spread the word so that our efforts are successful in quickly getting as many signatures as possible to keep these public law libraries open and staffed.

In addition to the petitions, on December 23, AALL and SNELLA sent joint letters to Connecticut's Governor Rell and to the leadership of the Appropriations Committee strongly opposing the decision, which was announced by Judge Barbara M. Quinn, chief court administrator. The closures became necessary, according to Quinn, after the executive branch cut $12.9 million from the budget for the judicial branch.

Kate Hagan
Executive Director
American Association of Law Libraries
Suite 3300

105 W. Adams Street
Chicago, IL 60603

Written Testimony of Judge Barbara M. Quinn, Chief Administrative Judge of Connecticut to the Appropriations Committee Public Hearing on Deficiencies, November 18, 2009

David Badertscher

Although not primarily a reviewer of legal materials, Kirkus Reviews is one of the most outstanding and respected review magazines devoted to book media. It was founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893-1981) a former head of the children's book department of Harper & Bros. with the idea of holding book reviewing to a very high standard, being selective in both the books reviewed and the people assgned to review them. The first year they received about 20 advance galley proofs.

By all accounts Kirus has managed to maintain these high standards throughout the years, becomeing one of the true standard bearers for the authoritative reviewing of all types of titles including those related to law. According to their website, Kirkus currently reviews about 5,000 titles per year "with the idea of of providing Kirkus regulars (librarians, newspaper editors, agents, film producers, booksellers, and those throughout the book world in general) with professional, informative, and impartial descriptive evaluations of forthcoming titles, and to do so on a timely basis."

This is a tall order whch even under the best conditions would be difficult to duplicate under present conditions. It was therefore distressing to hear last month that Kirkus Reviews would be shut down and cease publication..

Hopefully miracles do happen because I was informed today that a business deal is currently being worked out with a new buyer and that Kirkus will not suspend publication as announced earlier. This is great news for all who love and respect books. The world will remin a much better place if Kirkus and other organizations like it can be resurrected and continue setting high standards for all of us.