George Prager, Head of Cataloging at New York University Law School Library has sent his summary of the ALA Midwinter MARBI meetings to members of the American Association of Law Libraries Technical Services Special Interest Group. With his permission I am also posting it here along with his opening comments:…
Articles Posted in Commentary and Opinion
What To Do With An Oil Painting Found in Judge Brieant’s Chambers?
In a January 28, 2009 New York Times article, “Hang Him Up? The Bad Judge and His Image”, Benjamin Weiser describes a debate that has arisen in a New York Courthouse over whether the portrait of a disgraced judge should continue to be displayed or thrown in a closet. To…
New York Times: A Tool to Verify Digital Records, Even as Technology Shifts
The above titled January 27, 2009 article by John Markoff, published in the New York Times is relevant because it discusses digitization, preservation and authentication of records (and by extension information) in terms of continuously preserving these qualities in an authentic state as the underlying technology constantly changes or “shifts”…
Results from Marshall Breeding’s 2008 Library Automation Survey
In case you missed it, the results from the 2008 version of Marshall Breeding’s Library Automation Survey are available at http://www.librarytechnology.org/perceptions2008.pl. This Survey is international in scope. There were 1,450 responses.
U.S. Presidential Memoranda: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Open Government*
January 21, 2009, President Obama also released the following Memoranda on January 21: “the Memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act, which re-establishes a presumption of openness under FOIA and orders the Office of Management and Budget to ‘update guidance to the agencies to increase and improve information dissemination to…
New York: Jonathan Lippman Has Been Nominated by Governor David Paterson to Serve As the Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals
Governor David Paterson has nominated Jonathan Lippman, currently presiding justice in the Appellate Division First Department of the State Supreme Court, to fill the chief judge’s post that was vacarted when Judith Kaye retired. See Press Release announcing the nomination.
Seeking Funding Ideas for Court*
QUESTION: We as a court are in the process of looking under every rock for potential funding sources. To that end we are interested in getting ideas and tips about short- or long-term legislation and policies around the nation that have provided directed funding to court programs or projects. Specifically,…
Proposed Democratic Senate Committee Assignments for 111th Congress
On December 22, 2008 we posted a list of House committee assignments preferred by many freshman in the 111th congress. Although we have heard nothing more about House commitee assignments, we have heard from the Senate. Senate Majority Harry Reid has announced a partial list of the committee assignments he…
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich: Proposed Report of the Special Investigation Committee
See the Proposed Report of the Special Investigation Committee of the Illinois House of Representatives regarding the possible impeachment of Governor Rod R. Blagojevich.
Summary of Recent Decisions Regarding Investigatory Stops
From: Quinlan Law Enforcement eNews Alert, January 8, 2009. Encounter between officer and defendant in parking lot of convenience store was consensual “An encounter between a police officer and a defendant, as the defendant was walking to his car at a convenience store, in which the officer asked the defendant…