David Badertscher

June 19, 2008

How Trustworthy Are State-Level Primary Legal Resources on the Web?

David Badertscher*

How trustworthy are state-level primary legal resources on the Web? The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) published the State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources (Authentication Report) that answers this very important and timely question. The comprehensive report examines and draws conclusions from the results of a state survey that investigated whether government-hosted legal resources on the Web are official and capable of being considered authentic. The survey was conducted by the Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee of AALL. The principal authors and editors of the comprehensive report were Richard J. Matthews, Editor in Chief of the 2005-2006 Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee and Mary Alice Baish, Executive Editor, AALL Washington Affairs Office; volunteer authors were responsible for sections within the comprehensive report devoted to individual states. The survey and comprehensive authentication report could not have been completed without their efforts.

The Authentication Report follows the publication in 2003 of AALL’s State-by-State Report on Permanent Public Access to Electronic Government Information that researched and reported what, if anything, state governments were doing to meet the enormous challenges of ensuring permanency and public accessibility of government information on the Web. The Permanent Public Access Report raised national awareness and encouraged states to take steps to ensure permanent public access to electronic state government information. As a result, several states have enacted legislation requiring permanent public access.

May 15, 2008

Harvard Law School Faculty Approves Open Access Policy for Scholarly Publications

by David Badertscher

The May 13, 2008 issue of the Library Journal Academic Newswire reports that Harvard University Law School (HLS) has adopted an open access policy for making its scholarly publications available online. Quoting from the Academic Newswire report:

“The Harvard University Law School (HLS) faculty last week followed the lead of their colleagues in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences by voting unanimously to make their scholarly articles available online for free, making HLS the first law school to commit to a “mandatory open access policy” via an institutional repository. ”

“Under the new policy, HLS will require that articles authored by its faculty members be placed in an online open access repository. The measure comes just months after the Harvard FAS approved its landmark mandate, after which, university librarian Robert Darnton, an architect of the policy, said he would be talking to Harvard’s professional schools immediately about adopting similar measure. HLS is the first professional school at Harvard to approve the measure. “That such a renowned law school should support Open Access so resoundingly is a victory for the democratization of knowledge,” Darnton said.”

May 15, 2008

In Memory of Professor Roy M. Mersky

by David Badertscher

It is with regret and sadness that I forward information from Ann Fessenden, AALL President of the passing of Professor Roy M. Mersky, Professor of law and Director of the University of Texas Tarlton Law Library and Jamail Center for Legal Research since 1965. I have known and from time-to-time worked with Professor Mersky during the past 25 years and will miss him greatly. For more information please click here

May 9, 2008

AALL State-by-State Survey and Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources

by David Badertscher

An Introduction*

David Badertscher

How trustworthy are state-level primary legal resources on the Web? The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) published the State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources (Authentication Report) that answers this very important and timely question. The comprehensive report examines and draws conclusions from the results of a state survey that investigated whether government-hosted legal resources on the Web are official and capable of being considered authentic. The survey was conducted by the Access to Legal Information Committee of AALL. For a quick overview, the Authentication Report’s Executive Summary provides an excellent introduction to some of the underlying issues and facts surrounding the pressing and timely issue of the authenticity of state primary digital legal materials.

May 5, 2008

Web Based Services at the New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library, New York County*

by David Badertscher

by: David Badertscher

For those who have not visited us, the New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library of New York County (sometimes referred to as the New York Criminal Law Library) is located in lower Manhattan near the Brooklyn Bridge, City Hall, and State and Federal courthouses. Like other Supreme Court libraries located throughout the State of New York, it operates under the auspices of the New York Unified Court System and participates in the various state-wide initiatives sponsored by the OCA Office of Legal Information.

Although the primary focus of this library is to provide reference and research support to personnel of the Criminal Term, its actual responsibilities and obligations are quite broad. Using its various collections in all formats, including digital, in conjunction with various web and online services, including a website and a weblog, this library functions as both an information repository and an information service. These resources and services enable it to reach out to patrons both local and worldwide, as time and resources permit. Part of the library’s responsibility is to provide support as needed and operational oversight to the New York County Public Access Law Library, which is charged with serving those members of the public who need law-related information.

April 7, 2008

Sources of Information about Judges

by David Badertscher

On April 4, 2008 Patricia Barbone sent an e-mail to the Law Library Association of New York (LLAGNY) listserv in which she listed the following two excellent sources where information about judges can be found.:

Judicial Reports is an on-demand service that covers NY Judges. The first profile you request is $600, then second is $500, and the third is $400. All subsequent profiles are $400. Reports generally consist of

1. A sample profile of judge

April 4, 2008

ABA Criminal Justice Section E-News April 2008

by David Badertscher

Every month I look forward to receiving the ABA Criminal Justice Section E-News. True to form, the April 2008 issue just received is filled with information to those involved with criminal justice issues. Here are some exampled highlighted in the April 2008 issue:

Weekly Criminal Justice News Roundup.

Legislative Update

March 26, 2008

Claims of Presidential Power Rejected in Medellin v. Texas (06-984)

by David Badertscher

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday (March 26) in a sweeping rejection of powers in the presidency ruled that neither the World Court nor President Bush can interfere with Texas regarding that states’ enforcement of its own criminal laws. The justices in their 6-3 decision, Medellin v. Texas (06-984), ruled that neither an opinion by the World Court nor a directive from the President amounts to “enforceable federal law” that requires compliance by the State of Texas.

See Medellin v. Texas here

Sources for this posting:

February 8, 2008

CLLB Information Security Newsletter February 2008

by David Badertscher

While reviewing responses to readers of this blawg, I noticed that many seem interested in postings related to information security. Therefore, as an experiment beginning with this posting I plan to include an occasional newsletter covering topics and issues related to information security.

As an added activity I serve on an Information Security Committee at my orgaization. This experience has certainly increased my awareness of the importance of information security issues to all of us, including law librarians. Let’s see how this works. Comments are welcome.

David Badertscher

February 5, 2008

Selected Documents and Web Sites: U.S. President’s Budget for 2009

by David Badertscher

DAVID BADERTSCHER

The following posting consists of a series of documents selected to hopefully help provide those readers interested with an overview of the budget and the budget process. It also includes a list of the web sites rererenced in President Bush’s Budget Message.To provide added context I have embedded some of the citation references within quotations from his message. Due to the size and complexity of this budget as submitted we can only include a few of the documents in this posting. The following includes links to the series of documents selected.

SELECTED DOCUMENTS: