Articles Posted in Library News and Views

BY: Theodore Pollack Senior Law Librarian New York County Public Access Law Library

The United States Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal….” Perhaps no more beautiful words have ever been written. However, self-represented litigants who are attempting to protect their rights, often discover the vast gulf between the political platitude and the reality of becoming self-educated attorneys competing against trained litigators before the courts.

In order to bridge this gulf, self-represented litigants look to a variety of resources. New York State established by statute the existence of a public access law library in each New York State county. These libraries are part of the New York State Unified Court System and are charged with providing access to legal materials in the hope of making the legal process more equitable and transparent. Legal databases, case reporters, encyclopedias, codes all provide a means for the self-represented litigant to learn the law and educate him/herself.

As part of its mission, OCLC a worldwide library cooperative prepares in depth studies and topical surveys of issues and trends of interest and concern to all types of libraries, including law libraries. One of their latest reports addresses the topic of sharing, privacy and trust in our networked world .

Although this report was prepared primarily for OCLC member libraries the topic being addressed is of obvious importance to all of us, regardless of occupation, who are working in this highly interractive world of networks and are confronted daily with the necessity of reconciling matters related to information sharing, information security, and privacy. Recognizing this importance we are posting the entire document below. Since it is quite large we have created three links for your convenience. The first links only to the Introduction, the second only to the Conclusion, and the third links to the complete report in pdf format.

The report is divided into 15 sections including the following:

With the expanding variety of formats required for effective storage and retrieval of information in libraries coupled with the rising level of expectations of patrons, the future of bibliographic control is of utmost concern for all types of libraries. The following material from the Library Journal Academic Newswire for November 15, 2007 discusses the work of one group, The Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control and its recommendations.

From the Library Journal Academic Newswire;

Some big changes may be coming from the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control, convened by Deanna Marcum, associate librarian for library services at the Library of Congress (LC). The extent of those changes, however, remains unclear, as LC did not actually release its report on bibliographic control and how the library community and LC can move forward. That release is now expected on November 30. LC did give attendees at an in-house session Tuesday a copy of a PowerPoint presentation. Also, a webcast on the Working Group’s session was downed by a technological problem, frustrating many eager to watch it.

The following announcement appeared in the November 2, 2007 issue of the New York Law Journal

“Justice Stephen G. Crane of the Appellate Division, Second Department, said yesterday he will resign on Feb. 4 to join Judicial Arbitration & Mediation Services in Manhattan. JAMS, a California-based dispute resolution firm, employs several prominent retired New York state judges, including Milton Mollen, Betty Weinberg Ellerin, Stanley S. Ostrau and Richard M. Rosenbaum. ‘They came to me, I hadn’t thought about it till then,’ Justice Crane, 69, said yesterday in an interview. ‘I thought it was time to move on to a new challenge.’ He called the decision to step down a ‘terribly wrenching one.’ Justice Crane, who has been at the Second Department since 2001, is a former Criminal Court judge, Supreme Court justice and administrative judge of the civil branch of Manhattan Supreme Court. — Joel Stashenko”

Justice Crane has also served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the New York County Public Access Law Library since it first opened on February 14, 1995.

From Jim Garnet, Law Librarian U.S. Department of Justice National Place Library, November 2, 2007.

I’ve seen this posted a couple of other places, but I don’t think it’s been on the LLAM listserv. I think the MP3 (audio) files are available for all of the programs, and the Powerpoints are vailable for quite a few (including the program that LLAM coordinated, “Education without Borders,” with LLAM member Susan Herrick as a speaker):

Libraries Without Borders II – presentations available It was a common complaint at the recent meeting of the NorthEast Regional Law Libraries – “How do I decide which session to attend?”. Cross-border crime or HR strategies for managers? Copyright or Reinventing the Law Firm Library? Now you can go back to those sessions you missed. The organizing committee is pleased to announce that the presentations from our fantastic Toronto conference are now available on the web. Point your browser here.

From an e:mail sent by Guy St. Clair. President and Consultation Specialist for Knowledge Services at SMR International:

Legal Division members will be interested in reading about Lois Ireland, who is the subject of the current SMR International e-Profile.

Ireland, Manager of the Corporate Information Resource Center (CIRC) at Freddie Mac in McLean, VA was selected because of her role in working with the company to develop a enterprise-wide knowledge hub, providing knowledge services for all Freddie Mac employees and stakeholders.

Source: LJExpress, Libraryjournal.com, October 30, 2007.

By Norman Oder — Library Journal, 11/1/2007 Don Borchert, a library assistant 1 and 12-year employee of the Torrance Public Library, CA, has written a memoir of his library life, Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library, coming November 13 from Virgin Books. LJ’s Norman Oder asked how it came about.

DB: I’ve been writing since I was 16. I started out writing bad science fiction. I’ve written a couple of other books that didn’t get close to being published. [I thought] ‘I know the library.’ I’m not a professional, but I had all these anecdotes that I thought were kind of neat. Every night before I went to bed I’d sit and write a chapter. Some are anecdotes about people that come into the library, some are the events that occur, and other chapters are the bureaucratic goings on. I figured that wouldn’t see the light of day either but at least it was fun to write.

“…Selfhelpsupport.org is an award winning membership site that serves as a Network for Practitioners of Self-Help Programs as well as an online Clearinghouse of information relating to self-representation.”

“…Members include courts, legal aid programs, bar associations, educational institutions, researchers, and other governmental and non-profit programs working to increase access to justice. Usage of the site and of materials accessed is for non-commercial purposes only.”

You can go directly to Selfhelpsupport at http://www.selfhelpsupport.org/

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