Articles Posted in Library News and Views

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The following article published in the July 2009 issue of The Third Branch: Newsletter of the Federal Courts discusses a project conducted by U.S. Circuit librarians in the federal courts, and organized by the Fudicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management (CACM). The project involved observation and recording over a six month period of how court opinions and materials in court opinions are cited and hyperlinked in a representative sampling of web pages, resulting in a compilation of “suggested practices” for citing and hyperlinking these materials..

This type of resource is needed as a reference for citing primary materials in all branches of government – federal, state, local, and probably foreign and international as well.. With the increasing empsasis on “going green”, preservation of resources, etc. the rate of conversion from hard copy to digital, web based materials is accelerating to the point where it is urgent that we have authoritative sources now that we can rely upon for citing and hyperlinking primary source legal materials on the web.

With this article I am happy to see an example of how the federal courts are “stepping up to the plate” on this issue.

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Call for Applications for the 2010 OCLC Minority Librarian Fellowship Program

Application deadline: September 8, 2009

OCLC has announced the expansion and increased support of the OCLC Minority Librarian Fellowship program designed to provide a unique opportunity for aspiring library professionals from historically under-represented groups.

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David Badertscher*

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) within the White House is considering whether federal web sites should be permitted to use cookies and other web tracking technologies and is asking for input from the public.

According to Michael Fitzpatrick, an associate administrator with the OMB Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, “the goal of this review is to develop a new policy that allows the Federal government to continue to protect privacy of people who visit Federa(s)l websites while, at the same time, making these websites more user-friendly, providing better customer service, and allowing for more enhanced analytics”.To read this entire discussion about cookies policy for Federal websites go to the posting by Mr. Fitzpatrick and Vivek Kundra of the Office of Science & Technology Policy Blog To share your comments on the approach outlined in their posting, you can post a comment on the OSTP blog, submit comments directly in response to the Federal Register notice mentioned in the posting, or email them to: oira_submission@omb.eop.gov. Comments submitted by August 10, 2009 in one of these three ways, will be taken into consideration. Responding to this posting directly from the OSTP blog requires registration and other authentication routines before posting.

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Lyonette Louis-Jacques of the D’Angelo Law Library at the University of Chicago has conducted a quick, informal, but very interesting survey asking law school librarians how many of their faculty members use Kindles. As often happens with such surveys, the results or responses reveal more than was originally intended, thus creating interest among readers well beyond the range of the original audience. For this reason I have contacted Lyonette and requested her permission, which she has granted, to republish her questions and responses on this blawg for the benefit of our readers. David Badertscher

LYONETTE’S QUESTIONS:

I asked on Twitter, teknoids and the CSSIS-L lists. I got 21 responses. 6 responders indicated they own Kindles.

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This year’s “60 Sites in 60 Minutes” program was standing room only! We had over 300 people attend. If you missed the session, or were there but want to see the presenters’ notes, you can go to the Power Point presentation with all the details. http://drop.io/60sites

Thanks again to Gayle Lynn-Nelson and John DiGilio for putting this program together.

E-Mail from Martha L. Foote, M.L.I.S. Chair, SLA Legal Division.

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Courtney Selby, the Collection Development/Instructional Services Librarian at the Mabee Legal information Center, University of Tulsa has summarized the results of her recent survey:

Last week I sent out a 4 question survey about recent changes in bindery policies and procedures in academic libraries. I received 16 replies (thanks so much!) and wanted to summarize them here. There were a few key similarities that I did want to point out. It looks like budgetary considerations are the primary motivators in most respondents’ review of bindery policies. Some folks did note that space considerations factored into their decisions, and those librarians often indicated that they also chose to discard unbound volumes after 2 to 3 years. Most respondents indicated that they had ceased binding journal titles available in HeinOnline, though most also continued to bind journals and bar materials from their home states. All respondents that mentioned CLE’s noted that they will continue to bind them.

· (budget reasons) stopped all binding except for exceptional cases, such as important books or books that are falling apart

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According to Ed O’Keefe in a June 5, 2009 Washington Post article, “Library Officials Accused of Interference”, Senator Charles E. Grassley has written a sharply worded letter to the Librarian of Congress , James H. Billington, stating “…Your office attempts to influence and/or control [the Office of Inspector General] appear to be in direct contravention of the principles underlying the creation of the Inspector General”. The article explains that the question is whether top officials at the Library of Congress interfered with investigations conducted by its “independent watchdogs” such as the Office of the Inspector General and whether they have admonished investigators for the tone and focus of their investigations.

For additional information on this topic see our April 30, 2009 posting on this blog which provides additional information and a link to the Marhc 2009 report of the Office of the Inspector General regarding information technology planning at the Library of Congress: Information Technology Strategic Planning: A Well Developed Framework is Essential to Support the Library’s Current and Future Infortation Technology (IT) Needs , Report Number 2008-PA-105 March 2008.

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Web based criminal justice issues cannot be addressed in a rational manner without also the establishment and ongoing maintenance of a trusted and resilient information and communications infrastructure. Realizing the paramount importance of these objectives the Obama administration has been engaging in a mumber related activities including President Obama’s recent call for the creation of a cybersecurity coordinator who will orchestrate and integrate federal cybersecurity policies and agendas, and the release by the White House of a Report: Cyberspace Policy Review: Assuring a Trusted and Resilient Information Infrasturcture

These measures could not be more timely. The increasing rate that information on the web is being compromised in many ways including identity theft, willful distortion of information,and illegal wiretapping to name a few. Other organizations such as the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) have long been concerned with issues related to the continuing integrity or authenticity of information on the web and are actively engaged in developing recommendations and helping others understand the importance of achieving and maintaining information authenticity of the web but additional help and support is needed. It is therefore most encouraging to see indications that the Obama administration is interested in taking an active role in addressing these and related issues.

The following are links to documents and articles discussing recent cybersecurity initiatives of the Obama administration.

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