Articles Posted in News from Organizations

The National District Attorneys Association/National College of District Attorneys (NDAA), the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life (NCALL), and the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice (OVW), are pleased to announce a training opportunity on elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The conference, Addressing Abuse as America Ages: Enhancing the safety of elder abuse survivors, will begin Wednesday, September 30, 2009, and end Thursday, October 1. The course will be held at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The purpose of the conference is to strengthen the capacity of domestic violence and sexual assault programs, the justice system, adult protective services, the aging network and other organizations to respond effectively to older victims; hold elder abuse offenders accountable; and work collaboratively. Participants will work for two days in plenary sessions, workshops, and large groups to gain or renew the strength to promote victim safety and offender accountability. Any advocate who works in the fields of domestic violence, sexual assault, or elder abuse; criminal justice professionals; aging network providers; adult protective services workers; and survivors of elder abuse are all welcome and encouraged to attend. Participants from all 50 states, especially those representing underserved populations, are encouraged to apply.

No fee will be charged for the conference, but participants will be expected to pay their own travel, hotel, per diem, expenses, etc. OVW grant funds designated for training purposes may be allowed to be used for this purpose, if a program’s OVW grant manager specifically approves such use. (The hotel arrangements provide for a rate of only $130/night, the Federal per diem rate.) Submission of an application is not a guarantee of attendance at the conference; please DO NOT make travel arrangements unless and until you have been notified that you are accepted.

A Report of the New York State Inspector General, Joseph Fisch, released on May 13, 2009 concluded that Herbert Titelbaum Executive Director of the New York State Council on Public Integrity and a close friend exchanged at least 165 phone calls and held regular dinners over a five month period in 2007, during which Mr. Titelbaum disclosed the progress and details of the inquiry conducted by the panel, the Commission on Public Integrity, into the handling by former governor Spitzer’s administration of the travel records of longtime Senate majority leader Joseph L. Bruno. Since the Report was released there have been calls for the resignation of Mr. Titelbaum

Below are links to two news articles which discuss the Report and its implications, followed by links to the Executive Summary and Findings of the Report, ending with a link to the complete Report itself:

New York Times Article May 13, 2009 “Paterson Asks Ethics Panel to Quit by Danny Hakim.

Tuesday May 19, 2009.

This teleconference is part of the ABA Recession Recovery Teleconference Series. Faculty will provide advice on how to strke just the right note on paper and in person to land a job. Free to ABA members.

For more information click here.

Amazon has now released Kindle DX, a larger, more versatile veriion of its wireless Kindle ebook device. The new DX version has a larger display and a screen which rotates from portrait to landscape to view Web pages and spreadsheets, etc.

Kindle DX and other wireless ebook reading devices certainly do not portend the end of the tradional book as we know it; they are simply useful, but additional, methods of conveying information to readers.

Here are some of the features of the Kindle DX as listed by Amazon:

Spencer S. Hsu writes in the May 7, 2009 Washington Post that according to U.S. officials “the Department of Homeland Security is dismanteling a next generation biological attack warning system in New York City subways because of technical problems. Click here to see entire article.

“The Response”, a movie based on an actual transcript of a military tribunal hearing at Guantanamo Bay, has been selected by the American Bar Association (ABA) as the 2009 ABA Silver Gavel Award winner for “drama and literature”. It was made in collaboration with the University of Maryland School of Law and funded through its “Linking Law & Arts Program,” with support from the France-Merrick Foundation and Venable LLP.

Full Article: http://www.oea.umaryland.edu/communications/news/?ViewStatus=FullArticle&articleDetail=6275

As you undoubtedly have heard, a new strain of influenza called Swine Flu or Swine Influenza apparently started about a month ago in Mexico. It has now spread, first to at least a few states in the United States and now may be spreading world wide.

Art Bernardino who provides consulting services in pandamic planning suggests seven things people can do to lessen infection and protect themselves and others:

1. Wash hands frequently using soap and water or waterless hand sanitizers

April 8, 2009.

ALA Direct is the eNewsletter of the American Library Association.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Included in this issue is a link which our Senior Law Librarian and ALA member Philip Blue recommends for job seekers:
http://joblist.ala.org/index.cfm

ALA Connect debuts
“ALA is now providing its members a common virtual space to engage in ALA business and network with other members around issues and interests relevant to the profession. In the first phase of ALA Connect, every ALA group will have the ability to utilize posts, online docs, a group calendar, surveys, polls, chat rooms, and discussion forums. Members can log in using their regular ALA website username and password. Their records are automatically synchronized with the ALA membership database, so affiliations with committees, divisions, events, round tables, and sections are displayed. Project Manager Jenny Levine offers an overview of the site and writes: ‘I feel a little like Doctor Frankenstein-it’s aliiiiiive-but so far the patient is doing quite well.’ ”

A letter to President Obama “On March 18, ALA President Jim Rettig submitted a letter to President Obama (PDF file) to address the issues ALA members chose to share with the administration during a January 24 Town Hall Meeting during the Midwinter Meeting in Denver: ‘Libraries are perfectly positioned to disseminate information relevant to the issues and challenges that face us as a nation, the same key issues which your administration is seeking to address.’.”..

Downturn puts new stresses on libraries “As the national economic crisis deepens and social services become casualties of budget cuts, libraries have come to fill a void for more people, particularly job-seekers and those who have fallen on hard times. Libraries across the country are seeing double-digit increases in patronage, often from 10% to 30% over previous years. Many librarians say they feel ill-equipped for the newfound demands of the job, the result of working with anxious and often depressed patrons who say they have nowhere else to go….
New York Times, Apr. 1”

Google’s plan for orphan works “Millions of orphan books may get a new legal guardian. Google has been scanning the pages of those books and others as part of its plan to bring a digital library and bookstore, unprecedented in scope, to computer screens across the United States. But a growing chorus, including ALA, is expressing concern that a far-reaching settlement of a suit brought against Google by publishers and authors is about to grant the company too much power over orphan works….”
New York Times, Apr. 3–4 Continue reading

Hon. Janet Reno, former U.S. Attorney General, will receive the Justice Award, the American Judicature Society’s highest honor at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on Friday, April 17, 2009. For more information click on the link below:

Media Release announcing Justice Award for Hon. Janet Reno

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