Criminal Law Library BlogTop Ten Stories for Week Ending January 15, 2010
Careers DLA ‘Working Lawyer’ Explains Why He and 8 Others Moved to Jackson Lewis Jan 14, 2010, 09:39 am CST
Legal Ethics Unhappy Secretary’s Report Spurs Ethics Trouble for NJ Litigator
Articles Posted in News from Organizations
After Being Pronounced Dead Kirkus Reviews Appears to be Back With Us
David Badertscher
Although not primarily a reviewer of legal materials, Kirkus Reviews is one of the most outstanding and respected review magazines devoted to book media. It was founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893-1981) a former head of the children’s book department of Harper & Bros. with the idea of holding book reviewing to a very high standard, being selective in both the books reviewed and the people assgned to review them. The first year they received about 20 advance galley proofs.
By all accounts Kirus has managed to maintain these high standards throughout the years, becomeing one of the true standard bearers for the authoritative reviewing of all types of titles including those related to law. According to their website, Kirkus currently reviews about 5,000 titles per year “with the idea of of providing Kirkus regulars (librarians, newspaper editors, agents, film producers, booksellers, and those throughout the book world in general) with professional, informative, and impartial descriptive evaluations of forthcoming titles, and to do so on a timely basis.”
New York State Office of the State Comptroller: Citizen Centric Report
The New York State Office of the State Comptroller has issued it’s first Citizen-Centric Report for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009. The format for the Citizen-Centric Report was developed by the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) and is intended to foster innovative means of communication between governments and their citizenry. The AGA believes that government financial information should be provided to citizens in a visually appealing, clear and understandable four-page document.
To view the Citizen-Centric Report for the fiscal year ended March 31,
2009, please click on the link below:
Guide to Selected Free and Accessible Programs Available Via the Internet
There are a variety of webcasts of lecture series both law-related and general interest available from courts, law libraries, public libraries, and other organizations. Below is a non-comprehensive listing of links to transcripts and related videos (if available) of various types of programs compiled by our Senior Law Librarian for Public Access, Theodore Pollack. These programs are free and accessible via the Internet.
New York Court of Appeals webcasts of lectures and arguments:
ABA Journal Law News Now 1
Top Ten Stories for Week Ending December 11, 2009
Editor’s Note: The 3rd Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100 is now online! Readers are invited to browse the list and are encouraged to register to vote for their favorites.
Legal Ethics Hiring Lawyer Rejects Federalist Society Members–and Columnist’s Advice
Placement: Preservation Librarian Opportunity at GPO
Librarian (Preservation)
Salary Range: 102,721.00 – 133,543.00 USD /year
Open: Monday, December 07, 2009 to Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Special Libraries Association Members Fail to Approve Proposal to Change Organization’s Name
We just received word about the outcome of the vote on the proposal to change the name of Special Libraries Association (SLA) to the Association for Stategic Knowledge Professionals. The name change proposal stemmed from the findings of the Alignment Project, an intensive two year research effort aimed at understanding the value of the information and knowledge professionals in todays environment and how to communicate that value.
Although not a member of SLA, I have followed developments related to this issue on the SLA listserv and have been very impressed with both the dedication and passion exhibited by the SLA membership.
As for the outcome, I think this is good news. As a professional librarian (an information and knowledge professional) I am very concerned about libraries and librarianship being viable now and remaining so in the future. An important part of that viability, it seems to me, relates to the essential need for libraries and librarians to maintain a clear identity as the preeminent information and knowledge professionals in the world, both now and in the future. There is a danger that proposals such as the one we are discussing here will, if ratified, result in a dilution of that identity and by extension diminish the perceived value of librararies and librarians (whatever their names) in the marketplace as compared to other organizations and occupations that are somewhat comparable. I commend the SLA membership for its decision.
David Badertscher
Here is a note from SLA Headquarters concerning the outcome of the vote of the SLA membership:
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Hon. Randall T. Shepard Selected as Recipient of the Sixth Annual Dwight D. Opperman Award for Judicial Excellence
Hon. Randall T. Shepard, Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, has been selected as the recipient of the Sixth Annual Dwight D. Opperman Award for Judicial Excellence. Chief Justice Shepard was chosen by a three-member panel: Hon. Judith S. Kaye, former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals; Justice Ronald Robie, California Court of Appeal–Third Appellate District; and Judge Frederic Rodgers, Gilpin Combined Courts, Colorado. The award will be presented in early 2010.
See this American Judicature Society News Release for more details.
ABA Journal Law News Now
Top Ten Stories for week ending December 4, 2009.
Editor’s Note: The 3rd Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100 is now online! Readers are invited to browse the list and are encouraged to register to vote for their favorites.
U.S. Supreme Court A ‘Somewhat Tense Moment’ as Justices Consider Discharge of Student Loans
Voting Has Begun in the ABA Journal’s Third Annual Blawg 100
I received the following letter from the ABA Journal along with a request to send it along to our readers. I urge all of you to contribute to the Blawg 100 conversation.
David Badertscher
Dear Blawgger,