ALA: Nominate a Mover & Shaker

Deadline: November 15, 2007

http://libraryjournal.com/info/CA606274.html

"The editors of Library Journal need your help in identifying the emerging leaders in the library world. Our seventh annual Movers & Shakers supplement will profile 50-plus up-and-coming individuals from across the United States and Canada who are innovative, creative, and making a difference. From librarians to vendors to others who work in the library field, Movers & Shakers 2008 will celebrate the new professionals who are moving our libraries ahead."

Comments on the library digitization article

We blogged about the New York Times article concerning libraries and digitization yesterday and I just noticed a blog entry from LibraryLaw Blog concerning how preemptive digitization could affect ILL operations.

Selected snippets from LibraryLaw Blog:

Digital
ILL and the Open Library
October 23, 2007
LibraryLaw Blog

...The idea of libraries getting funding to make digitized books freely available is a wonderful idea. ...According to the paper, the Boston Consortium is going to spend $850,000 of their own money to digitize books. At the $30/book figure quoted in the article, that is at most 30,000 books over two years. Some of the Google partners are doing that many books in two weeks.
What I found scary in Peter's post [Peter Brantley, O'Reilly blog ]was the suggestion that the group is going to try to re-invent ILL...

Webinar: Legal Technology Group

From AALL Website

RIPS REPARTEE WEBINAR: Legal Technology
Group/Sponsor: RIPS-SISCo-Group/Co-Sponsor: AALL
Date: Thursday, November 15, 2007Time: 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM - Eastern Time (U.S. and Canada)

In this inaugural presentation of the RIPS Repartee Webinar Series, Catherine Sanders Reach, Director of the American Bar Association’s Legal Technology Resource Center, will provide a brief update on current issues and advances in legal technology, addressing questions posed by law librarians from around the country. Academic law librarians can learn more about what students need to know when they get out into the "real world." Private law librarians can ensure they will have up-to-the-minute technology information from the ABA to amaze their attorneys. Government and court law librarians can find out more on how technology advances, such as KM and e-discovery tools, can benefit their patrons. Pull up a virtual chair and listen in or, better yet, join in the action by submitting a question.

Registrations for the webinar will be accepted until November 12. Register online at http://www.regonline.com/AALL-RIPS .

Spots are limited and will be filled in the order received. Instructions on how to access the webinar will be distributed via email, prior to the presentation. The registration fee is $15.00 for AALL members and $20.00 for all others.

Payment can be made either by credit card, or by check, made payable to AALL. For further information go to http://www.aallnet.org/sis/ripssis/RIPSWebinarNov15.pdf, or contact Robb Farmer (rfarmer@faulkner.edu).

...And more on those California Fires

Here's another website to visit:
http://www.calfires.com/

I heard some law firms and universities are shut down in the San Diego and Orange County areas.

California fires

http://www.211sandiego.org/

This page links to a number of resources in San Diego and to the fire alerts. In the bottom right, there are links to maps; as of a few minutes ago, only the links for KPBS and LA Times were working.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/news/wildfires/index.html

This page links to the CNN special area for the continuing coverage of the California wild fires.

Librarians, books, and digitization

One of our members brought this to my attention: an article in yesterday's New York Times about librarians who are turning down digitization assistance from Google and Microsoft to sign on instead with the Open Content Alliance.

Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web
By KATIE HAFNER
Published: October 22, 2007

Several major research libraries have rebuffed offers from Google and Microsoft to scan their books into computer databases, saying they are put off by restrictions these companies want to place on the new digital collections.
http://tinyurl.com/39vmgw

Free legal research sources

Laura Orr over at the Oregon Legal Research blog has several entries on free legal resources. The most recent one she reviews is a beta product called Alt Law (http://www.altlaw.org/v1/). Right now, they have some case law from most circuits, and are still working on advanced searching. Just something to keep in mind.

To see other resources she's reviewed, go to her September 6th entry.

YouTube and copyright

YouTube (a Google company) has unveiled tools to help identify copyrighted content, as described on this page. Instead of just identifying and taking down content that may infringe on others' copyrights, they are giving content owners a choice as to how to proceed. As they explain:

No matter how accurate the tools get, it is important to remember that no technology can tell legal from infringing material without the cooperation of the content owners themselves. This means that copyright holders who want to use and help us refine our Video ID system will be providing the necessary information to help us recognize their work. We aim to make that process as convenient as possible.

Weather

It is absolutely beautiful today. Fall has finally arrived in Dallas.

More information on CI: Lexology

Greg Lambert, in his DALL and HALL presentations on CI, mentioned a tool call Lexology. This tool can help users gather information from websites.

Trials are available.

http://www.lexology.com

And strangely, an hour after the HALL presentation yesterday, I received an email from Lexology, offering a free trial to the tool.

New Buzzword in Libraries: CI

Yesterday DALL members had the pleasure of hearing Greg Lambert, Library and Records Manager from King & Spaulding, on the topic of Competitive Intelligence. Currently Greg is utilizing his programming skills, combined with the K&S librarians’ research skills, to create some cool CI materials for K&S. His presentation is on the DALL website at http://www.dallnet.org/.

Here are a few buzzwords I liked from Greg’s session:

1.Analysis! Librarians are great at research and repackaging but stop at analyzing the data needed for CI. Analysis is not practicing law.
2.Break down the “Silos’ of Library and Marketing departments. Work together!

Continuing on this subject…
Today, I attended HALL’s half day seminar on the same subject. Speakers included Greg plus Laura Walters, Client Development Specialist at Bracewell & Giuliani and Mark Gediman, Director of Information Services at Best Best & Krieger.

Their presentations can be found on the HALL website at http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/hall. The sessions were also created as a podcast. To access the podcast, non-members must pay a small fee. Watch for the link on the HALL’s website.

There were a few points that I liked from the HALL session:

1.Teamwork with Marketing: What is CI? Where Marketing and Research Center (Library) meet as a hybrid process of strategic planning and research activities.

2. Technology should be used as a tool, not as a strategy.

3. Be proactive!

Keep your ears open. Ask questions.

State constitutions

Texas isn't the only state with a much-amended Constitution. It appears that Oregon is in a similar pickle. Read the entry on Oregon Legal Research.

EPA Fuel Economy Ratings

Want to see how the new EPA estimates affect your car or the vehicle you are dreaming about? http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm

ERISA Fiduciary Advisor

ERISA Fiduciary Advisor from the Department of Labor. Introductory blurb:

The ERISA Fiduciary Advisor provides information and answers to a variety of questions about who is a fiduciary and their responsibilities under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). This Advisor was developed by the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) in its continuing effort to increase awareness and understanding about basic fiduciary responsibilities when operating a retirement plan. ERISA is a federal law that sets standards of conduct for those who manage a private-sector retirement plan and its assets.

The Department of Labor (DOL) developed the elaws Advisors to help employees and employers understand their rights and responsibilities under numerous federal employment laws. Each Advisor includes links to more detailed information that may be useful to the user, such as links to regulatory text, publications and organizations.

You may find this at http://www.dol.gov/elaws/ERISAFiduciary.htm.

First seen on BeSpacific.com

Who owns which company

It's hard sometimes to keep up with which groups bought which publishers. AALL's CRIV (Committee on Relations with Information Vendors) has a way to look up this information.

From their page:

A Legal Publishers List: Corporate Affiliations of Legal Publishers, 2d ed.
The publishers in the Legal Publishers List are divided into five groups, which are on five separate web pages:

• Thomson
• Reed Elsevier
• Wolters Kluwer
• Other Publisher with Subsidiaries
• Independent Publishers

The lists may be found at http://www.aallnet.org/committee/criv/resources/tools/list/.

SOX whistleblower decisions

I saw a reference to this on Law-Lib today - US Department of Labor SOX Whistleblower decisions.

http://www.oalj.dol.gov/PUBLIC/WHISTLEBLOWER/
REFERENCES/CASELISTS/SOX3LIST.HTM

Advanced web search options

Genie Tyburski has a very good article on The Virtual Chase with tips for more effective advanced web engine searching. She also provides a chart that you can print separately with all the recommendations.

Web Searching with Advanced Commands
Genie Tyburski, Web Manager, The Virtual Chase
October 11, 2007

AALL Spectrum Web Only Content

Did you know that the AALL Spectrum has web only materials to augment the print versions we receive?

Starting with Volume 11, the editors of the Spectrum started adding web only content, often additional replies for the Member to Member only questions. If you click on an individual issue link, the table of contents will have links to the web only content as well as the individual print articles.

To find this treasure trove, go to www.aallnet.org and click on the publications link and follow that to the Spectrum archives.

More doctors in Texas?

Does Texas Really Have More Doctors as a Result of Medical Malpractice Reform?Why a New York Times Article Making that Claim Is Seriously Misleading
By ANTHONY J. SEBOK ---- Tuesday, Oct. 09, 2007

Interesting FindLaw commentary on a recent New York Times article that announced that more doctors are flocking to Texas after the medical malpractice tort reforms of 2003. Sebok examines the facts and concludes the truth is somewhat different.

Jury verdict in copyright trial

There's been a flurry of articles about various recording companies and their downloading suit against Jammie Thomas, a woman went through with the trail against her regarding illegally downloaded and distributed music. (See for example: Jury finds woman violated copyright law in download trial, victory for record companies). A post yesterday on Ars Technica suggests that an appeal may be in the making over a disputed instruction to the jury. Instruction #15 was changed from

The mere act of making copyrighted sound recordings available for electronic distribution on a peer-to-peer network without license from copyright owners does not violate the copyright owners' exclusive right to distribution. An actual transfer must take place

to

The act of making copyrighted sound recordings available for electronic distribution on a peer-to-peer network, without license from the copyright owners, violates the copyright owners' exclusive right of distribution, regardless of whether actual distribution has been shown.

How the RIAA tasted victory: a perfect storm which might not be repeated
By Eric Bangema

Texas Bar News

From Law.com:

http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLT.jsp?id=1191488592325&rss=newswire

"On Sept. 28, State Bar President Gib Walton launched the Bar's YouTube contest, "Lone Star Stories: Texans on Justice," and invited Texans of all ages as well as lawyers licensed in Texas to submit three-minute-or-less original videos that illustrate their vision of the promise of justice for all.

The contest offers entrants a chance to win $2,500 in each of two categories. Those in the younger-than-18 category are competing for a $2,500 scholarship. The State Bar will award a $2,500 cash prize to the winning contestant in the 18-and-older category."

Should DALL get creative??

DALL's Oct. Meeting: CI Research

October MeetingDate: Wednesday, October 17th
Place: Haynes & Boone, 901 Main
Time: 11:00 am -1:30 p.m.
Guest Speaker: Greg Lambert
Information Resource and Records Manager, King and Spalding L.L.P., Houston, Texas

Course Description: Learn how to create CI products for your firm and how to conduct CI research
More about Greg
Sponsored by 10-K Wizard
Please use the RSVP form to reserve your place at the table by Oct. 14th.

Law Firm News In Dallas

It's official!
As of Oct. 2nd Locke Liddell & Sapp is now Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell. Read the news in today's NY Lawyer.

http://www.nylawyer.com/display.php/file=/news/07/10/100307d

The new name is the combination of Locke Liddell & Sapp and Chicago's Lord Bissell & Brook with about 700 attorneys.

AALL Call for Papers

A message from AALL for librarians (and hopefuls) across the country:

The AALL Call for 2008 Papers has begun.

Have you been thinking of writing an article of interest to law librarians? Need a push to get started? Well, here it is.

The AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers Committee is soliciting articles in three categories:

Open Division: for active and retired AALL members and law librarians with five or more years of professional experience;

New Members DIvision: for recent graduates and AALL members who have become law librarians since July 1, 2003.

Student Division: for students in library, information management or law school. Participants in this division need not be members of AALL.

The winner in each division receives $750 generously donated by LexisNexis plus the opportunity to present the winning paper at a program during the AALL Annual Meeting in Portland! Winning papers are also considered for publication in the Association’s prestigious Law Library Journal.

A list of previous winners is available at the Call for Papers web site. This list can give you an idea of the range of topics that law librarians have chosen. The web site also has additional information about the competition, including information on how to submit your entry and an application form. That web site is at:

http://www.aallnet.org/about/award_call_for_papers.asp.

Articles in the Open and New Members Division must be submitted by March 1, 2008.

Articles in the Student Division must be submitted by April 15, 2008

If you have any questions, please contact a member of the AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers Committee:

Chair, Joseph Gerken, gerken@buffalo.edu;
James Donovan, jdonovan@uga.edu;
James Heller, heller@wm.edu.

Good luck!

Law-lib archives

I just saw this a few minutes ago in an email from Judy Janes at UC Davis.

Law-Lib archives can now be reached at:
http://lawlibrary.ucdavis.edu/lawlib/

Which reminds me, Christopher Noe has updated his Law-Lib Listserv FAQ (dated Sept. 27, 2007). You can find his FAQ at http://home.olemiss.edu/%7Enoe/llfaq.html.

Final chapter of a shaggy dog/book tale

Laura Orr has the ending of her six part saga of trying to reclaim library books from the FBI.

Belo Corp. splitting publishing and television

The Belo Corporation announced that it will split publishing and television stations into separate companies.

3rd UPDATE: Belo Answers Calls To Split Newspaper, TV Assets
October 01, 2007: 01:15 PM EST
By Shira Ovide
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- In a surprise move, Belo Corp. (BLC) said it will separate its newspaper and television assets, responding to investor complaints that Belo's stock price would be higher if the company were split.

Guest Book for Bob Oakley

There is a guest book for Bob Oakley at http://www.legacy.com/washingtonpost/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=95420118

Follow up on Bob Oakley

Georgetown now has a brief announcement about Bob Oakley's passing. I met him once at AALL and was delighted with his humor and his intelligence. The law library community has lost a giant in our field.

SWALL Grants

The SWALL Grants Committee is pleased to announce the availability of grants to attend the 50th Annual Meeting, April 10-14, 2008, to be held aboard the Carnival Cruise ship Ecstasy.

We will be awarding one grant for $1000 and two travel grants for $850 each. In addition, the Executive Board has approved three grants in the amount of $1000 each in honor of our 50th Meeting--these special grants are to assist those librarian's whose institutions prohibit reimbursement for travel outside the United States. This year's theme is Navigating the Sea of Information: Celebrating 50 Years of SWALL. The deadline for applications for the SWALL Annual Meeting is October 26, 2007.

We also have one grant for $1500 available to attend the 2008 AALL Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon. The deadline for this grant is May 12, 2008.

Please visit the SWALL website for application guidelines, eligibility and forms at http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/swall/grants/index.html. If you have any questions, please let us know.

Sad News about Bob Oakley

From today's Law Librarian Blog...
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/2007/10/robert-oakley.html


"Bob Oakley, Director of the Library and Professor of Law, Georgetown Law Center, died suddenly Saturday. Bob was in the hospital following surgery and was expected to fully recover. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Bob served as Director of the Law Library at the Georgetown University Law Center since 1982. Prior to that time, he was the Director of the Library and Associate Professor at the Boston University School of Law and the Associate Law Librarian at Cornell. He received his law degree and B.A. from Cornell, and his library degree from Syracuse."--blogged by Joe Hodnicki

I'm so sorry to hear this...my thoughts and prayers to Bob's family and to the librarians at Georgetown.