Law Librarian Blog

GPO Releases Report on Digital Preservation: Metadata Specifications

The final version of The Report on the Meeting of Experts on Digital Preservation: Metadata Specifications is now available on GPO Access.

Background:

GPO is working with the library community and others in the information community on a national digitization plan, with the goal of digitizing a complete legacy collection of tangible U.S. Government publications. The objective is to ensure that the digital collection is available, in the public domain, for no-fee permanent public access through the FDLP.

The project will ensure that the collection is digitally reformatted for preservation purposes. The digital preservation masters and the associated metadata will be preserved in the GPO electronic archive (in addition to any other places that the materials might be held), and there will be no-fee public access to the content through derivative files on GPO Access.

The Report on the Meeting of Experts on Digital Preservation: Metadata Specifications is a summary of the second of two meetings held to assist GPO in developing specifications for the digitization project. This meeting, focusing on descriptive and preservation metadata, was held at GPO in June 2004. A summary of the overall discussion of the experts and the necessary resources for the metadata package submission are included in the report. Also included is a listing of metadata elements that is not meant to be viewed as a final list of required metadata elements, but a list of metadata elements, based on this discussion and the recommended readings as put forth in the meeting. It provides a common set of elements from which to build for digitization project. See The Report of the Meeting of Experts on Digital Preservation: Digital Preservation Masters, held March 2004.

For more information, please visit GPO's digitization and preservation initiatives.

Notes on Foreign & International Law Developments

Darfur: BBC News reports that the International Criminal Court is launching its biggest investigation yet into alleged war crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region. Sudanese Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Hassan Abdin, tells the BBC his government will not turn over Sudanese citizens for trial abroad.  Read the entire story here.

From the EURO-LEX list: the 2005 Academy on Human Rights & Humanitarian Law is currently underway at American University’s Washington College of Law.  Sessions include: Accountability of IFIs: The current status of existing compliance and review mechanisms at the World Bank, IFC, & IADB; Amnesty International Film Festival featuring: Condor - Axis of Evil; and, Advancing the Women’s Human Rights Agenda: Legal, Political and Social Approaches.  The complete brochure (pdf).

From the INT-LAW list: The first issue of the University of Botswana Law Journal has just been published. The Editor-in-Chief is Professor C. Fombad contact him for subscription details:

University of Botswana Law Journal
Department of Law
University of Botswana
Private Bag UB 00705 Gaborone
Botswana
E-mail: either Fombadc@mopipi.ub.bw or ublj@mopipi.ub.bw

Lee Peoples, Oklahoma City University Law Library

Candidates for the 2006-2007 AALL Executive Board

AALL President Victoria K. Trotta  announced  that the following slate of candidates for the 2006-2007 AALL Executive Board today. The election will be held in November 2005. In the fall, full candidate profiles and platforms will be made available on AALLNET and published in a future issue of Law Library Journal. Congratulations to all of our candidates.

Vice President/President-Elect

Ann T. Fessenden, Circuit Librarian, U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit Library, St. Louis

Nina Platt, Director of Library Services, Faegre and Benson LLP, Minneapolis

Executive Board

Sarah Andeen, Director of Research, Greenberg Traurig, Phoenix

Kelly Browne, Assistant Director for Public Services, Sacramento County Public Law Library, Sacramento

Janice E. Henderson, Reference and Research Librarian, Covington and Burling, New York

Cornell H. Winston, Law Librarian, U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California, Los Angeles

National Jurist Releases Academic Law Library Rankings

From the National Jurist:

"The National Jurist compared 183 law libraries, using a mix of categories measuring the number of materials available, the facility itself and the staff resources offered.

Using the most recent ABA data, we calculated scores in six categories: number of volumes, titles and serial subscriptions, ratio of library study capacity and professional librarians to student enrollment and number of hours per week open.

We translated each raw figure or ratio to percentile form on a 1-10 scale. For the composite score, the number of volumes and ratio of study seating was 20 percent of the score. The other four categories were 15 percent each."

View the scores.

Ron Jones, Univ of Cincinnati Law Library

GAO Report on RFID Implementation

Recently the GAO released Information Security: Radio Frequency Identification Technology in the Federal Government.

Summary: RFID technology can provide new capabilities as well as an efficient method for federal agencies, manufacturers, retailers, and other organizations to collect, manage, disseminate, store, and analyze information on inventory, business processes, and security controls by providing real-time access to information. Several federal agencies have already begun testing and using the technology for access control and tracking and tracing assets and documents.

Because various standards exist based on the application and the industry or country in which it is used, interoperability may also be a factor to consider, although a single, common set of standards may not be necessary among different applications.

Few legal issues associated with RFID implementation were raised by the agencies. The use of the technology, however, raises several security and privacy considerations that may affect federal agencies’ decisions to implement the technology. Key security issues include protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the data and information systems. The privacy issues include notifying consumers; tracking an individual’s movements; profiling an individual’s habits, tastes, and predilections; and allowing for secondary uses of information. In addition, other areas such as the reliability, placement, and availability of tags, along with the cost and benefits of implementation and environmental concerns, are factors to consider. As agencies continue to deliberate over implementation, the considerations we identified are among the key factors to address.

Thanks to beSpecific for the tip.

Opening: Reference Librarian at Vanderbilt

The Alyne Queener Massey Law Library
Vanderbilt University Law School

POSITION: Reference Librarian

DESCRIPTION: Provides reference service to faculty, students, and other patrons, including general and legal reference, using print and online resources; participates as an instructor in an integrated 1L legal writing and research program, including classroom presentations and preparation of course materials; conducts in-depth research for faculty; and participates in collection development. Some evening and weekend hours may be required during academic year.

QUALIFICATIONS: Required: ALA-accredited MLS and ABA-accredited JD; demonstrated competence in delivering legal research services and knowledge of print and electronic legal information sources; demonstrated interest and proficiency in technology applications for legal research and library public services programs; excellent written, oral communications and interpersonal skills; ability to work and collaborate with a variety of people; and strong service orientation.

ENVIRONMENT: Vanderbilt University consists of ten schools and colleges with an enrollment of 10,000. The university is served by the Jean and Alexander Heard Library system, which has a collection of over 3 million volumes and a staff of 218. The library is highly automated with an on-line system based on SIRSI software. The Law Library contains over 500,000 volumes and has a staff of 19, with an annual operating budget of over $2 million. In addition to the law school and the university, the Law Library serves the regional legal community. Vanderbilt is located in Nashville, Tennessee, a major business and educational center in the mid-South with a population of over one million in the metropolitan statistical area.

COMPENSATION: Salary negotiable ($42,000 minimum). Benefits are those applicable to exempt employees of the university, including health insurance; retirement plan options; a tuition discount program; and paid vacation, holidays, and sick leave.

APPLICATIONS: Applications should be received by August 1, 2005. Review of applications will begin immediately. Send letter of application and resume, with names, addresses, and telephone numbers of three references to:

Lisa Shipman
Library Personnel Officer
Vanderbilt University Library
419 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37240-0007
lisa.shipman@vanderbilt.edu

Vanderbilt University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. Minorities, persons with disabilities and women are particularly encouraged to apply

Deadlines Approaching for In Re Literary Works In Electronic Databases Copyright Litigation

Deadlines: • July 15, 2005 - Deadline to Opt-Out or Object  • July 28, 2005 - Final Settlement/Fairness Hearing  • September 30, 2005 - Claims Deadline For more information, including claims forms, visit the class action lawsuit's website.

In Re Literary Works In Electronic Databases Copyright Litigation, is a case brought on behalf of freelance authors of literary works that were reproduced on electronic databases without the author's permission. The pending settlement covers all English-language literary works that, at any time after August 14, 1997, was made available in electronic format without the copyright owner's permission by at least one of the Database Defendants or Participating Publishers. Only works written in English and published in an English-language publication are included. Letters to the editor, scientific studies, or works that are not literary works are not included. If you authored a work while employed by the publication that first published it, that is a "work for hire" and is not included.

Under the settlement, the Database Defendants and Participating Publishers have agreed to pay a minimum of $10 million (regardless of the amount of claims) and a maximum of $18 million (or more under certain circumstances), to be applied to valid claims and all Court-approved attorneys' fees and expenses and administrative costs.

The Database Defendants are:
Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Dow Jones Reuters Business Interactive, LLC, d/b/a Factiva; Knight-Ridder, Inc.
The Dialog Corporation
EBSCO Industries, Inc.
The Gale Group, Inc.
Knight-Ridder Digital
Mediastream, Inc.
NewsBank
ProQuest Information and Learning Company
Reed Elsevier, Inc., which operates LEXIS/NEXIS
The Thomson Corporation
West Publishing Corporation d/b/a West Group.

Partipating publishers include every major law review and newspaper in the country.

Kristin Cheney named the 2005 Winner of the Spirit of Law Librarianship Award

The award committee is pleased to announce that Kristin A. Cheney, Executive Law Librarian at Seattle University Law Library, is this year's recipient of the Spirit of Law Librarianship Award for outstanding contributions in serving the elderly and their pets in Pierce County, Washington.  In 1998, Ms. Cheney established the Seniors With Pets Assistance (SWP) Program http://www.seniorswithpets.org/, which provides vital support to low income seniors with pets by supplying and delivering pet food and provisions to their homes, and transporting seniors and their pets to veterinary appointments.  The program has grown over the last eight years and currently serves over 250 seniors and over 700 cats and dogs on a consistent basis.  In addition, Seniors With Pets Assistance furnishes a pet food bank that is open for qualifying seniors on a walk-in basis.

Ms. Cheney developed the program due to her passionate belief that seniors like all others should be able to benefit from the friendship and companionship of a pet.  She states, ³For many of my seniors, their pet is their only family.  An individual, particularly a senior, shouldn¹t have to make the decision between feeding themselves and feeding or otherwise caring for their pet.² Through partnerships with other local service agencies Ms. Cheney has also developed an integrated information referral network for seniors with pets. It is the only service of its kind in the Puget Sound region and serves as a model for similar community-based and volunteer efforts in other areas.

Ms. Cheney will be honored at a ceremony at  AALL's Annual Meeting, to be held this summer in San Antonio.

Spirit of Law Librarianship Award. This award is given to a law librarian, or group of librarians, who have used their position and skills as a law librarian to make a meaningful contribution to a social cause, or used their professional training in service of others in some significant way. The award was established by Roy Mersky and Richard Leiter, in lieu of royalties from their book, The Spirit of Law Librarianship.  The publisher of the first edition of the book, Fred B. Rotham & Co. (now William S. Hein & Co., Inc.) also participated in the founding of this award.  Alert Publications, Inc., the publisher of the second edition, now participates in the continuance of the award.   Mr. Mersky is the Harry M. Reasoner Regents Chair in Law and Director of Research for the Jamail Center for Legal Research at the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas at Austin.  Mr. Leiter is the Director of the Schmid Library and Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law.

Yahoo Launches Sorting Tool For Search Results

From Information Week:

Yahoo Inc. has released in beta a tool that sorts search results according to whether they are commercial or more informational, such as from academic or research-oriented sources.

Read more about it.

Ron Jones, Unv Cin Law Lib

Book: Service-Learning Code of Ethics

Service-Learning Code of Ethics
Andrea Chapdelaine, Ana Ruiz, Judith Warchal, Carole Wells

Anker Publishing ISBN/Prod. Id. 1882982835
232 pages © 2005  US $39.95

Book Description

By providing a basic road map for addressing the critical ethical issues in service-learning, this book will prepare students, faculty, and administrators for the sometimes difficult ethical dilemmas that arise during the service-learning process.

Jobs Drops Da Intel Bomb

From Wired News:

"Steve Jobs confirmed weeks of hard-to-believe rumors Monday, saying that Apple Computer will end its 11-year partnership with IBM and adopt a new generation of microprocessors from Intel."

Read more about it.

Opening: Reference Librarian, Yale

Reference Librarian
This position is a two year term appointment

General Purpose
The Reference Librarian at the Lillian Goldman Law Library is responsible for significant public services tasks in a dynamic and challenging environment. The Law Library serves the faculty and students of a research-oriented law school with a strong tradition of interdisciplinary scholarship, as well as other researchers from larger scholarly and legal communities. Reporting to the Associate Librarian for Reference and Instructional Services, this position is designed to introduce an ambitious career-motivated librarian into the work environment of a highly regarded academic law library.

Essential duties of this position

1. Provide reference assistance to users of the Law Library, including staffing the reference desk, staffing the virtual reference desk, responding to email reference inquiries, and providing other forms of research assistance as needed.
2. Participate in the legal research instructional programs, including teaching basic legal research in the first-year introductory program and, possibly, teaching a section of a topical legal research short course and participating in the teaching of the general advanced legal research course.
3. Creatively respond to the research needs and research instruction needs of the law faculty and law students.
4. Create and maintain research guides and provide publicity for use of the library and materials in print and electronic forms; and prepare bibliographies, library exhibits and other current awareness services.
5. Participate in content development and maintenance of the library's web site; and participate in collection development responsibilities for print, electronic, and Internet resources.
6. Participate in library planning, committees and task forces and to participate in campus, regional, and national professional development and collaborative activities.
7. Participate in other endeavors to further the research mission of the law school.

Experience and training
Required: M.L.S. or equivalent from an ALA-accredited library school and a J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school; however, professional level experience in a law library may substitute for one of the professional degrees. Library training and experience should demonstrate an emphasis on public services work. Candidates with more substantial experience are welcome. The successful candidate will be hired at a salary and level commensurate with their experience.

Skills and abilities
Candidates should have knowledge of current information technologies and publishing formats, database and Internet searching proficiencies and a mastery of basic legal research sources and techniques using both print and electronic materials and possess an ability to function in a collegial, teamwork oriented environment which emphasizes customer service and delivery of exemplary library reference and research services. The ideal candidate should be self-motivated, possess superior communication and interpersonal skills, demonstrate a strong public services orientation and an ability to work with varied user groups. The ideal candidate will also be able to use and instruct in computer applications for legal research, including LEXIS, WESTLAW and the World Wide Web, and have an awareness of current trends in legal research and legal education.

Salary and Benefits
Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. Yale University offers a competitive benefits package.

Available
Email applications are encouraged.
To apply, send a letter expressing your interest in the position along with a current résumé and the names of three references to Diane Y. Turner (diane.turner@yale.edu), Director, Library Human Resources; Yale University Library; P.O. Box 208240, New Haven, CT 06520; fax (203) 432-1806.

Yale University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer.

New Book: Interpreting State Constitutions

Interpreting State Constitutions: A Jurisprudence of Function in a Federal System by A. James Gardner

312 p. | Cloth $45.00 | 0-226-28337-2 | Univ of Chicago Press, Spring 2005

Book Description: Interpreting State Constitutions examines and proposes a solution to a problem central to contemporary debates over the enforcement of civil liberties: how courts, government officials, and lawyers should go about interpreting the constitutions of the American states.

With the Supreme Court's retreat from the aggressive protection of individual rights, state courts have begun to interpret state constitutions to provide broader protection of liberties. This development has reversed the polarity of constitutional politics, as liberals advocate unimpeded state power while conservatives lobby for state subordination to a constitutional law controlled centrally by the Supreme Court.

James A. Gardner here lays out the first fully developed theory of subnational constitutional interpretation. He argues that states are integral components of a national system of overlapping and mutually checking authority and that the purpose of this system is to protect liberty and defend against federal domination. The resulting account provides valuable prescriptive advice to state courts, showing them how to fulfill their responsibilities to the federal system in a way that strengthens American constitutional discourse.

Thanks to ublaw phoenix for the tip.

Capital Punishment in Japan

Published in the May/June 2005 issue of Foreign Policy, A View to a Kill by Charles Lane observes that "unlike capital punishment in the United States, Japan’s death penalty is on the rise. Japanese officials keep state executions out of public view and shrouded in secrecy. Not even the condemned prisoners know the day they will die."

Latest Release of HeinOnline Contains Nearly 250,000 Pages

The latest release of new material to HeinOnline contains nearly a quarter-million pages and includes updates to the Law Journal Library, the Treaties and Agreements Library, the Legal Classics Library, and the Federal Register Library. 

The next release of HeinOnline will include the CFR from the 1938 edition through the 1947 supplements.  Future releases will include expanded CFR coverage.

New (Or Substantially Updated) Journals:

Cambrian Law Review, Vols. 1-35 (1970-2004)

Dickinson Law Review, Vols. 31-107 (1926-2003)

Intellectual Property Law Bulletin (Univ. of San Francisco), Vols. 1-8 (1996-2003)

International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law (Brill), Vols. 1-18 (1986-2003)

Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe [JEMIE], 2000-2003

Litigation (ABA), Vols. 5-8 (1978-1982)

New Zealand Journal of Environmental Law, Vols. 1-7 (1997-2003)

Tulane European and Civil Law Forum, Vols. 1-18 (1973-2003)

U.S. Treaties Library:

HeinOnline's Treaties and Agreements Library has also been expanded to include two valuable publications, as well as several new KAV agreements.  Please note that, while both works listed below are now available in HeinOnline, hardcopy editions of these volumes are also available for purchase:

1) List of Indian Treaties (1964)

2) United States Statutes at Large, Vol. 8 (1867)

Legal Classics Library:

In addition, 11 titles have just been added to HeinOnline's Legal Classics Library as part of this release.  Again, while the works listed below are now available in HeinOnline, hardcopy editions of these volumes are also available for purchase:

1) Bibliography of the English Colonial Treaties with the American Indians including a Synopsis of each Treaty (1917)

2) Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia, Vols. 1-3 (1914)

3) Brief Narrative of the Case and Trial of John Peter Zenger (1963)

4) Commentaries on the Law of Promissory Notes, and Guaranties of Notes, and Checks on Banks and Bankers with Occasional Illustrations from the Commercial Law of the Nations of Continental Europe (1878 7th ed.)

5) Treaties Defeated by the Senate (1933)

6) Treatise on American Military Laws, and the Practice of Court Martial; with Suggestions for Their Improvement (1846)

7) Treatise on the American Law of Real Property, 3rd ed., Vols. 1-3 (1868)

8) Treatise on the Law of Carriers of Goods and Passengers by Land and by Water, Second Ed. (1851)

9) Treatise on the Right of Property in Tide Waters and in the Soil and Shores Thereof (1847 2nd ed.)

10) Works of James Wilson, Vols. 1-2 (1896)

11) Writings of John Marshall, Late Chief Justice of the United States upon the Federal Constitution (1839)

On Changing the Course of History

The Opportunity: America's Moment to Alter History's Course

Richard N. Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations

ISBN: 1586482769; Price: $25.00; Pages: 256
PublicAffairs, June 2005

Description: This is a book that describes an unprecedented moment in which the United States has a chance to bring about a world where most people are safe, free, and can enjoy a decent standard of living.

...

More than anything else, it will be how well and how wisely the United States uses its immense power that will determine the future. The United States does not need the world's permission to act, but it does need the world's support to succeed.

What will it take to get the world's support? The answer to this question is what makes The Opportunity truly vital reading. Richard Haass provides a much-needed foreign policy compass, one with the potential to do for this post-Cold War, post-9/11, post-Iraq world what George Kennan's containment doctrine did for the previous era.

Read an excerpt.

Joint Status Report on Microsoft's Compliance with the Final Judgements

From the DOJ: "At the February 9, 2005 Status Conference, the Court directed the Plaintiffs to file a Status Report updating the Court on activities relating to Microsoft's compliance with the Final Judgments entered in New York, et. al. v. Microsoft, CA No. 98-1233 (CKK), and in United States v. Microsoft, CA No. 98-1232 (CKK).(1)

The last Status Report, filed January 25, 2005, served as a six-month report, containing certain relevant information requested by the Court. Order at 1-3 (May 14, 2003). The current Report is an interim report relating only to current enforcement activities. Section II of this Report discusses Plaintiffs' efforts to enforce the Final Judgments; this section was authored by Plaintiffs. Section III discusses Microsoft's efforts to comply with the Final Judgments; this section was authored by Microsoft. Neither Plaintiffs nor Microsoft necessarily adopts the views expressed by the other. "

Read the full report.

Ron Jones, Univ Cin Law Lib

Just Released: God vs. the Gavel

God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law
Marci Hamilton
Hardback (ISBN-10: 0521853044 | ISBN-13: 9780521853040)
Cambridge Univ Press, May 2005
$28.00

Book Description:
God vs. the Gavel challenges the pervasive assumption that all religious conduct deserves constitutional protection. While religious conduct provides many benefits to society, it is not always benign. The thesis of the book is that anyone who harms another person should be governed by the laws that govern everyone else - and truth be told, religion is capable of great harm. This may not sound like a radical proposition, but it has been under assault since the 1960s. The majority of academics and many religious organisations would construct a fortress around religious conduct that would make it extremely difficult to prosecute child abuse by clergy, medical neglect of children by faith-healers, and other socially unacceptable behaviours. This book intends to change the course of the public debate over religion by bringing to the public’s attention the tactics of religious entities to avoid the law and therefore harm others.

Contents:
Part I. Why the Law Must Govern Religious Entities: 1. The problem; 2. Children; 3. Marriage; 4. Schools; 5. Property rights and taxes; 6. The military and the prisons; 7. Discrimination; Part II. The History and Doctrine Behind the Rule that Subjects Religious Entities to Duly Enacted Laws; 8. Boerne V. Flores: the case that fully restored the rule of law for religious entities; 9. The decline of the special treatment of religious entities and the rise of the no-harm rule; 10. The path to the public good; Acknowledgments; Index.

Read an excerpt.

State Medical Marijuana Laws Afford No Protection from Federal Prosecution

In a 6-3 decision today, the Supreme Court has ruled that state medical marijuana laws do not shield users from prosecution under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Bush Administration 1, Sick People 0.

Last chance for the Conference of Newer Law Librarians

The registration deadline for the Conference of Newer Law Librarians (CONELL) is Wednesday, June 8th.

The Conference of Newer Law Librarians (CONELL) is held every year at the American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting and Conference. The purpose is to welcome the newer members of the profession to the organization, introduce them to the Association and its leaders, and provide a setting for newer members to become acquainted with each other.

More information and to register.