Law Librarian Blog

Use Google Map to Locate Site Visitors

Want to know where your visitors are coming from? gVist can do that for you. When you visit gVist, just enter your site name and URL, and gVisit will give you a line of JavaScript. Paste it into your site, and they'll start generating a map for you showing the locations of your last 20 visitors. Maps are updated hourly.

File under "Because we can."

Opening: Reference Librarian, Arizona State

This is an exciting time at the Arizona State University College of Law. In the past few years, the faculty has increased by 25%, adding a number of distinguished senior professors and a stunning group of newcomers. Areas strengthened include the Center for the Study of Law, Science & Technology (the first and largest in the country), the Indian Legal Program (also the largest in the country and considered by many to be the preeminent program of its kind), International Law, Legal Philosophy, and Tax and Business. This fall, the College has its first students in new LLM programs in Biotechnology and Genomics (the only such program in the country) and in Tribal Policy, Law and Government. The reference department has also grown in the past year, and we are inviting applications for an open reference librarian position.

An appointment for this position can start between November, 2005 - January, 2006. The reference librarians participate in faculty services, which includes serving as faculty liaison to assigned faculty members. They provide reference services to other library user groups: students, University community, legal community, and the general public; contribute to formal and informal instruction in legal bibliography and research; and prepare bibliographies, research guides, brochures and other publications.

An M.L.S. from an A.L.A.-accredited institution is required. We will accept applications from candidates being granted M.L.S by time of appointment.

Desired qualifications are: experience as a reference librarian in a law library or other special library; public services experience in an academic law library; demonstrated legal research experience; J.D. from an A.B.A.-accredited law school; demonstrated effective communication skills; and demonstrated customer service experience.

The application deadline is September 23, 2005; if not filled, the 23rd of every month thereafter until the search is closed. To apply, send a letter of application, resume and the names, addresses and phone numbers of three professional references to: Beth DiFelice, Assistant Director and Head of Public Services, Ross-Blakley Law Library, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 877806, Tempe, AZ 85287-7806. The letter of application and resume must address the required and desired qualifications.

The reference librarians report directly to the Head of Reference Services. This is a full-time, continuation track position at the rank of Assistant Librarian. The reference librarians work 40 hours a week, which includes some evening and weekend hours. Arizona State University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Background check is required.

Major RAND Study on Creating a Successful Palestinian State

The RAND Corporation has published two books featuring the most comprehensive recommendations ever made for creating a successful Palestinian state. Contributors address political, economic, and social challenges, and present an innovative design to meet the population's needs.

Building a Successful Palestinian State
This study examines options for strengthening governance, security, economic development, access to water, health and health care, and education.

The Arc: A Formal Structure for a Palestinian State
The second work examines options for addressing housing, transportation, and related infrastructure needs.

Both works address the problem of financing a successful Palestinian state.

Both works can be downloaded in PDF format. Because of the thoroughness of these studies, I believe academic law libraries with strong international development collections should acquire these works. Now if only RAND would turn its attention to Iraq... .

Opening: Legal Information Analyst, Law Library of Congress

The Law Library of Congress is seeking a Senior Legal Information Analyst, Position #050146, who has experience analyzing, indexing and abstracting legal and legislative information and documents. The successful incumbent will demonstrate through progressively responsible work experience a proficiency in (1) analyzing, synthesizing and summarizing complex legal and legislative documents requiring an interpretation of bills, committee reports, statutes, regulations, court decisions, background studies and policy reports; (2) developing legal and legislative thesauri; (3) preparing complex analytical reports involving the legal aspects of public policy issues; (4) acquiring, organizing and disseminating legal and legislative information; and (5) providing legal and legislative reference and information services to diverse and demanding clientele.

Qualified candidates with both Juris Doctor and Masters in Library Science degrees from accredited universities and at least 5 years progressively responsible experience editing, analyzing, and summarizing legal and legislative information sources are encouraged to apply. 

For the entire job description see <http://jsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/summary.asp?OPMControl=492263>. Questions should be addressed to the Library of Congress Employment Office at (202) 707-5627.

Disabilities and Feminism

David Dillard has posted a substantial bibliography on Disabilities and Feminism: A Selected Literature Covering the Intersections on Net Gold

Opening: Temporary Reference Position, Law Library of Congress

NB: This announcement supersedes the earlier posting for the Temporary Reference Librarian Position

The Law Library of Congress is recruiting for a full-time but temporary legal reference librarian to begin work immediately, the position for which will conclude approximately March 4, 2006.  The ideal candidate will have both law and library science degrees from accredited universities, will have recent public service experience providing legal and legislative information services to diverse and demanding clients in a law library reference operation, and will (1) have experience in conducting complex legal and legislative research; (2) have experience in providing electronic reference services; and (3) demonstrate a proficiency in working with various software programs and online services. The person appointed to this position will be assigned a fixed special schedule that is exempt from flex-time, compressed flex-time, and maxi-flex time schedules.  However, the appointee must be consistently able and willing to work days, evenings, weekends and holidays depending on the L!  aw Library's congressional service requirements.

The position offers an annual salary of $ 43,365 (equating to approximately $1660 gross salary every two weeks) and is temporary, the duration for which is expected to begin August 29, 2005 and conclude on or before March 4, 2006.

Qualified persons should submit via fax addressed to "LAW Reference Vacancy" (202-707-1820) or email (law@loc.gov) - - do NOT submit by postal mail - - a current resume attached to a Federal Government application form (OF-612:(http://opm.gov/Forms/pdf_fill/of612.pdf) and the Declaration for Federal Employment form (OF-306: http://opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/of0306.pdf) as soon as possible. [Please note there are no vacancy announcement or position numbers associated with this vacancy.]

West Headnote Numbers Removed from Shepard's (?)

The following is an excerpt from a very interesting post from Out of the Jungle. Richard Ducey, Director of the Law Library at the University of Tulsa, reported a disturbing change in the functionality of Shepard's Citations:

I believe LEXIS/Shepard's is making a change to Shepard's with little fanfare with the expectation that it will fly below the radar at most libraries and offices. I thought I would alert you to this change in case you have not yet learned about it. Before AALL, I was working on an assignment for my class that included Shepardizing a Maryland Court of Appeals case. Upon Shepardizing (on LEXIS), I was unable to restrict by the West (Atlantic Reporter) headnotes as I have done many times in the past. Our LEXIS representative who was visiting that day also could not figure out why there was absolutely no display option allowing me to limit by West headnotes under the "Focus / Restrict by" feature. The West headnote option reappeared when I checked a couple days later. So, I was wondering what was going on.

I Shepardized Roe v. Wade and it looked like you could only restrict using LEXIS headnotes. The post suggests that West headnotes may disappear from the print Shepards as well. Have you heard anything about this? Feel free to post your comments.

Yolanda Jones, Villanova Law Library

On Vioxx Litigation and Bullet-Free PowerPoint Presentations

Updating my “PowerPoint for Litigators” presentation that I make in trial practice courses each year I ran across the following interesting item:

Cliff Atkinson’s Beyond Bullets Blog quotes a recent article in Fortune describing the use of the author’s book by the plaintiff’s lawyers in the recent Vioxx litigation:

"Speaking in state court in Angleton, Texas, without notes and in gloriously plain English, and accompanying nearly every point with imaginative, easily understood (if often hokey) slides and overhead projections, (the plaintiff's lawyer Mark) Lanier, a part-time Baptist preacher, took on Merck and its former CEO Ray Gilmartin with merciless, spellbinding savagery..."

"But in contrast to Lanier... (defendant Merck's lawyer David Kiernan) seemed to read much of his presentation and illustrated it only with stodgy, corporate headshots of Merck officials or hard-to-read excerpts from documents whose meaning was shrouded in medical jargon..."

Atkinson notes that Lanier’s PowerPoint presentation was of course “completely bullet-free” thanks to his hands on consultation with Lanier.  A $253.4 million dollar verdict is a pretty good book advertisement!

Lee Peoples, Oklahoma City University Law Library

1L Mindset

The seventh annual Beloit College Mindset List is out.  The list identifies facts of life for entering college freshman, distinguishing them from their predecessors.   A glance back at the list for the class of 2005 gives academic law librarians some idea of what we have to look forward to as they become 1L’s this Fall.

From the Class of 2005 list:

IBM Selectrics are antiques.

Hard copy has nothing to do with a TV show; a browser is not someone relaxing in a bookstore; a virus does not make humans sick; and a mouse is not a rodent (and there is no proper plural for it).

Recording TV programs on VCRs became legal the year they were born.

They were born the same year as the PC and the Mac.

They have always had access to email.

They have probably never used carbon paper and do not know what cc and bcc mean.

Beta is a preview version of software, not a VCR format.

- Lee Peoples, Oklahoma City University Law Library

USA PATRIOT ACT Studies

On LibraryLaw Blog, the first source for legal developments pertaining to libraries, Mary Minow calls our attention to a recent study by Supriya Wronkiewicz. See The USA PATRIOT Act: What Librarians Should Know to Protect the Privacy and Confidentiality of Their Patrons. Mary also identifies several recent CRS reports on Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT ACT. Read all about it.

Opening: Teaching Librarian, Florida Coastal

The Florida Coastal School of Law Library is accepting applications for a Teaching Librarian. This position is pending official budget approval. The Florida Coastal School of Law is fully accredited by the ABA. We are a stand-alone institution known for collegiality and strong teaching. This is a wonderful opportunity to become part of an innovative team with a commitment to great service.

Description: The Teaching Librarian reports to the Head of Public and Instructional Services. The Teaching Librarian leads the development and maintenance of the library’s legal research instruction program and is primarily responsible for its implementation. The Teaching Librarian is part of the Reference staff and works with the other reference librarians in providing service and support to the student body.

Compensation: Salary is dependent on qualifications. Full benefits package. Jacksonville is a major metropolitan area of Northeast Florida. We have beautiful ocean beaches and a low cost of living.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Work with the legal research and writing instructors to develop the legal research module of that program.
• Work with faculty in support of scholarly research and class instruction. This includes developing and providing class research modules, and creating documentation (handouts, bibliographies, pathfinders, etc.).
• Develop and present formal and informal library instruction for full range of available resources.
• Participate in rotation at the Library’s Reference Desk, including some evenings and weekends.
• Assist patrons in the evaluation and use of print, electronic, microform, and other resources.
• Participate in collection development.
• Keep current on developments in information technology that could be used to improve library reference and instructional services.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• MLS and JD.
• 5 years of experience in formal legal research instruction.
• Strong service orientation and ability to work well with others in a team atmosphere.
• Enthusiasm, flexibility, and a positive attitude.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Detailed knowledge of print and electronic legal research tools.
• Experience in the training and instruction of groups is preferred.

To Apply: We will consider applications immediately as we receive them. Both positions are available early Fall semester. Send letter of application, resume, and the names, addresses and phone numbers of three references to Martha Smith, Associate Director, Florida Coastal School of Law, 7565 Beach Blvd. Jacksonville, FL 32216

Does Search Engine Database Size Matter More Than Relevancy?

Danny Sullivan, editor of SearchEngineWatch, has lambasted search engine wars over database size again. His argument, in a nutshell, is relevancy, not size, matters. He's right of course but I bet Danny will be authoring another critique next year. See Danny's In Search of the Relevancy Figure, (December 2002).

New on LLRX.com for August 19, 2005

Copyright and Licensing Digital Materials - A Resource Guide

Researching Intellectual Property Law In The Russian Federation

The State of Online Legislative Research and What Makes a Good Legislative History

CongressLine, by GalleryWatch.com: The Document's Story - Legislative Narration 

The Government Domain: Back to School for Constitution Day

FOIA Facts: Dear Attorney General Gonzales

Burney's Gadgets for Legal Pros: Travel in Wireless Style

LLRX Bookstore
A dozen new recommendations available, on topics that include: the Constitution, e-government, PC privacy, implementing inovative technologies, KM and marketing, library management, government surveillance, and more....

Amazon.com, Not Just for Books Anymore

Is your favorite online book retailer quietly selling sex toys? If you answer "yes" than your favorite bookseller must be Amazon.com.

Sex & Sensuality is tucked away in Amazon.com's Health & Personal Care store. Not that that's a bad thing.

One of my teenage stepsons found the products. I don't want to know what search terms he used.

New LexisNexis Databases

BNA World Securities Law Report (Excluded from Law School Menu)
Provides monthly news of developments in the regulation of transactions involving securities around the world, as well as expert analysis of and practical guidance regarding these developments.

Library: BNA
File: BNAWSL
Source Selection Hierarchy: / Area of Law - By Topic / Securities / Treatises & Analytical Materials / BNA
OR
/ Secondary Legal / BNA / Securities Materials

Combined ALI-ABA Course of Study Materials
Contains the combined articles from all available American Law Institute-American Bar Association Committee on Continuing Professional Education Course of Study Material. The articles cover a wide array of topics in American jurisprudence, written by acknowledge experts in the respective area of law.

Library: 2NDARY, CLE, LEXREF
File: ALIABA
Source Selection Hierarchy: / Secondary Legal
OR
/ Secondary Legal / CLE Materials

Opening: Copyright Royalty Judge, LC

The Library of Congress is seeking applicants for the three appointments as Copyright Royalty Judges. Copyright Royalty Judges will preside over proceedings to determine rates and terms of the copyright law’s statutory licenses and to determine the distribution of royalties received by the Copyright Office under those statutory licenses. The Library will appoint (1) a Chief Copyright Royalty Judge, (2) a Copyright Royalty Judge with significant knowledge of copyright law , and (3) a Copyright Royalty Judge with significant knowledge of economics. The deadline for applications is September 6, 2005.

Hat tip to Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society.

D-Lab Magazine is 10 Years Old

D-Lib Magazine celebrates its 10th Anniversay in the July-August Issue, (11:7/8)

View the Table of Contents

A Tenth Anniversary for D-Lib Magazine
Bonita Wilson and Allison L. Powell, Corporation for National Research Initiatives

Really 10 Years Old?
Amy Friedlander, Shinkuro, Inc.

Whence Leadership?
Ronald L. Larsen, University of Pittsburgh

Funding for Digital Libraries Research: Past and Present
Stephen M. Griffin, National Science Foundation

Digital Libraries: Challenges and Influential Work
William H. Mischo, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Where Do We Go From Here? The Next Decade for Digital Libraries
Clifford Lynch, Coalition for Networked Information

A Viewpoint Analysis of the Digital Library
William A. Arms, Cornell University

Dewey Meets Turing: Librarians, Computer Scientists, and the Digital Libraries Initiative
Andreas Paepcke, Hector Garcia-Molina, and Rebecca Wesley, Stanford University

Border Crossings: Reflections on a Decade of Metadata Consensus Building
Stuart L. Weibel, OCLC Research

Report on the Fifth ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries - Cyberinfrastructure for Research and Education: June 11, 2005, Denver, Colorado
Tamara Sumner, University of Colorado at Boulder

JCDL Workshop Report: Studying Digital Library Users in the Wild
Michael Khoo, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and David Ribes, University of California - San Diego

Kinematic Models for Design Digital Library (KMODDL)
Kizer Walker and John M. Saylor, Cornell University

Developing a Digital Libraries Education Program: JCDL Workshop Summary
Molly Dolan, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

NSF/NSDL & CODATA Workshop on International Scientific Data, Standards, and Digital Libraries
Laura M. Bartolo, Kent State University and John Rumble, Information International Associates

Next Generation Knowledge Organization Systems: Integration Challenges and Strategies
Deanne DiPietro, Sonoma Ecology Center

Information Literacy at the Graduate Level (and Beyond)

Christy A. Donaldson (Montana State University - Bozeman) discusses the application of a problem solving model created by McKinsey & Company to the teaching of information literacy to MBA students. 

The abstract sums up her research well:

Many graduate students do not have the required skills and knowledge to do the research required at a graduate level. The key is creating an information literacy program that will teach our graduate students these skills. This paper proposes a program using the McKinsey strategic problem-solving model for teaching information literacy to MBA students. Collaboration between the business faculty members and university librarians is a key to the success of this program. The goals for information literacy are usually held in common by administrators, faculty, and librarians; but there has been controversy on campuses as to how to accomplish these goals. Using the McKinsey model, an integrated information literacy program can be created for graduate business students.

I have no opinion about the McKinsey model but I do know that the information illiteracy problem does not stop at the doors of B-School. Law Schools stand shoulder to shoulder with the shortcomings of B-Schools-- and they have done so for at least the 25 years I've been around.

When I was a law firm librarian, I found the bunk of my work during the early weeks and months after the Summer bar was retraining first year associates in how to do legal research, including research any paralegal would be required to know before being hired. After that, I still have to keep an eye on them until they moved pass their third year at the firm.

My utterly unscientific conclusion was (and remains) that first year associates who did not take an advanced legal research course before graduating law school were usually terrible researchers; they were virtually functionally illiterate. And the first year associates I'm referring to didn't graduate from also-ran schools. The firm I work at only hired the top 10 percent of the top 10 law schools. For me, this signals a systemic problem

My grip was then and remains today that the typical 1L Research and Writing Class neglects research because of the emphasis the course places on writing. (For the moment, lets just recognize without further comment that a contributing factor may be that non-librarians are trying to teach legal research based, most likely, on their own flawed law school training.) Working in an academic setting now, I must conclude that law schools which fail to offer advanced legal research are failing in their mission of preparing graduates for their careers. Personally I would like to see advanced legal research courses be required and be taught by experienced law librarians on staff and/or by libraian practitioners in the field serving as adjunct lecturers in legal research.

I hear the cringing now ... I know teaching these advanced legal research courses are a lot of work, but if we academic law librarians don't do it, firm, corporate, and other law librarians will have to do it. We are academic law librarians, aren't we; we are in the educational business. (Making advanced legal research a required course might justify hiring law librarians to help cover this teaching load.)

Here's the Ten Skills Needed by Graduate Students Conducting Research in the Information Age as published in Donalson's report. Do your law school students measure up, really measure up?

• Focus the topic (narrow the topic / broaden the scope).
• Work in reverse chronological order, searching the newest information first.
• Understand the significance of terminology and determine correct subject
headings.
• Vary the sources ([primary materials and secondary materials, such as) books, periodicals, Internet sites, etc.).
• Use Boolean strategies (and, or, not) in computer searches.
• Multiply sources by three (identify three times as many references as needed for
the research).
• Evaluate critically the material retrieved; be especially suspicious of sources from
the Web.
• Assimilate the information; don’t plagiarize. Incorporate your own ideas based on
the research topic.
• Cite all sources.

We can quibble about some of the above listed skills, but I think we are know when we see legal research taught poorly.

IRS Reports on Disclosure of Tax Return Information for CY2004

TaxProf Blog reports on the Joint Tax Committee's release of IRS Disclosures of Tax Return Information, 2004 (JCX-63-05). The report reveals that the IRS made 4.6 billion disclosures of tax return information to federal and state agencies.

Top 5 recipients of taxpayer information:

1. States: 3.279 billion
2. Bureau of the Census: 1.013 billion
3. Congressional Committees: 168 million
4. GAO: 75 million
5. Bureau of Economic Analysis: 18 million

Opening: Government Information Librarian, LSU

Law Library, Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Government Information Librarian

The LSU Law Library is seeking a highly motivated librarian to fill an Associate Librarian position with considerable potential for professional growth. Reporting to the Head of Access Services, the Government Information Librarian will provide specialized reference assistance and instruction to users of federal and Louisiana government information sources. The person in this position will manage the Federal Depository Library collection to ensure compliance with Federal Depository Library Program guidelines. The successful applicant will participate in delivery of reference services in the government documents department and the library reference desk, including some evening and weekend hours, and in library-wide collection development work, library user outreach, and in-library staff training. This individual will be responsible for the Appellate Archive, a 160,000 volume Louisiana Supreme Court and appellate court records collection for which the Law Library functions as a depository. We are seeking a flexible and dedicated professional who can work effectively in a cooperative team environment in which customer service is of critical importance. Librarians at the LSU Law Library have library faculty status and must meet Law Center Library criteria to achieve tenure and promotion. This is a 12 month, tenure-track appointment.

Qualifications
Required:

• M.L.S. or equivalent from an ALA accredited institution
• Familiarity with legal reference sources
• Reference experience utilizing government information sources in electronic and paper formats
• Demonstrated ability to solve problems independently with little direct supervision
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with colleagues and diverse clientele in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment
• Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills
• Excellent organizational skills
• Evidence of a strong commitment to customer satisfaction, and the ability to interact effectively with faculty, students, staff, alumni, and the public
• Demonstrated potential for successful professional activity and the ability to represent the law library regionally and nationally
• Substantial evidence of increasing responsibility in the academic library setting

Preferred:

• J.D. from an ABA accredited institution
• Demonstrated understanding of emerging trends in government information publication, dissemination, and best practices
• One year experience providing legal reference services

Selection of Candidates:
Finalists for the position must successfully complete an on-campus interview, including an oral presentation on a topic of the candidate’s choosing related to government information; and receive the affirmative recommendation of the majority of the Government Information Librarian search committee.

To Apply:
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. For maximum consideration, applications should be received by September 2, 2005.

Salary will be commensurate with the candidate’s experience and in keeping with those at the nation’s other outstanding law schools. The LSU Law Center is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity within its organization.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. To apply, send a letter of application, a resume, and the names and contact information of three professional references via e-mail (Word or PDF preferred) to:

Dr. Frank A. Adair
Director of Human Resources
Louisiana State University
Paul M. Hebert Law Center
mailto:faadair@lsu.edu

The LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access Employer.