Law Librarian Blog

The Virtual Chase

Law Dawg Blawg starts off reviewing the Virtual Chase by saying

"The Virtual Chase is an indispensable resource for internet legal researchers. It includes a research newsletter, TVC Alert, to which you can subscribe by listserv or RSS/XML feed; articles on a wide variety of Internet Research research strategies and resources; a How To Do It with Research! section; a tutorial on Evaluating the Quality of Information on the Internet; Tips for Conducting Internet Research; research guides on Company Information, Legal Research, People Finder and Search Engines; and much more."

Read the rest of the review.

What's New on HeinOnline

HeinOnline's latest release includes the addition of 12 new journals, updates to 39 existing journals, and a new volume of Federal Register.  As always, the free HeinOnline Cataloging Aid has also been updated and can be viewed at http://washburnlaw.edu/heinonline/.

In addition, we would like to inform you of a new enhancement to the full-text searching feature in the Law Journal Library, an enhancement that allows you to include numbers in your searches.  For example, you can now perform a full-text phrase search for "March 26, 1924," and you will find every occurrence of this date as mentioned in the full-text of this Library.  (Previously, all numbers were ignored in full-text searches.)  While this feature is currently available only with the Law Journal Library, this full-text searching enhancement will be available in all of the HeinOnline Libraries very soon!

Here is the list of new material that has now been added to HeinOnline:

Law Journal Library (New titles) -

Clinical Law Review

Vols. 1-9 (1994-2003)

Columbia Journal of Environmental Law

Vols. 1-29 (1974-2004)

Federal Probation

Vols. 1-67 (1937-2003)

International Journal of Civil Society Law

Vols. 1-2 (2003-2004)

Journal of Criminal Law

Vols. 1-65 (1937-2001)

Journal on Firearms and Public Policy

Vols. 2-15 (1989-2003)

National Lawyers Guild Quarterly

Vols. 1-3 (1937-1940)

New Dimensions in Legislation (Notre Dame)

Vols. 1-3 (1971-1972)

Pace Law Review

Vols. 1-23 (1980-2003)

Tulane Maritime Law Journal

Vols. 1-27 (1975-2003)

United States Law Journal

Vols. 1-2 (1822-1826)

University of New South Wales Law Journal

Vols. 1-26 (1975-2003)

Law Journal Library (Updates to existing titles) -

American Journal of Law & Medicine

Vol. 30 (2004)

Alaska Law Review

Vol. 21 (2004)

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Vol. 12 (2004)

Asian Law Journal

Vol. 10 (2003)

Boston University Law Review

Vol. 84 (2004)

Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence

Vol. 17 (2004)

Capital Defense Journal

Vol. 15-16 (2002-2003)

Capital University Law Review

Vol. 32 (2003-2004)

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

Vol. 11 (2003-2004)

Common Law World Review

Vol. 32 (2003)

DePaul-LCA Journal of Art and Entertainment Law

Vol. 14 (2004)

Drake Journal of Agricultural Law

Vol. 8 (2003)

Duke Law Journal

Vol. 53 (2003-2004)

Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy

Vol. 27 (2004)

Holy Cross Journal of Law and Public Policy

Vols. 7-8 (2003-2004)

Human Rights Quarterly

Vols. 18-24 (1996-2002)

Idaho Law Review

Vol. 13 (1976-1977)

Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media

Vol. 48 (2004)

Journal of Church and State

Vol. 46 (2004)

Journal of Law and Religion

Vol. 19 (2003-2004)

Journal of Medicine and Law

Vol. 8 (2003-2004)

McGill Law Journal

Vol. 49 (2003-2004)

Military Law Review

Vol. 180 (2004)

Notre Dame Law Review

Vol. 79 (2003-2004)

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Vol. 4 (2003-2004)

Seton Hall Law Review

Vol. 34 (2003-2004)

Singapore Yearbook of International Law

Vol. 8 (2004)

Southern California Law Review

Vol. 77 (2003-2004)

Tax Lawyer

Vol. 57 (2003-2004)

Transportation Law Journal

Vol. 30 (2002-2003)

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

Vol. 26 (2003-2004)

University of Chicago Legal Forum

Vol. 2003-2004 (2003-2004)

University of Chicago Law Review

Vol. 71 (2004)

University of Cincinnati Law Review

Vol. 72 (2003-2004)

University of Colorado Law Review

Vol. 75 (2004)

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Vol. 37 (2003-2004)

Villanova Law Review

Vol. 49 (2004)

Washington Law Review

Vol. 79 (2004)

Washington University Journal of Law & Policy

Vol. 16 (2004)

Federal Register

Federal Register

Vol. 59 (1994)

Ron Jones, Univ Cin Law Library

Patent Reform Meetings

Patent reform is the topic of a series of town hall-style meetings sponsored by the National Academies' Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy. Participants will discuss reform proposals common to recent reports from STEP, the Federal Trade Commission, and the American Intellectual Property Law Association. The meetings will takes place on March 4 in Chicago, IL, on March 18 in Boston and June 9 in Washington, D.C.

Registration information is available online.

BNA Experts Available for Analysis of Major Legislative News

From a BNA Press Release:

Contacts: Karen James Cody, BNA - Press Contact

Washington, D.C. (February 14, 2005) - The following BNA experts are available for analysis of major legislative news. Articles by these authors and analyses of the issues are available.

Expert List by topic and speciality:

Bush Administration / Appropriations
Nancy Ognanovich

Senate Leadership
Senate Appropriations Bills
Bush White House

Congress
Heather Rothman

House Leadership
House Appropriations Bills
Surface Transportation

The Economy
Brett Ferguson

Monetary Policy
Interest Rates
FY 2006 Budget

Wage Trends
Joel Popkin, Ph.D.
Kathryn Kobe

Trends in private industry wages
BNA's Wage Trend Indicator

Health Care
Jennifer Combs

Medicaid Reform (Proposed $60 billion in cuts)
Child health (CHIP) program

Health Care
Steve Teske

Medicare

Social Security Reform
Elizabeth White

Social Security Reform Proposals

Telecommunications
Cheryl Bolen

Federal Communications Commission
Voice over Internet Protocol
Re-write of the Telecom Act

Labor
Fawn Johnson

Employment Legislation: Overtime, Minimum Wage, Unemployment, FMLA Immigration
Welfare Reform
Asbestos Legislation

Legal Reform
Ralph Lindeman

Class Actions Legislation
Tort Reform Legislation

Money & Politics
Kenneth Doyle

Campaign Finance Reform
Section 527 Political Organizations
Political Advertising Regulation
Federal Election Commission

Pension Reform
Sheila Cherry

Pensions funding – private side
Legislative pension reform

Tax Policy
Kurt Ritterpusch

U.S. Tax Legislation

Tax Policy
Alison Bennett

International Tax Legislation

Workplace Trends
Joshua Joseph

Surveys: Employer Policies & Practices, Absence & Turnover, Employment Outlook Best Practices
HR Benchmarks & Metrics
Employer Bargaining Objectives

ALA's Gorman Trashes Blogs, Bloggers & Blog Readers

Excerpts of Gorman's rant about blogs, bloggers and blog readers:

"A blog is a species of interactive electronic diary by means of which the unpublishable, untrammeled by editors or the rules of grammar, can communicate their thoughts via the web. (Though it sounds like something you would find stuck in a drain, the ugly neologism blog is a contraction of "web log.") Until recently, I had not spent much time thinking about blogs or Blog People.

....

It is obvious that the Blog People read what they want to read rather than what is in front of them and judge me to be wrong on the basis of what they think rather than what I actually wrote. Given the quality of the writing in the blogs I have seen, I doubt that many of the Blog People are in the habit of sustained reading of complex texts. It is entirely possible that their intellectual needs are met by an accumulation of random facts and paragraphs. In that case, their rejection of my view is quite understandable."

Read the entire article, Revenge of the Blog People, in Library Journal.

Ah, Michael, got any idea how many professional librarians, including ALA members, blog. Can Gorman be censured by ALA?

See also CowboyNeal's post on Slashdot and the hundreds of comments to that post.

New Sources Added to LexisNexis

New information sources added to the LexisNexis service this week

1. Field Operations Handbook, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor (WHFOH)
2. SEAK National Directory of Experts (DIEXPT)
3. California Administrative Code Archive (CAADAR)
4. California Administrative Code Archive 2004 (CAAD04)
5. New Jersey Standard Civil Jury Instructions (JINJCI)
6. New Jersey Standard Criminal Jury Instructions (JINJCR)

Six CRS Reports Made Available

ResourceShelf lists six CRS Reports made available by the Federation of American Scientists and the National Library for the Environment.

Of interest to me, Information Sharing for Homeland Security: A Brief Overview.

Of interest to citizens who care about what Congress and the Executive Branch are doing: Tracking Current Federal Legislation and Regulations: A Guide to Basic Sources. Can anyone explain to me why this CRS report should be considered confidential work product and a privileged communication?

Also via the ResourceShelf:

Can We Tape? by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is a chart showing "tape recording laws at a glance" for all 50 states. The chart indicates whether consent of all parties is required, if there are criminal penalities, whether statute allows for civil suits, if a specific hidden camera law exists, and whether there are additional penalities for disclosing or publishing information.

Fall Titles from West: Estate Planning

Cases and Materials on Family Wealth Management
Grayson M.P. McCouch, University of San Diego,
William J. Turnier, University of North Carolina

Copyright and Human Rights Treatise

Copyright and Human Rights: Freedom of Expression - Intellectual Property - Privacy is recommend for all law libraries whose collection development policy mandates a high level of collection intensity in the area of human rights. Libraries with in-depth intellection property law collections should consider acquiring this work.

From the product description: "The idea of copyright has undergone a sea change in recent decades. It is now frequently invoked to safeguard the profits of corporate marketers of widely-used media and software products, and in this context has given rise to a surprising new conflict: the collision of copyright and human rights. Copyright and Human Rights is the first comprehensive analysis of this emerging nexus of legal issues. In eight incisive essays, well-known authorities in both copyright law and human rights law present in-depth analysis and discussions on several essential topics."

1 volume (hardcover) ... $94.00
192 pages; ISBN 90-411-2278-8
Published: Kluwer Law International; 2004
Distributed by William S. Hein & Co., Inc.

Support the OPEN Government Act (SB 394)

Once again LibraryLaw Blog, in this instance Susan Nevelow Mart, is on top of pending legislation:

Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, and Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont introduced Senate Bill 394 on February 16, 2005. The bill’s title says it all: Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act of 2005 (OPEN Government Act). The act, according the senator Cornyn’s press release, “ is aimed at substantially enhancing and expanding the accessibility, accountability, and openness of the federal government…The legislation is supported by groups from across the political spectrum, from ACLU to the Heritage Foundation.” 

Read all about it and subscribe to the LibraryLaw Blog's feed!

D-Lib Magazine' February Issue

The February issue of D-Lib Magazine is now online.

Table of Contents

SRW/U with OAI: Expected and Unexpected Synergies
Robert Sanderson, University of Liverpool; and Jeffrey Young and Ralph LeVan, OCLC.

Abstract
SRW/U (the Search/Retrieve Webservice) and OAI (Open Archives Initiative) are both modern information retrieval protocols developed by distinct groups from different backgrounds at around the same time. This article sets out to briefly contrast the two protocols' aims and approaches, and then to look at some novel ways in which they have been or may be usefully co-implemented. While using SRW as a search service to an OAI repository or aggregated data set is an obvious synergy, there are also many other useful architectures that can be constructed without bending the protocols' semantics.

A Metadata Search Engine for Digital Language Archives
Baden Hughes and Amol Kamat, University of Melbourne

Abstract
In this article we describe the design and implementation of a full-featured metadata search engine within the Open Language Archives Community (OLAC). Unlike many digital library search engines, this particular implementation has a high degree of affinity with web search engines in terms of reasoning and results display, and presumes no knowledge of the underlying metadata or database structures on behalf of the user. Features of the search engine include a variety of string matching algorithms; a thesaurus of alternate language names; language code searching; keyword-in-context display in search results; search for similarly spelled words; search for similar items; support for standard string search  sperators and domain-specific inline syntax; and automatically derived search links for other web search engines. A notable contribution of this research is the inclusion in the search engine results of a metadata quality-centric sorting algorithm.

Concepts and a Design for Fair Use and Privacy in DRM
Pasi Tyrväinen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Abstract
Typical digital rights management (DRM) systems used for piracy protection in content distribution provide access to encrypted content only on the hardware identified in a digital license. This hardware locking restricts fair use, e.g., by preventing copying content for private use. Using hardware identity, media distributors can also link together all customer purchases, which can threaten customer privacy. The need to design DRM systems and electronic commerce business models that allow fair use is commonly agreed. But the intelligence and contextual factors that a judge uses in interpreting the legal limits of fair use in the US cannot be fully implemented in the licensing rules of DRM systems. However, approximating fair use by licensing would be well in line with the requirement of the EU copyright directive and would also serve customers in the US by reducing the need for costly human evaluation. We propose approaching this problem by a set of new design concepts bringing access to process context information to DRM license control systems. These concepts provide privacy by separating user and product identities and by enabling distribution history tracking. The fair use licensing proposed does not violate privacy although it maintains the advantages of hardware locking. It also enables new added value services for customers on back-up services and on re-sales of content products.

The eXtensible Past : XML as a Means for Access to Historical Datasets and a Strategy for Digital Preservation
Annelies van Nispen, Rutger Kramer and René van Horik, Netherlands Institute for Scientific Information Services

Abstract
This article reports on the X-past project carried out by the Netherlands Historical Data Archive (NHDA). The main goal of the project has been to investigate how the XML data format can improve the durability of and access to historical datasets. The X-past project furthermore investigated whether it would be possible to provide access to historical datasets by means of the "Open Archives Initiative—Protocol for Metadata Harvesting" (OAI-PMH). Within the framework of the X-past project a prototype information system has been developed and a number of users have been asked to report on usability issues concerning this system.

NLRB Makes Advice Memos More Accessible

NLRB February 3, 2005 Press Release:

The National Labor Relations Board has enhanced the way in which the public can search for documents posted on its Web site, particularly Advice Memoranda issued by the Office of the General Counsel.

Advice Memos are now arranged on the Web site by date of issuance with a year-to-year breakdown going back to the 1960s.  Previously, these memos were sorted by the date of their release to the public.  Another improvement is a new tool that links a user to the most recent publicly available Advice Memos.

These enhancements will enable the researcher to locate released Advice Memos by topic, case name, and number or date of issuance.  They were implemented by the Division of Advice, a component of the Office of the General Counsel that is responsible for legal research and advice to Regional Directors on unfair labor practice cases involving novel or difficult legal issues, including questions involving mandatory or discretionary injunction proceedings.

The Office of the General Counsel routinely releases to the public Advice Memos in cases where the Division of Advice concludes that the charge should be dismissed, and those where the Division authorized issuance of complaint but the case has closed and the case is not related to any open case.  In announcing the research improvements on the site, NLRB General Counsel Arthur F.  Rosenfeld stated: 

We have not until now been able to provide a search mechanism for these memoranda.  This new system will allow easy substantive research of these decisions.  It will give the public and the Bar more information about the workings of the Office of the General Counsel, and is consistent with the principles of an open and transparent government.

This improvement in the accessibility of Advice Memos is part of the NLRB’s broad effort to make its decisions and other documents available online to the public, including Board decisions, Administrative Law Judge decisions, and Regional Director decisions, other General Counsel memoranda, the Weekly Summary of NLRB Decisions, manuals, Federal Register and other public notices, Rules and Regulations, and NLRB publications.   

Among the Agency’s research tools already available is CiteNet, a searchable database containing the Classified Index of NLRB Board Decisions and Related Court Decisions, which allows the public to find a synopsis ("digest" or "scope note") of relevant issues found in Board and selected court decisions since February 1, 1992 (Board volume 306 to present).  The NLRB classification system is a detailed key number system for issues in Board decisions.   

Researchers may search the database by classification number, topic keyword or case name.  A quick start guide on the site explains how to use the system.  A hard copy version of the Classified Index updated in October 2003 can be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office.

Thanks to The E-LawLibrary Weblog for the tip.

Review of Where the Law Is

Every so often, something comes along to shake things up. Where the Law Is: An Introduction to Advanced Legal Research by J.D.S. Armstrong and Christopher A. Knott (Thomson-West 2004) definitely stirs up trouble for proponents of the toolbox method of teaching legal research. It takes a problem-solving approach to answering legal research questions that emphasizes research principles rather than specific resources.

This text is intended for those researchers who have already mastered “the nuts and bolts of legal information,” and conveys the research wisdom of someone who knows what goes on behind the scenes when primary and secondary legal resources are produced. Its responses to the perennial questions “Where do I begin?” and “How will I know when I’m done?” are genuinely insightful.

Authors Armstrong and Knott put considerable effort into teaching the researcher how to find the information needed for the task at hand. They do not attempt to “shotgun” the process of finding legal information. Rather, they guide the more sophisticated researcher in devising a heuristic approach that is quite likely to solve the problem, as opposed to a making a needlessly time-consuming algorithmic sweep of the literature that guarantees an answer.

The authors also carry us beyond description, beyond how things work, to how things work together. Their book integrates form, process and meaning in legal literature. Chapter 2, "Statutes" illustrates this point. Here, in the context of a format-neutral discussion of statutory compilations and codes, the authors discuss why some laws never make it into the code, and how to find those laws. They also discuss a number of phenomena that can be vexing for the legal researcher, such as “monster session laws” and session law nomenclature vs. code nomenclature.

Where the Law Is is remarkably brief (221 pages) and lacks painstakingly detailed descriptions of specific legal resources – but for good reason. These already exist in exhaustive legal research texts written by some of the giants of law librarianship such as Cohen & Berring, Jacobstein & Mersky (& Dunn), and Price & Bitner. Their approach was appropriate at the time (i.e., 1950’s to 1990’s), in part because the legal literature of the period stood still long enough to become portraiture on the printed page. Armstrong and Knott recognize that there is no need to reproduce another dissection of the U.S. Code in its official and commercially produced permutations.

I admire the authors’ use of plain, unstilted language throughout the text. They are not afraid to use the term “currency” (as opposed to “currentness) in discussing the “up-to-date-ness” of information. Though their plain talk is not prescriptive, it exposes assumptions and helps the researcher avoid making some really wrong choices. As a result, it helps the researcher understand how to maneuver within the sometimes complex structure of legal literature.

I never came across a textbook I would require my students to buy for my Advanced Legal Research course until now. I highly recommend Where the Law Is as a text for legal research instructors who want to leave the toolbox in the garage, and explore a new approach.

Virginia C. Thomas
Director, Law Library & Information Technology
Robert S. Marx Law Library
University of Cincinnati College of Law

Information Policy Taken for Granted in New GAO Report

In 21st Century Challenges: Reexamining the Base of the Federal Government, the GAO proposes re-thinking the federal government's role in 12 areas of national life:

National Defense
Education and Employment
Financial Regulation
Health Care
Homeland Security
International Relations
National Resources
Retirement and Disability Policy
Science and Technology
Transportation
Governance Capacity
Tax System

Although information flow is given some attention in the report's Governance discussion, information policy is by and large overlooked. Is not information policy as important to our national life as the 12 listed areas of concern?

Fall Titles from West: Environmental Law

Environmental Law in Context:  Cases, Materials and Statutes
Robin K. Craig, Indiana University, Indianapolis

Legal Protection of the Environment
William F. Funk, Lewis and Clark Law School,
Craig N. Johnston, Lewis and Clark Law School,
Victor B. Flatt, University of Houston

The Law of Environmental and Toxic Torts:  Cases, Materials, and Problems, 3rd Ed.
M. Stuart Madden, Pace University

Lethal Weapon 12: Armed & Dangerous in the Library

Crime in the Library reports that a 10-year-old boy took a gun to the Bond Hill Library in Ohio. Well, Ohio is a concealed carry state so I'll sure the kid was just following daddy's example.

A wee bit more disconcerting is another Crime in the Library report. In this instance, the police chief for Reynoldsburg, Ohio left her loaded gun in the library.

I'm sure the former gun-in-library situation is covered in the ALA Library Security Guidelines (2001) but what about the latter situation? Would lost and found be appropriate?

File Under: Be Careful What You Ask For

The American Libraries Online Website is reporting that the CIA has removed papers from the collection of papers of the late Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson held at the University of Washington Allen Library in Seattle.  According to the posting, 10 papers were removed.  The search was sparked by the library staff discovering a classified paper in the archive and then sending it to Washington for declassification. 

More information from other news sources can be developed by searching the terms "CIA", "Jackson", and "papers" in Google News.

Mark Giangrande, DePaul Law Library

New Edition of Classic on UNCITRAL Model Law on Arbitration

The Work of UNCITRAL on Arbitration and Conciliation, Second and Expanded Edition by Prof. Dr. Pieter Sanders should be part of any collection that covers international business transactions or commerical arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.

From the product description: "The UNCITRAL Model Law on Arbitration is one of the cornerstones of dispute resolution theory and practice. Its effect in particular on the entire field of international business transactions is in calculable. Accordingly, the more a practitioner knows about its use, scope, and interpretation, the better.

And no single work provides more direct and succinct insights into the body of UNCITRAL rules and notes surrounding the Model Law than this important title - now in its Second Edition - by the acknowledged “father of international commercial arbitration, “ Pieter Sanders."

1 volume (hardcover) .... $118.00
332 pages; ISBN 90-411-2249-4
Published: Kluwer Law International; 2004
Distributed by William S. Hein & Co., Inc.

Is the University of Phoenix Setting the Trend for the Rest of Us?

Education technologies used by the University of Phoenix is the focus of a Spokane Journal article. I suggest reading it with this question in the back of your mind - are they us five or ten or twenty years from now (and would that be a bad thing)?

Quoting from the article:

“We’ve moved from a textbook environment to an online resource,” says Paul Green, director of the Spokane campus... The university’s extensive Web site allows students to do much of their required reading and research online, talk with instructors and classmates electronically, do exercises online, and turn in papers and other homework via the Web, among many other functions.

Thanks to the Kept-Up Academic Librarian for spotlighting this article.

Kudos to a Fellow Blogger

Co-founder, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Law Professor Blogs Network and editor of TaxProf Blog, Paul Caron has received the ultimate review from Dennis Kennedy:

Caron's blog is the model I would point any law professor considering a blog to study as part of the preparation for launching his or her own blog. It's informative, it's interesting and it has a great mix of academic materials and popular materials, along with links to great resources. Again, I'm not sure Professor Caron has tenure (he definitely should), so I hope I'm not blowing his chances by making favorable comments about his blog.

Note to Dennis: Paul has tenure. He is the Charles Hartsock Professor of Law and Director of Faculty Projects at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.