Law Librarian Blog

Must Reading: Law Review Article on the Three Stooges

Robert Ambrogi discovered a short Oklahoma Law Review article that discusses the Three Stooges' portrayal of lawyers and the law. The only thing more fun than reading the article is watching Disorder in the Court. Who can forget "Doyousolemnlysweartotellthetruththewholetruthandnothingbutthetruth?"

The article, Images of Lawyers and the Three Stooges was written by Randall Coyne and published in 1997 but you can read it online thanks to Tarleton's Law and Popular Culture Collection.

God bless Roy Mersky!

Portal to Federal Agency Press Releases

The GSA has created a portal to federal agency press release distributors. Called the US Government News / Press Release Gateway one can only hope that someday the links will be to RSS feeds instead of websites.

February Issue of Law Practice Today

Here are the featured articles in the current issue of Law Practice Today:

Common Computing Crises, Causes, and Cures
by Joseph L. Kashi

Managing the Security and Privacy of Electronic Data in a Law Office - Part II
by Dan Pinnington

60 Tips in 60 Minutes Preview
by Laura Calloway, Ellen Freedman, Dan Pinnington, and Reid Trautz

Practical Pointers for PowerPoint Presentations
by Simon Chester and Dan Pinnington

Is 64-Bit Computing Worth It? A Performance and Cost Comparison
by Joseph L. Kashi

CoolGov's All About Finding Cool Gov Docs

If you are a really dedicated gov docs librarian, you'll love Jon ‘n’ Elizabeth's CoolGov  blog.

"The basic premise is this: the U.S. government provides lots of neat resources, more and more of which can be found on the internet. Basically, we’re just going to try and find the coolest stuff there is and post it here. After all, you paid for it… dammit, you better get some use out of it."

Tales from the Crypt

NESL Reference recounts law library ghost stories. Read all about it.

Court Rules for Apple in Preliminary Hearing Against Blogs

CNET News is reporting that a California judge has issued a tentaive ruling against three blog sites which declined to extend first amendment protections to them in a case where the sites disclosed information about Apple's upcoming products. The article quotes the San Jose Mercury news (subscription) as its news source.

Another link to the same information in the San Jose Mercury as published by the Houston Chronicle.

Mark Giangrande, DePaul Law Library

DOJ on Open Government Act

On February 25, the DOJ released its statement of the Open Government Act (S. 394; H.R. 867)

Thanks to beSpacific for the tip

Read Senator Cornyn's introduction of S. 394 in the Congressional Record for February 16, 2005.

Nothing Says Friday Like an Interactive Map of Springfield

Jerry Lerma and Terry Hogan have distinguished themselves in their service to humanity by producing an interactive map of Springfield USA. They explain:

The mapping of Springfield began in the Spring of 2001 when we realized that no adequate map of Springfield existed either online or in print. Initially the content was collected from the City Profile and Springfield Vacation pages at The Simpsons Archive, but it has since been expanded by numerous viewings of most episodes of The Simpsons.

While the placement of most locations is arbitrary, many are placed according to where they appear in relationship to each other in specific episodes of The Simpsons. In some cases 'one-time references' to specific locations have been disregarded in favor of others more often repeated. Due to the many inconsistencies among episodes, the map will never be completely accurate.

Although we'd like our map to be as accurate as a map to any imaginary place can be, our main intent is to preserve the comic spirit of Springfield, document its unique identity, and to have some fun at the same time.

South Park anyone?

Thanks to Librarians' Index to the Internet for the tip.

Web Search Garage Wins 2004 Pandia

Congratulations go out to Tara Calishain. Her most deserving work, Web Search Garage, received the 2004 Pandia award for the best search engine publication last week.

I've read it. So should you. It's not your usual search engine guide. Part II, Principles of Web Searching, is a must read for researchers and instructors. Tara truly is "crazy about search engines" and "almost as crazy about trying to teach other people to use search engines."

Tara's other works include Google Hacks, Google Pocket Guide, and, the 1996 landmark work, Official Netscape Guide to Internet Research. And, of course, she is editor of ResearchBuzz. Subscribe to it!

View all 2004 Pandia Awards (for the best search tools, search oriented sites and search engine documentation). Read more about Pandia.

Have You Seen the First Image Posted on the Web?

"Back in 1992 ... Tim Berners-Lee asked me for a few scanned photos of "the CERN girls" to publish them on some sort of information system he had just invented, called the "World Wide Web."
-- Silvano de Gennaro

The image that started it all.

Fall Titles from West: International Litigation

International Litigation and Arbitration: Cases and Materials
Thomas Edgar Carbonneau,  Pennsylvania State University

International Litigation and Arbitration, 3rd Ed.
Andreas F. Lowenfeld, New York University

Lessig on C-SPAN Tonight at at 6:30pm ET

You can watch the broadcast and email questions via the C-SPAN site.

GPO to Consult Federal Depository Libraries Before Changing Distribution Practices

From the FDLP Listserv: GPO Position on FDLP Distribution (March 1, 2005)

Through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), and in partnership with more than 1,250 libraries nationwide, the U.S. Government Printing office has an abiding commitment to providing public access to the most comprehensive body of official Federal Government information possible.

Since 1996, GPO has been transitioning the FDLP to a predominately electronic basis in full cooperation and consultation with the library community. This initiative has resulted in an exponential expansion of effective public access to Government information without substantial increases in funding, and today more than 1 million documents a day are retrieved from GPO Access (www.gpoaccess.gov. At the same time, GPO has continued to provide public access to information in tangible formats in accordance with policy established by GPO's Superintendent of Documents.

GPO will continue to expand electronic information offerings through the FDLP and will continue to provide for dissemination of tangible products to depository libraries in accordance with existing policy, in full consultation with the library community. GPO will ensure that the necessary resources are applied to these tasks for FY 2005 and 2006 without requiring additional resources beyond those that have been approved and requested.

All ongoing work on improvements to GPO's electronic information dissemination systems-including those projects associated with the authentication, preservation, and establishment of standards for electronic information products-will continue. GPO's Superintendent of Documents will actively seek the guidance and input of the library community in planning for and implementing changes in the dissemination of Government information products in either electronic or tangible formats. (emplasis added)

Consultation Process:
To begin this consultation, the Superintendent will convene multiple sessions on the future of tangible information products in the FDLP at the Spring 2005 meeting of the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer, in Albuquerque, NM (April 17-20). The Superintendent will also conduct a survey of Federal depository libraries nationwide on the same subject. No changes in existing policy or program practice regarding the dissemination of tangible products will be implemented until the results of these efforts have been fully reviewed in consultation with the library community and GPO's oversight committees in Congress. (emplasis added)

Judith C. Russell (jrussell@gpo.gov)

Managing Director, Information Dissemination

(Superintendent of Documents)

U.S. Government Printing Office

Phone: 202-512-0571

Fax: 202-512-1434

Recent Articles on Legal Research

Carol M. Bast and Susan W. Harrell, Ethical obligations: performing adequate legal research and legal writing. 29 Nova L. Rev. 49-73 (2004).

William A. Hilyerd, Using the law library: a guide for educators part III: oh, statute (or regulation), where art thou? 34 J.L. & Educ. 101- 116 (2005).

Source: Febrary 25, 2005 CLIP

Finding Blogs by Legal Topic

Diane Murley at SIU Law Library's Law Dawg Blawg posts an excellent overview of how to find  blogs on any legal topic. Diane hits a home run with her selection and description of useful blog directories, aggregators, current awareness services, and webrings.

Law Dawg Blawg is becoming one of my favorite academic law library blogs. Read it, subscribe to it!

Watch Mary Minow's Webcast Today: "Fair Use" of Graphics for Websites

The webcast will start at Noon PST. View the webcast from this link: http://infopeople.org/training/webcasts/03-03-05/

Sponsored by ALA-OITP, "Borrowing" Graphics or Text for Library Web Pages: Fair Play, and Fair Use" will be the subject of LibraryLaw blogger Mary Minow's presentation this afternoon. Here's the blurb:

Libraries seldom have generous graphic arts budgets, and it can be hard to give your Web pages that extra sparkle. When is it OK for a library to borrow graphics and text from other Web sites? This Webcast guides you through a handy flowchart that helps you identify what is in the public domain, gives you a sense of what qualifies as "fair use," and offers sample permission forms that can be emailed to Webmasters.

EDUCAUSE on Educating the Net Generation

Educating the Net Generation edited by Diana G. Oblinger and James L. Oblinger, is a free e-book from EDUCAUSE that addresses the aptitudes, attitudes, expectations, and learning styles of Net Gen students -- that generation which has left many of us shaking our heads when they proudly say they did all of their research online; that generation that has grown up with information technology; that generation that is on the "youth and skill" side of the "age and treachery will beat youth and skill everyday" equation.

The Net generation's environment is decidedly different from the one which existed when faculty, most librarians (at least the ones with gray hair who manage today's libraries) and administrators were growing up.

Do we understand them? Maybe, kinda, sort of. Can we learn more? Sure. The collection of essays in Educating the Net Generation explores the Net Gen and the implications for institutions in areas such as teaching, service, learning space design, faculty development, and curriculum.

Free Abstract Database of Criminal Justice Publications

Thanks to WisBlawg and Bonnie Shucha for this find:

NCJRS Abstracts Database contains summaries of more than 180,000 criminal justice publications. Most documents were published by NCJRS sponsoring agencies -- the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, all part of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy -- since 1995 are available in full-text online. When the full-text is available online, a link is included with the abstract.

Full-Text Searching at NCJRS
Abbie Bradfield Mulvihill, Library Director at Zuckerman Spaeder, LLP, emailed me to call my attention to the fact that you can also search full-text publications at NCJRS.

The full-text search function covers the NCJRS web site and the web sites of the agencies of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The Office Justice Programs includes the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the Office for Victims of Crime.

Abbie is the editor of one fine blog, AbsTracked -- read it, subscribe to it:
Here's the URL: www.bloglines.com/blog/abbiem.
Here is the feed: www.bloglines.com/blog/abbiem/rss.

Thanks Abbie.

Two Wilson Center Webcasts Today

Thursday, March 3
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Live Webcast: The Future of Europe,
A Director's Forum with Ambassador John Bruton, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to the United States

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Live Webcast--A Changing World: Ukraine,
A Director's Forum with the Honorable Richard G. Lugar, Chairman, Foreign Relations Committee.

National Security Archive Director Testifies Before Congressional Hearing on "Overclassification and Pseudo-classification"

Source: National Security Archive Update, March 2, 2005

Washington D.C., March 2, 2005 - Today, National Security Archive director Thomas Blanton testifies before a congressional hearing on "Emerging Threats: Overclassification and Pseudo-classification." The hearing, convened by Congressman Christopher Shays, Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations of the House Committee on Government Reform, will examine the proliferation of categories of information that are not classified but are withheld from public disclosure. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m., in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C.

Please follow the link below to view a set of briefing slides and to read the complete statement from Archive director Thomas Blanton: http://www.nsarchive.org