Law Librarian Blog

Library Connection Recipients of PATRIOT Act Gag Order Speak Out

Andrea L. Foster confirms in 4 Officials of Connecticut Library Group Describe Receiving Secret Order for Files (Chronicle of Higher Education, May 31, 2006) that officials of Library Connection Inc. of Windsor were served with national-security letters in the controversial "Connecticut library PATRIOT Act case." They are

• Barbara Bailey, president, who is also director of the Welles-Turner Memorial Library in Glastonbury
• Peter Chase, vice president
• Janet Nocek, secretary, who is the director of the Portland Library
• George M. Christian, the executive director

Here's what Peter Chase had to say about living under the PATRIOT Act's gag order:

It was galling for me to see the government's attorney in Connecticut, Kevin O'Connor, travel around the state telling people that their library records were safe, while at the same time he was enforcing a gag order preventing me from telling people that their library records were not safe.

See also NPR's All Things Considered coverage.

[JH & RJ]

Empirical Analysis of Tort Law

Judge and Jury
American Tort Law on Trial
by Eric A. Helland and Alexander Tabarrok

Price: $15.95
Paperback: 150 pages
Publisher: Independent Institute (2006)
Language: English
ISBN: 0-945999-99-2

From the publisher's blurb: In Judge and Jury: American Tort Law on Trial, economists Eric Helland and Alexander Tabarrok present their study of tens of thousands of tort cases from across the United States. The result is the most complete picture of the U.S. system of civil justice to date. Examining three of the key players of the tort system (juries, judges, and lawyers), Helland and Tabarrok conclude that the tort system is badly broken in some respects but functions surprisingly well in others.

You might want to re-read Federalist Paper No. 80 (Hamilton) before opening this book. [JH]

Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2005

From the DOJ Report:

"Presents data on prison and jail inmates, collected from National Prisoner Statistics counts and the Census of Jail Inmates 2005. This annual report provides the number of inmates and the overall incarceration rate per 100,000 residents for each State and the Federal system. It offers trends since 1995 and percentage changes in prison populations since midyear and yearend 2004. The midyear report presents the number of prison inmates held in private facilities and the number of prisoners under 18 years of age held by State correctional authorities. It includes total numbers for prison and jail inmates by gender, race, and Hispanic origin as well as counts of jail inmates by conviction status and confinement status. The report also provides findings on rated capacity of local jails, percent of capacity occupied, and capacity added."

[RJ]

Women in Prison

The Punitiveness Report-HARD HIT: The Growth in Imprisonment of Women, 1977-2004 takes an in-depth look at female prison population growth patterns and regional trends, and it provides the first state-by-state analysis of female imprisonment from 1977 to 2004, with findings from all 50 states. The report commissioned by the Institute on Women & Criminal Justice finds that female imprisonment in the U.S. has skyrocketed 757 percent since 1977. Women are the fastest-growing segment of the prison population, surpassing male prison population growth in all 50 states. These trends have profound consequences for communities, families and the women themselves. The report finds that the rise in the female prison population has been punctuated by growth spikes that reached higher, lasted longer and often began earlier than those affecting men. The pace of growth has fallen since 2000, but the rate at which women are added to prison each year remains high.

Hat tip to Sentencing Law and Policy. [JH]

Openings: Tech Services, Collection Management, Serials and Reference Librarians, CharlotteLaw

Charlotte School of Law (CharlotteLaw) seeks nominations and applications for the following four professional librarian positions:

Technical Services Librarian
Collection Management Librarian
Serials Librarian, and
Reference Librarian.

CharlotteLaw, which opens August 28, is the first law school in North Carolina’s most populous city. Booming with economic, commercial and cultural activity, Charlotte is a dynamic community that combines warm Southern hospitality with a modern, world-class city.

The school is a member of The InfiLaw System, a consortium of independent law schools committed to making legal education more responsive to the realities of new career dynamics. Its mission is to establish student-centered, ABA accredited law schools in underserved markets that graduate students with the skills of a second-year associate and achieve true diversity programs aimed at student academic and career success. Florida Coastal School of Law, the consortium’s flagship school, achieved the number one bar pass rate among first time test takers during the last major Florida State Bar exam in July 2005 and highest career placement rate among Florida's ten law schools. Charlotte School of Law will build upon this legacy.

TECHNICAL SERVICES LIBRARIAN

The Technical Services Librarian is responsible for the operation of all areas of the Technical Services area of the library, such as organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling the processes and procedures of the department. The activities of the Technical Services Librarian cover accounts payable, acquisitions ordering, binding, cataloging, claiming, microforms, processing, receiving, and serials check-in. In addition to decision-making authority for policies and systems in the Technical Services area of the Library, the Technical Services Librarian participates in the collegial process of library policy and systems development affecting all general aspects of library service. 

Duties and Responsibilities:
• Develop and implement all policies and systems in the Technical Services areas of the library.
• Produce manuals and documents for implementation and training of technical services policies and systems
• Develop and implement all policies and systems relating to the Innovative Millennium integrated library computer system by all library staff and other patrons.
• Complete original and copy cataloging and classification of current and retrospective materials, including books, periodicals, microforms, software, recordings and videocassettes, according to the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, Library of Congress Subject Headings, and Library of Congress classification schedules.
• Provide reference assistance at the library’s reference desk, including some evenings and weekends.
• Other duties as assigned.
• The Technical Services Librarian reports to the Associate Dean for Library and Information Services.

Qualifications:
Required:
MLS or MLIS from an ALA-accredited library school; a minimum of three years' related experience required. This experience should include serving in a supervisory capacity in technical services administration; strong oral and written communications skills; the ability to balance priorities and meet deadlines; commitment to enhancing service through teamwork and responsiveness to clients; flexibility and enthusiasm for starting a new library; customer service orientation and experience.

Preferred: 
Relevant law school library experience; experience in original cataloging; extensive experience with the Innovative Millennium integrated library computer systems.

Salary is dependent on qualifications.  Full benefits package.  For more information about Charlotte School of Law, please visit www.charlottelaw.org.

COLLECTION MANAGEMENT LIBRARIAN

The Collection Management Librarian manages the library’s acquisitions process, through which the library purchases legal materials in all formats and manages subscriptions to electronic databases.  The Collection Management Librarian oversees the expenditure of the library’s materials budget. 

Duties and Responsibilities
• Supervise and ensure the smooth operation of the acquisitions area of the library
• Propose, implement and review departmental policies and procedures
• Manage library subscriptions to electronic resources ensuring continuous access to these resources
• Manage library’s materials budget
• Maintain accurate financial records on all materials purchases
• Participate in library’s collection development program
• Provide reference assistance at the library’s reference desk, including some evenings and weekends.
• Other duties as assigned
• The Collection Management Librarian reports to the Technical Services Librarian.

Qualifications:
Required:  Master’s degree from an ALA-accredited library school; two to three years of experience in library acquisitions; knowledge of the legal publishing industry; supervisory experience and management skills; experience with automated acquisitions/ integrated library systems, particularly the Innovative Millennium system; strong oral and written communications skills; the ability to balance priorities and meet deadlines; commitment to enhancing service through teamwork and responsiveness to clients; flexibility and enthusiasm for starting a new library.

Preferred:  Experience with the Innovative Millennium system and OCLC; experience with the acquisition of electronic resources; accounting skills.

Salary is dependent on qualifications.  Full benefits package.  For more information about Charlotte School of Law, please visit www.charlottelaw.org.

SERIALS LIBRARIAN

The Serials Librarian is responsible for overseeing the bibliographic and physical control of continuing resources.

Duties and Responsibilities:
• Develop, maintain and administer the serials collection of the library
• Review continuing formats cataloging and record enhancement;
• Work closely with other staff to solve problems in the maintenance of bibliographic and check-in records;
• Administer and manage the serials process;
• Participate in library planning and committees;
• Provide reference assistance at the library’s reference desk, including some evenings and weekends;
• Other duties as assigned.
• The Serials Librarian reports to the Technical Services Librarian.

Qualifications:
Required:
MLS or MLIS from an ALA-accredited library school; demonstrated supervisory abilities and experience; knowledge of bibliographic classification systems and cataloging rules; experience with the serials marketplace; experience with integrated library systems; commitment to enhancing service through teamwork and responsiveness to clients; flexibility and enthusiasm for starting a new library.

Preferred:
Professional experience working with serials in a law library; some knowledge of the law or of the law serials trade; knowledge of the Innovative Millennium library system.

Salary is dependent on qualifications.  Full benefits package.  For more information about Charlotte School of Law, please visit www.charlottelaw.org.

REFERENCE LIBRARIAN

Charlotte School of Law (CharlotteLaw) seeks nominations and applications for a Reference Librarian. 

Duties and Responsibilities:
The Reference Librarian provides extensive reference service to the faculty and students of the Charlotte School of Law by participating in the reference desk rotation (including some evenings and weekends), individual research consultations, writing research guides, and other law library programs as needed.

The Reference Librarian participates in basic and advanced legal research instruction, online training, library tours, and other educational programs.

The Reference Librarian evaluates and selects materials for the library’s collection in assigned subject areas.

This position reports directly to the Associate Dean for Library and Information Services.

Qualifications:
Required:
Master’s degree from an ALA-accredited library school; experience with legal materials, including online databases; awareness of current trends in legal research, library automation and library instructional programs; commitment to enhancing service through teamwork and responsiveness to clients; flexibility and enthusiasm for starting a new library.

Preferred: J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school or significant law library experience; one to three years of professional experience in a law or academic library; experience with teaching legal research; skills in web design.

Salary is dependent on qualifications.  Full benefits package.  For more information about Charlotte School of Law, please visit www.charlottelaw.org.

Application Process for All Positions

If starting a new law library is an opportunity that you feel passionate about and you are looking for a new challenge and a chance to put your expertise to work in an innovative environment – Charlotte School of Law may be the place for you. 

Please send a letter of interest, a resume, the names of three current professional references (including addresses and phone numbers) to humanresources@charlottelaw.org or via mail to: 

Charlotte School of Law
Human Resources
525 N. Tryon, Suite 1600
Charlotte, NC, 28202

Charlotte School of Law is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Inquiries welcome from qualified candidates. Women and members of historically disadvantaged groups are particularly encouraged to apply.

A View from the Stacks: Can a Personal Statement Include Beer Recommendations?

(Congratulations on the baby Anna Nicole.)

I learned two things this last week: people never listen to me about turning their cell phones off in the library and that my personal statement for graduate school may be a bit “out there.”

Since high school, I have done well with writing prompts for essay assignments.  What I struggle with, however, is how to write an essay about me, detailing a time in my life when I felt that I was most accomplished, without mentioning beer.

Let me back up.  A little over a year ago, I sat for one of the most technical tests in my life:  the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP).  For those of you out there who were not aware that this program exists, let me tell you that they take their testing and studying VERY seriously.  After 18 weeks of study, which included reading about the history of the beer and a variety of breweries, I sat for a 4-hour long, 10 essay question test that included a portion where I was “forced” to drink beer.

I am not joking when I say this was an important test to at least one person that day.  One of the goals that my sister has in life is to start up her own brewery. She has been home-brewing now for over five years and some of her beers have placed in local competitions.  She was the catalyst for my interest in beer, as well as the reason for why I took this course along with her and her husband.  By studying for and passing the test, we would become beer judges who could be called up to judge beers at events all over the nation (money and time permitting).  By attending beer events as a judge, my sister would have the chance to meet movers and shakers in the brewing industry, as well as learn a little bit about the business.

For me, the test was the climax of one of the most technical courses that I had ever taken.  In high school, I loved math and science.  In college, I was burned out by math and science and decided that making sense of politics and the Russian language would be more fun.  When I graduated, I had not taken a test that involved math of any sort in over three years.  But here I was, taking a beer class that forced me to determine things like alcohol content and original gravity using mathematical equations that should be left to the calculus students.

On that fateful day in March when I sat down to take the test, I was convinced of one thing:  I was going to fail miserably.  In fact, the only thing I was looking forward to was the tasting portion of the test because I knew that that would require drinking beer.  When all of the test sheets had been distributed, I was prepared to flip over the paper and draw some nice pictures of hops on the page and maybe write a nice limerick about an old man from Nantucket.  But, it turned out that the first question was pretty straight forward.  And the second question looked pretty straight forward as well.  I figured out that I could pass this thing.

And I did pass.  I even got a little pin that said “Certified” on it in the mail.

And so it goes that this was, to me, one of the biggest accomplishments in my recent life.  Sure, when I was little, learning to multiply up to 12 was huge.  And when I was in high school, taking the AP tests that I took for college credit were challenging yet satisfying.  But I took those tests without too much fretting.  This beer test, though, was a whole different story.  And frankly, I was proud of myself for doing well on a test that seemed impossible to pass.

This leads me back to the title of the piece and why I was even thinking about this in the first place: my personal statement.  It seems that every prompt I read has something to do with biggest accomplishment/greatest accomplishment/time when I was most academically proud.  My beer test was a big accomplishment and I am thinking about using it as an example of a time I set out to do something and did it, despite thinking I was going to fail the entire time.  My only concern is that the person(s) who read it may think that I should be going to work in a bar and not a library.

Or that they will start relying on me for beer recommendations and not like what I suggest.

Stina McClintock, Library Technician, King County Law Library (Seattle)

Editor's Note: But Stina we need more beer connoisseurs in this profession. Apply, apply, apply.

AllofMP3: "the world's largest server-based pirate Web site" or the business model of the future?

CNN is reporting that a Russian Web site named AllofMP3.com lets visitors download for personal use entire albums for less than $1.00! U.S. trade and music industry officials are calling the site "a direct obstacle" to Russia's negotiations to join the World Trade Organization. Neena Moorjani, chief spokeswoman for the Office of the United States Trade Representative, is quoted in the CNN report as characterizing AllofMP3.com as "the world's largest server-based pirate Web site."  At issue, well, the press points to the failure to pay licensing fees to copyright holders. However, CNN really doesn't do justice to the issues arising from how AllofMP3.com conducts its business.

AllofMP3.com is not violating Russia's copyright laws. It pays licensing fees to the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS) as required by law. ROMS, a collecting society, is permitted by Russian law to act on behalf of rights holders who have not authorized them to do so. But according to the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, ROMS does not pass collected royalties to foreign artists or music companies. Sounds bad.

Or maybe just misleading. Rights holders have to sign an agreement with ROMS to be able to collect their royalties but most haven't. Hence, no royalty payments to rights holders. MuSeekster.com believes that "rights holders refuse to sign a ROMS' agreement or are advised by their lawyers to refrain from addressing ROMS because this could be deemed as an acknowledgment of ROMS' position as a collection society."

The Confederation expelled ROMS for complying with Russian law -- for issuing licenses to sell foreign music without getting agreements from the right holders -- in 2004, about the same time that AllofMP3.com was "discovered" by mainstream Western media. So is AllofMP3.com a pirate? Not really. AllofMP3.com is a bit of a scoundrel; the company is simply taking advantage of a loophole created by Russian copyright law.

The Sydney Morning Herald's Charles Wright is credited with "discovering" AllofMP3.com. He reported downloading 968 tracks in MP3 format for $48.65 US. The same downloads from Apple's iTunes would have cost, according to Wright, $958 US. Source: Russian site is music to the ears (April 27, 2004)

Media Reaction to AllofMP3's Music Service in the West
When Western media "discovered" AllofMP3.com, the leading German computer magazine, c't, awarded it the best music service in 2004 and the official Consumers' Organization in The Netherlands selected AllofMP3.com the best place to download music. More recently, an April 7, 2006 review of download music services by the "must read" TechCrunch blog had this to say:

The choice for best overall service is dead simple. The best service by far is AllofMP3.com. ... It is so cheap and easy to use that many people choose to download music from AllofMP3 in lieu of ripping their own CD collection.

TechCrunch tempered its remarks with the following:

The problem is that AllofMP3 operates under a different set of rules (Russian copyright law) than the rest of the companies (reviewed). ... Some people have ethical concerns with using the service since no money makes its way back to the artists or labels.

How AllofMP3.com Conducts Business
Let's look at the situation a bit more closely. There may be some under $1 albums for sale, as claimed by CNN, but I didn't find any. MuSeekster's price comparison chart of online music sellers lists AllofMP3's prices at 12 cents per song (at 2 cents per MB) and $1.80 per album (at 2 cents per MB). Based on my very unscientific sample of the site's catalog, I think MuSeekster's prices are more accurate than what CNN is reporting. Still damn cheap but a tad less "UNDER $1" shocking. This assumes, however, that we understand that AllofMP3.com has a number of different pricing options.

Variable Pricing Model
The key to AllofMP3's pricing is that the price of the files you download is determined by the audio quality you select, by the file format and bitrate used. The consumer chooses the audio codecs using the service's online encoding and there are many to select from: MP3, WMA, OGG, MPC, MPEG-4 AAC, etc. Consumers also have the option to download a track in the original uncompressed .wav format. Essentially this means that the AllofMP3.com customer is buying music by the megabyte in DRM-stripped files.

It's the Business Model, Stupid!
So is non-payment of royalties to artists really the "big" issue here? I don't think so. AllofMP3.com's business model is disruptive. The major industry players want to make AllofMP3.com disappear because the company's growing popularity is putting pressure on the industry to strip out DRM, give consumers audio quality options, and keep music download prices low.

As for AllofMP3's "legitimacy," let's just say that sometimes some good can come out of greed. [JH]

McCloy's Chinese Legal Research Guide

Law Prof Donald C. Clark (editor of our Chinese Law Prof Blog) calls William B. McCloy's Chinese Legal Research Guide (University of Washington Law Library; updated Jan. 2006) "indispensable for anyone starting out to research any Chinese law topic." I certainly won't disagree. I would like to add that McCoy's guide presents a standard of excellence all legal research guide authors should aspire to achieve.

Additional Chinese legal research guides include:

• Web-Based Research Guides on PRC Legal & Business Resources, by Kara Phillips (ABA, 2006)
• A Complete Research Guide to the Laws of the People's Republic of China (PRC), by Wei Luo and Joan Liu (LLRX, Jan. 15, 2003)
• Finding Chinese Law on the Internet, by Joan Liu (GlobaLex, Feb. 2005)
• Internet Chinese Legal Research Center maintained by Wei Luo (University of Washington Law Library)

[JH]

Professional Reading: Publishers and Copyright: Rights Without Duties?

Oxford Law Prof David Vaver has published Publishers and Copyright: Rights Without Duties? on SSRN. Here's the abstract:

What does the public want of publishers? As book buyers, they want ready access to cheap and varied books in their language of choice. They don’t want to be told a book is out of stock or in some language they can’t read, and that they have to trudge round to some public library or antiquarian bookstore, or do their own surreptitious translation. As writers and users, they want fair access to the world’s literature to have and to hold, to enjoy, to make fun of if they want, to build on it, and also to benefit and let others benefit from their endeavours. As authors, they want fair contract terms and a fair cut of the profits; for with no book, there is no profit.

Publishers are in business to make money and nobody begrudges them a decent living. People do begrudge them an indecent living: i.e., if they use their power to keep prices high, and make access and reuse of books difficult. Copyright law should be a means (1) to encourage authors to produce and benefit, (2) to encourage publishers to publish and keep publishing and profiting, and (3) to give the public cheap prices and easy access. It does (1) - helping authors - modestly well; it does (2) - helping publishers - pretty well; whether or not it does (3) - giving the public what it wants - is more debatable. 1½ or 2 out of 3 is not good enough, especially since there’s no point in helping authors and publishers if the public does not get what it needs and wants.

We need to rethink copyright law. Copyright should not just be about copyright owners’ rights; it should also be about their duties. Historically, it used to be so: copyright owners used to owe duties to the public. Over time copyright law has been whittled down until it reads as if owners have just rights and no duties. They may have come to believe that; but the public hasn’t.

NIJ/Harvard Webcast: Sex Trafficking in the United States, June 6

From the announcement:

Harvard University's Government Innovators Network and the National Institute of Justice of the U.S. Department of Justice are hosting this free online event June 6 from 2-4 p.m. EST to examine human sex trafficking.  Sexual exploitation of trafficked persons is widespread globally, and is increasingly recognized as a significant but largely invisible problem within the United States---some estimates place the number of people trafficked into the country each year in the tens of thousands.  Sex trafficking is a multifaceted threat that requires a comprehensive approach, including prevention measures, identification and prosecution of perpetrators, and protection of victims.

This forum, which will be opened to Q&A, assembles a variety of expert perspectives on the sex trafficking problem.  The discussion will be moderated by Swanee Hunt, Director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and will feature: Ambassador John Miller of the U.S. State Department, and Norma Hotaling, Founder of the SAGE (Standing Against Global Exploitation) Project.

If interested in attending, please visit http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/xchat.html for details.

[JH]

Best Practices for Legal Blogging

Check out Law.com's recent piece offering advice to editors of law blogs. [RJ]

Gumshoe Librarian 2006

In Gumshoe Librarian 2006 (LLRX) Barbara Fullerton and Sabrina I. Pacifici recommend 70 sites whose content and features will enhance your research on subjects that include: news, people finders, U.S. and international competitive intelligence data, state and federal government resources, cybersecurity, blogs, health, finance, locating audio, music and videos online, and accessing open source scholarly literature. Bookmark it! [RJ]

Moral Ambition: The Sermons Of Harry A. Blackmun

Cleveland-Marshall Law Prof Dena Davis has posted Moral Ambition: The Sermons Of Harry A. Blackmun on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Justice Harry A. Blackmun died on March 4, 1999 at the age of 90. The public funeral was held on March 9, at the huge and impressive Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church, on Nebraska Avenue in Washington, D.C. Among the many speakers at this "Service of Death and Resurrection" was the Rev. Dr. William A. Holmes, senior pastor at the Church, speaking on "The Churchmanship of Harry Blackmun." Dr. Holmes talked movingly of a man who was intimately involved in the affairs of his church. Among the Justice's many contributions, Holmes noted a sermon that Blackmun had once preached on the Book of Ruth. Dr. Holmes concluded his eulogy by remarking that Justice Blackmun's theory of Constitutional interpretation was the same as his theory of Biblical interpretation: a theory grounded in compassion.

On March 4, 2004 the Justice's papers became available to the public through the Library of Congress. In addition to the sermon on the Book of Ruth, preached in 1992, there was a second sermon, preached in 1987 on the bicentennial of the Constitution. In this essay I will describe how these sermons connect to and illuminate the Justice's jurisprudence. First, I will describe Blackmun's religious upbringing and interests. Next, I will summarize the two sermons. Then I will show how the sermons relate to each other, and to one of the Justice's most famous opinions: his dissent in DeShaney v. Winnebago County D.S.S.

One might ask why the sermons of a sitting Justice would be thought to shed any light at all on his jurisprudence, especially in a Justice who, like Blackmun, was careful of the boundaries between church and state. As I show below, recent scholarship has focused on the parallels and similarities between Constitutional and Biblical interpretation. In this essay, I take seriously Dr. Holmes's closing comment and I ask: How similar was Blackmun's interpretive approach to the Constitution and to the Bible?

Summary of Ohio's Court Activity for 2005 Released

From the Supreme Court of Ohio:

"Ohio's courts saw 3.1 million new cases filed in 2005, representing a 2 percent increase over the number of cases filed statewide in 2004, according to the 2005 Ohio Courts Summary recently issued by the Supreme Court of Ohio.

The Ohio Courts Summary is released each spring and provides a retrospective overview of the activity in Ohio's courts – from municipal and county courts to the Supreme Court of Ohio – including statistics about caseloads, case terminations and clearance rates. Mayors courts statistics are published in a separate report to be released this summer."

[RJ]