Law Librarian Blog

Opening: Head of Special Collections, Texas

Head of Special Collections
Tarlton Law Library
School of Law, The University of Texas at Austin

The Tarlton Law Library seeks an experienced and energetic librarian as its Head of Special Collections. The ideal candidate will have solid training and experience in rare books & archives, a strong public service orientation, creativity in building collections, excellent writing skills, superior interpersonal skills, the ability to work effectively with a variety of constituencies (law faculty, other faculty, students, student organizations, alumni, donors, and library colleagues), professional demeanor, and eagerness to learn.

Minimum qualifications are an MLS from an ALA-accredited institution, two years' experience in special collections, and demonstrated mastery of information technologies. Preferred qualifications and experience include: experience or training in archives; experience in digitization of special collections materials; desktop publishing and web design experience; background or training in law or legal history; reading knowledge of Spanish, Latin, French, or German.

Duties of the Head of Special Collections include: reference & access services for special collections; collection development; acquisition of rare books; developing policies and procedures; managing preservation & conservation of special collections materials; supervising one fulltime assistant and student workers; coordinating & consulting on library digitization projects; organizing fundraising efforts; working with donors; editing & producing the Tarlton Law Library Legal History Series and other publications; documenting the history of the University of Texas School of Law; organizing lectures and other special events that highlight special collections; maintaining the special collections section of the library website; preparing & coordinating exhibits; and assisting in collection development for the library's general collections.

The Tarlton Law Library is the 7th largest academic law library in the U.S. and the largest under one roof. For more information, see <http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/welcome.html>.

For more information on Tarlton Law Library's Rare Books & Special Collections see <http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/rare/>.

Starting salary is commensurate with qualifications, and includes the standard benefits for fulltime UT-Austin staff.

To apply: Send a c.v., cover letter and three current references to:

Professor Roy M. Mersky
Harry M. Reasoner Regents Chair in Law and Director of Research
The Jamail Center for Legal Research
Tarlton Law Library
The University of Texas at Austin School of Law
727 East Dean Keeton Street
Austin,TX 78705
512/471-7735
FAX 512/471-8398
Email: rmersky@law.utexas.edu
Internet: http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/mersky/

KFC Sued for Fouling Chicken with Partially Hydrogenated Oil

From the press release:

"That's the message delivered today to KFC, a unit of Louisville, KY-based Yum! Brands, by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). Today that group and the Washington, DC, law firm of Heideman Nudelmen & Kalik, P.C., filed suit against the fast-food giant over its use of partially hydrogenated oil--the chemically altered, trans-fat-laden oil that kills roughly 50,000 Americans per year. The class action suit, filed in Superior Court of the District of Columbia, asks that the court prohibit KFC from using partially hydrogenated oil, or that at the very least, signs be posted in KFC outlets notifying customers that many KFC foods are high in trans fat."

[RJ]

Study Details Impact of Reform Alternatives on Social Security Benefits

This new article, appearing in the June 2006 EBRI Notes, examines the changes in the distribution of benefit levels Social Security recipients would receive under each of five different reform alternatives. In addition, the article calculates for each beneficiary the amount of savings that would need to be accumulated in order to purchase a payout annuity (an insurance product that provides a regular lifetime stream of earnings) to compensate for the decrease Social Security benefits that would occur under these alternatives compared with current law. [RJ]

Oral Arguments On-line

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals will now offer streaming video for all oral arguments.

Check it out.

[RJ]

Appeals Court Sides With FCC Over Internet-Phone Wiretapping

From the NYT:

"In a 2-to-1 decision, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a Federal Communications Commission directive treating such companies the same as conventional phone companies for law enforcement purposes. Comcast and other cable companies offer Internet service over their networks, and Vonage is the biggest provider of Web-based phone service."

Click here for the opinion.

[RJ]

Arab Americans Fear Federal Law Enforcement Policies After 9/11

From the Vera Institute of Justice:

"A new Vera study of relations between Arab Americans and law enforcement in the United States following September 11, 2001 found, among other things, that Arab Americans fear the intrusion of federal policies and practices even more than individual acts of hate or violence, and that many local police are reluctant to enforce immigration law as a form of counterterrorism. The report, Law Enforcement and Arab American Community Relations After September 11, 2001: Engagement in a Time of Uncertainty, identifies examples of partnerships and innovations that have successfully bridged gaps identified in the study. It cites recommendations and opportunities for restoring trust and creating alliances to reduce crime and address terrorism and other public safety concerns. The two-year study was funded by the National Institute of Justice."  [RJ]

Costs of Incarceration and Supervised Release

From the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts:

In fiscal year 2005, it cost $23,431.92 to keep someone incarcerated in a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility and $20,843.78 to keep a federal inmate incarcerated in a community correction center.

For the same 12-month period ending September 30, 2005, it cost $3,450 for a federal offender to be supervised by probation officers.

Those figures translate into daily costs of $64.19 for a Bureau of Prisons facility, $57.10 for a community correction center, and $9.45 for supervised release.

Cost calculations were made by the Bureau of Prisons and by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

[RJ]

NBER Report on Estimating the Impact of Crime Risk on Property Values

There Goes the Neighborhood? Estimates of the Impact of Crime Risk on Property Values From Megan's Laws by Leigh L. Linden, Jonah E. Rockoff - #12253

Abstract: We combine data from the housing market with data from the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry to estimate how individuals value living in close proximity to a convicted criminal. We use the exact location of these offenders to exploit variation in the threat of crime within small homogenous groupings of homes, and we use the timing of sex offenders' arrivals to control for baseline property values in the area. We find statistically and economically significant negative effects of sex offenders' locations that are extremely localized. Houses within a one-tenth mile area around the home of a sex offender fall by four percent on average (about $5,500) while those further away show no decline. These results suggest that individuals have a significant distaste for living in close proximity to a known sex offender. Using data on crimes committed by sexual offenders against neighbors, we estimate costs to victims of sexual offenses under the assumptions that all of the decline in property value is due to increased crime risk and that neighbors' perceptions of risk are in line with objective data. We estimate victimization costs of over $1 million--far in excess of estimates taken from the criminal justice literature. However, we cannot reject the alternative hypotheses that individuals overestimate the risk posed by offenders or view living near an offender as having costs exclusive of crime risk.

Glossary of Chinese Tort Liability Law, P.R.C. Civil Code

George W. Conk (Adjunct Professor, Fordham Law School) has distributed a glossary of the English translation of of Part 8, Articles 1 - 68, Tort Liability Law, of the current draft (December 17, 2002) of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China on SSRN.

From the abstract:

The version published in China by Peking University Press in the journal SiFa [Private Law Review] contained no glossary, nor did the pinyin have phonetic tone marks.

This version is intended for use as teaching materials. The pinyin here - in both the glossary and the translation - does have phonetic tone marks.

A facsimile of the Si Fa version of the translation published in China is available on SSRN: George W. Conk, People's Republic of China Civil Code: Tort Liability Law, Private Law Review, Vol. 5, No. 2 (The 10th Issue), pp. 77-111, December 2005.

[JH]

Professional Reading: Teaching Legal Research and Writing with Actual Legal Work

Michael A. Milleman and Steven D. Schwinn, Teaching Legal Research and Writing with Actual Legal Work: Extending Clinical Education into the First Year, 12 Clinical L. Rev. 441 (2006). Westlaw

Abstract: In this article, the co-authors argue that legal research and writing (LRW) teachers should use actual legal work to generate assignments. They recommend that clinical and LRW teachers work together to design, co-teach, and evaluate such courses. They describe two experimental courses they developed together and co-taught to support and clarify their arguments.

They contend that actual legal work motivates students to learn the basic skills of research, analysis and writing, and thus helps to accomplish the primary goals of LRW courses. It also helps students to explore new dimensions of basic skills, including those related to the development and use of facts and the construction of legal arguments in response to indeterminate legal issues. Through actual legal work, they say, LRW teachers can achieve important secondary educational goals as well, including introducing students to a client-centered, problem-solving form of representation, professional responsibility issues (especially access-to-justice and pro bono issues), and critical analysis of law and justice systems.

Engaging first-year students in actual legal work can bring real clients into the classroom, demonstrate to students that they can help others (and that they like doing so), and thereby reinforce their idealism. The authors say these are good refinements in the culture of traditional first-year legal education. Their proposal also would help individuals and community organizations obtain legal assistance they need to prevent and resolve legal problems. A LRW professor and students can provide representation that otherwise would not be provided. In the longer term, they argue that engaging students in law school in legal work on behalf of poor and underrepresented people and groups will encourage a number of them to provide legal services to similar clients in the future.

Third Time's the Charm? John Marshall Law (Chicago) Conducts Search for a Library Director (Again)

The John Marshall Law School is now conducting its third search for a Director of the Law Library.  The announcement was sent out by Judith Wright (Univ. of Chicago) on behalf of the search committee as outgoing John Marshall director Dorothy Li is currently in China.  Word on the street is that the school is seeking a sitting director from an established school to take over.  The first search was complicated when the then-Dean unexpectedly left the post as finalists were being considered.  The lack of a sitting Dean surely adds to the challenge of attracting qualified candidates. 

Creating further problems is that Northwestern will also be conducting a search for a new director once Chris Simoni officially leaves for Drexel.  If the street view is accurate, and remember that the street loves to make up its own facts at times, John Marshall is advised to take a more pragmatic approach to filling the position. 

The library staff at John Marshall is exceptionally competent and was singled out as such in a Princeton Review capsule description of the school.  Hope is that they will have more involvement in this search than they did in the past two. If not, file under "Due Diligence." [JH]

Announcement

Law Library Director
The John Marshall Law School in Chicago seeks applications for the position of Director of the Louis L. Biro Law Library.  John Marshall was founded in 1899.  The Law School is accredited by the ABA and the Higher Learning Commission, and is a member of the AALS.  The Louis L. Biro Law Library supports the research of students, faculty, and alumni of John Marshall, as well as members of the Chicago Bar Association.  The collection is housed on five floors and two mezzanine floors.  There are more than 45,000 square feet of library space, providing room for more than 600 seats, including 250 study carrels.  The Library currently contains over 380,000 volumes, including the equivalent of 145,000 volumes in microform.  It has a full-time staff of 16, including 8 professional librarians.  Each reference librarian holds degrees in both law and library science.

The Law School is located in Chicago’s Loop, close to the federal and state courthouses, museums, theaters, and public transportation. The John Marshall Law School offers excellent benefits and a highly competitive salary.

Responsibilities: The Director’s principal responsibility is the full-time management of the law library.  In particular, the Director oversees and is responsible for all aspects of library administration, including: hiring, training and supervising library staff; collection development; budgeting; technological development; and strategic planning.  The Director also monitors the programs and services of the Library, and ensures that they are sufficient to meet the needs of students, faculty, and the Bar.  The Director is responsible for ensuring that the Library meets the accreditation standards of the American Bar Association and the Higher Learning Commission, and the membership requirements of the Association of American Law Schools.  The Law School encourages participation by its librarians in the activities of the American Association of Law Libraries and other law library organizations.  In addition to the administrative appointment as Director, the successful candidate will also be appointed to the faculty.  The faculty appointment may be either tenure-track or its equivalent, depending on the successful candidate’s interests, preferences, and qualifications.

Requirements: Applicants must have a law degree from an ABA-accredited law school, a graduate degree in library science (or its equivalent) from an ALA-accredited institution, and significant administrative experience in an academic law library.

To Apply: To ask for information about the position, or to apply, please contact Professor Susan Brody, The John Marshall Law School, 315 S. Plymouth Ct., Chicago, IL 60604.  You may contact Prof. Brody for these purposes by e-mail at 7brody@jmls.edu. We are currently accepting and reviewing applications and will continue to do so until the position is filled. We will be interviewing candidates in St. Louis in July at the AALL Annual Meeting.

Do Children Influence Legislator Parent's Voting Record?

Female Socialization: How Daughters Affect Their Legislator Fathers' Voting on Women's Issues
Ebonya Washington
NBER Working Paper No. 11924

Abstract: Economists have long concerned themselves with environmental influences, such as neighborhood, peers and family on individuals' beliefs and behaviors. However, the impact of children on parents' behavior has been little studied. Parenting daughters, psychologists have shown, increases feminist sympathies. I test the hypothesis that children, much like neighbors or peers, can influence adult behavior. I demonstrate that the propensity to vote liberally on reproductive rights is significantly increasing in a Congress person's proportion of daughters. The result demonstrates not only the relevance of child to parent behavioral influence, but also the importance of personal ideology in a legislator's voting decisions as it is not explained away by voter preferences.

New Edition of Anderson's Sixth Circuit Federal Practice Manual

Anderson's Sixth Circuit Federal Practice Manual   
Price: $40.00
Publisher: Anderson Publishing, 2006
Format: One volume, softbound 
ISBN: 159345242X

From the blurb: This is the first new edition of the Sixth Circuit Practice Manual since the Second Edition was published in 1999. The Third Edition of the Manual features:

• A complete reorganization of the Manual to reflect the chronological progress of appeals in their various stages;
• New chapters on initiation of appeals, stays pending appeal, motions, mediation, the record on appeal, and brief requirements;
• Completely rewritten chapters on appellate jurisdiction, the appendix, and special issues in criminal and death penalty appeals; and
• A complete updating to reflect current law and changes in the law since the Second Edition was published in 1999.

The manual includes the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, along with the corresponding Sixth Circuit Rule and Internal Operating Procedure, and is fully indexed for easy reference.

Opening: West Librarian Relations Manager, Boston, MA

The Thomson Corporation is a leading global provider of integrated information solutions to business and professional customers.  The Thomson Corporation is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

In this role, the Librarian Relations Manager will develop and implement a regional Librarian Relations program for law librarians that builds excellent relationships.

Primary responsibilities include:

• Participate in the development and teaching of legal and non-legal curriculum especially designed for legal professionals
• Host and teach continuing education seminars for law librarians
• Consult with large law firms to define requirements for products that complement Westlaw
• Work with West Sales and Account Management to support legal information professionals' needs and market products and education to law librarians
• Serve as a West key-customer contact by representing West at librarian professional associations, West-sponsored librarian events, and library schools
• Coordinate presentation of professional development courses for legal information professionals
• Participate in and provide educational programs for AALL, SLA and other local and regional law library association meetings
• Serve as West contact with local library schools and interact with faculty and students
• Support law librarians through direct interaction with West customer service, technology and content departments
• Speak on behalf of West and the Librarian Relations program

Qualifications:

• Masters in Library Science (M.L.S.) and/or J.D. 5+ years of law library experience.
• Broad based knowledge and experience with legal information resources and legal technology applications.
• Teaching experience and presentation skills
• Effective verbal and written communication skills
• Strong organizational and prioritization skills
• Law library association leadership experience
• Ability to maintain confidentiality
• Strong customer service attitude
• Displayed project management skills
• Good interpersonal skills
• Self directed and capable of driving multiple initiatives simultaneously
• Strong leadership and management skills

How to Apply: Applications only accepted online at http://west.thomson.com/careers/

College Officials Worry That Justice Dept. May Require Records on Internet Use

From The Chronicle of Higher Education:

"A proposal by the U.S. Justice Department to require Internet-service providers to retain information about their clients' online behavior has higher-education officials worried that colleges, too, could be forced to do so. "

Check out the rest of the story.

[RJ]

New Reports From the RAND Corporation

From RAND:

• Organizing State and Local Health Departments for Public Health Preparedness
• Organizing State and Local Health Departments for Public Health Preparedness
• The Global Technology Revolution 2020, In-Depth Analyses: Bio/Materials/Information Trends, Drivers, Barriers, and Social Implications
• Leveraging America’s Aircraft Carrier Capabilities: Exploring New Combat and Noncombat Roles and Missions for the U.S. Carrier Fleet
• A Survey of Aircraft Structural-Life Management Programs in the U.S. Navy, the Canadian Forces, and the U.S. Air Force
• Why Has The Cost of Navy Ships Risen? A Macroscopic Examination of the Trends in U.S. Naval Ship Costs Over the Past Several Decades
• Redefining and Reforming Health Care for the Last Years of Life
• The Relative Effectiveness of 10 Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Programs in the United States
• Discrimination and Health Care Utilization
• Police Effectiveness: Measurement and Incentives

[RJ]