Law Librarian Blog

Maryland's Thurgood Marshall Law Library Launches Website Devoted to Judge Simon Sobeloff, Class of 1915

The University of Maryland School of Law’s Thurgood Marshall Law Library has created a website devoted to Judge Simon Sobeloff, a member of the law school’s Class of 1915 and former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Read the press release for more details and visit the website, an excellent example of law library web communications in action. [JH]

AAUP Faculty Gender Equity Indicators 2006

New report from the American Association of University Professors:

"The AAUP has long worked toward the goal of achieving equity in appointments and salary for women faculty. The present report represents both a continuation and an expansion of this effort. It provides data on faculty gender equity that are specific and comparable for a wide range of college and university campuses, with the goal of invigorating collaborative discussions at the local level. Our hope is that faculty will join together to review—based on these data and other locally produced information—the status of gender equity efforts on their campuses, and that they will initiate discussions with their institutional administrations on ways to make further progress."

[RJ]

Research Resources Identified by Law Professor Blogs Network Editors

From a law librarian's perspective one of the interesting features found in many blogs published by the Law Professor Blogs Network is the research resources compiled by scholars in their respective fields. Here's a sampling. In the left sidebar of the following blogs, you will find resources our editors find useful and important in their fields. [JH]

• AntitrustProf Blog 
• Banking Law Prof Blog 
• Business Law Prof Blog 
• ContractsProf Blog 
• CrimProf Blog 
• Elder Law Prof Blog 
• Environmental Law Prof Blog 
• Family Law Prof Blog 
• ImmigrationProf Blog 
• Land Use Prof Blog 
• Law Librarian Blog 
• Legal Profession Blog 
• Legal Writing Prof Blog 
• Mass Tort Litigation Blog 
• Products Liability Prof Blog 
• TaxProf Blog   
• White Collar Crime Prof Blog 
• Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog 
• Workplace Prof Blog 

CRS Report on Congressional Pages

PAGES OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS: HISTORY, BACKGROUND INFORMATION, AND PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE
CRS Publication Date:  10/13/2006
Document No.:  RL33685
Author(s):  Mildred Amer, Government and Finance Division

Abstract:  This report provides a brief history of the congressional page programs, background information, and proposals for change.

CRS Reports can be obtained from www.GalleryWatch.com. Individual reports are available from www.pennyhill.com. [RJ]

Unregulated Groups Wield Millions to Sway Voters

Intesting piece from the L.A. Times:

Unions, corporations and wealthy individuals have pumped nearly $300 million this year into unregulated political groups, funding dozens of aggressive and sometimes shadowy campaigns independent of party machines.

Because they can accept unlimited donations from any source, the committees — known as 527s — have emerged as the favored vehicle for millionaires and interest groups seeking to set the political agenda. 

[RJ]

The University of Minnesota Law Library Launches LexLibris

Welcome to the blogosphere! The goal of LexLibris "is to make this blog a useful tool for the law school students, faculty and staff. We aim to keep the law school community abreast of recent developments in the world of legal research, as well as what's happening in the library. [The blogs will] spotlight collections, introduce staff, explain common reference queries, and alert you to changes in hours or other library policies, with a few fun things thrown in for good measure." [JH]

Postmodernism and the Teaching of Legal Writing

NKU Law Prof Adam Todd has submitted Neither Dead nor Dangerous: Postmodernism and the Teaching of Legal Writing to the SSRN digital depository. Here's the abstract:

This article explores postmodernism and its relation to the teaching of legal writing. Postmodernism is an undeniably important theory in literary criticism, composition, and rhetoric and has provoked much debate in areas of legal scholarship, but it has seldom been addressed directly by legal writing scholars.

Legal writing has been greatly affected by postmodernism and can be characterized as a "postmodern" class in what is otherwise a modernist academy. Legal writing teachers generally teach in a modernist paradigm which seeks to normalize the law and create unitary meaning from the morass of texts and ideas which is considered "the law". They have, however, simultaneously, a rather benignant postmodernist bent when it comes to teaching writing and have to engage a number of postmodern paradoxes as part of their profession. It is the postmodern components of their work that provide strength to the profession and help prepare law students for both the "modern" and "postmodern" world. This article directly contradicts legal scholars who claim postmodernism is dead, dangerous, or irrelevant to the law and has no place in the legal academy.

The article begins by defining postmodernism and its contribution to the legal academy in general. The article continues by examining how postmodernism has affected the teaching of legal writing specifically. Postmodernism underlies the theories of process and post-process writing pedagogy, deconstruction, and story-telling, which can all be found in many legal writing classrooms. In addition, the legal writing class embodies certain postmodern attributes or characteristics not found in much of the other, more modernist, parts of the legal academy. The article concludes by arguing that the postmodern components of legal writing classes are a source of legal writing's strength, growth and relevance in and outside of law schools. Postmodernism, in this context, is neither dead nor dangerous but rather vital and relevant to legal education.

Hat tip to Legal Writing Prof Blog. [JH]

Navigating the Currents of Scholarly Communication: Government Mandates for Public Access to Research

UNM Law Library is hosting the 5th Annual Scholarly Communications Symposium. The theme of this year's symposium is "Navigating the Currents of Scholarly Communication: Government Mandates for Public Access to Research." The conference will be held on November 9, 2006, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.  Check out the conference website for more information, including how to register. [JH]

Guide to Public Opinion Poll Web sites: Polling data from around the world

College & Research Libraries News:

"This compilation focuses on significant Internet sites concerning general public opinion polls, especially those providing polling results in usable formats."

Check it out.  [RJ]

Pepperdine School of Law Awarded the World’s Largest Conflict Resolution Library

From the press release:

The Pepperdine University School of Law, home of The Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, was recently awarded the world’s largest collection of materials on conflict resolution by the American Arbitration Association (AAA). The AAA selected Pepperdine’s proposal to take over its prestigious Library and Information Center, consisting of more than 24,000 titles on arbitration, mediation, negotiation, fact-finding, and other international and domestic dispute resolution procedures.

Congratulations to the law library! [JH]

Only One Governor Earns Top Score on Cato's Governors Report Card

New report from the Cato Institute:

"Republican Governor Matt Blunt of Missouri earns the highest score on the Cato Institute's eighth biennial fiscal policy report card released today. Out of 46 governors reviewed, Blunt is the only governor this year to receive the grade of A for cutting his state's budget, eliminating hundreds of government jobs and restraining Medicaid spending."

Check out the rest of the report. [RJ]

Stanford Law Dean Argues Against 1L Curriculum Reform

When it comes to law school curriculum Stanford Dean Larry Kramer believes the highly structured 1L curriculum "works." It does not need to be reformed. Dean Kramer explains his position on Law School Innovation. The focus on reforming the 1L curriculum comes in the wake of Harvard Law School's much publicized new 1L curriculum. See, Douglas Berman, The wimpy HLS modification of the 1L curriculum, Law School Innovation (Oct. 26, 2006).

If you asked most law librarians, I believe you will find they would like to extract the legal research component from the legal writing program so that the focus of a standalone legal research course would be learning how to perform legal research instead of learning scraps of techniques one needs to complete high anxiety legal writing assignments. [JH]

Becoming a Law Librarian

How, exactly, do you become a law librarian? Charisse Dengler has the answer. [JH]

Resources for the Secure Fence Act

President Bush has signed the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (H.R.6061) which authorizes the construction of a fence along one-third of the 2,100-mile U.S. border with Mexico.  In addition to the below resources, check out UC Davis Law Prof Kevin R. Johnson's post on ImmigrationProf Blog: President Signs Border Fence Bill into Law.

Administration and Congressional Resources

• Secure Fence Act of 2006
• Signing Statement
• Administrations Fact Sheet on the Act
• LC Thomas Legislative History Resources on H.R.6061

Google News Search for the Act.

[RJ]

Pomerantz: "Fred Kilgour would probably approve of Google Scholar."

North Carolina LIS Prof Jeffrey Pomerantz has submitted Google Scholar and 100% Availability of Information to the DLIST depositiory. The paper will appear at 25 Information Technology and Libraries 52 (2006). Here's the abstract:

This paper discusses Google Scholar as an extension of Kilgour’s goal to improve the availability of information. Kilgour was instrumental in the early development of the online library catalog, and he proposed passage retrieval to aid in information seeking. Google Scholar is a direct descendent of these technologies foreseen by Kilgour. Google Scholar holds promise as a means for libraries to expand their reach to new user communities, and to enable libraries to provide quality resources to users during their online search process.

Robinson on Content Analysis

In Why content analysis should be used more in Library and Information Studies research, Leith Robinson outlines the basic concepts and procedures of content analysis, then explores and denounces possible causes of its limited application in the LIS field. [JH]

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006

New from Reporters Without Borders:

"France, the United States and Japan slip further Mauritania and Haiti gain much ground. North Korea, Turkmenistan, Eritrea: The worst violators of press freedom."

Check out the Index.  [RJ]

Opening: GPO Planning & Development Specialist, Deadline Extended

GPO is currently recruiting for the position of Planning and Development Specialist in Planning and Development Content Management.  The Planning and Development Content Management Service is responsible for the planning, development and coordination of new initiatives for electronic and web collections in support of the Library Services and Content Management mission and initiatives. Programs and projects developed in this Service result in information products and applications that are disseminated through the Library Planning and Development, Library Technical Information Services, and Collection Management and Preservation programs within the Library Services and Content Management organization.

The incumbent of this position works collectively with others responsible for the planning, development and coordination of new initiatives for electronic and web collections in support of the Library Services and Content Management mission and initiatives. This position is in the Central Office in Washington, DC. 

For more information on these positions, please see the vacancy announcement on GPO's web site (http://www.gpo.gov/careers/jobs/06-542.pdf).  Additional information on careers at GPO is available at http://www.gpo.gov/careers/index.html. 

The application deadline has been extended to November 8, 2006.

If you have questions or comments, please use the GPO online help service
at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/help.

To ensure that your question is routed to the correct area, please choose the category "Federal Depository Libraries" and the appropriate subcategory, if any. You may also contact the GPO Customer Contact Center at 866-512-1800 (toll-free), or at 202-512-1800 (DC Metropolitan Area), Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m., EST.

Higher-Education Groups Urge Supreme Court to Preserve Race-Based School Assignments

From the Chronicle:

"The American Council on Education joined at least 19 other higher-education groups ... in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve race-conscious public-school assignments in two cases seen as potentially affecting affirmative action at colleges. (for subscribers)"

[RJ]

More Flexibility to Offer Single Sex Schools and Classes

From the Department of Education:

"U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings ... announced the release of final Title IX single-sex regulations that give communities more flexibility in offering additional choices to parents in the education of their children. Recognizing that some students learn better in a single sex class or school, the regulations give educators more flexibility, under Title IX, to offer single-sex classes, extracurricular activities and schools at the elementary and secondary education levels. "

[RJ]