Law Librarian Blog

Are We Running Out of Oil?

Check out Foreign Policy's interview (video) with Vijay Vaitheeswaran and Robert L. Hirsch about their conflicting views on the future of the world's greatest addiction. [JH]

Control Sought on Military Lawyers

Interesting article from the Boston Globe:

"The Bush administration is pushing to take control of the promotions of military lawyers, escalating a conflict over the independence of uniformed attorneys who have repeatedly raised objections to the White House's policies toward prisoners in the war on terrorism.

The administration has proposed a regulation requiring "coordination" with politically appointed Pentagon lawyers before any member of the Judge Advocate General corps - the military's 4,000-member uniformed legal force - can be promoted.

A Pentagon spokeswoman did not respond to questions about the reasoning behind the proposed regulations. But the requirement of coordination - which many former JAGs say would give the administration veto power over any JAG promotion or appointment - is consistent with past administration efforts to impose greater control over the military lawyers."  [RJ]

Can You Count on Voting Machines?

From the N.Y. Times: "As the primaries start in New Hampshire this week and roll on through the next few months, the erratic behavior of voting technology will once again find itself under a microscope. In the last three election cycles, touch-screen machines have become one of the most mysterious and divisive elements in modern electoral politics. Introduced after the 2000 hanging-chad debacle, the machines were originally intended to add clarity to election results. But in hundreds of instances, the result has been precisely the opposite: they fail unpredictably, and in extremely strange ways; voters report that their choices “flip” from one candidate to another before their eyes; machines crash or begin to count backward; votes simply vanish. (In the 80-person town of Waldenburg, Ark., touch-screen machines tallied zero votes for one mayoral candidate in 2006 — even though he’s pretty sure he voted for himself.) Most famously, in the November 2006 Congressional election in Sarasota, Fla., touch-screen machines recorded an 18,000-person “undervote” for a race decided by fewer than 400 votes."  [RJ]

DHS REAL ID Act Regs

DHS representatives briefed legislative aides on the details of the Department's REAL ID regs late Thursday. According to CNN, Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get more secure driver's licenses in the next six years under the Department's ambitious post-9/11 security rules. Read more about it. [JH]

Friday Fun: The Librarian Dialogues

The producers describe this video as "a short comical satire about a group of librarians who take their job very serious." OK, it reinforces librarian stereotypes ... but that doesn't mean the video isn't funny.[JH]

Friday Fun Extra: Librarians Play Discard Dominoes When They Get Bored on the Job

"effinglibrarian" took up my suggestion to post on YubeTube a video clip demonstrating what librarians do when they get bored on the job. This librarian wants everyone to know that no library books were harmed in this production because they are discards. Submissions still welcome. [JH]

Discard Dominoes submitted by "effinglibrarian:"

A History of U.S. Presidential Primaries

Excellent resource from CQ Politics:

"When it comes to electing the president, the modern campaign era has its roots 95 years ago when North Dakota held the first presidential primary. CQ Politics looks back and charts for you, election by election, how this process grew over the last century into the long and sprawling campaigns that have become part of the political landscape." 

Historical Perspective: 1912-64 | 1968-72 | 1976-84 | 1988 | 1992 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004

[RJ]

Francisco Forrest Martin's The Constitution as Treaty

The Constitution as Treaty: The International Legal Constructionalist Approach to the U.S. Constitution
by Francisco Forrest Martin

List Price: $80.00
Hardcover: 228 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; (September 24, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0521881935
ISBN-13: 978-0521881937

Book Description: The Constitution as Treaty addresses U.S. constitutional interpretation from a novel, yet originalist perspective: the U.S. Constitution is a treaty. As a treaty, the Constitution must be construed in conformity with the United States' international legal obligations. This book specifically examines how federal courts are international courts and as international courts, how they can directly apply international law and construe federal law in conformity with international law. Most importantly, The Constitution as Treaty demonstrates that the federal courts' authority to review the constitutionality of federal and state law is based on international law.

About the Author: Francisco Forrest Martin is the founder and president of Rights International, The Center for International Human Rights Law, Inc. He is also the former Ariel F. Sallows Professor of Human Rights at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law. Mr Martin is the author of seven books and numerous articles on U.S. constitutional and international law, including International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Cambridge University Press 2006). He has litigated cases before U.S. and international courts, including the European Court of Human Rights, Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. He was the recipient of the American Civil Liberties Union's Anneta Dieckmann Award.

Bailey's Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography

Charles W. Bailey, Jr. has updated his The Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography (SEPB) again. SEPB presents selected English-language articles, books, and other printed and electronic sources that are useful in understanding scholarly electronic publishing efforts on the Internet. Most sources have been published between 1990 and the present. Where possible, links are provided to sources that are freely available on the Internet. The bibliography is regularly updated on the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog.

Check out Bailey's List of Scholarly Electronic Publishing Resources and other materials at Digital Scholarship. His DigitalKoans blog is a great place to read his commentaty on copyright, open access, scholarly communication, and other digital information issues. [JH]

Republicans Report Much Better Mental Health Than Others

From Gallup.com:

"Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats or independents to rate their mental health as excellent, according to data from the last four November Gallup Health and Healthcare polls. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans report having excellent mental health, compared to 43% of independents and 38% of Democrats. This relationship between party identification and reports of excellent mental health persists even within categories of income, age, gender, church attendance, and education."  [RJ]

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Two new CRS Reports on FISA via OpenCrs:

1. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: Comparison of House-Passed H.R. 3773, S. 2248 as Reported By the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and S. 2248 as Reported Out of the Senate Judiciary Committee
2. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: A Brief Overview of Selected Issues

Reminder: 2008 AALL/Thomson West Excellence in Marketing Awards

Have you conducted a successful PR campaign at your library?  Had great results reaching your audience with a newsletter?  Used technology to promote your library services and resources?  Created a wonderful brochure?  Or put a variety of marketing strategies to use in increasing the visibility and value of your organization? 

There's still time share your achievements and prepare your entry for the 2008 AALL/Thomson West Excellence in Marketing Awards.  Entries are due February 1, 2008.   More details can be found on the website, and in the contest guidelines and application. 

These awards serve to recognize exceptional public relations efforts in raising the visibility and value of law librarianship, as well as provide examples of successful marketing strategies for all AALL members.  The contest is open to any individual, group, library, Consortium, SIS, Caucus, Chapter, or any other group affiliated with AALL.  Award categories include:

• Best Brochure
• Best Newsletter
• Best Campaign
• Best PR Tool Kit
• Best Use of Technology

Please feel free to contact Julie Jones, AALL Public Relations Committee Chair, with any questions you might have.

[JJ]

New & Improved InSITE and Legal Research Engine at Cornell

There are some new improvements and updates to InSITE and the Legal Research Engine at Cornell Law Library.  From their announcement:

The InSITE website has been revamped and now features a quick search on the home page, in addition to the advanced search previously available.  We've also added a great new feature that allows anyone to search all the websites ever annotated by InSITE with a single click.  This is a full search of over 1,000 law-related websites that have been vetted by professional law librarians.  It is updated with each new issue of InSITE. 

Over at the Legal Research Engine, we've added a few new specialty search engines to help researchers find the best of the web quickly and easily.  The original search to find authoritative legal research guides remains (NOTE: if you previously added this gadget to your google homepage, you will need to DELETE the former gadget and ADD it again due to technical issues.  We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you).  We've added the new InSITE search, mentioned above, here, as well as a search that is limited to academic blawgs (plus a few extras) to help legal researchers find quality commentary quickly.  As an added bonus, we've combined all three of these searches into a single engine: I want it all! 

The web addresses for these pages remain the same, so if you have been kind enough to link to either InSITE or the Legal Research Engine, no updating should be necessary.  If you're interested in adding any of these search gadgets to your website, we can provide you with a link to do that, just ask.

We hope these new and improved features help and your constituents conduct research on the web.

[JJ]

On Reforming Legal Education: Cheatsheets, Required Readings, etc.

It's a hot topic again, meaning in the long but sporadic history of law school reform talk therapy, legal education reform is being discussed again. The PowerPoint presentation Judith Wegner (UNC-Chapel Hill) used to review Educating Lawyers (the Carnegie report which she co-authored) at the Dean's Section at the 2008 AALS annual meeting can be downloaded from Law School Innovation. Here's the PPT link and accompanying post by Gene Koo, The Carnegie Report Cheatsheet for Deans. Update: Hat tip to CALI for posting the podcast of the AALS plenary session, Rethinking Legal Education For The 21st Century.

A sampling of posts on law school reform from this blog include:

• Carnegie Report Implementation Concerns
• Spanning the Academic-Real World Divide to Prepare Competent Lawyers
• The Complete Lawyer on Law School Reform
• Old School, New School

Required Reading List. There's no cheatsheets yet for two other books on my required reading list: (1) Roy Stuckey’s Best Practices for Legal Education (pdf) and (2) Transforming Legal Education: Learning and Teaching the Law in the Early Twenty-First Century (taking a UK perspective). Perhaps the books' web destinations, listed below, can serve this purpose.

Supplemental Reading Materials. Law School Leadership Strategies and Commission of Civil Rights' Affirmative Action in American Law Schools Report (should the Commission's report really be supplemental? Well no, of course not.) ... and the following blogs:

• Best Practices for Legal Education Blog
• Law School Innovation
• UK's Transforming Legal Education Initiative Blog and Wiki

[JH]

Biosecurity and Biodefense Resources

New resource from the Federation of American Scientists: "The Federation of American Scientists has created an internet resource for biosecurity policy, bioterrorism information, and biodefense research. The organizations listed here represent various perspectives on what actions individual scientists, research institutions, science journals, the public, and government can do to minimize the threat of bioterrorism while maximizing the benefits of life science research."  [RJ]

CU-Boulder Law School Launches Website Offering Environmental Problem-Solving Tools

From the press release:

The Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder Law School has created a new information series for The Red Lodge Clearinghouse, a Web site project that provides tools for individuals or groups seeking to address environmental problems.

The first edition of the new series addresses how to work with federal notice and comment processes, said Lauren Ris, coordinator for the project.

"The Red Lodge Clearinghouse provides resources to individuals and groups in their efforts to address environmental challenges through collaboration stories, funding information, the Collaboration Handbook, summaries of legislation and regulations and up-to-date news," said Ris. "Viewers are provided a primer on how to work within the process, tips on how to write effective comments and insights from a federal official responsible for running a comment process, as well as links to additional resources."

The goal of the series, said Ris, is to explore the process of collaboration -- in its many forms and applications -- as well as other approaches that may accompany, enhance or even replace a collaborative process.

According to Ris, future editions of the series will provide information on public hearings, meetings, field trips, open houses, administrative protests and appeals, alternative dispute resolution, legislation, litigation and collaboration. For each of these topics, she said, the Clearinghouse will evaluate the risks and benefits of various approaches, provide examples of their successes and failures and illustrate lessons learned.

Check out The Red Lodge Clearinghouse Website. [JH]

2007 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary

From the U.S. Supreme Court.  [RJ]

Offshoring Legal Research and Writing

Tariq Hafeez, President of and General Counsel for LegalEase Solutions LLC, discusses outsourcing legal research on Legal Process Outsourcing. [JH]

Opening: Reference/Web Services Librarian, Southern Illinois University School of Law Library

The School of Law Library at Southern Illinois University is accepting applications for Reference/Web Services Librarian as an assistant professor in a tenure-track position. The library staff includes six professional librarians and ten civil service support staff. The library is administratively independent and serves a law school faculty of about 35, a law student body of about 360, a university community of more than 20,000, and the legal community and general public of the entire southern Illinois region. The library holds more than 400,000 volumes and volume-equivalents, uses the OCLC and INNOPAC automated systems, and actively incorporates access to electronic materials into its information resources and technological solutions into its daily operations. Further information about the Library and the School is available at http://www.law.siu.edu.

POSITION. Reference/Web Services Librarian, Southern Illinois University School of Law Library, Carbondale, Illinois

QUALIFICATIONS. Required: M.L.S., M.L.I.S., M.I.S., or equivalent degree from ALA-accredited school by date of hire; J.D. degree from ABA-accredited school by date of hire, although substantial or significant relevant experience may be substituted; knowledge of legal bibliography and legal research techniques, including the use of Westlaw, LexisNexis, the Internet, and other electronic legal information resources; knowledge and experience in Web site construction, design, and management applications, including current authoring languages, editing and authoring tools, and related Web site technologies; excellent interpersonal skills and proficiency in oral and written communication; ability to work effectively both in a team setting and independently; and strong service orientation. Preferred: Professional reference experience, preferably in an academic law library; and teaching experience.

RESPONSIBILITIES. Chiefly responsible for providing reference, research, and instructional assistance to faculty, students, and staff of the School of Law, the University community, and the general public; and for developing and maintaining the School of Law Library’s Web site in collaboration with the law library faculty and staff. The Reference/Web Services Librarian also serves as part of the library team that teaches legal research in the law school’s first-year, two-semester Lawyering Skills Program and participates in other direct instructional activities covering traditional and electronic research. Complete job description available at http://www.law.siu.edu/employment.

AVAILABLE. Immediately. Review of applications begins February 1, 2008 and will continue until the position is filled. SALARY. Competitive and commensurate with qualifications

TO APPLY. Applications should be submitted electronically at http://www.law.siu.edu/employment . A complete application will require a letter of application, résumé, and the names of three references. The letter should be addressed to:

Douglas Lind, Law Library Director and Associate Professor of Law Southern Illinois University Carbondale School of Law Library, Mail Code 6803 1150 Douglas Drive Carbondale, Illinois 62901.

SIUC is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer that strives to enhance its ability to develop a diverse faculty and staff and to increase its potential to serve a diverse student population. All applications are welcomed and encouraged and will receive consideration.

Professional Reading: Popkin's Evolution of the Judicial Opinion

I can't wait to get my hands on this book. [JH]

Evolution of the Judicial Opinion: Institutional and Individual Style
by William D. Popkin

List Price: $45.00
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: NYU Press (October 1, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0814767265
ISBN-13: 978-0814767269

Book Description: In this sweeping study of the judicial opinion, William D. Popkin examines how judges' opinions have been presented from the early American Republic to the present. Throughout history, he maintains, judges have presented their opinions within political contexts that involve projecting judicial authority to the external public, yet within a professional legal culture that requires opinions to develop judicial law through particular institutional and individual judicial styles.

Tracing the history of judicial opinion to its roots in English common law, Popkin documents a general shift from unofficially reported oral opinions, to semi-official reports, to the U.S. Supreme Court's adoption in the early nineteenth century of generally unanimous opinions. While this institutional base was firmly established by the twentieth century, Popkin suggests that the modern U.S. judicial opinion has reverted — in some respects — to one in which each judge expresses an individual point of view. Ultimately, he concludes that a shift from an authoritative to a more personal and exploratory individual style of writing opinions is consistent with a more democratic judicial institution.

About the Author: William D. Popkin is Walter W. Foskett Professor Emeritus of Law at Indiana University School of Law, Bloomington. He is the author of the very well-received Statutes in Court: The History and Theory of Statutory Interpretation (Duke UP, 1999).

Electronic Privacy Information Center's 2007 International Privacy Ranking

From the Report's overview:

Each year since 1997, the US-based Electronic Privacy Information Center and the UK-based Privacy International have undertaken what has now become the most comprehensive survey of global privacy ever published. The most recent report published in 2007 is probably the most comprehensive single volume report published in the human rights field. The report runs over 1,100 pages and includes 6,000 footnotes. More than 200 experts from around the world have provided materials and commentary. The participants range from eminent privacy scholars to high-level officials charged with safeguarding constitutional freedoms in their countries. Academics, human rights advocates, journalists and researchers provided reports, insight, documents and advice.

The new 2007 global rankings extend the survey to 47 countries (from the original 37) and, for the first time, provide an opportunity to assess trends.

The intention behind this project is two-fold. First, we hope to recognize countries in which privacy protection and respect for privacy is nurtured. This is done in the hope that others can learn from their example. Second we intend to identify countries in which governments and privacy regulators have failed to create a healthy privacy environment. The aim is not to humiliate the worst ranking nations, but to demonstrate that it is possible to maintain a healthy respect for privacy within a secure and fully functional democracy.

[JH]

A Quick Look at Best Practices for Legal Education Blog

Joining Law School Innovation in the blogosphere's U.S. law school reform space, The Best Practices for Legal Education Blog was created with two goals in mind: "(1) to create a useful web-based source of information on  current reforms in legal education arising from the publication of Roy Stuckey’s Best Practices for Legal Education (pdf) and the Carnegie Foundation’s Educating Lawyers; and (2) to create a place where those interested in the future of legal education can freely exchange ideas, concerns, and opinions.  The blog contributors and editor will attempt to document and record the most recent innovations and academic experiments accompanying the legal education reform movement — and stimulate dialogue between and among all sectors of the legal academy. " 

Check out the Blog's Resources page. The project looks promising but it could take some cues from UK's Transforming Initiative [our post] for a more comprehensive approach to using web communications. [JH]

Live Support Feature Now Available on HeinOnline

From the HeinOnline Weblog:

"To further support your experience in HeinOnline, we are now offering a live support feature for users to seek immediate help from a HeinOnline Support representative. This feature allows you to talk live with one of our representatives via a secure chat room, and get quick answers to your questions without having to wait for a reply email or pick up the phone and call us. This is accessible through the "Help" button found in the upper right hand corner, on the welcome screen, and in the technical and training sections of the home page.

Look for the Live Help icon on any of these screens to initiate a chat with our support team or email us when we are unavailable. If a HeinOnline Support representative is available to chat the icon will indicate "Online, click to chat". If our representatives are unavailable, the icon will specify "Offline, click to email", giving you the option to email us with your question(s)."  [RJ]

Sunstein on the Internet and Political Polarization

"[A]s a result of the Internet, we live increasingly in an era of enclaves and niches -- much of it voluntary, much of it produced by those who think they know, and often do know, what we're likely to like. This raises some obvious questions. If people are sorted into enclaves and niches, what will happen to their views? What are the eventual effects on democracy?"

Read more about it in The Polarization of Extremes by Cass Sunstein (University of Chicago). [JH]

Donald J. Dunn, Dean of University of La Verne College of Law, Dies at 62

Donald J. Dunn died Saturday at his home in Orange County of complications related to cancer. He is survived by his wife, Cheryl, son, Kevin, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. Our sympathies go out to his family, friends and colleagues. [JH]

From the University of La Verne College of Law announcement:

Dean Dunn began his 38-year career at the University of Texas at Austin’s Tarlton Law Library in 1969. In 1972, he earned his Master’s of Library Science from University of Texas at Austin and became supervising librarian in its Criminal Justice Reference Library.

In the summer of 1973, he joined Western New England College (WNEC) School of Law in Springfield, Mass. as law librarian and assistant professor of law. By 1996, Dunn had been promoted on the faculty three times and was named the law school’s Interim Dean. Two years later, he became dean of WNEC School of Law, making him one of two law librarians in history to also serve as a law school dean. In 2001, Dunn retired as dean and in 2002 became Western New England College School of Law’s Associate Dean for Library and Information Resources while continuing as a professor of law.

While at Western New England College School of Law, Dean Dunn was an active member in the American Bar Association (ABA) and, in 1977, began serving as an ABA site evaluator for law schools seeking national accreditation. Cumulatively, he served on over 40 site evaluation teams, was the chair of five of those teams and was the sole evaluator for three summer abroad programs: Moscow, Beijing and Cape Town, South Africa.

In 2003, Donald Dunn and his wife, Cheryl, moved to Southern California, and Dunn joined the University of La Verne as dean and professor of law at the College of Law. While at ULV, the experienced ABA site evaluator worked with university administrators and the law school’s faculty to guide the California bar-accredited law school through the difficult process of applying for national accreditation. The attempt was successful and on February 13, 2006, the American Bar Association granted ULV College of Law provisional ABA approval, allowing ULV’s graduates to begin receiving all the same rights and privileges as students graduating from fully ABA-approved law schools.

Professional Reading: Is Open-Source the Future of eBook Legal Publishing?

Saint Louis University School of Law professor Matthew Bodie's The Future of the Casebook: an Argument for an Open-Source Approach has been published in the Journal of Legal Education. [57 J. Legal Educ. 10 (2007) Westlaw | SSRN] In it he writes "[a]lthough the development of electronic casebooks seems so logical as to be inevitable, the way they will come about is not. Now, before the technology has taken hold, there is time to consider exactly how we should use the technology as we proceed into the future." [emphasis supplied].

Well, the technology has been around for a very long time. One (perhaps the only) benefit of the Kindle buzz is that law profs are indeed asking when and how will casebooks go digital. See When will e-books become a platform for casebooks? Tim O'Reilly hits the nail on the head. "[H]andheld devices are nice to have, not need to have -- the real breakthrough is just making electronic copies available at a fair price." Bad Math Among eBook Enthusiasts. And that's what law students want. So while the technology has been around for a long time, what's "new" is that the "push" is really coming from today's law students who now expect their materials to be digital. Consumer demand will make the development of electronic casebooks, hornbooks, treatises, and other monographic works inevitable.

LawLibTech writes "Will Kindle ever be an option for legal content? Will our users load up cases, statutes and treatises on a Kindle-like device? Never say never. The book may not die, but the format may eventually fade away, given the right tools." Obviously, I think Kindle is not the right tool now nor will "Kindle 2.0" likely become the right tool later if the gadget doesn't become more versatile (e.g., extend its file format options) and Amazon doesn't modify Kindle's TOS.

The Total Package. While the Kindle buzz has stimulated interest in the legal academy, the development model will not follow along the lines of Kindle. See Beyond the Kindle Hype, Kindle won't catch fire in law schools and Advances in Book-Hauling Technologies, because students want to manipulate digital text by updating it, creating digital study aids, and sharing the text and the study aids they create. Tweaking Kindle as suggested in Another Perspective on the Kindle simply is not enough to get beyond the fact that Kindle is just a "book-hauling" eReader far too limited in functionality to meet law student demands. It's not the gadget; it's the total package of content, functionality, and services provided to law students for their already commoditized devices, their desktops and laptops, that will win out.

As noted previously (see also here), one digital text-study aid product is leading the way namely, the AspenStudyDesk. It is a great little product that allows students to integrate some of the Company's eBooks into an outline/note-taking application but, unlike Lexis and Westlaw, the Company doesn't have the sales force on site to promote it directly to students. (Many academic law librarians are doing the job for the Company.) The problem with AspenStudyDesk is that it is limited to a small number of Aspen eBooks and it is not open-source. For reasons discussed below, AspenStudyDesk may not survive if it doesn't go open-source.

I expect Lexis and Thomson-West to join this market and dominate it eventually by allowing their eBooks to be customized and updated via their online research services. Hopefully, both will offer two options for their eBooks: (1) an word processing application that can be downloaded and (2) a web-based service that allows students to work collaboratively. In my opinion, Thomson-West is in the best position to take the lead in the academic market for a number of reasons. The two most important ones are (1) the Company has a more comprehensive catalog of appropriate titles that one day will be sold as eBooks and (2) student exposure to Thomson-West through the widespread use of TWEN for e-course management already has most students thinking "West first." But will either Lexis or Thomson-West go open-source? Unlikely.

The first "eBook-eStudyAid" application vendor that solves the DRM issues sensibly when it integrates eBooks and online research services in an open-source model wins on technical merits but that's hardly inevitable; in fact it is probably unlikely once Lexis and Thomson-West bring products to the market. Matthew Bodie's article doesn't approach the issue this systematically but it certainly is a step in the right direction, even if only for wishful thinking purposes. Here's the SSRN abstract for Matthew Bodie's article:

This paper argues that the legal academy should take this opportunity to implement an open source approach to future course materials. Guided by analysis and examples of commons-based peer production such as open source software, professors could establish electronic commons casebooks with a myriad of materials for every course. These joint databases would unshackle individual creativity while engendering collaboration on levels previously impossible. Although there may be concerns that such a project would not draw any interest, or might be swamped by too much interest, the successes of other peer-production projects demonstrate that such concerns are generally unwarranted or manageable. Copyright ultimately poses the biggest difficulty, but even that barrier can be circumvented to greater and lesser degrees. Although as yet an untried experiment, an open source approach has the potential to open a new era in legal pedagogy.

[JH]

Is Health at the Very Core of the Global Agenda?

Theodore H. MacDonald is Professor (Emeritus) and Associate of Research Institute for Human Rights and Social Justice, London Metropolitan University and a consultant to the World Health Organization and the International Development Agency. For anyone interested in the question, "is health at the very core of the global agenda?" MacDonald's two new books should be required reading. [JH]

Health, Human Rights and the United Nations: Inconsistent Aims and Inherent Contradictions?
by Theodore MacDonald

List Price: $59.95
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd; (January 2008)
ISBN-10: 1846192412
ISBN-13: 978-1846192418

Description: In Health, Human Rights and the United Nations, Théodore H MacDonald carefully analyses the origin, development and structure of the United Nations (UN) and its key agencies, and considers its capacity to mediate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He takes a detailed look into human rights abuses in Sudan’s Darfur province, Burma, Liberia, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the United Kingdom.

By investigating the development of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the pressures being brought to bear upon it, MacDonald exposes contradictions in the aims of both the WHO and the UN. Does the current global political scene and its neoliberal policies nullify the work of both? Is the UN fit for purpose? Can drastic reforms result in equitable solutions? Can a new trans-national body be developed, to arbitrate global trade, health, human rights and fiscal issues?

This remarkable book is ideal for anyone interested in international law, human rights, global health, public health and health promotion. Public health and health promotion professionals, including international healthcare organisations, care agencies, and international charities will find the analysis enlightening. It is also of great interest to policy makers and shapers in communities and government, political activists and all those with an interest in equality and globalisation.

The Global Human Right to Health: Dream or Possibility?
by Theodore H. MacDonald

List Price: $59.95
Paperback: 219 pages
Publisher: Radcliffe Publishing; 1 edition (September 30, 2007)
ISBN-10: 1846192013
ISBN-13: 978-1846192012

Description: This is a book based on what the Charter of the UN states about health as a basic human right.

General readers will find a refreshing, up-to-date account of why these issues are so crucial, while professionals will find the cogent epidemiological analyses needed to inform research efforts. The book argues that the major causes of ill-health are not bacteria and viruses, or even war and natural disasters, but poverty. If we could solve the immensely complex problems of global inequities in wealth, the health inequities would largely vanish.

The issue is not a simple one. This book sets out, among other things, to break down the communication barriers between the ‘professionals’ (doctors, economists and international bankers) and the ordinary person who looks with dismay at international injustice but feels totally inadequate in the face of it. The book argues that neoliberal approaches to global finance and international trade, which are inextricably linked to the looming environmental crisis, are not the only way open to us, and suggests alternatives. Above all, it offers hope and a useful role for all of us in solving the problems.

Top Academic Workplaces

New report from the Collaborative On Academic Careers in Higher Education, Harvard University Graduate School of Education:

"While the majority of junior faculty at America's colleges and universities are satisfied at work, some institutions are doing particularly well in this regard. The Tenure-Track Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey, administered by the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) in 2005 and 2006, determined that some colleges and universities are "exemplary" on certain key dimensions of faculty work/life. The COACHE Survey considered the following categories in its assessment: tenure practices, clarity, and reasonableness; effectiveness of key policies (e.g., mentoring, childcare, and leaves); nature of work: teaching, research and support services; work and family balance; satisfaction with compensation; climate, culture, and collegiality; and global satisfaction.

"We are again recognizing those colleges and universities that are succeeding in their efforts to improve the quality of work/life for their junior faculty," said Dr. Cathy Trower, COACHE Director. "By earning and maintaining the distinction of being a great place for new scholars to work, these exemplary institutions will be most able to attract and retain top academic talent in an increasingly competitive faculty labor market." 

See also:  Junior Faculty Members Identify Colleges That Treat Them Well, The Chronicle

Check out Governmentattic.org

From the site:

"Welcome to governmentattic.org - "rummaging in the government's attic"

The aim of this web site is to make available materials unavailable elsewhere.  There is no topic-oriented theme to our content.  If we have a theme, it is one of openness, hence our motto: Videre licet."

Most recently added files:

• FOIA Logs for US DOJ Environment and Natural Resources Division for FY2005–FY2007 - [01-Jan-2008]
• FOIA Logs for US DOJ Professional Responsibility Advisory Office for FY2005–FY2007 - [01-Jan-2008]
• FOIA Logs for US Trade and Development Agency for FY2004–FY2007 - [01-Jan-2008]
• Two 1970s State Department documents related to Chinese Leaders - [22-Dec-2007]
• DIA analysis of Kwame Nkrumah, President of Ghana, 12 Jan 1966 - [22-Dec-2007]
• FOIA Logs for US Federal Trade Commission for FY 2005–FY 2007 - [22-Dec-2007]
• FOIA Logs for Fed Mine Safety & Health Review Committee for FY 2006–07 - [22-Dec-2007]

Rethinking Legal Education for the 21st Century

Notes and comments on the AALS Friday afternoon plenary session, "Rethinking Legal Education for the 21st Century" featuring Edward L. Rubin (Vanderbilt University Law School), Vicki C. Jackson (Georgetown University Law Center), Robert Mac Crate, Esq. (Senior Counsel, Sullivan and Cromwell), Martha L. Minow (Harvard Law School), Suellyn Scarnecchia (University of New Mexico School of Law), William M. Sullivan (Senior Scholar The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching), Judith W. Wegner (University of North Carolina School of Law) by OSU law prof Douglas Berman and Baylor law prof Mark Oster on Law School Innovation. [JH]

Opening: Reference Librarian, William Mitchell College of Law’s Warren E. Burger Library

William Mitchell College of Law’s Warren E. Burger Library wants to hire one more great reference librarian to join its Public Services Team. 

The Burger Library is an active, well-supported library which prides itself on its deep commitment to excellent service and its highly educated, service-oriented staff.  Our staff librarians have the good fortune to be highly regarded by the faculty, who view them as partners in providing a good education to students and in supporting faculty research. Professional development and participation in professional organizations is encouraged. The sunny, comfortable atmosphere of the Library’s modern facility makes it a very pleasant place to work. 

The Library has a high quality print and microform collection of 345,000 volume equivalents and a full range of electronic resources.  It uses the highly regarded Innovative Interfaces integrated library system and has installed its second generation Millennium products.  The three storey facility, which opened in 1990, includes three attractive computer labs for students and comfortable ergonometrically designed seating for 671 in a mix of carrels, tables, study rooms and lounge areas.  The library has an FTE staff of 18 employees.  It has 4 FTE reference positions and 3.5 FTE circulation positions that report to the Associate Director, Public Services. 

William Mitchell College of Law is a century-old law school focused on the future of law, legal education and legal information.  With a thousand students and forty full time faculty, Mitchell has developed outstanding programs in intellectual property and is broadening its program in international law.  It is nationally recognized for its skills programs and for its clinics, celebrating over thirty years of service to the Twin Cities community. 

Minnesota’s Twin Cities area is widely considered to be one of the most livable metropolitan areas in the U.S., with high rates of employment, income per capita, and home ownership.  The college is minutes from downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis, but located among the elegant homes of the Summit Avenue historic district and near interesting shops and restaurants.  The area has many theaters, museums and musical events, as well as outdoor recreational opportunities and major league sports. 

Duties of the reference librarian include:  Assist and instruct patrons (students, faculty, staff, private attorneys, and public users) in finding and optimally utilizing library resources, both print and electronic, to meet their information needs.  Staff the Reference Desk during assigned hours and on an on-call basis to answer reference requests received by telephone, e-mail, instant messaging or personal interview.  Support faculty teaching and research through retrospective searches and/or current awareness programs.  Support educational programs such as our first year skills course as required by teaching and/or materials preparation. 

Qualifications: Required include—Master’s Degree from an ALA accredited library school, J.D. from an ABA accredited law school.  Strong service orientation, intellectual curiosity and willingness to explore new substantive areas of law, superior written and oral communication skills, familiarity with computer technology on the operational level – word processing, LexisNexis, Westlaw, internet searching – excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to work collaboratively to achieve strategic goals.

Qualifications:  Preferred include – previous experience in a law library or law firm, previous experience and/or an enthusiasm for teaching at the adult level, forward thinker who keeps up with the professional literature and has a vision of the future of law and legal information. 

Salary: Commensurate with experience and competitive in the market place

Benefits: Excellent benefits including 403(b) Tax Sheltered Annuity Plan and matching college contributions, and support for professional development. 

To apply, please submit your resume including three references to Human Resources, William Mitchell College of Law, 875 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, MN  55105 or e-mail hr@wmitchell.edu.  For further information please contact Mary Ann Archer, Associate Director, Public Services, at maryann.archer@wmitchell.edu. 

Members of under-represented groups are encouraged to apply. AA/EOE.

Anne Poulter
Interim Associate Director for Information Resources
Wm Mitchell College of Law
871 Summit Ave.
St. Paul, MN  55105-3030
651-290-6303   anne.poulter@wmitchell.edu

Young & Well Connected use Libraries More

NYTimes reports on a recent study by Pew & UIUC on who uses libraries most.

Library use is far more prevalent among people who have a broadband Internet connection at home or at work, according to a new study. The finding counters a decade-old assumption that libraries serve as a “bridge” for people who want to use the Internet, but have only dial-up connections, or no access at all.

“People in the low-access population don’t often think, ‘If I only had the Internet, I’d be in a different position,’” said Lee Rainie, director for the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which performed the study in tandem with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The study also found that people 18 to 30 years old were the age group most likely to have recently used a library. “They are the most recently in school,” said Mr. Rainie, “so they potentially have a better sense of the way that libraries have become more wired and more high-tech.”

[JJ]

Legal Profession Free Fall?

Well, not quite a free fall, but certainly a downward trend.  The New York Times reports on the declining prestige and satisfaction associated with legal and medical careers here. 

As of 2006, nearly 60 percent of doctors polled by the American College of Physician Executives said they had considered getting out of medicine because of low morale, and nearly 70 percent knew someone who already had.

...

Indeed, applications to law schools and medical schools have declined from recent highs. Nationally, the number of law school applicants dropped to 83,500 in 2006 from 98,700 in 2004—representing a 6.7 percent drop between 2006 and 2005, on top of the 5.2 percent slip the previous year, according to the Law School Admission Council.

(Maybe they’ve been talking to actual lawyers. Forty-four percent of lawyers recently surveyed by the American Bar Association said they would not recommend the profession to a young person.)

Not a great endorsement.

[JJ]

2007 Law School Survey of Student Engagement Now Available

Here's the 2007 Law School Survey of Student Engagement (pdf). Produced by the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University-Bloomington, this year's LSSSE is based on online surveys completed by 27,000 students at 79 law schools.

Among the findings:

• More than 75% of students rated their law-school experiences as good or excellent
• More than 20% of 3Ls went to class unprepared
• More than 33% of students will graduate with more than $100,000 in law school loans
• Private law schools are more academically challenging than public law schools
• African-American students are more frequently asked questions in class and participated in class discussions than other students

Hat tip to TaxProf Blog. [JH]

A Quick Look at U.S. Courts Reference and Directory

U.S. Courts Reference and Directory provides an overview of trial court systems in every state and county in the United States. This site offers information about the trial court system in each state, including an overview of the types of cases handled by each court and links to online case record search services. In addition, this site offers other online resources for trial courts, as well as an extensive directory of location and contact information for almost all courts in every state and county.

The site is organized by state; for each state the directory has a page dedicated to each of the following categories :

Court Summary - page lists the types of trial courts found for each state. This page also features a chart showing which courts hear a number of common case types.

Court Types - page provides more detailed descriptions of each court type found in the state.

Courts Online - page contains links to statewide online resources including:

• case searching
• court dockets and calendars
• published opinions and orders
• self help and legal research
• legal aid and free services
• legal forms and information
• online fine payment

Court Directory - page provide access to website, location, and contact information for individual courts in each county of the state.

Specialty Courts - page provides information about courts in the state that are not listed on the county directory pages because their normal case load involves cases from more than one county.

Nicely executed site, bookmark it! [JH]