Law Librarian Blog

The Urban Institute Talks Recession

The Urban Institute has released six new briefs show how Americans have fared during and after downturns since the 1970s, what might be ahead, and how government programs aid those in distress.

1. Unemployment and Income in a Recession
2. Unemployment Insurance during a Recession
3. The Role of Welfare during a Recession
4. SNAP and the Recession
5. The Recession and the Earned Income Tax Credit
6. Health Coverage in a Recession

[RJ]

Injunction denied in Inauguration "so help me God" case

The AP reported last night that Federal Judge Reggie Walton denied the injunction requests of plaintiffs who sought the blocking of references to God and most especially the phrase "so help me God" during the Inauguration of President (Elect) Barack Obama. The Constitutional inaugural language (only 35 words) does not contain any references to God but historians reference President's using the phrase "so help me God" as early as the first inauguration of George Washington in 1789 (per the National Archives). {bb}

Link to the Washington Post article.

Friday Fun: Do You Know What's Going On After You Leave Your Library?

Complete Historical Coverage of the U.S. Code now available in HeinOnline

Following up on an earlier LLB post, the United States Code library from HeinOnline is now available.  Free for all HeinOnline Core subscribers, this image-based database includes full coverage from 1925-2006.  To view a more detailed brochure regarding the United States Code collection in HeinOnline, click here.  [RJ]

New Social Media Search Engine

Social Mention is a social media SE that searches user-generated content such as blogs, comments, bookmarks, events, news, videos, and microblogging services making it relatively easy to track any topic across the web’s social media landscape in real-time. Search results are aggregated from numerous popular social media sources, including Google blog search, Twitter, Delicious, FriendFeed, Flickr, Digg, YouTube etc. and remixed as a single stream of information.

Hat tip to ResourceShelf. See also Worth A Look: Some New Web-Based Tools and Sites. [JH]

ALL-SIS Sourcebook for Teaching Legal Research Needs Your Contributions

Have you created any legal instructional materials such as syllabi, presentations, handouts, exercises, or exams?  If so, please consider sharing them with your colleagues through the ALL-SIS Sourcebook for Teaching Legal Research, http://www.aallnet.org/sis/allsis/secure/Research/sourcebook.asp.  The Sourcebook is a searchable, subject-browsable database of instructional materials accessible by any member of AALL who has an AALLNet password. You do not have to be a member of ALL-SIS to use or contribute to the Sourcebook. The purpose of the Sourcebook is to make course materials available to members of AALL for use in teaching and training.

Materials can be submitted in any electronic format, including Word, WordPerfect, HTML, PowerPoint, and PDF.  Authors retain copyright in the materials they submit to the Sourcebook, but grant AALL members permission to use them for educational purposes. The Sourcebook is password protected, so your students will not find your materials on the open web.

The more instructional materials the Sourcebook can compile, the more useful it will be to all members, including you.  Please contribute today. Contributions can be sent to me at sek28@law.georgetown.edu.

Sincerely,
Sara Kelley Burriesci
Electronic Services Librarian
Georgetown Law Library

U.S. Government Releases FY 2008 Financial Report

The fiscal year (FY) 2008 Financial Report of the United States Government provides the President, Congress, and the American people a comprehensive view of the Federal Government’s finances, i.e., its financial position and condition, its revenues and costs, assets and liabilities, and other obligations and commitments. The Report also discusses important financial issues and significant conditions that may affect future operations. This year's Report gives particular emphasis to two key issues: The Government's response in recent months to the financial market crisis, and the Government's capacity to sustain the funding and pay the benefits of key social insurance programs, such as Social Security and Medicare.  [RJ]

Opening: Cataloging Library, UDC-DCSL Mason Law Library

The Mason Law Library of the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law has an opening for a cataloging librarian with a master’s degree in library and information sciences.  Experience in a law library is preferred.

The Cataloging Librarian performs all cataloging functions using OCLC and Innovative Interfaces, participates in the Saturday and evening reference rotation, and the faculty liaison program. Benefits are competitive with area law schools; salary is $56,995 per year.

To apply, please send resume and UDC employment application (download application here) to

Professor Roy Balleste
Director of the Law Library and            
Assistant Professor of Law
University of the District of Columbia
David A. Clarke School of Law
Charles N. & Hilda H. M. Mason Law Library
4200 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Bldg. 39
Washington, D.C. 20008

Top Technology Breakthroughs of 2008

Check out Wired's Top Ten Technological Breakthroughs from 2008.  My personal Favorites:

• Flexible Displays (folds just like a book!)
• Edible Chips (no comment...lol)
• GPS (I love mine)
• Apple's App Store (is the cellphone the new PC?)

[RJ]

A Flawed Legal Information System: The U.S. Tax Code

The National Taxpayer Advocate's 2008 Annual Report to Congress characterizes the "complexity of the Internal Revenue Code" as "[t]he most serious problem facing taxpayers."  The report asserts that the Tax Code now contains 3.7 million words, that Congress amends the code at a rate of more than 1 amendment per day,  and that filing takes 7.6 billion hours per year.  The report estimates compliance costs for 2006 at $193 billion, or "14 percent of aggregate income tax receipts," and claims that "[i]f tax compliance were an industry, it would be one of the largest in the United States."  The solution, according to the report, "is to simplify the tax code enormously."  Among several specific proposed remedies, the report recommends eliminating the alternative minimum tax for individuals and simplifying family status provisions and and education and retirement savings tax incentives. [Robert C. Richards, Jr.]

A Comparison of Five Electronic Tax Research Platforms

In The Virtual Tax Library: A Comparison of Five Electronic Tax Research Platforms, Katherine Pratt, Jennifer Kowal and Daniel Martin (all Loyola Law School - Los Angeles) [SSRN] compare the primary and secondary resources and features offered by LexisNexis, Westlaw, BNA Tax Management Library, CCH Tax Research NetWork and RIA Checkpoint. The article also discusses the factors that are relevant when designing an electronic tax research system and makes recommendations about combining the electronic tax research platforms to create a workable virtual tax library.

Hat tip to Legal Research Plus. [JH]

How to Use Google Reader Like A Rockstar

With Google Reader revamped and ready to go, Matt Singley (Mashable) has put together an excellent how-to guide to get the most out of your RSS experience.  Check it out!  Hat tip:  iLibrarian [RJ]

Want a AALL Award?

Want an award from AALL? Then get someone, preferably someone whose job performance you evaluation each year, to nominate you for your many accomplishments (including but not limited to getting someone to nominate you). The nominations deadline for the awards listed below is February 1, 2009. Direct your minion to the AALL Awards website for links to the criteria and application instructions.

• LexisNexis Call for Papers Award
• Excellence in Marketing Award
• Chapter Professional Development Award
• CRIV New Product Award
• Joseph A. Andrews Bibliographical Award
• Law Library Publications Award
• Marian Gould Gallagher Distinguished Service Award
• Public Access to Government Information (PAGI) Award

Looks to me like most of the above awards require a substantial amount of work.I would shoot for the marketing award. [JH]

CRS Report on Presidential Libraries

In Presidential Libraries: The Federal System and Related Legislation the Congressional Research Service (via FAS) provides a brief overview of the federal presidential libraries system and tracks the progress of related legislation including:  H.R.1254, H.R. 1255, H.R. 5811, & S. 886.    [RJ]

LJ Academic Newswire's Top Ten Academic Library Stories of 2008

Details at The Library Journal Academic Newswire Year in Review but here's the ranking. [JH]

1. Georgia State University Sued by Publishers over E-Reserves
2. Harvard’s OA Mandate
3. The Google Book Search Settlement
4. The Launch of the HathiTrust
5. NIH Public Access Policy Enacted, Challenged
6. The Move Toward Open Source
7. The Section 108 Report
8. EPA Libraries Reopen
9. South Carolina Slashes PASCAL
10. The Sad Story of Orphan Works

Westlaw's New Browser Policy

Have you received this message from Westlaw?

Westlaw access will be blocked when using Web browsers that are no longer supported by the companies that created them.  The lack of support can create problems during Westlaw development which may result in a security risk.  Users attempting to access Westlaw using one of these browsers will receive an explanatory message that offers alternatives. 

Westlaw access using the following browsers will be blocked:

• Netscape (all versions)
• Mozilla Firefox versions lower than 1.5
• Safari versions lower than 2.0
• Internet Explorer versions lower than 6

[JH]

iTunes to End DRM

Apple’s announcement on January 6 (see the New York Times story) that it will discontinue adding digital rights management software to downloadable music on its iTunes site, in exchange for introducing variable pricing (including, perhaps, price discrimination), is an interesting development in the control of copyrighted digital information.  DRM and the legal regime that enforces it have been criticized by some scholars and information professionals as hindering free speech and creativity and foreclosing fair use rights.  The new iTunes arrangement, apparently the result of arm’s-length bargaining between Apple and the record companies, suggests that copyright owners are at this point willing in certain circumstances to sacrifice technological controls for efficient pricing.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out in other markets, especially the market for electronic texts. [Robert Richards]

The Law Librarian’s Role in the Scholarly Enterprise Webcast

Webcasts of the conference, The Law Librarian’s Role in the Scholarly Enterprise, are now available.

Links to the individual presentations:

• Part 1: Welcome - Walter F. Pratt, Jr.; Duncan Alford
• Part 2: Keynote - Stanley Katz
• Part 3: Historical Perspective - Michael Slinger
• Part 4: The Librarian's Scholarly Role: Views from a Newer Generation of Librarians - Simon Canick; Dana Neacsu; Thomas Mills
• Part 5: A Dean’s Perspective - Walter F. Pratt, Jr.
• Part 6: A Faculty Perspective - Danielle Holley-Walker
• Part 7: Context and the Role of the Law Librarian in the Scholarly Enterprise - Barbara Bintliff
• Part 8: Supporting Scholarship: Thoughts on the Role of the Academic Law Librarian - Richard Danner
• Part 9: Roundtable - Danner, Neacsu, Canick, Bintliff, Mills, Slinger

Attorney-Bloggers Offer Advice on Taking Advantage of Web 2.0 Technologies in New Book

New title from Gower, Blogging and Other Social Media: Exploiting the Technology and Protecting the Enterprise by Alex Newson, with Deryck Houghton and Justin Patten. From the product description:

Blogging and other types of social media such as wikis and social networking sites have transformed the way we use the internet in recent years. It is a transformation that business is eager to exploit. In order to do so, a clear commercial strategy needs to be established; does your organization wish to use the media actively as a business tool, or do you need to respond to the use of social media by others? Blogging and Other Social Media will address this question with practical guidance on using social media as well as the risks associated with it.

A collaboration by leading thinkers and business users of social media, the book contains detailed and practical advice on the various forms of social media - their applications, advantages and disadvantages, how these technologies are evolving, and whether or not their use will benefit your business. The section covering social media and the law explains the risks and remedies related to abuse of copyright, defamation, privacy, data protection and user contracts as well as the opportunities and threats for online reputation.

[JH]

The 2009 Statistical Abstract Now Available

From the U.S. Census Bureau:

"The Statistical Abstract of the United States is the standard summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. It is also designed to serve as a guide to other statistical publications and sources. The latter function is served by the introductory text to each section, the source note appearing below each table, and Appendix I, which comprises the Guide to Sources of Statistics, the Guide to State Statistical Abstracts, and the Guide to Foreign Statistical Abstracts."

For earlier editions, click here.  [RJ]