Law Librarian Blog

Publicizing LAW.GOV's Statement of Principles and Declaration

Hat tip to Paul Lomio for calling attention to the release of the LAW.GOV Principles and Declaration statement on Legal Research Plus at Codifying Commonsense -- the Law.gov Principles. Taking it a step further, I'll be turning the LAW.GOV statement into a poster for display in my little county law library. If interested in doing the same or, for academic law librarians and legal writing profs, if interested in starting off one of your lectures pointing to the hopefully not too distant future of the systematic creation of authenticated, well-formatted legal resources available for bulk distribution covering all primary legal materials in the US, here is a PDF and PNG image file of a screen capture from the LAW.GOV site.

From the Statement:

Adherence to these principles by governmental bodies is not just good for democracy and justice, it will spur innovation and will encourage:

1. Broader use of legal materials in all parts of our education system, including our law schools.
2. Researchers in law schools, universities, and other research institutions to have broader access to bulk data, spurring important research on the functioning of our government.
3. Innovation in the legal information market by reducing barriers to entry.
4. Savings in the government's own cost of providing these materials through adherence to best current practices.
5. Small businesses to understand rules and regulations they must deal with, reducing their costs and increasing their effectiveness.
6. Increased foreign trade by making it easier for our foreign partners to understand our laws.
7. Better access to justice by making legal information more broadly available to citizens.

[JH]

Opening: Reference Librarian, Georgetown Univ. Law Library

Georgetown Law Library Reference Department is seeking applications for a Reference Librarian position.  The Reference Librarian provides extensive reference service to the Law Center's faculty and students by participating in the reference desk rotation, individual research consultations, writing research guides, and participating in other law library instructional programs as needed.  The Reference Librarian participates in basic and advanced legal research instruction, online training, clinical research instruction, the Legal Research and Writing liaison program, journal liaison program, library tours, and other educational programs.
 
For full job description, see: http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/about/openings.cfm.
 
Required: M.L.S. degree from an ALA-accredited library school; knowledge of legal materials and excellent communications skills.
 
Preferred: J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school or significant law library experience. Experience with legal and interdisciplinary research materials, including online legal databases. Knowledge of and experience with empirical research methods. One to three years of professional experience in a law or academic library and experience with teaching legal research.
 
Salary commensurate with experience and qualifications. Application review will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. 

Applications received by August 16, 2010, will be assured of consideration. Apply for this position by submitting a resume, references, and a cover letter to: Margaret A. Fry, Associate Law Librarian for Administration, via University Human Resources at: http://www12.georgetown.edu/hr/employment_services/joblist/jobs.cfm.

Practitioner Tools for Going Paperless

In Being a Virtual Lawyer Is All Mindset, Not Technology, Jay Fleischman lists a basic set of readily available and low-cost tools for going paperless. "If you want to be a virtual lawyer," writes Fleischman, "all you need to do is take a step outside.  Then another.  And then another.  Repeat until you’re in a comfortable location, and then open your laptop.  Keep the cell phone charged, maintain connectivity to the Internet, and get down to business.  That’s pretty much all there is to it."

Hat tip to TechnoLawyer Blog. [JH]