Law Librarian Blog

Reflections on LLB's 1,000,000th Page View

Sometime today Law Librarian Blog should receive its 1,000,000th page view. It's a milestone I have been looking forward to but I don't exactly know why. Except as a marketing metric for advertisers, traffic stats tell us nothing about a blog's influence and it's contributions to our profession and for those outside our profession who are interested in providing or gaining access to information on the web. In the early days of this blog, I guess I just want to know whether anyone "out there" had found LLB.

It's not an uncommon interest. None other than Tim Berners-Lee started logging page accessions to the planet's first web server, info.cern.ch, in the summer of 1991. If the person who cooked up the web wondered about traffic stats, I guess it is OK for the rest of us too. But let's not make too much about traffic stats. In his Weaving the Web, Berners-Lee mentions traffic growth on CERN's web server only three times and the book's indexer didn't think the topic deserved indexing.

I know bloggers who check their traffic stats every day, several times a day even. It can be quite an obsession. I've succumbed to it from time to time but it is an urge well worth resisting. Just post and establish a web destination by doing so regularly. Visitors will find the blog via search engines and some will turn into regular readers.

About law library/law librarian blogs, Dennis Kennedy writes "across the board, these blogs have developed into strong information resources, often with links to primary source information that I'm not sure how I would find otherwise." While Ron Jones, our great team of contributing editors, and I thank you for making our efforts worthwhile by visiting LLB, why not also check out some of the other 140 law library/law librarian blogs today if you haven't already done so. Here's Bonnie Shucha's Directory. Together, law library/law librarian blogs are creating a valuable information space for users of legal resources. [JH]

April Fool's Prank on Law Professor Blogs Network

From ContractsProf Blog:

The Law Professors Blog Network (LPBN) is suing bloggers Franklin G. Snyder  and Keith A. Rowley for breach of contract in connection with their blogging activities on the Commercial Law blog. ... According to the complaint, although Snyder and Rowley are listed as Blog Editor and Contributing Editor respectively of the ContractsProfs Blog, they have joined "a ragtag crew of renegades seeking to undermine the LPBN's dominance in law prof blogging, promote communism and end civilization as we know it."

Not having funds for litigation fees and expenses, Blog Emperor Paul Caron and I are representing ourselves and you know what they say about that. LOL. [JH]

LISNews Picks Law Librarian Blog as One of the Ten Blogs to Read in 2008

About our selection as one of the ten blogs to read in 2008 by LISNews, Blake Carver explains

We had a hard time picking a law librarian blog. Our "final cut" list included three choices, and each seemed worthy to be our single final choice. In the end Law Librarian Blog edged out the others for several reasons. For me the biggest reason was collaboration; Law Librarian Blog has 2 editors, and several contributors. They cover a wide range of topics in the law library niche, and point the way to good tools and resources.

There are many, many fine law librarian/law libraries blogs in our crowded corner of the blogosphere. Ron Jones, our great team of contributing editors and I are honored to be selected.

Here's the LISNews Ten Blogs to Read in 2008. Check out the announcement for details about each one.

• The Annoyed Librarian
• David Rothman
• iLibrarian
• Judge a Book by its Cover
• Law Librarian Blog
• Library Stuff
• Marylaine Block
• Off The Mark
• ResearchBuzz
• Stephen's Lighthouse

By the way, check out LISten, LISNews' trial run of podcasts. [JH]

Law Librarian Blog is Three Years Old!

Today is the third anniversary of the first post published on Law Librarian Blog. See Putting Law Librarian Blog in Perspective. Ron Jones and I are happy to see that in 2007 our blog's page views broke the 400,000 mark, up from 329,000 in 2006 and 126,000 in 2005. Page views are an imperfect metric but we hope our blog traffic indicates that we are providing news and resources our audience finds informative and helpful.

Ron and I would like to thank our great team of contributing editors -- Neal Axton (William Mitchell College of Law Library), Julie Jones (Cornell Law Library), Stina McClintock (King County Law Library (Seattle)), Jean M. Pajerek (Cornell Law Library), Carol A. Parker (University of New Mexico School of Law Library) and Karen R. Schneiderman (Drexel University College of Law Library) -- for all their help.

And thank you blog readers for visiting our blog! [JH]

Law Librarian Blog Garners 5th Place in OEDb's Top 25 Librarian Bloggers Ranking

Online Education Database reports that Law Librarian Blog ranks fifth in their Top 25 Librarian Bloggers ranking study. Our blog is also the most popular law librarian blog according to the report. Thanks readers!

In answering the question, "which librarian bloggers have the biggest reach?", OEDb writes "our goal was to show — using objective data from reliable sources — which blogs are the most popular, according to visitor traffic and site backlinks. To this end, we used data for these four metrics to calculate the rankings: (1)Google PageRank, (2) Alexa Rank, (3) Technorati Authority, and (4) Bloglines Subscribers."

The OEDb study apparently excluded blogs by libraries. It would be huge undertaking but hopefully library blogs will be the subject of a future study using the same metrics. BTW, check out OEDb's recently launched Library 2.0-themed blog, called iLibrarian. [JH]

The Blogger's Choice Awards Are Underway

Somewhere in the bowels of this contest you will find Law Librarian Blog which was nominated for a couple of awards by my assistant, "Mevil." Mevil must be trying to get a raise ... show I hereby publically remind her that she got a 50-cent raise a couple of years ago and that should suffice for the remainder of the decade. [JH]

Law Librarian Blog is Two Years Old!

Today is the second anniversary of the first post published on Law Librarian Blog. See Putting Law Librarian Blog in Perspective. Since its inception, the editors of the Law Librarian Blog have posted 3,884 stories and the blog has been visited 329,744 times with an amazing 455,749 page views. Thanks Ron, Neal, Mark, and Lee, bloggers who have served so well since 2005, and Stina, Jean, and Carol, bloggers who joined the Board this year. And thank you blog readers for visiting our blog!

Law Professor Blogs Network. May I also call attention to the editors and contributing editors of the Law Professor Blogs Network. What a great job! Being a co-founder of the Network (with Cincinnati Law Prof Paul Caron) I can say I never imagined the growth and popularity of the Network back in July 2004 when we started this venture. We now have 57 editors and 25 contributing editors writing for 36 law blogs with several more blogs expected to go into production soon. Together our editors have posted 57,971 stories. Cumulative Network blog traffic closed the 2006 calendar year at 12.4 million page views (click on chart for 2006 Network growth). I believe I'm justified in claiming that the Law Professor Blogs Network is the largest and one of the best law blog networks of its kind.

Thank you Network readers for making our collective effort so worthwhile. Check out our new Network blogroll which lists the five most recent posts from each of our blogs.

Joe Hodnicki
Co-founder & Chief of Operations
Law Professor Blogs Network

Editor, Law Librarian Blog
Member, Board of Advisors, and Contributor, Law School Innovation
Editor, Law Blog Metrics (coming soon)

Associate Director for Library Operations
Robert S. Marx Law Library
University of Cincinnati College of Law
Editor, Securities Lawyer's Deskbook

Thanks Ron Jones!

I want to publicly thank my blog co-editor and Cincinnati Law colleague Ron Jones, Reference & Electronic Services Librarian, for keeping all of us informed of law library and legal developments while I was "off the net" recuperating from gallbladder surgery. Great job Ron! Hi Erin, Emma, Jack & Andrew.

The laparoscopic cholecystectomy procedure for the removal of the gallbladder because of gallstones is relatively minor surgery [WebMD MedlinePlus] but if you find yourself about to go under the knife, I hope you don't come down with bronchitics the day after surgery. Aaagh. Captioned images here: Download gallbladder.jpg (large file).

Bottom line: glad they weren't kidney stones! [JH]

Carol Parker Joins Law Librarian Blog Editorial Board

I'm delighted to announce that Carol Parker has agreed to join the editorial board of Law Librarian Blog as a contributing editor. Carol is Law Library Director and Assistant Professor of Law at the University of New Mexico School of Law. Prior to joining UNM, Carol was Assistant Director at the Wayne State University Law Library. Before that, she served as the Head of Faculty & Public Services in the Law Library at the Michigan State University College of Law.

Carol teaches Wills and Trusts, and Advanced Legal Research at the UNM School of Law and previously has taught Legal Research, Writing and Advocacy at Michigan State University. Immediately after graduating from Wayne State University Law School, Carol clerked at the Michigan Court of Appeals. While at Wayne State University Law School, she served as an Assistant Editor of the Wayne Law Review.

Carol's current research interests include the impact of the open access movement on legal scholarly communication, a topic on which she presented at the 2005 CALI conference. Her forthcoming article, Institutional Repositories and the Principle of Open Access: Changing the Way We Think About Legal Scholarship, is featured in Law Librarian Blog today (see above).

I'm confident that you will enjoy Carol's contributions to Law Librarian Blog. Thanks Carol! [JH]

Ron Jones to Serve as Co-Editor

I want to thank my Cincinnati Law colleague, Ron Jones, for all the heavy lifting he has performed for the Law Librarian Blog during the last several weeks. He has been covering developments for me while I have been out of town, working my “day job," etc. What's the old adage, those who work, get more work. Well, I am very pleased to announce that Ron, who has been serving as a contributing editor for over a year, has agreed to join me as a co-editor of Law Librarian Blog.

Ron joined the staff of the University of Cincinnati Law Library in 1997 serving as Head of Circulation. He received his MLS from the University of Kentucky in 2000. In 2001, Ron was hired as a Reference Librarian. His responsibilities were expanded to include Electronic Services in 2005. In the fall of 2005, Ron was awarded tenure. Ron serves on a number of law library and university libraries committees. He also help Cincinnati Law Prof Paul Caron by serving as the Research Associate for the TaxProf Blog.

Ron and his wife, Erin, are the proud parents of a six year old daughter and two year old son. They are expecting a second son in late September. Once Ron and Erin stop making babies (and stop changing diapers), Ron plans to go to law school.

-- Joe Hodnicki

Our Reader Survey is Underway

Please take a moment to fill out our short reader survey here.  We would like to have a better idea about who is reading this blog so we can better serve you.  Thanks in advance for your help.  (The survey will remain at the top of the middle column throughout this week.)

Why Don't Librarian Blog Posts Generate Comments?

Betsy McKenzie gives us her explanation for why librarian blogs don't receive many comments at Out of the Jungle. Of course, her post received two comments within 24 hours of publication. I guess that disproves my theory, which was that we're just too busy to comment.

Horrors! Can it be because librarian posts are just too damn boring?

Dennis Kennedy Awards Law Librarian Blogs the Best Legal Blog Category

In 2004, Dennis Kennedy judged law librarian blogs to be runner-up in the category of best law blog trends. Interestingly, he picked Sabrina Pacifici's BeSpacific winner of the the 2004 Best Overall Legal Blog award . As most know, Sabrina is one of the great phenoms in online law librarianship publishing. In addition to being a DC law firm librarian for 25 years, Sabrina publishes the webzine LLRX.com as well as BeSpecific. (If you do not visit Sabrina's site daily then at lease subscribe to her email newsletter at http://www.bespacific.com/mt/subscribe.html )

This year, law librarian blogs received Dennis Kennedy's Best Legal Blog Category award. He wrote:

I stand in awe of the job that law librarian bloggers as a group are doing. Across the board, these blogs have developed into strong information resources, often with links to primary source information that I'm not sure how I would find otherwise. There are so many great blogs in this category. I'll simply mention a few to get you started.

I am please to announce that Law Librarian Blog was one of the blogs he listed by name. To be listed with such excellent blogs as Sabrina Pacifici's BeSpacific, Slaw.com and many others is a great honor. See http://www.denniskennedy.com/archives/2005_12.html#a000959 for all listed librarian blogs as well as a complete list of all 2005 awards.

Interestingly, Kennedy gave the 2005 Best Overall law-Related Blog award to Tom Mighell's Inter Alia. Tom's blog was runner-up in this category in 2004 and certainly is most deserving of this award now. Tom is not a law librarian but he can give any law librarian a run for his or her money when it comes to identifying useful legal resources.

Clearly Dennis has a "thing" for legal research blogs.

Law Librarian Blog is One Year Old!

Today is the anniversary of the first post published on Law Librarian Blog. See Putting Law Librarian Blog in Perspective. I would like to thank my contributing editors - Neal Axton (William Mitchell), Mark Giangrande (DePaul), Ron Jones (Cincinnati) and Lee Peoples (Oklahoma City) - for helping me with this blog. Together we posted stories every day last year. In fact, we posted 1,889 stories in 2005.

And it has been quite a ride: 87,799 visitors and an amazing 126,436 page views in 2005. Thank you for your patronage.

Editor's Note

Some of the recently posted materials are less current than they should be. Over the weekend I had a family matter requiring my attention, one that keep me away from the Internet for four days. I started performing email triage yesterday afternoon; 700-plus email messages in my  three email accounts!

- Joe Hodnicki

Law Librarian Blog To Be Captured for MINERVA

I am proud to announce that the Library of Congress has selected Law Librarian Blog for inclusion in LC's historic collection of Internet materials related to the Supreme Court. This collection of materials will be called the Supreme Court Web Archive. It is part of the MINERVA Web Preservation Project. Never in my wildest dreams did I think this little blog would be deemed one of the nation's cultural artifacts worthy of preservation by the Library of Congress.

Blogs as Providers of Research-Quality Content

Last Monday's USA Today featured a story on student use of blogs for research purposes. No law library angle in the story but it reminded me of a compliment fellow blogger, Paul Caron at TaxProf Blog, received several months ago. It seems that a tax student cited Paul's blog in a paper the student wrote. The student's prof emailed Paul to tell him about it because the blog citation in a student paper was a first in the prof's experience.

No longer. Blogs are cited in court opinions, law reviews, etc. The new edition of the Bluebook even has a rule for blog citation format.

Law blogs that provide news and analysis without the attitude and drama, like the ones we strive for at Law Professor Blogs, are legitimate sources for legal research now.

If you know of a prof who might be interested in covering a legal subject in a blog in such a way that the blog becomes a useful research tool, please send him or her my way. If you would like to contribute to the Law Librarian Blog to help make it a better publication, whether on a regular, semi-regular, or occasional basis please contact me.

Joe Hodnicki, editor of Law Librarian Blog.

Co-founder and web producer of the Law Professor Blogs Network.

Juris Novus Featuring Blogs from the Law Professor Blogs Network

The Law Professor Blogs Network is proud to announce a collaboration with Juris Novus, one of the finest law blog aggregators online. Juris Novus will be featuring a rotating cast of blogs from our Network.

Statement from Juris Novus:

Keeping up with the blogsphere is a daunting task as new blogs come online daily. Juris Novus provides order and centralization, pulling together relevant headlines and presenting them on a single page. Law professors greatly influence the legal blogsphere. Academia demands a clear writing voice and current knowledge of legal ongoings. Successful blogging demands the same, it comes as no surprise that professors have risen to the top of the law blogsphere. In honor of those law professors who have contributed to the rich culture of the legal blogsphere, Juris Novus features a heavier balance of law professor blogs.

Juris Novus is updated three times an hour and stores headlines on a history page when you miss a day. Save time and simplify your day with Juris Novus. Thank you for making the legal blogsphere a better place!

Fourth of July Weekend Hiatus

The Law Librarian Blog will be on hiatus from July 2 through July 4 while I recuperate from minor knee surgery. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday.

-- Joe Hodnicki, Editor

Was It Just My Imagination?

Or in his inaugural address did President Bush really say

Weekend Roundup

In case you missed them, here are last weekend's posts.

Saturday Posts:

• Top Ten Privacy Stories of 2004
• Index to Legal Periodicals Goes Retro
• Scalia and Breyer on Foreign Law and the US Constitution
• Belated Happy Anniversary to BoingBoing

Sunday Posts:

• Illinois Courts Implement CM/ECF
• A Quick Look at the Search Systems Free Public Records Directory
• A Quick Look at the Trial Watch Database

Please Take This Survey

West Publishing Company and Foundation Press, sponsors of this blog and our Law Professor Blogs Network, have asked that we help identify our readership through this on-line survey.  They (and we) would like to figure out the mix of professors, judges, lawyers, librarians, students, and others who read this blog.  The survey takes less than a minute to complete.  Thanks in advance for your help.