Law Librarian Blog

Guide to Negotiating Vendor Contracts

A veteran of vendor negotiations for law firm online and print contracts, Elaine Billingslea Dockens offers a detailed guide for vendor representatives (VRs) and law librarians inexperienced in the ways of vendor contracting in Vendor Pitfalls in Negotiating Large Multi-Year Contracts - or How to Lose a Million Dollar Contract (LLRX). Dockens writes:

During negotiations my goal is to control expenses and look for discounts (and still keep a quality product). The goal of the VRs include obtaining or retaining our business and making a reasonable profit. When we both - firm and vendor - come to the table prepared to get the very best deal for our side, then everybody wins. However, if one of the parties arrives at the table ill prepared - we both lose. The vendor will probably lose the business they could have obtained or retained and the firm loses the chance to seriously consider the vendor in comparison to other vendors.

The article includes commentary on vendor representative tactics Dockens has witnessed over the years that substantially decreased the success of the VRs to obtain or retain her law firm's business. Reading this section was déjà vu all over again. [JH]

JISC Academic Database Assessment Tool

JISC Academic Database Assessment Tool (ADAT) allows you to compare bilbiographic and full text databases.  There are sfour main functions on the site:

1. Compare Journal Title Lists
2. Compare key features of database platforms
3. Compare e-Book platforms
4. Compare charts and statistice (dashboards) of each database

So, for example, with respect to number 3, if you compare NetLibrary to ebrary, you will learn that ebrary lets you export citations to Endnote, while NetLibrary will not. However, ebrary allows you to search by LC Subject trees, while Netlibrary does not.  There are more than 70 categories that they compare in the e-Book platform section.  It is a great service when trying to compare usability of different platforms!

Similarly, their comparison of journal titles in databases quickly provide venn diagrams of overlaps in coverage.  For example, of ABI/Informs 3,984 titles, 1,796 also appear in Business Source Premier (which has a total of 12,978) titles.  If you are using an ERM, chances are that your ERM can do this for you as well.  For those of you not using an ERM, this is an very handy collection development aid that mimics some pricey proprietary software.

The site also informs you when the title list for each database was last updated, and lets you set up alerts for when those updates take place. Contributers are a little sparse but the big names of Proquest and Thomson Reuters are both there, along with others.  It would be nice to see this grow - wouldn't it be fun to compare Lexis to Westlaw? (VS)

2009 Edition of Legal Information Buyer's Guide & Reference Manual Now Available

Ken Svengalis is every law librarian's best friend. While I buy Bowker's Law Books and Serials in Print once every ten years, I purchase Ken's Legal Information Buyer's Guide & Reference Manual (Rhode Island LawPress) every year. I always look forward to reading Ken's analysis of legal publishing industry practices and pricing trends -- something AALL should be but isn't doing nearly as well as Ken.

The Legal Information Buyer's Guide & Reference Manual is the best annual guide for law library collection development work available because of the detailed information provided for every listed title including historical pricing information for supplementation. In my opinion, The Legal Information Buyer's Guide & Reference Manual is an excellent reference tool too. If you can't get the publication out of your director's or acquisition librarian's hands, reference librarians should insist on buying second copies of this publication for their reference book collection. [JH]

Here's a message from Ken Svengalis, Rhode Island LawPress:

I am pleased to announce the release of the 2009 (13th) edition of the "Legal Information Buyer's Guide & Reference Manual."  It's the book Kevin Gerson, Director of the UCLA Law Library, recently described as "hands-down the most useful book on legal information ever written."

Under our current economic challenges, it has exactly the information your library needs to confront the rising costs of legal information.  Its genesis in 1996 was one law librarian's response to the challenges we faced then.  Those challenges have grown ever more urgent with each passing year. It contains, among other things, the most extensive annotated bibliography of the legal literature in print, and a buyer's guide useful to lawyers and librarians who are in either acquisition or cancellation mode.  Consider this:

Since the merger of Thomson and West in 1996, West's print supplementation costs have risen 304% (1995-2008), reflecting an average annual increase of at least 11.5%.  There was not the slightest diminution in the rate of increase for 2008, despite an economy which has brought law libraries from New Jersey to California to dire straights, and threats of closure in a number of states.  Moreover, the prices of most West Hornbooks were increased over the past year at rates exceeding anything in the history of that series (generally 35-45%).  These price increases have allowed West to achieve an industry-leading profit margin for 2008 of 32.1% on the backs of struggling law libraries.  Yet, ironically, West will want us to sit down with them at a variety of receptions, luncheons, and parties at the upcoming annual meeting and pretend that this is not happening.  The expense of hosting these functions represents an infinitesimal fraction of the profits they have made off struggling law libraries, most of whose librarians cannot afford to attend the annual meeting because their libraries are so strapped for funds.

In light of the current state of the economy and the perilous position of many law libraries across the country, the current cost and supplementation cost data will no doubt prove an invaluable resource to libraries.  Those of you who have been in the profession for many years will remember the former "FTC Guides for the Legal Publishing Industry."  Those guides required publishers to provide customers the last two years' supplementation costs in their promotional literature, a requirement that was often ignored.  With the demise of the FTC Guides, and the lack of an effective replacement, the availability of this supplementation cost data is virtually non-existent, unless one asks for it specifically.  This is where the "Legal Information Buyer's Guide & Reference Manual" has stepped in to fill the breach.  After all, it's all about the supplementation.  West, for example, made 86% of its profits off supplementation in 2008 according to its 2008 annual report.  Getting a handle on supplementation costs is the primary way in which law libraries can confront these budgetary challenges.

We are now tracking the costs of more than 2,500 publications, including more than 1,700 legal treatises and hundreds of the leading state and federal publications.  The 2009 edition now includes supplementation costs as far back as 1993 and up to and including 2008.  The initial cost and supplementation costs for the years 2004-2008 are also featured in a 51-page spreadsheet in Appendix H, providing a convenient and time-saving means of conducting comparative product evaluations.  There are also reviews of more than 80 of the most significant new treatise titles published in 2008 and early 2009.  In addition to substantial new content, and a complete updating of all pricing data, the 2009 edition has also been substantially redesigned inside and out (see attached).

This is what the 1996 Thomson-West merger has wrought.  My 2009 edition has, among more than 80 others, a review of Gary Reback's new book "Free the Market" which provides a fascinating examination of the Thomson-West merger as well as expert analysis of the state of antitrust law in the United States from one of its leading practitioners.

Shipments to all standing order subscribers were made last week.  If you are uncertain if your library is on standing order, please e-mail us and we will confirm your status.

I also direct you to the PowerPoint of my presentation to the Association of Legal Administrators on May 19th in New Orleans. Go to: www.rilawpress.com.

We have responded to the current economy by pricing our 2009 edition the same as last year's edition--$149.00.  The 2009 "Legal Information Buyer's Guide & Reference Manual" may be ordered on our web site (www.rilawpress.com), by email at rilawpress@comcast.net, or by calling our NEW order line  (860-535-0378).  We accept Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, or will invoice.  Additional copies shipped to the same address are only $130.00.  A companion CD-ROM is also priced at $149.00, or $80.00 when ordered in combination with the print edition.

E-Books: Understanding the Basics

Jane Lee, California Digital Library Assessment Analyst, covers e-book essentials in E-Books: Understanding the Basics. In her brief article, Lee observes that "the rise of e-books highlights the struggle to offer services that address the increasing demand for electronic resources while maintaining legacy collections. There will be questions and arguments about the future of books and the role that academic libraries must fulfill, but we must stay focused on the central question. Our materials and methods may change, but our mission remains the same. We exist to support scholarship – whatever form it takes." Hat tip to Digital Koans.

Mark Giangrande (DePaul) observes on Tech Law Prof Blog that the e-book market may open up some if Amazon moves away from linking its own content exclusively with its own reader. See Amazon May Open Up Kindle, e-Book Business To Other Formats. [JH]

Open Access Marches On

Signatories to Open Access Statement

The statement is signed by the directors of the University Press of Florida, University of Akron Press, University Press of New England, Athabasca University Press, Wayne State University Press, University of Calgary Press, University of Michigan Press, Rockefeller University Press, Penn State University Press, and University of Massachusetts Press. Mike Rossner of Rockefeller University Press said that the press directors issued the statement as they wanted "to align ourselves with the stances taken by many universities -- by faculties and administrators -- on scholarly communication." Quoted in Inside Higher Ed.

Open Access News blog reported on June 4th that ten university press directors signed a position statement in support of free access to scientific, technical, and medical journal articles no later than twelve months after publication. The statement is further discussed on the Chronicle of Higher Education news blog. This announcement should remind you of the November 7, 2008 Durham Statement on Open Access to Legal Scholarship that was signed by many law library directors and called for elimination of printed law journals and adoption of a stable, open access model for law journals.

The Press Directors’ position statement is somewhat contrary to the position of the American Association of University Presses, their 112-member national organization. Executive Director Charles Lowery’s nine page PDF explains the AAUP position which is argued with the assumption that the reason academic law libraries support open access is to help meet shrinking budget lines. I do not think this is the only reason why academic library directors support open access, but the essay is worth reading to review different approaches to journal deselection choices such as combining a cost-per-page with a cost-per-use strategy.

AAUP filed a letter of support for the Fair Copyright in Research Works bill (H.R. 6845) which was reintroduced into Congress this past September (and seems to have died in the Judiciary Committee) prohibiting federal agencies from requiring fund recipients to give up their copyright in order to receive federal monies.

The American Association of Publishers also supports bills like H.R. 6845. At the site of their affiliate, Professional Scholarly Publishing, you can find key talking points surrounding the Fair Copyright in Research Works bill, and reposted statements from other organizations concerning retention of copyright in funded scientific works. The AAP also lobbied President Obama on the same. You can find their letter to him and Vice President Biden at this site.

At least one of the signatories to the position statement, Rockefeller University Press Director Mike Rossner, already makes Rockefeller journals available six months after publication. He has not found this practice of delayed free posting contrary to their business model. This position diffuses much of the discussion levied against open access. Hopefully, we will see more concrete support of an open access model that will result in more collections such as the Directory of Open Access Journals and BioMed Central, or direct access to journals via their own web sites.

To inform yourselves more fully on the benefits of open access, I highly recommend the SPARC pages on this issue. (VS)

Reminder: Managing Electronic Titles and Materials This Afternoon

Richard Leiter and Brian Striman discuss the challenges of electronic titles in law libraries on their BlogTalkRadio program, The Law Librarian, today at 3:00 pm (Eastern). The call-in phone number for Managing Electronic Titles and Materials is 347-945-7183. Topics will include:

• How should electronic titles be cataloged?

• How should local cataloging records reflect remote subscription holdings?

• How should "holding" be defined with respect to electronic titles? Is the ABA definition adequate?

• If your library subscribes to all or a portion of HeinOnline, do you "hold" all those titles?

• Are OPACS the proper place to record access to electronic titles, or do we rely on vendor websites?

• How do you provide access to electronic holdings to non-institutional patrons? (Ie., members of the public)

• How do you keep track of electronic serials?

• How does access to electronic titles affect existing or future binding policies?

Should be very informative. If you can't listen to the live program, you will be able to download the podcast. [JH]

New Edition of Licensing Digital Content: A Practical Guide for Librarians Published

ALA has published the second edition of Licensing Digital Content: A Practical Guide for Librarians by Lesley Ellen Harris. Covering licensing issues for librarians in the US, Canada and around the world, the second edition of this popular one-stop resource covers the basics of digital licensing in a plain-language approach that demystifies the process. See also the book's blog. [JH]

Reminder: Registation Deadline for The Shared Electronic Resource Understanding Webinar is June 5

"The Shared Electronic Resource Understanding (SERU): Can It Work in My Library" webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm (Eastern Time). The presenters, Karla Hahn, Assistant Executive Director of the Association of Research Libraries and Judy Luther, President of Informed Strategies, who served together as co-chairs of the NISO Working Group that developed SERU, will discuss how libraries and publishers can forgo negotiating traditonal licensing agreements for e-resources in favor of using a set of “common understandings”. Topics to be covered in the webinar include:

• Learn about what SERU is and how SERU is used in practice.
• The legal implications of SERU.
• Is SERU feasible in the law library setting?

Registration must be complete by June 5 (5:00pm Central). Space is limited. [JH] 

An Endangered Species: The Sacred Cows of Academic Law Library Collections

In The Effect of Economics and Electronic Resources on the Traditional Law Library Print Collection, 101 LLJ 117 (2009), Amanda M. Runyon (Tarlton Law Library) surveyed academic law libraries directors to determine how expenditures on acquisitions and electronic resources changed between the 2002–03 and 2006–07 academic years and how academic law libraries are managing their print collections given the increasing electronic availability of the same legal resources. Note well the shift to canceling print titles duplicated online. Runyon concludes:

One can see from the results of this study that academic law library collections are on the brink of a major change, and indeed have begun to take a new shape over the past five years. Although further research using a larger sample is needed to confirm these results, what is clear is that right now academic law libraries of all sizes are feeling the squeeze in acquisitions funds. Despite the range of acquisitions expenditures reported by the responding libraries, a good number of libraries had already taken action by ceasing to update or canceling some of their print materials, and even more have considered cancellations. While microtrends in the data show that libraries that have had smaller increases in their acquisitions budgets may be the leaders in this paradigm shift, it is clear that even libraries that have received larger increases are not far behind. It is probable that what we consider the “sacred cows” of the law library collection will change drastically in the near future.

[JH]

Should LexisNexis and Thomson West Be Worried About the Economy's Turbulence? Results of the LLB Poll

Faced with substantial budget cuts to law library collections and legal research policy changes, LLB launched an informal poll on April 13th [background] looking into what impact the current economy may have on LexisNexis and Thomson West print products and online legal research services and whether any impact would having lasting consequences. The results are now in and note the conflicted situation we are in. On the one hand, participants see a permanent shift to free and low cost online legal research services, presumably for primary legal materials. On the other hand, reliance on LexisNexis and West online services for secondary materials may trend upward, but at the expense of libraries canceling LexisNexis and West print title continuations that are duplicated online.

Is it too far-fetched to contemplate that their duopolistic pricing practices may end LexisNexis' and Westlaw's dominance of the market for online primary legal materials someday? Considering the content-rich, and better designed products offered by BNA and CCH in their web-based services, will libraries eliminate from their plans LexisNexis and West online secondary legal materials covered by BNA and CCH someday? Will legal publishers like BNA, CCH and Aspen-Loislaw see this as an opportunity to expand their online offerings into subject areas they may once thought they could not be competitive? Expand by offering competitive fundamental research tools like comprehensive and reliable online citation indexes for example?

Thanks to everyone who participated in this informal poll. While utterly unscientific, the results are thought-provoking. Maybe we are living in interesting times. [JH]

Will the current economic situtaion be "good" for free and low cost online legal research services -- do you see or expect to see patrons use them more frequently than in the past?

If yes, will the trend in usage be temporary or permanent once the economy improves -- should LexisNexis and Westlaw be worried?

Should LexisNexis and Thomson West be worried about the cancellation of print titles because many of their regularly updated titles are duplicated in their online services?

I work in [type of law library]

Should LexisNexis and Thomson West Be Worried About the Economy's Turbulence?

BetaNews is reporting that 96 percent of participants in the latest Future of Open Source 2009 Survey said they think the economy's turbulence is "good" for open source. According to the report, open source software will be "most disruptive" over the next five years to IT sectors that include databases and operating systems. When asked to identify the sector most susceptible to disruption, 52% of respondents pointed to databases, 36% to OS, 28% to business intelligence, and 22% to Web content management.

Beyond Lexis & Westlaw. While the IT sector survey did't include online legal research, we have to wonder whether the current economic climate will be "good" for free and low cost legal research services. Previously LLB reported on academic law libraries placing more emphasis on this sector by publishing guides that focus on alternatives to LexisNexis and Westlaw for online legal research. See the excellent work produced by Georgetown and UCLA, for example.

An LLB poll conducted in September of last year found that the vast majority of law librarians neither use nor provide training in the use of some free services, namely PreCYdent, PLoL and/or AltLaw. The results, of course, may have more to say about the perceived quality of these services and the low-cost plans offered by LexisNexis and Westlaw to law schools. But the ABA Journal's summary of the 2008 Legal Technology Survey Report did report that the number of lawyers performing free online legal research has overtaken the number using fee-based services for the first time. (89% used free online legal research while 87% used fee-based research services) and that trend may increase because of the economics on online legal research.

LLB's recent informal poll on the financial situation law libraries are finding themselves in because of the dismal state of the US economy found that the brunt of budget cuts will be library collections. 82% of the respondents who are facing or expecting to face budget reducations reported that library collections will be "hardest hit" area of library operations. One assumes, rightly I believe, that print materials are more likely to face the axe than online resources but certainly in some libraries expensive online resources will not be exempt from cancellations, cutbacks in negotiated plans, or shifts to low cost or free online legal services as a matter of institutional research policy. See, e.g., Large Law Firm Sets New Online Research Policy: Use Loislaw First.

Faced with substantial budget cuts to library collections and legal research policy changes, we think it timely to ask if law librarians are seeing a shift to free and low cost legal research services at the expense of Lexis and Westlaw use. So will the current economic situation be "good" for free and low cost online legal research services -- do you see or expect to see patrons use them more frequently than in the past? And if so, will it be temporary or permanent once the economy improves -- should LexisNexis and Westlaw be worried?

Finally with substantial annual price increases for continuations in print and substantially less for online legal services, a related question: should LexisNexis and West be worried about the cancellation of print titles because many of their regularly updated print titles are duplicated in their online services.

Thanks in advance for taking a moment to participate in our poll. [JH]

Is the Economy's Turbulence "Good" for Free and Low Cost Online Legal Research Services
and "Bad" for LexisNexis and Thomson West Print Continuation Renewals?

Online Surveys & Market Research

Online Surveys & Market Research

Online Surveys & Market Research

Online Surveys & Market Research

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]

Forthcoming Law and Legal Research Titles from Carolina Academic Press

Details below the fold. [JH]

• Abortion under State Constitutions: A State-by-State Analysis by Paul Benjamin Linton (Forthcoming August 2008)
• Latino/a Rights and Justice in the United States: Perspectives and Approaches, 2d ed., by Jose Luis Morin (Forthcoming July 2008)
• A Lawyer Writes: A Practical Guide to Legal Analysis by Christine Coughlin, Joan Malmud and Sandy Patrick (Forthcoming July 2008)
• Trademark Law and Policy, 2d ed., by Kenneth L. Port (Forthcoming July 2008)
• Expert Learning for Law Students, 2d ed., by Michael Hunter Schwartz (2008)(Workbook Supplement: Forthcoming July 2008)

Forthcoming Titles in the Carolina Academic Press Legal Research Series:

• California Legal Research by Hether C. Macfarlane and Suzanne E. Rowe (Forthcoming August 2008)
• Kansas Legal Research by Joseph A. Custer and Christopher L. Steadham (Forthcoming August 2008)

Forthcoming Titles in the Carolina Academic Press Mastering Series:

• Mastering Civil Procedure by David Charles Hricik (Forthcoming August 2008)
• Mastering Legal Analysis and Communication by David Ritchie (Forthcoming July 2008)
• Mastering Negotiable Instruments (UCC Articles 3 and 4) and Other Payment Systems by Michael D. Floyd (Forthcoming August 2008)
• Mastering Statutory Interpretation by Linda Jellum (Forthcoming August 2008)

Abortion under State Constitutions: A State-by-State Analysis
by Paul Benjamin Linton

$75.00
Forthcoming August 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59460-604-8, ISBN-13: 978-1-59460-604-5

Description: Abortion under State Constitutions is the first, full-length treatment of the subject to appear in print.  For each State, the author considers possible sources of a right to abortion in the state constitution (privacy, due process of law, equality of rights, equal protection, privileges and immunities, as well as other provisions); state court decisions interpreting those provisions; the relevant state constitutional history; pre-Roe prohibitions of abortion and their interpretation by state courts; post-Roe regulations of abortion; and what rights state law has conferred upon unborn children outside the context of abortion.

Based upon the foregoing analysis, arranged topically within each State for ease of reference, the author concludes that thirteen state constitutions protect (or would be interpreted to protect) a state right to abortion that is independent of the right to abortion recognized in Roe v. Wade, while the supreme courts of the other thirty-seven States probably would not recognize a state right to abortion.  Likely to become a standard reference work on the subject, Abortion under State Constitutions should be of interest not only to lawyers who litigate state abortion rights claims and judges who decide those cases, but to anyone on either side of the abortion debate who wants to have a better understanding of the status of abortion under state constitutions.

Latino/a Rights and Justice in the United States
Perspectives and Approaches
Second Edition
by Jose Luis Morin

Forthcoming July 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59460-406-5

Description: A much-needed and thought-provoking examination of a significant and growing population within the United States, Latino/a Rights and Justice in the United States explores the inequalities and injustices that Latino/a communities confront in the United States. Author José Luis Morín provides a deeper understanding of the historical and contemporary Latino/a experience of discrimination and economic and social injustice and presents insights into the elusiveness of equality and fairness for Latinos/as in the United States. Offering ideas on how to reduce bias and other inequities within the justice system and the greater society, Morín calls for alternative approaches to working with Latino/a youths and families and a broadening of existing concepts of rights and justice in the United States. Drawing the link between the international and domestic dimensions of the Latino/a presence in the United States, Morín incorporates international human rights norms and principles of economic, social, and cultural rights to address the persistent inequalities and injustices that Latino/a communities confront in the United States.

The second edition provides new and expanded coverage about racial and ethnic bias in law enforcement and the criminal justice system, citizenship rights, immigration and crime, Latinos/as and U.S. prisons, the contemporary street gang phenomenon, and Latinos/as in the post-9/11 era.  Meticulous in presenting facts and research, Latino/a Rights and Justice in the United States often challenges conventional ideas and popular myths about Latinos/as on these and other topics.

A Lawyer Writes: A Practical Guide to Legal Analysis
by Christine Coughlin, Joan Malmud, Sandy Patrick

$33.00
Forthcoming July 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59460-360-X, ISBN-13: 978-1-59460-360-0

Description: A Lawyer Writes puts the reader in the place of a first-year attorney tasked with real life assignments. In doing so, it teaches law students not only how to succeed in law school, but also how to succeed in the practice of law. The book uses graphics and visual samples to demonstrate the variety of ways in which attorneys write effectively, showing best practices in both traditional and electronic environments.

Trademark Law and Policy
Second Edition
by Kenneth L. Port

Forthcoming July 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59460-547-5

Description: This full-length treatment of the law of trademarks in the United States begins by presenting a thorough discussion of why we protect trademarks. It delves into the theoretical justifications that support trademark protection, including law and economics, notions of freedom of competition, and cultural justifications. The book is unique in the field in that it presents trademark infringement early rather than later in the semester. The idea behind making infringement an early subject is that all of trademark law was originally a common-law subject. As such, it was all judge-made and cases arose only when someone sued someone else for trademark infringement. Students are thus able to study all of the later chapters with the ability to hold the specific subject matter in context.

Additional chapters focus on obtaining trademark rights, retention of trademark rights, registration of trademark rights, and loss of trademark rights. Another unique characteristic of this book is that it gives complete, comprehensive coverage of dilution law and domain name law (covering both the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy). No other textbook on the market provides such comprehensive coverage of these two timely topics in Trademark Law.

Expert Learning for Law Students
Second Edition
by Michael Hunter Schwartz

$30.00
296 pp, 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59460-545-9, ISBN-13: 978-1-59460-545-1

Description: Expert Learning for Law Students is designed to help law students build the analytical skills necessary to succeed in law school, on the bar exam, and in law practice. This book reveals how successful law students and lawyers plan, monitor, and implement their work and it provides detailed guidance regarding individual student personality types and learning styles. The accompanying workbook includes questions and exercises to assist students in practicing the concepts explained in the text.

The second edition includes greater emphasis on students personalizing all strategy suggestions by adapting strategies to their individual learning styles, personality types, and, most importantly, their results and their evaluations of the causes of those results. It includes additional materials designed to help students deal with law school stress and offers insights for ameliorating that stress developed within the Humanizing Legal Education movement. Tips on time management and avoiding procrastination; a revised discussion on case reading reflecting recent research; a new section on using color as a memorization tool; and a revised discussion of how to apply rules to facts and how to apply and distinguish cases are also provided.

Available Supplements: Expert Learning for Law Students Workbook
Forthcoming July 2008, $22.00, 176 pp, ISBN-10: 1-59460-552-1, ISBN-13: 978-1-59460-552-9

Carolina Academic Press Legal Research Series

California Legal Research
by Hether C. Macfarlane, Suzanne E. Rowe

Forthcoming August 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59460-403-4

Description: California Legal Research fills a unique niche in the literature available for California state law research.  This book explains not just the sources of California law but the process of conducting research using those sources.  The book should be valuable to a wide range of audiences—from first-year students to seasoned veterans.

After introductory chapters devoted to the basic research process and fundamental research techniques, California Legal Research explores judicial opinions, the state constitution, statutes and legislative history, and administrative law.  The book then turns to updating research with Shepard’s and KeyCite, using secondary sources and practice guides, and planning a research strategy.  A final chapter explains legal citation, with information on the California Style Manual, the ALWD Citation Manual, and the Bluebook.

Print and online resources are introduced simultaneously, with guidance on when each medium is likely to be most effective in solving legal problems.  Outlines of the research process and focused excerpts from key state sources make the book easy to use.  Brief discussions of legal analysis are included throughout, recognizing the interplay between research and analysis.

California Legal Research supplements its primary discussion of state research with brief discussions of federal research.  Thus, it can be used as the sole text in a research course or in conjunction with texts focusing on topical or federal research. 

Kansas Legal Research
by Joseph A. Custer, Christopher L. Steadham

Forthcoming August 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59460-509-3

Description: Kansas Legal Research is the first book of its kind devoted to the resources and strategies needed to research Kansas state law. This legal research textbook is designed for first-year and upper level law students, librarians, paralegals, undergraduate students researching Kansas law, and even lay people. Kansas practitioners and others who need to be familiar with Kansas legal resources will also want this book in their library.

Taking a process-oriented approach, the book focuses on how to research the primary sources of law such as the constitution, statutes, cases, and rules and regulations. It explains to the researcher how to research these sources both in print and in electronic format. The book also focuses on how to research sources of law usually covered in an advanced legal research course, such as legislative history and legal ethics. Additional chapters describe the research process and research strategies. Appendices include legal citation rules and a list of Kansas practice materials.

Kansas Legal Research is clearly written, making even complex ideas accessible. Outlines of the research process and short excerpts from Kansas resources make the book easy to use. Web addresses point researchers to the many sources for finding free Kansas legal material online.

The book also provides concise explanations of resources needed for researching federal law and the law of other states. As a result, Kansas Legal Research can be used as a stand-alone text or in conjunction with a research text concentrating on federal law.

Carolina Academic Press Mastering Series Titles

Mastering Civil Procedure
by David Charles Hricik

$40.00
Forthcoming August 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59460-263-4

Description: Mastering Civil Procedure provides a thorough and practical guide to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as well as related doctrines, including personal jurisdiction, subject matter jurisdiction, and claim and issue preclusion. Not only does the book provide a concise and clear road map to civil procedure, it is designed to complement leading civil procedure case books by discussing many of the principal cases from those books. The book benefits from having been written by a civil procedure professor who, prior to teaching, litigated civil lawsuits in federal courts for 14 years with both large and small law firms.

Mastering Legal Analysis and Communication
by David Ritchie

$22.00
Forthcoming July 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59460-363-4, ISBN-13: 978-1-59460-363-1

Description: Mastering Legal Analysis and Communication is designed to help novices navigate the often difficult task of learning new ways of thinking and communicating. Law schools employ methodologies and pedagogical paradigms that law students find mystifying and hard to comprehend. This book aims to explain how these methodologies and paradigms function, why they are used, and what they are meant to accomplish. The topics covered range from the basic concepts of understanding what law is and what “thinking like a lawyer” means, to making sense out of the structural paradigms of legal writing and rhetoric.

Mastering Legal Analysis and Communication will serve as a useful guide for students as they undertake their studies in both their casebook and practical skills courses. In fact, the themes discussed and explanations offered will help students better see that the analytical and communication skills utilized in all their classes fall upon the same continuum of professional competence. As such, this book is a vital reference work for students as they try to make sense of their law school studies in a more comprehensive and connected way.

Mastering Negotiable Instruments (UCC Articles 3 and 4) and Other Payment Systems
by Michael D. Floyd

Forthcoming August 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59460-366-2

Description: Mastering Negotiable Instruments (UCC Articles 3 and 4) and Other Payment Systems explains the essential concepts in the law governing payment systems. The book focuses primarily on the prototypical payment systems that for centuries have used negotiable instruments: notes, checks, and other types of drafts. It explores the rules and mechanisms that regulate transactions in negotiable instruments from issue to collection. Study of the rules starts with UCC Article 3 (governing negotiable instruments generally) and Article 4 (governing check collection), but also requires consideration of federal statutes such as the Expedited Funds Availability Act, the new Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, and related federal regulations. The book also explores the largely federal law governing newer payment systems that have evolved from negotiable instruments, such as credit cards and debit cards.

Mastering Statutory Interpretation
by Linda Jellum

$28.00
Forthcoming August 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59460-314-3

Description: Mastering Statutory Interpretation explains the methods of interpreting statutes, including a discussion of the various theories and canons of interpretation. The book begins by exploring these theories and identifying the sources of meaning the theorists use to interpret statutes, including intrinsic, extrinsic, and policy-based. Throughout, the text uses the major cases in each area of study to explain how the canons work in practice. Finally, each chapter provides a concise roadmap and summary to introduce and encapsulate the most important material.

New Titles from Ashgate

Details below the fold. [JH]

• The European Union and the Culture Industries: Regulation and the Public Interest edited by David Ward
• Law at the Vanishing Point: A Philosophical Analysis of International Law by Aaron Fichtelberg
• Hate on the Net: Extremist Sites, Neo-fascism On-line, Electronic Jihad by Antonio Roversi
• Responding to Terrorism: Political, Philosophical and Legal Perspectives by Robert Imre, T. Brian Mooney and Benjamin Clarke
• Islam Beyond Conflict: Indonesian Islam and Western Political Theory edited by Azyumardi Azra and Wayne Hudson

The European Union and the Culture Industries
Regulation and the Public Interest
Edited by David Ward

June 2008 * 282 pages * 978-0-7546-7018-6

Description: This edited collection brings together leading academics in their respective fields to examine the European Union's impact on media and public policy. It provides an analysis of the broader areas of EU policy and links these together to give a greater appreciation of the nuances and scope of EU regulatory initiatives and their impact on the member states. Under a broad public interest perspective, the authors provide an assessment of the success of EU policy in protecting the public interest in the culture industries and respecting certain normative principles and balancing these with market dynamics.

Law at the Vanishing Point
A Philosophical Analysis of International Law
Aaron Fichtelberg

June 2008 * 244 pages * 978-0-7546-7251-7

Description: Two central questions are at the core of international legal theory: 'What is international law?', and 'Is international law really law?' This volume examines these critical questions and the philosophical foundations of modern international law using the tools of Anglo-American legal theory and western political thought. Engaging with both contemporary and historical legal theory and with an analysis of international law in action, the book builds an understanding and theory of law from the perspective of those who actually use this legal system and understand it, rather than constructing an artificial system from the standpoint of political scientists and moral philosophers. Law at the Vanishing Point provides a fascinating new challenge to those who reduce international law either to ethics or to politics and provides a critical new appraisal of its power as an independent force in human social relations.

Hate on the Net
Extremist Sites, Neo-fascism On-line, Electronic Jihad
Antonio Roversi

June 2008 * 158 pages * 978-0-7546-7214-2

Description: Terrorists, subversive political groups and gangs with violent agendas have found an easy and convenient means to promulgate their messages of hate – cyberspace. Whilst debate about the use of the internet by extremist groups rages around governments and media alike, little has hitherto been presented as analysis of the websites themselves. Timely and topical, Antonio Roversi presents an insightful look at the unregulated, anonymous, and easily accessible nature of the Internet and how it has been used to raise funds, recruit, train and promote acts of violence and disorder.

Responding to Terrorism
Political, Philosophical and Legal Perspectives
Robert Imre, T. Brian Mooney and Benjamin Clarke

June 2008 * 248 pages * 978-0-7546-7277-7

Description: Terrorism and political violence as a field is growing and expanding. This volume provides a cross-disciplinary analysis – political, philosophical and legal – in a single text and will appeal to readers interested in studying this phenomenon from all perspectives. The volume covers the full spectrum of issues, including torture, terrorism causes and cures, legal issues, globalization and counter-terrorism.

Islam Beyond Conflict
Indonesian Islam and Western Political Theory
Edited by Azyumardi Azra and Wayne Hudson

June 2008 * 248 pages * 978-0-7546-7092-6

Description: Politically, Islam in Indonesia is part of a rich multi-cultural mix. Religious tolerance is seen as the cornerstone of relations between different faiths - and moderation is built into the country's constitutional framework. However, the advent of democracy coupled with the impact of the South-East Asian economic collapse in 1997, and the arrival of a tough new breed of Middle Eastern Islamic preachers, sowed the seeds of the current challenge to Indonesia's traditionally moderate form of Islam. This volume explores the extent to which moderate Indonesian Islam is able to assimilate leading concepts from Western political theory. The essays in the collection explore how concepts from Western political theory are compatible with a liberal interpretation of Islamic universals and how such universals can form the basis for a contemporary approach to the protection of human rights and the articulation of a modern Islamic civil society.

Kamali's Shari'ah Law Recommended for Islamic Legal Studies Collections

What is Islamic law?

In a time when the phrase "Islamic law" can mean just about anything, Kamali's Shari'ah Law is the best English language book I've found for answering the question, what is Islamic law? Recommended for all academic law libraries as an essential work for Islamic legal studies collections. [JH]

"Goes far beyond an 'introduction'; it is indeed an excellent compendium of Islamic jurisprudence." -- Tahir Mahmood, Chairman, Amity University Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, India, and former chairman of the National Minorities Commission, India

Shari'ah Law: An Introduction
Mohammad Hashim Kamali

List Price: $29.95 
Paperback: 398 pages
Publisher: Oneworld Publications (February 8, 2008)
ISBN-10: 1851685650
ISBN-13: 978-1851685653

Description: Providing a comprehensive and accessible examination of Shari’ah Law, this well considered introduction examines the sources, characteristic features, and schools of thought of a system often stereotyped for its severity in the West. In a progressive and graduated fashion, Mohammad Hashim Kamali discusses topics ranging from juristic disagreement to independent reasoning. Also broaching more advanced topics such as the principle of legality and the role and place of Shari’ah-oriented policy, Kamali controversially questions whether Islam is as much of a law-based religion as it has often been made out to be. Complete with a bibliography and glossary, and both a general index and an index of Arabic quotations, this wide-ranging exploration will prove an indispensable resource for Islamic students and scholars, and an informative guide to a complex topic for the general reader.

About the Author: Professor Dr Hashim Mohammad Kamali is the Dean of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC) at the International Islamic University, Malaysia, and author of Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence.

New Titles from the Brookings Institution Press

Details below the fold. [JH]

• Power Play: The Bush Presidency and the Constitution by James P. Pfiffner
• Attacks on the Press in 2007: A Worldwide Survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists
• Democracy in the States: Experiments in Election Reform edited by Bruce E. Cain, Todd Donovan and Caroline J. Tolbert
• Freedom's Unsteady March: America's Role in Building Arab Democracy by Tamara Cofman Wittes
• Beyond the Façade: Political Reform in the Arab World edited by Marina Ottaway and Julia Choucair-Vizoso

Power Play
The Bush Presidency and the Constitution
James P. Pfiffner

Brookings Institution Press, 2008
Cloth Trade, 299 pages
978-0-8157-7044-2, $28.95

Description: The framers of the U.S. Constitution divided the federal government's powers among three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary. Their goal was to prevent tyranny by ensuring that none of the branches could govern alone. While numerous presidents have sought to escape these constitutional constraints, the administration of George W. Bush went farther than most. It denied the writ of habeas corpus to individuals deemed to be enemy combatants. It suspended the Geneva Convention and allowed or encouraged the use of harsh interrogation methods amounting to torture. It ordered the surveillance of Americans without obtaining warrants as required by law. And it issued signing statements declaring that the president does not have the duty to faithfully execute hundreds of provisions in the laws he has signed.

Power Play analyzes the Bush presidency's efforts to expand executive power in these four domains and puts them into constitutional and historical perspective. Pfiffner explores the evolution of Anglo-American thinking about executive power and individual rights. He highlights the lessons the Constitution's framers drew from such philosophers as Locke and Montesquieu, as well as English constitutional history. He documents the ways in which the Bush administration's policies have undermined the separation of powers, and he shows how these practices have imperiled the rule of law.

Attacks on the Press in 2007
A Worldwide Survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists

Brookings Institution Press, 2008
Paper Text. 325 pages
978-0-944823-27-9, $30

Description: Attacks on the Press in 2007 recounts hundreds of threats to the news media and explores the trends underlying the news. International pressure has spurred improvements in nations such as China, where the government has eased media restrictions for the 2008 Olympics. But the erosion of U.S. influence in Latin America has led to setbacks for press freedom, and impunity in journalist murders remains a pervasive problem in nations from Russia to the Philippines.

Compiled annually by the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonprofit organization, Attacks on the Press is the most authoritative reference guide to press freedom worldwide, providing factual and unbiased analyses of media conditions in 120 nations.

Democracy in the States
Experiments in Election Reform
Bruce E. Cain, Todd Donovan and Caroline J. Tolbert, eds.

Brookings Institution Press, 2008
Cloth Text, 256 pages
978-0-8157-1336-4, $62.95

Description: Democracy in the States offers a 21st century agenda for election reform in America based on lessons learned in the fifty states. Combining accessibility and rigor, leading scholars of U.S. politics and elections examine the impact of reforms intended to increase the integrity, fairness, and responsiveness of the electoral system. While some of these reforms focus on election administration, which has been the subject of much controversy since the 2000 presidential election, others seek more broadly to increase political participation and improve representation.

Freedom's Unsteady March
America's Role in Building Arab Democracy
Tamara Cofman Wittes

Brookings Institution Press, 2008
Cloth Trade, 176 pages
978-0-8157-9494-3, $26.95

Description: Freedom's Unsteady March shows why America cannot afford to be neutral or passive in the face of the momentous changes taking place in Arab states and why it must wield its power and influence in support of democratic reform. Wittes also dissects the Bush administration's failure to advance freedom in the Middle East. She diagnoses the roots of America's ambivalence about Arab democracy, and shows how to confront more honestly the risks of change and act more effectively to contain them.

Beyond the Façade
Political Reform in the Arab World
Marina Ottaway and Julia Choucair-Vizoso, eds.

Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, 2008
Cloth Text, 295 pages
978-0-87003-240-0, $57.95

Description: Beyond the Façade: Political Reform in the Arab World evaluates the changes that are taking place in the region and explores the potential for further reform. The essays provide careful, detailed examinations of ten countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen), highlighting the diversity of processes and problems. Beyond the Façade forces us to recognize the reality of conflicting interests and the limitations of external actors to bring about political reform, while drawing lessons on how to make international democracy promotion more effective

New Law Titles from OUP

Details below the fold. [JH]

• The New Corporate Governance in Theory and Practice by Stephen Bainbridge
• The Business of Intellectual Property by Christopher M. Arena and Eduardo M. Carreras
• Socially Responsible Investment Law Regulating the Unseen Polluters by Benjamin J. Richardson
• Common Law Marriage: A Legal Institution for Cohabitation by Goran Lind (forthcoming July 2008)

The New Corporate Governance in Theory and Practice
By Stephen Bainbridge

ISBN13: 9780195337501
ISBN10: 0195337506
Hardback, 264 pages, June 2008
Price: $60.00

Description: The New Corporate Governance in Theory and Practice offers an interdisciplinary analysis of the emerging board-centered system of corporate governance. It draws on doctrinal legal analysis, behavioral economic insights into how individuals and groups make decisions, the work of new institutional economics on organizational structure, and management studies of corporate governance. Using those tools, Stephen Bainbridge traces the process by which this new corporate governance system emerged, and explores whether such changes are desirable or effective.

The Business of Intellectual Property
By Christopher M. Arena and Eduardo M. Carreras

ISBN13: 9780195338386
ISBN10: 0195338383
Paper, 412 pages, May 2008
Price: $185.00

Description: No longer solely the domain of the legal department, strong intellectual property practices are an integral part of company operations, and require that lawyers understand the fundamentals of business practice and that business executives understand the law. In The Business of Intellectual Property, Chris Arena and Ed Carreras explain the growing importance of intellectual property assets from both legal and business perspectives, and offer strategic advice on how to manage IP assets for competitive advantage, profitability and return on investment.

Focusing on the intersection of law and business, The Business of Intellectual Property combines statutory frameworks, case law, business and legal principles of accounting and valuation, and-most impressively- multiple case studies of successful companies, to give readers the strategic vision and practical advice they need to integrate such processes into their company's operations.

Socially Responsible Investment Law
Regulating the Unseen Polluters
By Benjamin J Richardson

ISBN13: 9780195333459
ISBN10: 0195333454
Hardback, 624 pages, June 2008
Price:$65.00

Description: Environmental harm is commonly associated with companies that extract, consume, and pollute our shared natural resources. Rarely are the 'unseen polluters,' the financiers that sponsor and profit from eco-damaging corporations, placed at the forefront of the environmental debate.

By focusing on these unseen polluters, Benjamin Richardson provides a comprehensive examination of socially responsible investment (SRI), and offers a guide to possible reform. Richardson proposes that greater regulatory supervision of SRI will help ensure that the financial sector prioritizes ethically-based investments. In Socially Responsible Investment Law, he suggests that new governmental reforms should encourage companies to participate in socially responsible investments by providing a better mix of standards and incentives for SRI through measures that include redefining the fiduciary responsibilities of institutional investors to incorporate environmental concerns. By doing so, Richardson posits that corporate financiers, including banks, hedge funds, and pension plans, will become more accountable to the goals of ensuring sustainable development.

Common Law Marriage
A Legal Institution for Cohabitation
By Goran Lind

ISBN13: 9780195366815
ISBN10: 0195366816
Hardback, 1,264 pages, July 2008
Price: $125.00

Description: The current law surrounding common law marriage is extremely complex. Professor Goran Lind has undertaken the demanding task of writing the most well-researched text on this topic to date. Separated into three Parts, Common Law Marriage covers the origins of the doctrine, its legal aspects in modern America, and the future of cohabitation law across the globe and in the 11 American jurisdictions that currently recognize common law marriage. It provides a cultural and historical history of the subject, from Ancient Roman Law to Medieval Canon Law, and analyzes over 2,000 American cases which have utilized the doctrine. This timely book is an excellent resource for scholars, legislators, and policymakers who are interested in the complex legalities of common law marriage.

New ABA Books

Disability Discrimination Law, Evidence and Testimony: A Comprehensive Reference Manual for Lawyers, Judges and Disability Professionals by John W. Parry J.D.

Description: Disability Discrimination Law, Evidence and Testimony explains and analyzes key aspects of disability discrimination law from several different perspectives to guide you through myriad federal and state statutes, court cases, and regulations. It covers employment, state and local government, public accommodations, telecommunications, housing and zoning, education, and criminal and civil institutions. Also included are detailed charts of relevant state statutory provisions and a history of disability discrimination law.

Virtual Law: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds by Benjamin Tyson Duranske

Description: This book examines current cases and legislation impacting virtual world providers and users, and makes predictions about the future application of current law. It addresses the application of intellectual property law (copyright, trademark, and patent), criminal law, property law, contract law, securities law, tax law, and civil procedure. The author provides clear and practical advice on how to create a virtual world presence for your practice or for your clients with virtual world connections. The book also includes extensive appendices listing in-world and web-based resources for practitioners and legal scholars.

The Law of Environmental Justice: Theories and Procedures to Address Disproportionate Risk, Second Edition, by Michael B. Gerrard, Sheila R. Foster

Description: The 21 individual chapters, written by many of the leading practitioners and scholars in the field, are divided into three categories: legal theories, legal procedures, and legal objectives. Among the topics covered are federal and state regulations and programs, Native American law, access to information, impact and risk assessment, access to the courts, ethics and evidentiary issues, challenges to permits for new facilities and controlling existing facilities, brownfields, residential and workplace exposure, and tort remedies and litigation strategies. As with the first edition, there is a free, online update service available that posts timely information about new cases and other developments in the area.

Convincing the Judge: Practical Advice for Litigators by Cecil C. Kuhne III

Description: Learn what judges like and do not like and how to deal with the judge throughout the entire litigation process. This book distills the advice of judges to practitioners appearing in their courtrooms and provides practical advice on case management, all phases of trial, and appeals. It also explains the judicial role and suggests tips for dealing with a difficult judge. Each chapter includes valuable practice tips and specific examples for enhancing your litigation skills.

Hereof, Thereof, and Everywhereof: A Contrarian Guide to Legal Drafting, Second Edition, by Howard Darmstadter

Description: This update of Howard Darmstadter's witty, accessible guide to legal drafting reminds practitioners how best to choose their words, to compose clear and succinct sentences, to lay out their documents, and decide which documents best serve a given scenario. The award-winning columnist for Business Law Today, offers a lively collection of his own musings, reflections, suggestions, anecdotes, and witticisms that will entertain you as it teaches you how to modernize your legal documents. Written by a business lawyer for business lawyers, this enjoyable guide covers the basics of legal drafting as well as specific types of documents, such as agreements, securities prospectuses, and promissory notes. It also addresses the use of boilerplate, examples, and mathematical formulas.

The Survey of Library Database Licensing Practices

Produced by Primary Research Group, The Survey of Library Database Licensing Practices presents data from 90 libraries – corporate, legal, college, public, state, and non-profit libraries – about their database licensing practices. More than half of the participating libraries are from the USA, and the rest are from Canada, Australia, the UK, and other countries. Data is broken out by type and size of library, as well as for overall level of database expenditure.

The 100+ page study, with more than 400 tables and charts, presents benchmarking data enabling librarians to compare their library’s practices to peers in many areas related to licensing.

Metrics provided include: percentage of licenses from consortiums, spending on consortium dues, time spent seeking new consortium partners, number of consortium memberships maintained; growth rate in the percentage of licenses obtained through consortiums; expectation for consortium purchases in the future; number of licenses, growth rate in the number of licenses, spending on licenses for directories, electronic journals, e-books, and magazine/newspaper databases; future spending plans on all of the above; price inflation experienced for electronic resources in business, medical, humanities, financial, market research, social sciences and many other information categories; price inflation for e-books, electronic directories, journals, and newspaper/magazine databases; percentage of licenses that require passwords; percentage of licenses that have simultaneous access restrictions; spending on legal services related to licenses, percentage of libraries that have threatened to sue a database vendor; percentage of libraries that have been threatened with suits by database vendors; number of hours spent in reviewing license contracts; percentage of contracts that require contract terms be kept secret; level of awareness of the terms of other libraries contracts; contract terms regarding inter-library loan; success rates in seeking changes in license contracts; percentage of libraries that have paid an article processing fee or received a rebate as compensation for open access; number of articles obtained through digital repositories; planned development of digital repositories; use of journal archives provided for free after an embargo period; use of Google Scholar; percentage that report loss of perpetual access to journal archives; percentage of journal contracts that guarantee perpetual access; use of grants for financing databases; use of charge backs and departmental contributions to finance database licensing; percentage that outsource copyright clearance; plans for the elimination of paper-base course reserves; expectations for renewing current database subscriptions; number of databases tried on a free trial basis; rated reliability of usage statistics obtained from database vendors; staff time spent on service interruption issues.

New Law Titles from the University of California Press

Details below the folod. [JH]

• The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All, by Peter Linebaugh
• The Health Care Revolution: From Medical Monopoly to Market Competition, by Carl F. Ameringer
• Public Health Law: Power, Duty, Restraint, (2d ed.), by Lawrence O. Gostin
• Global Rebellion: Religious Challenges to the Secular State, from Christian Militias to al Qaeda, by Mark Juergensmeyer
• Arts, Inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights, by Bill Ivey

The Magna Carta Manifesto
Liberties and Commons for All
By Peter Linebaugh

376 pages, $24.95
978-0-520-24726-0
University of California Press, February 2008

Description: This remarkable book shines a fierce light on the current state of liberty and shows how longstanding restraints against tyranny–and the rights of habeas corpus, trial by jury, and due process of law, and the prohibition of torture–are being abridged. In providing a sweeping history of Magna Carta, the source of these protections since 1215, this powerful book demonstrates how these ancient rights are repeatedly laid aside when the greed of privatization, the lust for power, and the ambition of empire seize a state. Peter Linebaugh draws on primary sources to construct a wholly original history of the Great Charter and its scarcely-known companion, the Charter of the Forest, which was created at the same time to protect the subsistence rights of the poor.

About The Author: Peter Linebaugh is Professor of History at the University of Toledo. He is the author of The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century and co-author (with Marcus Rediker) of Many-Headed Hydra: The Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic.

The Health Care Revolution
From Medical Monopoly to Market Competition
By Carl F. Ameringer

272 pages, $49.95
978-0-520-25480-0
University of California Press, April 2008

Description: America's market-based health care system, unique among the nations of the world, is in large part the product of an obscure, yet profound, revolution that overthrew the medical monopoly in the late 1970s. In this lucid, balanced account, Carl F. Ameringer tells how this revolution came into being when the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress prompted the antitrust agencies of the federal government–the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department–to change the rules of the health care system. Ameringer lays out the key events that led up to this regime change; explores its broader social, political, and economic contexts; examines the views of both its proponents and opponents; and considers its current trajectory.

About The Author: Carl F. Ameringer is Professor of Health Policy and Politics at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the author of State Medical Boards and the Politics of Public Protection.

Public Health Law
Power, Duty, Restraint
Revised and Expanded Second Edition
By Lawrence O. Gostin

840 pages, $45.00
978-0-520-25376-6
University of California Press, forthcoming July 2008

Description: Public Health Law, first published in 2000, has been widely acclaimed as the definitive statement on public health law at the start of the twenty-first century. Lawrence O. Gostin's definition was based on the notion that government bears a responsibility for advancing the health and well-being of the general population, and the book developed a rich understanding of the government's powers and duties while showing law to be an effective tool in the realization of a healthier and safer population. In this second edition, Gostin analyzes the major health threats of our times, from emerging infectious diseases and bioterrorism to chronic diseases caused by obesity.

About The Author: Lawrence O. Gostin is Associate Dean and the Linda D. and Timothy J. O'Neill Professor of Global Health Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he directs the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. Dean Gostin is also Professor of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University and Director of the Center for Law and the Public's Health (a WHO and CDC Collaborating Center).

Global Rebellion
Religious Challenges to the Secular State, from Christian Militias to al Qaeda
By Mark Juergensmeyer

384 pages, $27.50
978-0-520-25554-8
University of California Press, May 2008

Description: Why has the turn of the twenty-first century been rocked by a new religious rebellion? From al Qaeda to Christian militias to insurgents in Iraq, a strident new religious activism has seized the imaginations of political rebels around the world. Building on his groundbreaking book, The New Cold War?: Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State, Mark Juergensmeyer here provides an up-to-date road map through this complex new religious terrain. Basing his discussion on interviews with militant activists and case studies of rebellious movements, Juergensmeyer puts a human face on conflicts that have become increasingly abstract. He revises our notions of religious revolution and offers positive proposals for responding to religious activism in ways that will diminish the violence and lead to an accommodation between radical religion and the secular world.

About The Author: Mark Juergensmeyer is Professor of Sociology and Director of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the winner of the Grawemeyer Award for his book Terror in the Mind of God (UC Press). He is the editor of Global Religions: An Introduction and is also the author of The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State and Gandhi's Way: A Handbook of Conflict Resolution, both from UC Press.

Arts, Inc.
How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights
By Bill Ivey

368 pages, $24.95
978-0-520-24112-1
University of California Press, May 2008

Description: In this impassioned and persuasive book, Bill Ivey, the former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, assesses the current state of the arts in America and finds cause for alarm. Even as he celebrates our ever-emerging culture and the way it enriches our lives here at home while spreading the dream of democracy around the world, he points to a looming crisis. The expanding footprint of copyright, an unconstrained arts industry marketplace, and a government unwilling to engage culture as a serious arena for public policy have come together to undermine art, artistry, and cultural heritage–the expressive life of America. In eight succinct chapters, Ivey blends personal and professional memoir, policy analysis, and deeply held convictions to explore and define a coordinated vision for art, culture, and expression in American life.

About The Author: Bill Ivey was the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from 1998 through 2001, was director of the Country Music Foundation from 1971 to 1998, and was twice elected Chairman of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He presently serves as founding director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University.