Law Librarian Blog

CALI Conference Reminder

To take advantage of the CALI Conference group rate, you have to book your room at Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards by May 21st. To make reservations online go to www.innerharbormarriott.com

More information about this year's CALI Conference - Transforming Legal Education: Conference Front Page | Preliminary Agenda | Conference Registration Page.

[JH]

AALL Spectrum Seeks Annual Meeting Reviewers

Publication opportunity posting from Mark Estes, AALL Spectrum Editorial Director:

AALL Spectrum seeks people to write reviews of selected educational sessions at the Annual Meeting in Portland for publication in the September/October issue of Spectrum. The copy deadline for the September/October issue is July 24 - a week after the meeting ends.  I am looking for authors to write reviews of the following sessions:

• Diversity symposium
• Plenary
• A2: The Evolving Role of Law Librarians with Self-represented Litigants*
• B3: Evolving Fair Use Policies in the Private Law Firm*
• C1: Conflict Resolution -- In Search of the Holy Grail: "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"*
• D2: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly: Rethinking Bibliographic Services in the 21st Century
• E2: A Century in the Making: Researching Legal Ethics Today
• F1: Flashlights, FOIA and Advocacy: Tools for the Explorer in Search of Disappearing and Restricted Federal Documents
• G4: The Fourth E: The Environment and Law Libraries*
• H4: How to Produce a Legal Bibliography Play: An Actors' Workshop for Law Librarians
• I5: Battling Employee Burnout? Explore Tools and Techniques to Assess and Address Employee Burnout
• J4: The AALL Salary Survey: What It Can--and Cannot--Do For You
• K1: CRIV Tools: Useful Resources for Working with Information Vendors
  *Program will be video recorded.

In writing the review you can, and should, express your own opinion about the topic and about the quality of the presentation itself - including whether or not you recommend buying the recording of the program.

May 16, 2008 Deadline. If you are interested in writing about the Annual Meeting for Spectrum, please reply directly to me at mark.estes@hro.com  as soon as possible, but by May 16 at the latest. Please indicate which session(s) you are interested in reviewing. Also please tell me what type of law library you work in and what type of work you do. We will select authors and assign sessions to be reviewed by the end of May.

Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco 2008 Starts Today

The four-day Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco 2008 starts today [website]. Check out the Annotated Schedule of Programs and the offical Web 2.0 Expo Blog. Information Week will be providing on-going coverage of the event here. Follow news and blog coverage: Google News Search | Google Blog Search [JH]

NISO Forum: Digital Resources: Working with Formats Beyond Serials, May 5-6, 2008

NISO will be hosting a forum on "Digital Resources: Working with Formats Beyond Serials" in San Francisco, CA on May 5-6, 2008.

Registration | Visit the event webpage for more information

About the Forum: With the onset of the digital age, the information community has had to rethink its approach to content -- from creation to how to manage the sale and retention of that information, to questions of delivery and use. A great deal of that focus has been on the more traditional journal, yet creators, libraries, and users today are working with content ranging from e-books to audio and beyond. However, the basic questions surrounding these digital resources remain the same as those that have been confronted with electronic serials, though the answers may not be: what formats are best when creating digital content, and how might metadata be best applied? What pricing models should be applied, and how will these, and their associated licenses, be managed? How will these digital formats be delivered, and to what platforms?

Confirmed speakers include:

• Keynote by Peter Brantley, Executive Director, Digital Library Federation (DLF)
• Bill Kasdorf (Vice President, Apex Publishing) on XML models for book content.
• Christine Stamison (Senior Customer Relations Manager, Swets) on the topic of customer access to e-books.
• Justyn Baker (Executive Director of Licensing / Digital Formats, Naxos of America, Inc.) on the topic of pricing and
  licensing of e-music.
• Allen McKiel (Dean of Library & Media Services, Western Oregon University) on changing patterns of e-book usage
• Laura Dawson (Consultant, LJNDawson.com) on BISG identification of digital book content
• Jennifer Sutton (Independent Contractor for DAISY Consortium) on the DAISY/NISO standard for digital talking books

Additional presentations are planned on the topics of digital rights management (DRM), the role of digital content in libraries, and e-content platforms.

Vision 2020: Digital Ubiquity and University Transformation

The University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) is hosting Vision 2020: Digital Ubiquity & University Transformation: 2008 Higher Education Leadership Summit, August 6-8, 2008. The conference is co-sponsored by Apple. Details on the conference website.

The deadline for submitting presentation proposals is May 2, 2008. "Academic officers, instructional and academic technology managers, faculty, staff, IT staff and librarians from higher education institutions who have designed and implemented innovative solutions taking advantage of digital ubiquity are encouraged to submit proposals. 1:1 Apple notebook, iPod, iPhone or other intense integrations are particularly encouraged." Submissions should relate to one of the themes listed below;

• Presentation Themes
• Creating a Shared Vision on Campus
• Building a Culture of Innovation
• Designing a Curriculum for Digitally Equipped Students
• Faculty Development
• Teaching Excellence in a Digital Learning Environment
• Measuring Results

[JH]

Alan Holoch Memorial Grant Available for AALL Annual Meeting

The Alan Holoch Memorial Grant Committee is now taking applications for the 2008 AALL annual meeting.

The Alan Holoch Memorial Grant is available to help SR-SIS members defray the cost of travel or registration for the AALL Annual Meeting in Portland.  Individuals chosen to receive the grant have the potential to make significant contributions to law librarianship through their involvement with AALL and the Social Responsibilities Special Interest Section's Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues.

For more information, please see the application on the SR-SIS website.

Academic Freedom in the Age of Permanent Warfare

The Frederic Ewen Academic Freedom Center at New York University's Tamiment Library is sponsoring the Academic Freedom Conference. The Conference will be held on April 3-4, 2008. Details (pdf). [JH]

2008 CALI Conference: Call for Speakers

Among the many annual conferences, CALI's is my favorite. This year's conference theme is "Transforming Legal Education." CALI Executive Director John Mayer writes:

It is time to put the divisiveness of laptops in the classroom behind us. It is time to face our fears.  Fear of USNews ranks, fear of the student debt implosion, fear of technology and change itself.  It's time to consider the ideas of Carnegie and decide how technology impacts professionalism and ethics in legal education.  What does transformation mean to you and your institution and does technology have a central or supporting role in accomplishing our goals?

Submit your session proposals. Remember, law school "transformation" means reforming legal education.

This year's conference will be on held Thursday-Saturday, June 18-21, 2008 in  Baltimore, MD at the University of Maryland School of Law. Conference Home Page. Registration is now open. [JH]

Mark Your Calendars for AALL's Third Annual Bloggers Get Together!

Come share your ideas and meet the other law librarian bloggers! Open to all bloggers and potential bloggers.

Time: 5-6 p.m.
Date: Sunday, July 13th
Place: TBA
Guest Speaker: TBA (we are inviting bloggers from the Portland area)

RSVP: Last year we had over 35 participants so we are anticipating a good crowd this year. For a headcount, please RSVP Barbara Fullerton by Tuesday, July 1st to bfullerton@10kwizard.com.

Special thanks to Laura Orr, Law Librarian at Washington County Law Library, for helping in organizing this event! [JH]

NABL and Thomson West Sponsor Seminar for Blind and Visually Impaired Attorneys

The National Association of Blind Lawyers (NABL) will be conducting a day-long training seminar for blind and visually impaired attorneys and law school students in Baltimore on April 10, 2008 as part of the 2008 Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium: Disability Law: From tenBroek to the Twenty-first Century, April 10-11, 2008. Thomson West is helping to sponsor the training seminar and will be providing training on WestLaw for approximately half of the day-long session.  The training will be specifically targeted on using WestLaw with assistive technology. The other half of the day will be spent on exploring other technologies and substantive law issues. 

Seating for the trainng seminar is limited so blind/visually impaired attorneys can receive more individualized training. The cost is the training seminar and symposium are $150 each, reduced to $250 for attending both events. A limited number of scholarships are available for young attorneys and law students in their second and third years. Scholarship information is available from NABL President, Scott C. LaBarre [email]. [JH]

AU WCL to Host Conference on Innovations in the First-Year Law Curriculum This Friday

American University’s Washington College of Law will host the conference “Innovations in the First Year Curriculum” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, March 21, 2008 [Details]

Sponsored by the WCL's Integrated Curriculum Program, Office of Academic Affairs and Office of the Dean, the conference is free and open to the public. It will bring together academic leaders from the Washington College of Law, as well as those from Georgetown, Howard, Indiana, New York, Northeastern, Rutgers, Seattle and Washington & Lee universities, the universities of Maryland, Michigan and Minnesota, City University of New York, and William Mitchell College of Law, to discuss some of the changes in theory and instruction related to the first-year law school experience.

The panel discussions and short presentations will explore recent developments, including integrated and transcurricular teaching, the inclusion of clinical or practice-based instruction, reconfiguration of first-year legal writing programs, first-year electives and other innovations.

Hopefully some local area law librarians will be attending this conference. Tweaking the standard 1L program has been going on for a couple of years now. See, for example, Boston College Law School's recently announced changes to their 1L curriculum. See also the School's eBrief for background, Spotlight: Curriculum Reform.  More generally, check out Law School Innovation's blog posts. [JH]

National Conference of Law Reviews Starts Today

Hosted by St. Thomas University School of Law this year [press release], the National Conference of Law Reviews "brings together law review editors from more than 100 law review journals across the nation to learn from leaders in the legal field in an effort to prepare law review boards to better serve both the academic and legal communities." Conference Agenda [JH]

AALL FCIL-SIS Schaffer Grant Applications Due March 1

AALL's Foreign, Comparative and International Law Special Interest Section (FCIL) is now accepting applications for the 2008 FCIL Schaffer Grant. Details and Application. The application deadline is March 1, 2008.

The Grant provides a waiver of the 2008 AALL Annual Meeting full registration fee and a grant of a minimum $2,000 to assist with accommodations and travel costs for the Portland meeting.

Applicants must be law librarians or other professionals working in the legal information field currently employed in countries other than the United States with significant responsibility for the organization, preservation or provision of legal information. 

2008 CALI Conference Theme, Call for Suggestions

The 2008 CALI Conference will be held Thursday-Saturday, June 19-21, 2008 at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore. John Mayer, CALI's Executive Director has posted several ideas for this year's conference theme and is calling for feedback and suggestions.

CALI is my favorite annual meeting. (Sorry AALL). I like John's "Pedagogy2Practice: Innovation in Legal Education" theme. [JH]

Rethinking Legal Education for the 21st Century

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

2008 TRIPLL Conference Applications Due by Nov. 30

The Teaching Research in Private Law Libraries (TRIPLL) Conference, sponsored by the LexisNexis Librarian Relations Group, will be held April 11- 13, 2008 in Dallas, TX.  The mission of the 2008 Conference is: It's a Brave New World—Reengineering Training for Today's Law Firm.

The TRIPLL Conference is open to all law firm and corporate legal department librarians. The conference application is available through Friday, November 30, 2007 [Conference Details | Online Application]. Librarians interested in attending must go through an electronic application process by then.  Class size is limited to 30 participants. When deciding on which applicants to accept, the Selection Committee strives for diversity in such areas as geographical distribution, firm size, and an interest in teaching legal research, even if a program is not yet implemented.

The Conference includes presentations, structured breakout sessions, demonstrations, and ample opportunity for networking with the faculty, council, and other attendees. There is no registration fee. LexisNexis covers all conference materials, meals, lodging, and transportation to and from the airport.  Attendees are responsible only for their airfare to and from the conference and any personal incidental charges.  One travel scholarship is available. [JH]

Digital Library Conference, October 25

Digital Library Conference and Vendor Fair

October 25, 2007
Hogan Center, College of the Holy Cross
Worcester, Massachusetts
October 25, 2007

The Digital Commonwealth is sponsoring this conference which is designed for all cultural institutions that have an interest in digital libraries, including historical societies and commissions, museums, archives, research institutions, schools, and libraries of all types. LibraryLaw Blog's Mary Minow will be a keynote speaker.

ALA 2007 Conference Videos: Freedom to Read Litigation and Whistleblowing in the Post-9/11 Age

I hope law librarians find the following videos of ALA sessions of the Association's 2007 annual meeting of interest:

Freedom to Read Foundation: Status of Recent Litigation Affecting Libraries. Theresa Chmara, Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) Counsel, Jenner & Block, Washington, D.C., updated librarians on the status of litigation and non-litigation projects recently undertaken or monitored by the FTRF. She also provided practical information on how these court cases affect the daily operations of libraries. Cosponsored by ALA's Intellectual Freedom Committee and FTRF.

Paul Reveres or Benedict Arnolds: Whistleblowing in the Post-9/11 Age. Sibel Edmonds, President, National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, discussed being fired by the FBI in March 2002 for reporting shoddy work and security breaches that may have prevented the 9/11 attacks. She explained firsthand how government secrecy can be abusive and why defending whistleblowing is a free speech issue. Cosponsored by ALA's Intellectual Freedom Committee and the Committee on Legislation.

Reminder: Teaching the Teachers: Effective Instruction in Legal Research Conference, Oct. 18-20

Hosted by Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas. Excerpts from the website:

In 2006, the National Conference of Bar Examiners announced an initiative to explore the development of a stand-alone component of the national bar exam that would test legal research methodology and skills. Implementation of a legal research component of the bar exam would necessarily increase demand for legal research instruction. In my opinion, it will also change how we teach legal research but

Informed by these events, Tarlton's fall 2007 conference will include prominent lawyers and judges, law professors, and law librarians as speakers. Presentations will focus on widely applicable principles of effective teaching and communication, rather than on the nuts and bolts of legal research. Speakers will explore diverse topics, including the use of technology in the classroom to engage the emerging generation of students, the role of librarians as teachers, what it means to be an effective teacher, and the impact of ongoing changes in legal publishing.

Conference Website | Program | Participants | Registration

Celebrate Constitution Day With These OUP Titles

Our Constitution
Donald A. Ritchie and JusticeLearning.org

List Price: $40.00
256 pages, Oxford University Press, 2006
ISBN13: 978-0-19-522385-9
ISBN10: 0-19-522385-3

Description: An in-depth look at the entire text of the U. S. Constitution, annotated with detailed explanations of its terms and contents. Each Amendment and Article is accompanied by sidebar material on the history of its application, including profiles of important Supreme Court cases, texts of related primary source documents, and contemporary news articles. Double-page timelines for several of the Articles and all the Amendments highlight important events and legal cases.

Our Rights
David J. Bodenhamer

List Price: $40.00
256 pages, Oxford University Press, 2006
ISBN13: 978-0-19-531340-6
ISBN10: 0-19-531340-2

Description: Our Rights explores twenty-three major rights of U.S. citizens guaranteed by the Constitution. Each chapter traces how a particular right--freedom of speech, the right to trial by jury, the right to bear arms, or the right to privacy, for example--has evolved as a result of legislation, social changes, and landmark Supreme Court cases.

At the center of each chapter is a story of how citizens fought for rights they believed were lawfully theirs. They were young and old, well-known and obscure, middle-class and poor, respectable and disreputable. But they made history when they stood up for their rights-the rights of all of us. Each chapter ends with a look at how that right applies today and how courts and lawmakers seek to balance individual liberties with important social concerns. For example, does the right to free speech give us the right to burn the U.S. flag? Does freedom of the press protect confidential sources of journalists?

Because the definition of rights is always evolving, a concluding chapter discusses the future of our rights and the possibility of new guarantees, such as the right to health care, that may result from current political and social movements.

The Pursuit of Justice
Supreme Court Decisions that Shaped America
Kermit L. Hall and John J. Patrick

List Price: $40.00
256 pages, Oxford University Press, 2006
ISBN13: 978-0-19-531189-1
ISBN10: 0-19-531189-2

Description: This book analyzes the thirty cases that, in the opinion of U.S. Supreme Court justices and leading civics educators and legal historians, are the most important for American citizens to understand. Each chapter includes a narrative account, focusing on leading personalities involved in the case(s), and one or more primary source documents relevant to the case. An appendix summarizes an additional 100 cases that are significant to American history and included in state history and civics standards.

Early Registration for Teaching the Teachers: Effective Instruction in Legal Education Conference Due Before September 1

Teaching the Teachers: Effective Instruction in Legal Education
October 18-20, 2007
Tarlton Law Library
The Univeristy of Texas at Austin School of Law

• Program
• Speakers
• To register online or by mail

Going to New Orleans? Check out the AALL Second Line Blog

With AALL's New Orleans meeting fast approaching, it's time to remind attendees to check the conference blog frequently. Visit AALL Second Line Blog. The blog is edited by Vicenç Feliú, Foreign Comparative and International Law Librarian, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University. Great job! [JH]

AALL's Second Annual Bloggers Meeting Set for July 16

It's time to mark your calendars for the AALL's Second Annual Bloggers Get Together!

Time: 5-6 p.m.
Date: Monday, July 16th
Place: Gordon Biersch. 200 Poydras. 504-552-2739. Brewpub. Platters. - at the foot of Poydras - across from Harrah's casino and also across from the Hilton.  http://www.gordonbiersch.com (Dutch Treat).

Come share your ideas and meet the other law librarian bloggers! Open to all bloggers and potential bloggers.

RSVP: Last year we had over 30 participants so we are anticipating a good crowd this year. For a headcount, please RSVP Barbara Fullerton by Friday, July 6th to bfullerton@10kwizard.com.

Hat tip to Barbara Fullerton for organizing this meeting. [JH]

Pre-CALI Conference Reading Materials

The CALI conference and the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas at the same time ... coincidence? I think not! The WSOP began on Friday, June 1st, and continues to Tuesday, July 17th at the Rio Hotel & Casino. The CALI website offers maps and directions to the conference. Here's a Google Map for the Rio and some unofficial pre-CALI conference reading materials. [JH]

Required Reading Before Sitting Down at a Poker Table

No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice by David Sklansky, Ed Mille (2006) Hold 'Em Poker by David Sklansky (1996)

Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom
by Anthony Holden

List Price: $26.00 
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (May 8, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743294823
ISBN-13: 978-0743294829

Book Description: In the years since Anthony Holden wrote his classic memoir Big Deal (see below), the poker world has changed beyond recognition. When Holden played in the 1988 World Series of Poker there were 167 starters competing for a prize of $270,000. Since then, poker has become the world's largest single-competitor sport -- at the 2006 World Series there were almost 9,000 players and a first prize of $12 million, the richest in any sport.

What happened in the years between Big Deal and Bigger Deal could never have been predicted: the Internet and television sparked a worldwide explosion in the popularity of poker, one that shows no sign of abating. Poker even has a respectable image these days, much to the disgust of die-hard players. Gone are the seedy rooms of the Horseshoe -- you can't even smoke at the table! -- and you're more likely to find yourself head to head with a film star than an ex-con in Las Vegas.

With the future of online poker now legally endangered in the United States, Holden's vision of the poker boom comes at a critical moment in the game's history. In Bigger Deal, Holden is your guide to the world of the "new" poker -- to the players who dominate the modern game and the personalities behind the multibillion-dollar business it has become -- as he tries once again to win the world title. After all, as Telly Savalas once reminded Holden, a million dollars is never irrelevant. Not to mention twelve...

Big Deal: A Year as a Professional Poker Player
by Anthony Holden

List Price: $15.00 
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (April 3, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743294815
ISBN-13: 978-0743294812

Book Description: In 1988, best-selling biographer Anthony Holden spent one year living the life of a professional poker player. His mesmerizing account of that year went on to become a classic of the genre, an inspiration to innumerable poker players and poker memoirists who followed. Big Deal is his story of days and nights in Las Vegas, Malta, and Morocco, mingling with the greats, sharpening his game, perfecting his repartee, and learning a great deal about himself in the process. Poker, Holden would insist, is a paradigm of life at its most intense, a gladiatorial contest that brings out the best as well as the worst in people. The heroes and eccentrics of the poker world stalk the pages of this remarkable book, along with all the hairraising, nail-biting excitement of the game itself.

Take Me to the River: A Wayward and Perilous Journey to the World Series of Poker
by Peter Alson

List Price: $24.00 
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Atria (July 11, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 074328836X
ISBN-13: 978-0743288361 

Book Description: An overeducated underachiever, he's spent his postcollege decades doing his best not to grow up. Now, having just turned the incomprehensible (to him) age of fifty, and staring down his own mortality, this rambling-gambling bachelor decides it's time to settle down. After years of equivocating, he pops the question to his longtime girlfriend. A wedding date is set for just after Labor Day, and to pay for it, a plan is hatched involving poker and a trip to Vegas.

Alson boards a plane bound for the neon desert on his way to the biggest game in town, the 2005 World Series of Poker. Thus begins Take Me to the River, a first-person account of one inveterate gambler and bad boy's quest to grow up while at the same time compete with more than 5,000 players vying for over $56 million in prize money during a scorching Vegas summer.

Take Me to the River is a hilarious, heart-wrenching tale of Las Vegas and an exploration of what it means to be part of one of the fastest-growing and most popular sports in the United States, at the moment of its apogee, and of the lessons that poker has to teach about probability and luck, good and bad fortune, patience, perseverance, and -- most fitting for a man with marriage in his near future -- commitment.

Chicago-Kent Distributes Podcasts and Handouts from the School's Back to the Future of Legal Research Symposium

Handouts and podcasts (plus photos!) are now available for the Back to the Future of Legal Research Symposium held at Chicago Kent last month. Don't miss the podcast [mp3] of "Web 2.0: New Tools for Doing & Teaching Legal Research," featuring Wisconsin's Bonnie Shucha, (WisBlawg), Michigan law prof Richard D. Friedman (The Confrontation Blog), and OSU law prof Douglas A. Berman, (Sentencing Law & Policy and Law School Innovation and his Spring 2007 semester Death Penalty Class blog).

Resources from Chicago-Kent's Back to the Future of Legal Research Symposium:

• Handouts
• Podcasts
• Conference Photos

Hat tip to Bonnie Shucha, WisBlawg. I now regret my last minute decision to not attend this conference. [JH]

Save the Date: AALL's Second Annual Bloggers Get Together Set for July 16

It's time to mark your calendars for the AALL's Second Annual Bloggers Get Together!

Time: 5-6 p.m.
Date: Monday, July 16th
Place: TBA
Drinks and appetizers (Dutch Treat)

Come share your ideas and meet the other law librarian bloggers! Open to all bloggers and potential bloggers.

RSVP: Last year we had over 30 participants so we are anticipating a good crowd this year. For a headcount, please RSVP Barbara Fullerton by Monday, June 18th to bfullerton@10kwizard.com.

iSummit 07 Set for June 15-17

From the conference website:

Once a year, about 300 people from over 50 countries come together to celebrate and strategise around a free Internet for all.

Leaders of the Creative Commons, free software, open education and access to knowledge communities talk about their vision for the future and discuss strategies for building a free global culture that is rich - both in terms of economic viability and geographic diversity.

The iCommons Summit is supported by cutting edge Internet companies around the world whose success is based on a free Internet - companies who recognise the potential of commons-based peer production for growing their networks and their businesses, and doing it in a way that benefits all of humanity.

This year, we’re asking companies and foundations to support the Summit and put their name alongside a global movement of individuals that are affecting technology policy and practice in their countries and driving forward an environment in which innovation is set to flourish.

Who: 300 of the world’s leading intellectuals, authors, lawyers, artists and technologists on the cutting edge of Internet policy.

What: A three-day Summit to discuss the importance of a free Internet for free culture, new rules to keep the internet free, how to build free culture communities and the lessons we can learn from pirates.

Where: Dubrovnik, Croatia on the banks of the Adriatic Sea

When: 15-17 June, 2007

Fundraising Page | Conference Wiki

Editor's Note: As of the last time I checked the fundraising page, the conference organizers were still seeking funding for this conference. [JH]

CALI Conference Set for June 18-20

This year's Conference for Law School Computing is at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada - Las Vegas, Monday to Wednesday, June 18 – 20, 2007 (early registration on Sunday, June 17).  Some of the sessions of interest include:

• Considerations in Building an Online Law Course
• The Future of Casebooks: Can Anyone Deliver What I Want?
• A Faculty Member's Perspective on the Use of Technology in Legal Education - Is it Time to "Pull the Plug" on Technology Investment?
• Collaborative Self-Assessment: Using Student-Drafted Questions for Internet Quizzes
• Integrating Feedback: Creating a Response Oasis in an IT Mirage
• An Oasis for Collaborative Endeavors: Tools for Law Faculty, Librarians, and Students

Conference Details | Conference Agenda   [JH]

What is Wrong with the Way We Teach and Write International Law?

Conference on International Law:
What is Wrong with the Way we Teach and Write International Law?

June 17-20, 2007
Vancouver, British Columbia

A Joint Association of American Law Schools and American Society of International Law Conference

Save the date: The Conference will bring together teachers and scholars for three days of intensive discussion on how we teach and write about international law and where the field is heading. There will be plenary sessions, small group discussions, and paper presentations. The panelists, drawn from the most highly respected scholars in their various fields, will be around for the entire conference, enabling conversations to continue long after the formal discussions have ended.

Legal Research Conferences on the Docket

May 4-5, 2007:

• Global Legal Skills Conference. The John Marshall Law School (Chicago)

May 13-14, 2007:

• The Future of Legal Research: What will it be and how will we teach it? Chicago-Kent College of Law

Oct. 18-20, 2007:

• Teaching the Teachers: Effective Instruction in Legal Research. Tarlton Law Library, Jamail Center for Legal Research, University of Texas at Austin

JURIST Conference, Law As a Seamless Web|site, Set for March 29

JURIST, the Webby award-winning legal news and research service based at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a one-day conference in Pittsburgh on Thursday, March 29.

The conference is entitled "Law As a Seamless Web|site" and highlights JURIST's ongoing mission of "Documenting Law to Empower People". Four panels and 14 distinguished speakers will be exploring a range of issues at the intersections of law, war, rights, social justice, technology, legal journalism, legal education and public service.

You can register for this free event at the official conference website: http://www.law.pitt.edu/juristconference/

Confirmed speakers include:

• Jonathan Freiman (counsel for Jose Padilla and Visiting Lecturer, Yale Law School)
• Marjorie Cohn (President, National Lawyers Guild)
• David Crane (former Prosecutor, UN Special Court for Sierra Leone)
• Geoffrey Corn (former Law of War advisor to the US Army JAG)
• Sherrilyn Ifill (University of Maryland Law School)
• Tony Mauro (Supreme Court correspondent, American Lawyer Media)
• Tim Stanley (CEO Justia; FindLaw founder)
• Ed Adams (Editor and Publisher, ABA Journal)
• Jim Chen (Dean, Brandeis Law School, University of Louisville)
• Nancy Rapoport (University of Houston Law Center)
• John Palfrey (Director, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School)
• Conrad Johnson (Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic, Columbia Law School)

The conference's two keynote speakers are

• Ethan Katsh (Director, Center for Information Technology, U. Mass. Amherst); and
• Charles Bierbauer (former CNN Supreme Court correspondent, now dean of the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies at the University of South Carolina).

The conference will be officially opened via video from Strasbourg, France, by Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

This may be one of the best conferences of the year!  Hope to see you there. [JH]

AALL 2007 Annual Meeting Blog

The New Orleans AALL 2007 Annual Meeting blog is up and running. Check it out. [JH]

SWALL Conference, April 19-21

Registration is now open for "Deserts in Bloom: Cultivating Information Access." The annual conference of the Southwestern Association of Law Libraries (SWALL) will meet April 19-21 in Tempe, Arizona. For a registration form, and details on the conference, see: http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/swall/

AALL Grants Available!

The AALL Grants Committee invites qualified applicants to apply for AALL’s Annual Meeting/Workshop Grants and the Minority Leadership Development Award. The AALL Grants Program provides financial assistance to law librarians or graduate students who hold promise of future involvement in AALL and the law library profession. Vendors, AALL, and AALL individual members provide the funds for grants.

Annual Meeting and Workshop Grants are awarded to cover the Annual Meeting registration fee or the registration fee for workshops presented at the Annual Meeting. Preference is given to applicants who are new to the profession and are active in AALL or one of its chapters.  For more inforamtion, visit the AALL Grant Committee’s web site at http://www.aallnet.org/committee/grants/grant_application.asp.

The Minority Leadership Development Award was created to ensure that AALL’s leadership remains vital, relevant, and representative of the Association’s diverse membership. The award provides up to $1500 toward the cost of attending the Annual Meeting, an experienced AALL leader to serve as the recipient’s mentor, and an opportunity to serve on an AALL committee during the year following the monetary award. For more information, visit the Grant Committee’s web site at http://www.aallnet.org/about/award_mlda.asp.

Application deadline: April 2, 2007.

Submitted by Connie Lenz.

PLI The Law Library 2007: Skills, Strategies & Solutions, Mar. 7, 2007, NYC

PLI The Law Library 2007: Skills, Strategies & Solutions
Mar. 7, 2007 in New York City
Cost: $99

Details on the PLI website.

Why You Should Attend
In a rapidly changing legal environment, law librarians are taking on new roles, as well as using new skills and strategies to fulfill their more "traditional" roles. At PLI's annual The Law Library 2007: Skills, Strategies & Solutions, attendees will learn about important new developments that impact their new and ongoing roles as law librarians and "best practices" and solutions to issues they confront in their ongoing day-to-day professional activities.

What You Will Learn

• Law firm finances and how law library operations fit into this picture
• Competitive intelligence: Working with the firm's marketing department to ensure success
• New developments in corporate governance: What you must know about this rapidly developing field
• How to mentor and "grow" your staff
• Update on new technologies for law librarians
• Personal marketing skills

This program is also available as a live webcast.

Chicago-Kent Legal Research Conference, May 18

"Back to the Future of Legal Research" will be held at Chicago-Kent College of Law on Friday, May 18, 2007. The one-day conference will include new survey data and a number of panels and presentations that will focus on how best to teach legal research and how to deal with some of the challenges posed by digital legal materials.

Please visit the web announcement [ http://www.kentlaw.edu/academics/lrw/future/ ]  for complete information about the conference, including a program schedule, a registration form, and hotel information. There is no charge for attending the conference.

Save the Date for Tarlton's Teaching the Teachers: Effective Instruction in Legal Research Conference

In October 2007, the Tarlton Law Library will host a conference that will explore the teaching of legal research in today's information environment.  Teaching the Teachers: Effective Instruction in Legal Research will focus on the best methods and practices for teaching legal research to today's generation of law students.  Conference faculty represent excellence in teaching and communication and come from the judiciary, the practicing bar, and the legal academy.  The conference responds to and will further the National Conference of Bar Examiners' initiative to develop a stand-alone component of the bar exam focusing on legal research methods and skills.

The conference will be held October 18-20, 2007 in Austin at the Tarlton Law Library and Jamail Center for Legal Research at the University of Texas.  More information and registration details are available at http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/ttt/.

Bloggers' Meeting at AALL: New Orleans

Hello Bloggers!

This might be too early to send this out but I'm looking at the scheduling for AALL in July and am looking for a place to have our 2nd Annual Bloggers' Get Together in New Orleans.

I'm putting together a little survey that will help me know how many will be attending and if you prefer a lunch, dinner or cocktail get together. This will also give me some time to invite some of the local bloggers .

To take the survey, please click on the following link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=933463081293

It's a brief survey and should only take a few minutes to complete.

Thank you!

Regards,

Barbara Fullerton 
Dallas Association of Law Librarians
Web: www.dallnet.org
Blog: http://dallnet.blogspot.com/

Editor's Note: Please take the survey by Feb. 1, 2007. [JH]

Teaching Law School Students to "Think Like Law Librarians"

Earlier this year I posted a list of IMHO Awards that covered a number of 2006 developments I thought worthy of highlighting, some good, some not. One positive development highlighted there is very forward-looking, namely NCBE's consideration of developing a legal research component for bar exams. I'm sure many readers wonder how legal research skills can be tested in bar exams, but they can be if legal research is taught by emphasizing principles of legal research in a format-neutral context. I know, some are wondering about the existence of legal research principles; I'm here to say they do exist.

When I was a large law firm librarian, the bane of my existence was teaching young associates how to perform legal research. Most of the young associates I worked with graduated in the ten percent of the top ten law schools. They simply did not learn effective legal research in law school; most still don't.

Access Points & Routes. Back in the mid-80's, Virginia Thomas, currently Director, Law Library and Information Technology at the University of Cincinnati Law Library but then Documents/Reference Librarian at IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law, and I, then a Research Librarian at Seyfarth, Shaw (Chicago), and occasional guest lecturer on labor law research for the graduate human resources program at Loyola University (Chicago)  developed a novel teaching approach that focused on access points and routes using bibliographic analysis of document types within the context of the structure of legal literature. This teaching approach applied, and still applies, regardless of publishing format and the on-site availability of legal resources. It also overco