November 2004
Transcription
November 2004
AALL cover Nov 10/28/04 4:40 PM Page 1 AALL Spectrum Volume 9 No. 2 November 2004 AALL: Maximizing the Power of the Law Library Community Since 1906 Law Librarians and the Internet How Does the World Wide Web Affect the Profession? In This Issue Using Blogs as Research Tools Social Movements Mobilize Online How to Improve Catalogs’ Search Capabilities www.aallnet.org AALL cover Nov 10/28/04 4:40 PM Page 2 Expert knowledge partners dedicated to your success The LexisNexis TM Librarian Relations Group…personalized service for professional growth It’s how you knowTM • Personalized service and support in person, by phone or e-mail: locally, regionally, nationally • Professional development programs: LexisNexisTM Librarian Certificate of Mastery, Information Professional Education Conferences, Web Seminars, scholarships and grants • Information resources created exclusively for librarians: the InfoPro Web site, LexisNexisTM Information Professional Update newsletter, LexisNexisTM This Week e-mail updates and more ...a focused mission, a proud tradition, a treasured relationship LexisNexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are trademarks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used under license. It’s How You Know is a trademark of LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. © 2004 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. AL6897 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:11 PM Page 1 letter from the editor Volume 9 No. 2 November 2004 The Web We Navigate AALL Spectrum Editorial Staff Director of Publications and Managing Editor Julia O’Donnell [email protected] Editorial Director Paul D. Healey [email protected] Copy Editor Graphic Designer Robert B. Barnett Jr. Kathy Wozbut 2004–2005 Law Library Journal and AALL Spectrum Editorial Board and Advisory Committee Chair Sarah Andeen Members Mary Ann Parker Naomi J. Goodman Maria E. Protti Elizabeth A. Greenfield Paul D. Healey (ex officio) Bonnie L. Koneski-White Frank G. Houdek (ex officio) Richard A. Leiter Raquel M. Ortiz (ex officio) Kurt X. Metzmeier Kathie J. Sullivan (board liaison) Kristina L. Niedringhaus 2004–2005 Executive Board President Vice President/President-Elect Secretary Treasurer Immediate Past President Executive Director Members Kathy Carlson Ann T. Fessenden Anne K. Myers Victoria K. Trotta Claire M. Germain Catherine Lemann Joyce Manna Janto Janis L. Johnston Susan E. Fox Nina Platt Merle J. Slyhoff Kathie J. Sullivan AALL Spectrum (ISSN: 1089–8689) is published monthly except January and August with combined September/October by the American Association of Law Libraries, 53 W. Jackson Blvd., Suite 940, Chicago, IL 60604. Telephone: 312/939-4764, fax: 312/4311097, e-mail: [email protected]. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, Illinois and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to AALL Spectrum, 53 W. Jackson Blvd., Suite 940, Chicago, IL 60604. Writers wanted — contribute to your Association’s magazine. For guidelines, visit www.aallnet.org or contact Editorial Director Paul D. Healey at [email protected]. AALL Spectrum Deadlines Articles are due on the following dates: 2004–2005 Issue Deadline Vol. 9, No. 4 February December 2 No. 5 March January 6 No. 6 April February 3 Copy sent through a columnist or guest editor should be submitted to him or her well in advance of the monthly deadline. AALLNET: www.aallnet.org Advertising Representatives Benson, Coffee & Associates 1411 Peterson Ave., Park Ridge, IL 60068 Telephone: 847/692-4695 • Fax: 847/692-3877 E-mail: [email protected] AALL Spectrum is a free benefit of membership in the American Association of Law Libraries. Of each year’s dues, $42 is for one year of AALL Spectrum. Nonmembers may subscribe to AALL Spectrum for $75 per year. For membership and/or subscription information, please contact the American Association of Law Libraries at the address above. The American Association of Law Libraries does not assume any responsibility for the statements advanced by the contributors to, nor the advertisers in, the Association’s publication. Editorial views do not necessarily represent the official position of the Association. All advertising copy is subject to editorial approval. ∞ AALL Spectrum is printed on acid-free, recycled paper. All contents copyright 2004 by the American Association of Law Libraries, except where otherwise expressly indicated. Except as otherwise expressly provided, the author of each item in this issue has granted permission for copies of that item to be made for classroom use or for any other educational purpose, provided that (1) copies are distributed at or below cost, (2) author and AALL Spectrum are identified, and (3) proper notice of copyright is affixed to each copy. For items in which it holds copyright, the American Association of Law Libraries grants permission for copies to be made for classroom use or for any other educational purpose under the same conditions. by Paul D. Healey, [email protected] The theme of this month’s issue of Spectrum started with a single question that struck me one afternoon while I was doing something else entirely. The question was, “How much do law librarians really use the Web?” The Web has become so integrated into our professional lives that it almost sounds like a silly question. And unquestionably most of us use the Web quite a bit in our work. Indeed, many of us deal with library users who feel that everything is on the Web and question why we need libraries any more. But my impression was that librarians are still relying mostly on purchased resources in their work. Some of those resources may be accessed through the Web, but that’s something different than using the Web itself as a primary resource. So, I wondered, how much are we really using the Web in our work? My initial question developed over time into the theme for this issue: Librarians and the Internet. In it, we look at how the Web is being used and can be used by law librarians. There are no definitive answers here, but we do try to get a sense of what is going on as the Web revolution changes the nature of our work. Beth Greenfield stepped up to the task when I went looking for an author to address my central question of how law librarians use the Web. I talked her into doing the article at the AALL Annual Meeting in Boston, and she produced a very good article in a very short time. I deeply appreciate her willingness to contribute and work within our deadlines and conditions, as I do with all of our authors. In her article, Beth explores the question of how we use the Web, and I think you’ll find her conclusions interesting. One of the great benefits of editing Spectrum is that it allows me (and sometimes forces me) to keep up with new developments in the profession and in the information world. One example of this is Web logs—blogs. I’ve heard about blogs, and I have a rough idea of what they are, but I haven’t had the time to really explore them or look at how they might fit into my work. This month Paul Moorman has written a very nice article about blogs in law libraries, including plenty of references to resources, that has really helped me understand the concept better and has given me some tools to get started. If you’ve been wondering about blogs as well, you should find his article useful. There is a lot more in this issue; more than I have space to discuss. Look for Teresa Stanton’s article on peace studies resources, as well as a very good public relations article by Charlotte Graesser Henderson. Also, please take a moment to look at the back page of this issue. Several new things are happening there that we think you’ll enjoy. For one thing, you will see a couple pictures from our new series of library views. We are encouraging readers to submit pictures of interesting views they have from their library windows. As you can see, we have been supplied with some wonderful pictures, and we plan to feature at least one new view each month. If you have an interesting view from your library, let us know, and we can discuss featuring a picture of it on our back page. The other thing you will notice on our back page is a call for comments and thoughts from readers. We would like to use some of our back page space as a forum for readers. We are looking for short submissions about AALL and about the profession. They can be opinionated or thought provoking, humorous or poignant, but they must be short. The ideal submission will be a paragraph or less and certainly shorter than a letter to the editor. We see this as a chance for AALL members to bring up issues or make statements about their careers, the profession, or AALL. While anything is fair game for a topic, please understand that we will edit submissions for style and length and select submissions based on content and other factors. There is no guarantee that any particular submission will be published. ■ AALL Spectrum November 2004 1 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:11 PM Page 2 table of contents 14 Mining Information Gold in the Blogosphere How to use Web logs as reliable research tools by Paul J. Moorman 18 How We Work the Web Information professionals must deal with public perception that everything’s online by Elizabeth Greenfield photo by Elizabeth Farina 20 Virtual Protest Social movements use Internet as key tool for mobilization by Teresa C. Stanton pg. 18 center insert The CRIV Sheet Students at the Suffolk University Law Library use their computers in the reading room. Most students turn to the Web first for research. features 8 Professional Development: Bringing Amazon.com to the OPAC One library’s mission to enrich its catalog and improve search capabilities announcements 30 Awards Committee Calls for Nominees for AALL Awards 31 31 31 AALL Elections Go Electronic AALL Meets the Strait Funding Challenge Public Relations: Have Librarian, Will Travel A mentoring docu-drama hits the road for public relations by Charlotte Graesser Henderson View from the Tarlton Law Library’s sixth floor window, looking south into the heart of the University of Texas at Austin campus and Texas Memorial Stadium. Submitted by Scott Webel, Web and administrative assistant. pg. 32 2 AALL Spectrum November 2004 1 4 6 24 25 26 28 Letter from the Editor From the President Washington Brief Chapter News Committee News SIS News Membership News departments The Call for Papers Has Begun by Patricia R. Monk 12 columns 28 29 32 Memorials Ad Index Views and Viewpoints AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:11 PM Page 3 Practice of law… meet business of law. Bringing together the actual practice of law and the business aspects of your practice can be a challenge. Your firm’s success depends on both. Go Beyond Cases & Codes M a n a g e Yo u r P r a c t i c e G r o w Yo u r P r a c t i c e Today, your firm’s success is increasingly tied to your ability to accommodate the business aspects of your practice—such as building a strong client base and maximizing your efficiency. You know LexisNexis® for authoritative research tools. But did you know we go beyond cases and codes to provide an array of easy-to-use solutions that address the business needs of your practice as well? From time-management tools that streamline your case and billing activities, to in-depth company news and information that help you know more about current clients and best prospects, LexisNexis has the tools and 24/7 support you need to help manage your business and build your client base. All with the same confidence that you practice law. LexisNexis…more than research. Visit www.lexisnexis.com or call 877.810.5324. LexisNexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used under license. It’s How You Know is a trademark of LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. © 2004 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. AL7124 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:11 PM Page 4 from the by Victoria K. Trotta, [email protected] president Metaphors and Magicians I recently exchanged shoptalk with a valued colleague. She relayed an account of a frustrated senior law partner who came to her in a crunch to find legal authority on a particular proposition he wanted to use in a pleading. She was able to locate exactly what he wanted within five minutes, using a print treatise. He was incredulous and impressed. His clerks had been searching for hours and had come up empty handed. This is my favorite type of law library story, because it illustrates the seemingly effortless competence that our colleagues often demonstrate, as if by magic. Our patrons probably don’t spend much time thinking about how we know what we know; they just know that they can count on us to produce whatever it is they need—often before they realize they need it. We know that our unique talents and skills are hard won and maintained through continuous education and strategic thinking about future needs. But to many of our patrons, we are simply magicians. This is my favorite metaphor for law librarians. As for today’s AALL, I think of the organization as a gigantic puzzle. Every entity, every member, every service, and every project represents a critical part of the whole. No piece has a more important place in the puzzle than any other piece. Each piece contributes to the overall beauty of the whole puzzle. It drives you crazy when a piece is lost or when you can’t find just the right piece to fill in a particular spot. But in the end, it’s a very satisfying exercise to complete a puzzle. Once you complete the puzzle, there’s no room to grow—the puzzle has finite borders. Moving forward means starting a new puzzle with new patterns and challenges. Although this particular metaphor may seem too static to represent today’s AALL, it is true that we’ve achieved our last set of strategic objectives. We’re at a place to rethink where we want AALL to head in the future. From a goalcentered and visionary standpoint, it’s time to start a new puzzle. Or find a new metaphor. A new metaphor will have to embody some of the traits we know are necessary for both the law librarian and the Association of the future: prescience, or at least sensitivity to trends and challenges; a change agent; knowledgeable; imaginative; clear on 4 AALL Spectrum November 2004 principles and values worthy of defending; and exuding leadership in the face of uncertainty. What metaphors best describe your vision of the law librarian and the AALL of the future? Please e-mail me, if inspiration strikes you. I’ll report back with the more inspired metaphors. Presidential Representations Each year, your president represents AALL at a number of international conferences. Some of you wonder why the president attends these meetings. Are these trips merely junkets? What benefit does the Association derive from such representations? I’ve attended two international conferences to date, and I thought I would tell you a little about these trips and the purposes they serve. The executive summary: fun was had, but work was done. In June I attended the British Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland. BIALL is a creative and welcoming group of law librarians. Its conference is an intimate, collegial gathering, and it’s clear that these are professionals who have known and worked with each other for many years. I imagine that our own Annual Meeting had that same quality when our Association was much smaller and everyone knew everyone. The 35th Annual Study Conference’s theme was “Challenging Times, New Challenges: The Role of the Legal Information Professional in Times of Economic and Technological Change.” I contributed to a panel on relations with publishers and vendors, specifically reporting on the AALL experience. BIALL members were most interested in our latest effort in this area, the AALL Guide to Fair Business Practices for Legal Publishers. BIALL is considering what activities it might undertake to engage its publisher colleagues in dialog. In August I traveled to Helsinki, Finland, to represent AALL at the annual meeting of the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL). The 23rd Annual Course on International Law Librarianship and Conference’s theme was “Protecting the Environment: A Challenge Across Borders— Legal Issues and Information Resources in Finland and Estonia.” This time no formal presentation was required of me. Again, this conference involved an engaging and inclusive gathering of law librarians from all over the world. The conference included several international issues having to do with copyright. During the Boston meeting, Past President Janis Johnston convened a meeting of the international representatives that explored strategies for forming an advocacy coalition. Vice President Claire Germain and I met with the outgoing and incoming IALL presidents in Helsinki to discuss ways we might contribute to this project. I have no doubt that our face-to-face meetings, both in Boston and in Helsinki, went a long way in demonstrating our interest and willingness to participate in this collaborative effort, however it ultimately takes shape. These representations continue to be worthwhile activities for the Association. Our “official” attendance signals support and respect for our sister associations. Participation in these meetings provides a fresh perspective on AALL’s programs and services. Lastly, meeting and socializing with members of our sister associations can lead to joint initiatives and projects that will benefit both organizations. After all is said and done, it is hard to pursue good ideas from a distance. Attending international conferences is a very enjoyable part of serving as AALL president, and I am grateful for the hospitality and the collegiality extended to me during these visits. AALL, too, welcomes our sister associations’ presidential representatives to our Annual Meeting each year. We also make every attempt to incorporate them into our conference as they do with such care for us. It is a wonderful tradition and one worth fostering. Association News The fall Executive Board meeting this month will focus on our strategic directions project. The board has spent a great deal of energy seeking out information that will foster an informed discussion about trends and future challenges facing the legal profession. One technique we used was identifying and interviewing—through a consultant—representative stakeholders that are versed in trends and challenges facing different sectors of the legal profession and that are knowledgeable about the roles that law librarians play in their organizations. Interviewees included representatives from legal education, courts, law firms, publishers, and affiliated associations. We asked them about their observations on the future of their particular sector and how they see law librarians contributing to that future. We also appreciated member (continued on page 29) AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:11 PM Page 6 washington brief Update on the INDUCE Act Congress returned to work in September and had a busy few weeks before its October adjournment for the fall campaign. In last month’s column I described AALL’s opposition to S. 2560, the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act (INDUCE Act), which was introduced in June by Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). The bill is strongly supported by Hollywood and the recording industry because of their concerns about peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks, which they say are used mainly by consumers to illegally share copyrighted materials. It would also make companies and other Internet service providers (ISPs) liable if their software or technology encourages users to violate copyright laws. AALL is part of a large, diverse coalition that opposes this bill because we believe strongly that the solution is not to ban technology simply because it can be used to “induce” consumers to make illegal copies. P2P technology is in fact used for many important legal purposes. The bill is so broadly drafted that it has many unintended consequences far beyond targeting those who infringe copyright. We are concerned that it would chill educational innovation and put universities at risk for lawsuits for their file-sharing networks or universitycreated technology that enables file-sharing. In late August, AALL was one of 20 organizations and businesses that sent a letter to Senate leaders, including Sens. Hatch and Leahy, to which we attached a draft alternative to S. 2560, the Discouraging Online Networked Trafficking Inducement Act (DON’T INDUCE Act). Our proposal is a far narrower bill that we believe fully meets Sen. Hatch’s mandate to develop a “technology-neutral law directed at a small set of bad actors while protecting our legitimate technology industries from frivolous litigation.” The DON’T INDUCE Act states that only someone who distributes a commercial computer program that is “specifically designed” for piracy on digital networks could be held liable for copyright violations. We intend it to be the starting point for negotiating an acceptable compromise bill. It also includes a specific provision ensuring that an ISP would not be liable for thirdparty distribution of products designed to facilitate mass, indiscriminate redistribution. 6 AALL Spectrum November 2004 by Mary Alice Baish As negotiations were getting off the ground last week, the Copyright Office released a draft discussion alternative to the INDUCE Act that does not reflect any of our concerns with the original bill. Stay tuned because there is a huge push by the entertainment industries for P2P legislation this year, and very few days remain in the 108th Congress. AALL a Founding Member of the Alliance for Taxpayer Access On August 31, an unprecedented coalition of public interest groups, including AALL, announced the formation of the Alliance for Taxpayer Access. The alliance is an informal coalition of libraries, patient and health policy advocates, and other stakeholders who support reforms that will make publicly funded biomedical research accessible to the public. The alliance will urge the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and members of Congress to ensure that peer-reviewed articles on taxpayerfunded research at NIH become fully accessible and available online at no cost to the American public through PubMedCentral. In joint library community letters to NIH Director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni and Senate leaders, we noted that today the vast majority of research funded with tax dollars is available only through increasingly costly journal subscriptions, often costing thousands of dollars annually for a single journal. Users need access to thousands of journals, and not even the largest research libraries can provide the research needed by scientists and other users. We cited data that in 2001, U.S. research libraries spent three times more money for journal subscriptions than in 1986—and yet received 5 percent fewer titles. During the same period, the Consumer Price Index rose just 62 percent. Lastly, we noted that the NIH proposal balances the public interest in having enhanced access to federally funded NIH research while allowing publishers sufficient market protections and time to implement new economic publishing models. Timely access to the results of NIH funded research is critical to maintaining the vitality of our nation’s investment in research and education. This access is also critically important to taxpayers seeking needed information—information that they have supported through their tax dollars— concerning their health and welfare. Details and FAQs on the new alliance may be found at www.taxpayeraccess.org. OpenTheGovernment.org Releases Secrecy Report As a member of the steering committee for OpenTheGovernment.org (OTG.org), I’m pleased to announce that in late August we released the Secrecy Report Card: Quantitative Indicators of Secrecy in the Federal Government, our initial effort to establish measurable benchmarks for evaluating the level of secrecy in government. OTG.org is a coalition of more than 30 organizations calling for more democracy and less secrecy in government. Government data confirmed that secrecy has increased dramatically in recent years. For every $1 the federal government spent last year declassifying documents, it spent an extraordinary $120 maintaining the secrets already on the books. Here are some highlights from the report. The federal government spent $6.5 billion last year creating 14 million new classified documents and securing accumulated secrets—more than it has for at least the past decade. For every new classified document created, the federal government spent $459 securing that document and the accumulated mountain of classified documents. Despite recent recognition from government officials that government classifies too much information, the government continues to create more secrets each year at an ever-growing cost to taxpayers. This comes at a time when public demand is rising, with more than three million requests last year alone for information from government agencies under the Freedom of Information Act. For more information about OTG.org or to read the report, please visit www.OpenThe Government.org. McCabe Article on Pricing of Legal Serials Now Available Last, but certainly not least, Mark J. McCabe, an economist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has just published an article that will be of interest to many of you: “Law Serials Pricing and Mergers: A Portfolio Approach,” Contributions to Economic Analysis & Policy, Vol. 3, No. 1, Article 11. The article is freely available from The Berkeley Electronic Press at www. bepress.com/bejeap/contributions/vol3/iss1/ art11 or from McCabe’s Web site at www. prism.gatech.edu/~mm284/bepress.pdf. ■ Mary Alice Baish, associate Washington affairs representative, Edward B. Williams Law Library, 111 G Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20001-1417 • 202/662-9200 • Fax: 202/662-9202 • [email protected] • www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash. AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:11 PM Page 7 Who is using GSI’s LIVEDGAR ? ® Every Am Law 100 Firm The reason is elementary. It is a competitive world and LIVEDGAR has information that is unavailable from any other online research service. Information that is essential to success in the area of corporate and securities law. LIVEDGAR offers exclusive content, such as SEC Staff Reviews and M&A abstracts. Its advanced features include hundreds of data fields for highly granular research. And perhaps, most importantly, GSI provides immediate phone access to researchers 86 hours a week. Lawyers, librarians and other legal researchers know that LIVEDGAR offers a level of research sophistication that makes securities law work easier and better. Here’s your chance to get a free password for use at your own desktop. If your firm already has an account we’ll make sure your ID and password is on the same usage terms as everyone else in your firm. If your firm’s location does not have LIVEDGAR, we have several special offers for you to choose from. Visit GSI at www.gsionline.com and click on Become a User. Find out for yourself why so many lawyers use LIVEDGAR over other online services. Use promo code A704. GSI and LIVEDGAR are registered trademarks of Global Securities Information, Inc. 419 7th ST NW Washington, DC 20004 | 800.669.1154 www.gsionline.com | [email protected] LEADING THE WAY IN SECURITIES RESEARCH AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:11 PM Page 8 professional development © 2004 Patricia R. Monk Bringing Amazon.com to the OPAC One library’s mission to enrich its catalog and improve search capabilities by Patricia R. Monk T he Oklahoma City University (OCU) School of Law Library recently experienced an epidemic of patrons unable to find materials in its Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC). Reference librarians and professors would call me, the co-system administrator for the integrated library system, when they were unable to find books that they knew the library must have. A professor did a subject search for “elder law” that yielded no results. And a reference librarian could not find “mound builder” in a title search, although she had initiated the purchase of Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern North America. Though still underway, the OCU Law Library’s mission to improve OPAC seems to be a success. Now a keyword relevancy ranked search for “elder law” yields a long list of materials with chapter titles also searched. A keyword relevancy ranked search for “mound builders” finds 14 books, with Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern North America ranked number 12—even though the search is for the two separate words, “mound” and “builders.” “Only librarians like to search, everyone else likes to find,” says Roy Tennant, user services architect at California Digital Library. “[L]ibrary catalogs fail as information finding tools [because] they have too little information about items.” Adding the tables of contents to catalogs enriches the catalog and improves user satisfaction by incorporating specificity and current terminology. Searching the chapter titles and authors in the keyword search, rather than in an author search, maximizes access to library materials without affecting name authority control in the author index. Question seven on the ABA Site Evaluation Questionnaire 2004 reads, “Describe the means by which the law library provides adequate access to all materials and resources in the law library’s collections, regardless of format.” The library’s OPAC should be one obvious answer. Making that answer more intuitive became my goal. Enriching the Catalog A keyword relevancy search for “UCC Harrell Insolvency” brings up Professor Alvin Harrell’s book, written with Professor Fred Miller, as the first hit. 8 AALL Spectrum November 2004 In an attempt to remedy the situation, I studied the OPAC search logs. I found keyword searches with the specificity of Amazon or LEXIS/Westlaw searches, such as “UCC Harrell insolvency,” “Louis Henkin,” and “Reserve Mining.” Our library had already agreed to set “keyword search” as the default search and “full view”—that shows all available analytic notes—as the default view. Clearly more had to be done. The OCU Law Library recently passed the 300,000 volumes and volume equivalents mark. Under Library Director Judith Morgan, the library has consistently acquired many university press books as well as treatises and loose-leafs during the past 15 years. Finding all these materials in the catalog soon became a problem. IndexMaster provided library information about catalog items through URLs embedded in the bibliographic records that linked to tables of contents and indexes. While the information was often extensive, the terms were not searchable through the OPAC. The patron had to find the bibliographic record first in order to look at the table of contents and indexes. AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:11 PM Page 9 Records provided by OCLC have the same limitation; the tables of contents are available within the bibliographic records only as URLs so that the tables of contents are not searchable in the OPAC. The first suggestion, typing or scanning the tables of contents into the bibliographic records in-house, was dismissed as too labor intensive and thus too expensive for most items. The library decided to outsource the project. In the past the OCU Law Library, as part of the Mid-American Law Library Consortium, had bought books through Blackwell’s Book Services, so the search for a vendor began there. Comparing Vendors Blackwell will enrich MARC records regardless of where libraries purchase their books. In addition to adding table of contents information in the MARC 505 field, an enhanced 505 field, or 9xx field, descriptive summaries may be added to the 520 field and author affiliations may be added in a 9XX field. To take advantage of Blackwell’s generous offer to provide a free test load of 50 enriched records, OCU law librarians filled out Blackwell’s TOC Enrichment Profile and the Terms of Use Agreement (www.blackwell.com/level2/TOC. asp) and uploaded 250 MARC records to its FTP site to ensure 50 enriched records. A second vendor, Syndetic Solutions, also supplies the tables of contents in the basic MARC 505 field, enhanced MARC 505 field, or locally defined 9xx field. Book summaries can be added in the 520 or 9xx MARC field, and author notes and short biographies added in a local 9xx field. Syndetic Solutions is perhaps better known for supplying book jackets (cover images) for books, videos, and DVDs; first chapters; and book reviews through a URL request automatically initiated by an ILS vendor’s software—a free trial can be arranged through Syndetic. Alas, the first chapters, book cover images, and book reviews accessed remotely can never be in the MARC records owned by libraries because of restrictions in the licensing agreements between Syndetic Solutions and its suppliers. OCU’s Endeavor Voyager OPAC generates the linking dynamically. Both A keyword relevancy ranked search for “elder law” yields a long list of materials. The sixth entry was enriched with a book cover image from Syndetic Solutions. Blackwell and Syndetic Solutions work with many different library systems and will supply references that use the library system that matches your library system. At the Endeavor Integrated Library System’s national meeting in Chicago in April 2004, I compared Blackwell and AALL Professional Development Program Competencies of Law Librarianship 1 2 3 4 5 6 Core Competencies Library Management Reference, Research, and Client Services Information Technology Collection Care and Management Teaching This article addresses the AALL Specialized Competencies on Reference, Research, and Client Services; Information Technology; and Collection Care and Management. The complete AALL statement of Competencies of Law Librarianship is online at www. aallnet.org/prodev/competencies.asp. Syndetic Solutions. Both add tables of contents, summaries—also called annotations—and author information to the MARC record for a one-time price per record. Syndetic Solutions charges an additional yearly subscription fee for remote access to book jacket images, book reviews, first chapters, tables of contents, summaries from the book jackets, and author information through URLs. Syndetic Solutions can make its information available only through remote access, but if a library Clicking on “Additional Information” within the table of contents leads to a link to annotations. chooses to end its subscription, that information would no longer be accessible. Our library chose to pay a charge per record to import the tables of contents into the basic MARC 505 field, book summaries into the 520 field, and author notes and short biographies into a local 9xx field. Blackwell’s Web site (www.blackwell. com/pdf/TOCEnrichment.pdf ) includes a complete explanation of the enrichment process, titled Tables of Contents Enrichment Service. Syndetic Solutions, upon request, will send you Tables of Contents and Book Summaries for Library Online Catalogs, Product Guide. Both include contracts at the end. Customers may request Blackwell’s Book Services, LC Class TOC Report, which breaks down, by Library of Congress code, the number of titles with tables of contents available. For instance, as of October 1, 2003, K Law (General) had 3,159 titles with tables of contents. On the other hand, Syndetic Solutions did an individual analysis based on a match between the list of ISBN numbers representing items in the OCU Law Library’s OPAC and the ISBN numbers in Syndetic Solutions’ database. As of February 5, 2004, the overall match rate between the ISBN records in Syndetics’ database and the OCU Law Library’s MARC records was 55.49 percent (see “Syndetic Solutions ISBN Match Report” on page 10 for a complete breakdown). For remote access, there is a price per category plus a discount if a certain number of the categories listed above are chosen. Our library chose cover art, CHOICE book reviews, summaries and annotations, all tables of contents, first chapters, and author notes. Although the OCU Law Library opted to buy both the enriched MARC record and remote access to certain categories through Syndetic Solutions, a library might buy its AALL Spectrum November 2004 9 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:11 PM Page 10 professional development Syndetic Solutions ISBN Match Report Total enriched records from Blackwell and remote access from Syndetic Solutions. Percent The New and Improved OPAC Individual Match Rates Cover Art Fiction and Biography Profiles Publishers Weekly Library Journal School Library Journal Booklist CHOICE Summaries and Annotations Tables of Contents Blackwell’s Tables of Contents First Chapters Author Notes 2,152 33 25.26% 0.39% 289 438 22 3.39% 5.14% 0.26% 386 1,211 3,088 4.53% 14.22% 36.25% 1,582 3,205 18.57% 37.62% 278 924 3.26% 10.85% So far Syndetic Solutions has enhanced 1,435 MARC records out of 8,519 titles considered eligible for enrichment—or 16.8 percent. The OCU Law Library did not send microforms and materials without ISBN numbers, like serials, to Syndetic Solutions. The library also re-wrote its guide with directions for searching the OPAC to put an emphasis on using the powerful default keyword search first. This setting is more fault tolerant than a subject search using Library of Congress subject headings or an author search with authority control. The library began a campaign in fall 2004 to advertise the OPAC’s Amazon.com-like search qualities through a revised guide to the OPAC, bookmarks, and on the OPAC entry Web page. Blackwell cites a small study done by the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Library that found that, “tables of contents in book records increased in house usage by 43 percent” and “increased circulation by 33 percent.” Additionally, “73 percent of the items with tables of contents were used” as opposed to “66 percent of items without tables of contents,” according to the study. The poster session explaining the study, “Online Tables of Contents: Impact on Usage,” is available at www.blackwell.com/ news/issues/tocprint4.pdf. For information about the technical details of the OCU Law Library enhancement project, contact Kathy Broad, systems librarian, at kbroad@okcu. edu. Librarians at Endeavor Libraries may also view our presentation, “Public and Technical Services Work Together to ‘Amazonize’ WebVoyage,” the OCU Law Library’s OPAC on Endeavor’s Web site. ■ Patricia R. Monk ([email protected]) is associate director at Oklahoma City University Law Library. Softlink Liberty3. Your ILS. Visit us at in Boston! Visit usAALL at Internet Librarian Booth#207 Booth- #526 IT'S YOUR LIBRARY. YOU DECIDE. Softlink Liberty3 Legal Edition is fast becoming the preferred automation software for law libraries all across the U.S. Liberty3 works out of the box or can be completely customized. It's your library. You decide. > Fully Web-based & Easy to Use; > Full text search and retrieval; > MARC, XML & CSV compatible; > Available in an ASP model - use your servers, or ours! Call and schedule a web-based demo today! Liberty3: The ILS Solution for Law Libraries! www.softlinkamerica.com | 1.877. 454.2725 | [email protected] 10 AALL Spectrum November 2004 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 11 the New blue Largest collection of criminal records on Westlaw. Westlaw® Litigator delivers complete coverage of criminal records to your desktop, and lets you search all jurisdictions and record types simultaneously. With a single query you can search millions of federal, state and county records, sex offender records, corrections records and more. Now that’s coverage! For more information, call 1-800-733-2889 or go to westlawlitigator.com © 2004 West, a Thomson business L-307652/7-04 Blue and You AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 12 © 2004 Charlotte Graesser Henderson public relations Have Librarian, Will Travel A mentoring docu-drama hits the road for public relations by Charlotte Graesser Henderson At a young age, Charlotte Graesser Henderson knew that she could learn much from her favorite Westerns. The best advice—carry a business card, and don’t be afraid to travel. T hose of us who are part of the demographic of librarians due to retire in the next 10 years will remember many of the Westerns of the 50s and 60s, including a show called “Have Gun, Will Travel” that played from 19571963. The program featured a gravel-voiced hero named Paladin, played by Richard Boone. He was the hero dressed all in black, a gunfighter-for-hire righting the wrongs of the innocent victims of the wild and ruthless West. He also carried a business card that simply read: “HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL.” If you remember nothing else about that show, you will remember the business card; he whipped that card out in every episode. 12 AALL Spectrum November 2004 So, what does Paladin and a law library association mentoring committee have in common? The answer is a terrific public relations opportunity that can be used in several different venues. In 1998, Joe C. Morris and Rhea Ballard-Thrower wrote a short legal bibliography presentation, titled “Throw the Book at Them,” for the Georgia Commission of Media Organizations (COMO). COMO consists of four separate organizations: the Georgia Library Association, Georgia Library Media Association, Georgia Association for Instructional Technology, and the Georgia Association of Media and Educational Representatives (GAMER). The AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 13 presentation was also published in the fall 1998 issue Legal References Services Quarterly and quickly caught my eye. The Seeds of a Program I had been looking for a different training program for the Arizona Association of Law Libraries (AzALL) that would work for the association’s annual Legal Research Institute. I quickly adapted the play to Arizona resources (with permission), and, along with two association colleagues, went on the road to present Legal Resources Can Be Murder for paralegals and non-law librarians. The play and online presentation were received with great enthusiasm, partly because we conveniently took the presentation to the audience. We soon hatched a plan to take the presentation down to Tucson and the University of Arizona for the advanced library students, but obstacles, such as job changes and mergers, put our road trip on the back burner. Fast-forward to 2003 where this Annie Oakley was quietly hiding out in the AzALL Mentoring Committee, polishing dust off her six-shooter when she received a call from Beth Schneider, of Plattner Schneidman and Schneider, who was serving a second term as AzALL president. With Schneider in town, there was no more hiding out on the Mentoring Committee. With her encouragement and the support of the AzALL Board, we could take the committee to the next level. AzALL member Jan Wolter, reference librarian II at Maricopa County Law Library, joined me in putting together a revised program. In January 2004, the committee hit the road for Tucson to present a program at the January association meeting. “Legal Resources Can Be Murder: Unlocking the World of Legal Information” was a three-part, half-day program completely sponsored by our generous friends at Thomson West. The program was designed for advanced students at the University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science. The learning objectives of the program were three-fold: 1) identify and explain basic legal resources to students in a library science program; 2) present a forum for understanding the various types of law library settings and how they work together and differently to support various patron environments; and 3) identify core competencies in law librarianship and how to obtain them in the academic or work environment. At that time I had not planned on a fourth objective, which would present itself in the long run. Westlaw research pyramid and breakdown of the digest system to guide students through some basic legal mysteries. The third part featured a panel discussion with AzALL members from various segments of the law library Neither Rain, nor Sleet, nor Presidential Traffic Jam As unique as living in the Wild West is, nothing could prepare us for the The Arizona Association of Law Libraries Mentoring Committee traveled to Tucson to present “Legal Resources Can Be Murder: Unlocking the World of Legal Information.” The torrential rain during a three-part, half-day program was designed for advanced students at the University of seven-year drought, Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science. The first part of the program was a presentation of the murder mystery play, Legal Resources Can Be Murder! accompanied by the traditional secret service halt of traffic in all directions during a visit community fielding questions and discussing by the president of the United States. But similarities and differences in their various law our spirits weren’t dampened, only our library settings. Panel members were selected handouts. The first part of the program was by their individual longevity in the field, their a presentation of the murder mystery play, wit and wisdom, and their willingness to be Legal Resources Can Be Murder! Players were subjected to the grueling Q&A segment. drawn from our unsuspecting audience: our Representative panel members were from dotWestlaw librarian relations representative coms, dot-edus, and dot-govs. This segment and one of our local Westlaw account proved to be especially interesting for law managers. Totally unrehearsed, the play librarians and students alike. AALL went on, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the headquarters was more than generous and house. Or was that the torrential rainfall? provided additional handouts for the students The third part of the program featured a panel discussion with AzALL members from various segments of the law library community fielding questions and discussing similarities and differences in their various law library settings. Part two of our program showcased the online version of the play’s legal resources, as found on Westlaw, and was presented by Gretchen Carlson from Thomson West. West also put together a packet of basic Westlaw research guides, including its regarding roles of law librarians, frequently asked questions about AALL membership, core competencies, and more. The morning concluded with a Westlaw-sponsored luncheon and the sun shining in the Western sky. An unexpected outcome of the program, and probably the most exciting aspect, was the opening of the door between the library school and the law library association. The school expressed interest in additional programs and forums to share information with the generations of future librarians. As I drove off into the sunset later that day, I thought perhaps it was time to change my business card to “Have Librarian, Will Travel.” But then again, I shed my Annie Oakley duds a long time ago, partner. ■ Charlotte Graesser Henderson ([email protected]) is library services manager for the Arizona offices of Quarles and Brady LLP in Phoenix. AALL Spectrum November 2004 13 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 14 © 2004 Paul J. Moorman feature Mining Information Gold in the Blogosphere How to use Web logs as reliable research tools by Paul J. Moorman I n many ways, the Internet has become both a blessing and curse, especially for librarians. While we benefit from the ease of having an incredible amount of information readily available at our fingertips, we also have seen a dramatic increase in the questionable quality of that same information. Our goal of providing reliable, trustworthy, and relevant information for our patrons has become much more difficult because of this vast increase in the amount and quality of information available and produced— infoglut. 14 AALL Spectrum November 2004 One of the main reasons behind both the increased availability of information on the Web and the attendant information explosion has been the ubiquitous Web log, or blog. These chronologically ordered online journals have made it possible for everyone who wishes to publish his or her thoughts, observations, analyses, and links for the world to see. And while blogs have the potential to be information gold mines, wading through the blogosphere (the world of blogs) to find nuggets of information gold can be as time-consuming and unsuccessful as panning for gold at the end of the California Gold Rush. However, all is not lost. With some guidance, you can find information gold in the blogosphere and learn to manage infoglut. Blogs as Information Sources When it comes to blogs, not too many people are neutral: you’re either a blog detractor or a blog supporter. Blog detractors point to the sheer number of blogs and claim that navigating this ocean of information is simply not worth the effort. To make matters worse, much of the information created in the blogosphere disappears almost as fast as it appears. All this seems to support blog-detractors’ assertions that anyone looking for information in blogs is living in a fool’s paradise and is bound to waste time and energy with little to show for the effort. Blog supporters, on the other hand, point to the prestige and the consistently high-quality writing on some blogs. They see bloggers at the top of their various professions, using their blogs—read on a daily basis by thousands of people in their fields—to discuss weighty issues of the day and undoubtedly influence policymakers and the public. Blog-supporters can’t understand how anyone can dismiss this veritable information gold mine simply because the presentation is unorganized and time-consuming to follow. But if you take a closer look at the arguments for both blog-detractors and blog-supporters, you will find that they really aren’t that far apart. Blogs can be both trivial and profound, and these traits are evident even in the best blogs. Blogs written by lawyers, law professors, and law librarians are of particular interest to law librarians. These law-oriented blogs (often called blawgs) are taking the legal world by storm. Some of the most highly respected law professors, attorneys, and law librarians have turned to the blog format to present their opinions, observations, and analysis to an everincreasing audience of readers. One well-regarded blog filled with information, including analysis of legal issues, opinions, and links to various sources, is the Volokh Conspiracy (www.volokh. com) by UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh. Volokh uses his blog to “articulate ideas to scholars, other lawyers, and the general population,” according to Susan “ … just because blogs are so diverse and the information difficult to find, we librarians, as information experts, do our patrons disservice if we fail to make an effort at tapping into [them]. ” Davis in the June 2004 issue of California Lawyer Magazine. But for every Volokh Conspiracy there are thousands of blogs that can end up being nothing more than attractive nuisances that eat up valuable research time while offering nothing of substance for the effort. However, just because blogs are so diverse and the information difficult to find, we librarians, as information experts, do our patrons a disservice if we fail to make an effort at tapping into some of the information that may only be found in the blogosphere. Current Information is Blogs’ Strength The variety of useful information in blogs is as varied as the blogs themselves, but for librarians they are particularly useful in finding current information. Since bloggers AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 15 AALL Spectrum November 2004 15 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 16 feature Tips to Navigate the Blogosphere Finding Blogs • Use search engines like www.google.com (search term: “~blog inurl:archives”), www.yahoo.com (search term: “blog inurl:archives”), or www.teoma.com (search term: “blog archives”). • Check out the blogrolls of blogs you trust and follow. Following Blogs • Review the blogger’s biographical information. • Use blog-specific search engines like www.feedster.com or www.bloglines. com. • Evaluate the blogs you follow on a regular basis and weed out any unnecessary blogs. • Check out Ari Paparo’s Big List of Blog Search Engines at www.aripaparo.com/ archive/000632.html. • Use an RSS reader to give you the headlines of your favorite blogs in one location. Download a free reader (www.Feedreader.com) or sign up through online blog services. • Use a blog related directory like www.blawg.org or www.Kinja.com. • Ask for recommendations from friends and colleagues familiar with the subjects you are interested in following. are often “in the trenches” of the fields they discuss, they can provide unique and valuable information, especially when looking for new developments and changes in a particular field. Genie Tyburski, Web manager of the popular legal research site The Virtual Chase (www.virtualchase.com), agrees that blogs are a great source of current information when found on trustworthy sources. “ The variety of useful information in blogs is as varied as the blogs themselves, but for librarians they are particularly useful in finding current information. ” How do you find those information nuggets in blogs? The best way is to use either a general or blog-specific search engine. While most general search engines, like Google, Yahoo, or Teoma, have changed their algorithms so that blogs are no longer some of the most highly ranked sites, blogs still appear in many search results. With these tools you can also limit your search to blogs by using specific search 16 AALL Spectrum November 2004 • Check out “RSS for Non-Techie Librarians” by Steven Cohen at www.llrx.com/features/rssfor librarians.htm. commands in addition to your keywords. For example, with Google, you can search information in blogs by adding “~blog inurl:archives” to your search command. Similarly, for Yahoo, simply add “blog inurl:archives” to your search terms, and for Teoma add “blog archives,” according to Christina K. Pikas in the March/April 2004 issue of B/ITe. By combining the terms blog and archives, you get great precision in your search results because almost all blogs have an archive, she adds. Another way to search for information in blogs is to use blog-specific search engines like Feedster or Bloglines. These engines work much like general search engines but limit their searching to blogs. For a more comprehensive list of these tools, check out Ari Paparo’s Big List of Blog Search Engines at www.aripaparo.com/archive/000632.html. Blogs Worth Following One of the most useful ways to use the blogosphere for information gold is to develop a list of trustworthy blogs in subject areas of interest to you and your patrons and follow them regularly. However, finding the right blogs to follow can be a timeconsuming and difficult task. One of the best ways to start is to ask for recommendations from friends and colleagues familiar with the subjects you are interested in following. You can also check out the “blogrolls” of blogs you trust and follow. Blogrolls are lists of blogs that a blogger recommends and/or follows and are found on almost every blog. Paying attention to blogrolls is a great way to evaluate the relevancy, usefulness, and potential bias of the blog. However, the most valuable aspect of blogrolls is to help cherrypick the best blogs in a particular subject. This will also allow you to let the bloggers you trust do much of the deeper searching of the blogosphere while you reap the rewards. Another way of finding blogs is to use a blog-related directory like www.blawg.org or www.Kinja.com. Blawg.org has a great selection of legal blawgs organized by subject and popularity and is a particularly valuable tool for a law librarian. Once you’ve located a blog in your or your patrons’ subject interest, the first thing to do is to review the blogger’s biographical information. If this information isn’t provided, its value as an information source is limited and probably is not worth the time and effort to follow. Also, it’s important to remember to evaluate the blogs you follow regularly to verify that they provide information of use to you and/or your patrons, much like a library makes a regular effort to evaluate its collection and weed out materials it no longer needs. RSS: The Smart Way to Follow Blogs Once you’ve developed a blog list, your work is just beginning. You can, of course, follow them the old fashioned way and read each blog directly. But a far more time-effective and efficient way to read a large number of blogs is to follow your selected blogs through an RSS reader. RSS readers give you the headlines of your favorite blogs in one location that’s easy to skim and search. Using an RSS reader is quite simple once you’ve learned the basics. First, you can either download an RSS reader (www.Feedreader.com has a great free, open-source version) or sign up through online blog services like Kinja.com and Bloglines.com to read the RSS feeds of the blogs online. Once you’ve done this, you can scan the headlines and highlights of a blog without getting bogged down in the details of each posting. For more information about RSS and how it can be useful for librarians, check out “RSS for Non-Techie Librarians” by Steven Cohen at www.llrx.com/features/rssforlibrarians.htm. Finding reliable blogs in fields of value to you and your patrons and using them to find current information may help you find information gold in the blogosphere without drowning in infoglut. ■ Paul J. Moorman (paul.moorman@ pepperdine.edu) is reference/electronic services librarian at Pepperdine University Law Library in Malibu, California. AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 17 statement of ownership NATION’S COURTS -2005New editions now available! This two-volume series, now in its 30th edition, is the profession’s #1 court reference. “The series are standard reference-desk fare... packaging large quantities of information that are now relied on by librarians everywhere.” — Law Library Journal Want’s Federal-State Court Directory, 2005 Includes all U.S. appellate and district judges and clerks of court; U.S. magistrate judges and bankruptcy judges; places of holding court and counties in federal districts; U.S. attorneys; State court organization charts; State supreme court justices and attorneys general; Federal and State Court web addresses; State Bar Associations. Plus much more! Softbound. 240 pages. $45.00. Directory of State Court Clerks & County Courthouses, 2005 An excellent complement to Want’s Federal-State Court Directory. Includes name/address/phone numbers of State appellate, trial court, and county clerks for all 50 states; listing of State court websites; State-by-State guide to corporate and UCC filings; State offices of vital statistics and how to order records; and trends in State court litigation. Softbound. 350 pages. $75.00. Nation’s Courts Online Point-and-click access to the nation’s federal, state and county courts. Plus federal court nominations and confirmations. Plus much more! See www.courts.com for additional information. WANT Publishing Co. 420 Lexington Ave., Suite 300 New York, NY 10170 Voice: 212-687-3774 • Fax: (212) 687-3779 www.courts.com AALL Spectrum November 2004 17 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 18 © 2004 Elizabeth Greenfield C hris is a sixthgrader whose history class is studying the westward expansion of the United States. Arriving home with an assignment to write a report on the role of the railroad in the westward expansion, Chris heads straight for the home computer. After navigating to www.google.com, the young student types the following words into the search box: expansion of the railroad. Chris uses no quote marks, no connectors, and certainly no advanced search features. Chris hits enter, scans the first 10 returned hits, goes to a few of the Web sites, prints the first page of each one, and says, “All done! Time for soccer practice!” and flees the bonds of rigorous academic research. 18 AALL Spectrum November 2004 How We Work the Web Information professionals must deal with public perception that everything’s online by Elizabeth Greenfield Again and again, research has shown that this is also how most adults search, too. The vast majority does little or no refining of search terms, uses very general terms, and does not question the sources of the records returned from searches. The Internet, or more specifically the Web, has become such an integral part of life that any information published on a Web site must be true. Twice in the past few days I have heard someone say, “Well, I saw it on a Web site!” when questioned about statements they were making. People’s search techniques reflect this blind faith. How do we, as information professionals, use the Web? Do we ever find ourselves in the midst of a random, disorganized search, like young Chris? If you look back several years, or even a few decades, you’ll see a time when online searches were restricted to dial-up services, such as Dialog, which required thoroughly organized, thoughtful, well-planned search strings, thanks to the complexity and expense of the systems. No sane layperson would have dared try those searches— as if they would ever be given such an opportunity. People needed training and experience to do online research, and so it remained squarely the domain of librarians and professional researchers. A New Era of Research Things certainly have changed. We no longer need all that clunky, megabytehogging software or, even worse, dedicated terminals. With so many systems now Webbased, it all seems to come from one place. Sometimes, in a wide-ranging search, it’s easy to move from one resource to another and another, almost without realizing it. Sure we still need and use Dialog and other database services, but with so much information now freely available, why should we? Sometimes, it seems that the rest of the world agrees with that last sentence: everything is on the Internet, it’s all free, and anyone can do it. All you need is Google—not an advanced degree— to find information. photo by Elizabeth Farina feature Susan Vaughn, reference librarian at Suffolk University Law Library, uses the computer at the reference desk. The Internet has become an integral part of reference work. We know that’s not true. But how has this misperception affected our roles, image, and the way we do our jobs? There have been times when I’ve found the answer to a requestor’s question simply by running a well-constructed query through www.vivisimo.com, my metasearch engine of choice. How does using a freely available search tool, such as vivisimo or Google, affect our image? When Librarians Google Lyonette Louis-Jacques, foreign, comparative, and international librarian and lecturer in law at the University of Chicago Law School, doesn’t feel that using free resources affects our credibility. But, she says, using Google while the library user is at your elbow might be problematic; the user might question whether you really do know more about finding the information. On the other hand, she points out, we know search techniques and capabilities in ways our users do not, whether we’re talking about LexisNexis, Westlaw, or Google. As Louis-Jacques points out, it’s our expertise and knowledge of the resources, whether high-priced or free, that sets us apart. Sometimes, starting on the Web is both time- and cost-efficient. Quoting a truism, Kay Collins, head librarian at the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board in Chicago, says that time is money and there’s no point in spending more than three minutes trying to find a case on the Web when she knows she can find it on a subscription service. For those of us who bill our time, this is especially true; excessive time spent fumbling on the Web in search of a document can’t be justified when one-tenth of an hour and a well-crafted search on a for-fee service will yield the desired result. What about those subscription services? They can be expensive, and you actually have to learn how to use them. Andrew Larrick, reference librarian at the Columbia University Law Library, points out what many of us have found: the free Web is by no means a substitute for even a small amount of the traditional U.S.-based legal research process or for any meaningful research in foreign law. All those organizational, searching, formatting, and delivery options that the vendors tout do have value in terms of making our work processes more efficient and productive. Nevertheless, the free Web is an integral part of Larrick’s reference work, and I imagine the same holds true for many of us. How is our use of free Web-based resources different from other people’s? Genie Tyburski, Web manager of The Virtual Chase, says a key difference lies in the way we search for information; this distinguishes us from someone without our background. An important issue is whether and how people find information and whether they’ll recognize the value of the information when (or if ) they do find it. As Tyburski says, we have the persistence, attention to detail, training and education, and subject experience and expertise. Even if we’re using a free resource, something that anyone could use, it’s how we use it that matters. Sabrina Pacifici, a law firm librarian with a global 50 firm, agrees. “Important factors regarding online research, be it on the free or fee-based Web or commercial databases, encompass a relentlessness in pursuit of the facts, data, and information that fulfill the mandate of the assignment,” Pacifici says. “This requires focus, skill, knowledge of the scope, content, reliability and applicability of sources for each assignment, analysis of the relevant data, effective use of time to minimize cost while maximizing results, and flexibility in moving seamlessly among sources.” Free or fee, our characteristics and skills make the difference. A Blessing and a Curse How has this affected our work? Kay Collins says her work has become both easier and more difficult—easier because of the amount of information more freely available, but more difficult because her users’ expectations have been raised so high. Dan Campbell, head of reference and computer research services at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, agrees. “The availability of Web-based information has significantly reduced the quantity of questions I receive and has thereby made my life a bit less hectic,” Campbell says. “The product of this, however, is that the more difficult and in-depth questions are passed to the library. This has resulted in [different] responsibilities, moving me from information facilitator to researcher.” photo by Elizabeth Farina AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 19 Students at the Suffolk University Law Library use their computers in the reading room. Most students turn to the Web first for research. What’s interesting in all of this is that the resources change and how we use them changes, yet still our users need us. Collins refers to users’ heightened expectations; Campbell finds his role is changing. Is it all just a matter of changing with the times? That’s really the least of it. If there are resources out there that “anyone” can use, we have to know how to use them better. If there’s a for-fee service that will get us what we need in a fraction of a free search on the Web, then it’s probably worth the fee. If there’s a skill or technique that will help us search better, we have to know it. As time goes on, more and more entities, particularly governmental units, are making information freely available on the Web, allowing us to bypass the proprietary services and their costly searches. As illustration, I always caution summer clerks, fall associates, and lateral hires to come to me for public record and corporate information, not to use for-fee services; it’s my role to know how to get this information freely or at low cost. As information professionals, our knowledge of such resources justifies both our use of the free Web—and our jobs. How those proprietary services will deal with this is the subject of another article. While we use the for-fee services for the hard-to-find research materials, their highly refined capabilities, and their delivery options, we use the free Web, too. And we use it in careful, thoughtful searches, as well as in random, free-ranging searches, much like Chris, the young student described above. We may be professionals, but we’re also human. ■ Elizabeth Greenfield (egreenfield@ pitneyhardin.com) is the research and reference librarian at Pitney Hardin LLP, in Morristown, New Jersey, and New York City. Among her other activities, Greenfield serves on the Law Library Journal/AALL Spectrum Editorial Board Advisory Committee. AALL Spectrum November 2004 19 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 20 © 2004 Teresa C. Stanton feature Protesters hold placards as they attend an anti-war rally in Hong Kong on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2003. About 600 people protested against U.S. President George W. Bush's threat to attack Iraq if President Saddam Hussein does not disarm. The rally was followed by a march to the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Anat Givon) Virtual Protest Social movements use Internet as key tool for mobilization by Teresa C. Stanton O n February 15, 2003, millions of people around the world marched to protest the then imminent invasion of Iraq by the United States, United Kingdom, and their allies. Beginning at dawn in New Zealand, the protests spread around the globe from time zone to time zone. Marches were held in every region of the world, from the Pacific Rim to Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, North America, and South America. Together, this series of events represents the largest anti-war demonstration ever. 20 AALL Spectrum November 2004 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 21 As is to be expected, head counts by local police and organizers differ greatly, but the numbers are impressive either way. In Rome, between one and three million people turned out. In England, nearly one million marched. More than one million people joined the protest in Barcelona, along with 500,000 in Madrid. Paris and Berlin each boasted about 300,000 marchers, while 10,000 people rallied near the U.S. Consulate in Mexico City; 60,000 in Oslo; 50,000 in Brussels; and 35,000 in Stockholm. Thousands also marched in cities across the United States, including rallies in Chicago, Detroit, Miami, New York, and San Francisco. This mass mobilization was due in large part to the Internet. E-mail, discussion forums, and the Web have revolutionized the manner in which grassroots organizations and activists communicate and conduct their activities. Conference calls, faxes, and mimeographed or photocopied fliers are giving way to electronic media. Activists can now “telecommute” using personal computers, no longer having to choose between working for a better world and making it to soccer practice by 4 p.m. Digital Networking The Internet gets the word out to more people more quickly and provides the opportunity to reach outside one’s own community to find others of like mind. The perceived anonymity of online communication facilitates both exploring and expressing alternative points of view. This electronic word-of-mouth system gives people the freedom to listen to political messages at their convenience by reading e-mail or joining conversations in chat rooms. It has made mixing personal and political conversation more socially acceptable. For instance, forwarding an acquaintance an e-mail with a social or political message is less obtrusive than handing someone a leaflet at a cocktail party, according to Andrew Boyd in the August 4, 2003, issue of The Nation. News reports about current peace movements often mention the diverse backgrounds of people who have heeded the electronic “call to arms.” Beyond students and left-wing activists, these anti-war demonstrations have included blue-collar and white-collar workers, families with young children, and representatives from a wide variety of social and religious groups. David Paulsen, a journalist for the Wasau Daily Herald in Minocqua, Wisconsin, noted that a “refreshingly diverse coalition of peace activists, anarchists, and church leaders made the worldwide rallies possible.” The Internet also allows mobilization to arise from independent groups, rather than the more traditional top-down hierarchy model of mobilization. The February 2003 protests had no single identified leader and no central headquarters. When no central decision-making authority exists, protests can be localized, or educational programs can be made available to people living outside areas where social protest information is available. For example, Mothers Acting Up was started by four women sitting around a kitchen table in Boulder, Colorado. With their Internet site, www.mothersactingup.org, they have been able to reach hundreds of like-minded “ E-mail, discussion forums, and the Web have revolutionized the manner in which grassroots organizations and activists communicate and conduct their activities. ” people across the country, many of whom participated in the February marches, according to Jennifer Lee in the February 23, 2003, issue of The New York Times. The Internet has broadened the base of the anti-war movement, but it is also important to remember that not everyone is online. Almost half of U.S. households do not have Internet access. It is beyond the scope of this article to explore this topic, but it is an important note to remember. For information about who is, and who is not, online, visit Digital Divide Network (www.digitaldividenetwork.org). New Information Sources The Internet has affected citizen participation and activism in more ways than just increasing the speed and convenience of communication and mobilization. Anyone with access to the Internet can publish, whether by e-mail, in a virtual forum, or by posting materials on a Web site. This means that news and information are no longer the sole province of corporate or governmental media. The Internet can carry the alternative information that is essential to sustaining social movements. Working Assets and Peoples Video Network may be on opposite ends of the anti-establishment spectrum, but both are examples of organized alternative media. Working Assets (www.workingassests.com) was founded on the premise that building a business and building a better world are not antithetical. It offers credit card, longdistance, and wireless services and donates a portion of the monthly charges to nonprofit organizations working for peace, equality, human rights, education, and a cleaner environment. Working Assets publishes WorkingForChange (www.workingforchange. com), an online journal of progressive news and opinion from nationally syndicated reporters and columnists. Peoples Video Network (www.peoples video.org) is a group of media activists with public access shows around the United States. As noted on its homepage, the group has hundreds of videos “documenting the struggle.” Its stated goal is to send correspondents around the world to produce and edit videos about issues the corporate media does not cover. The Early Days The current protests against U.S. military activities in the Middle East are one part of the broader anti-war sentiment in the United States. The pro-peace movement is, most immediately, an outgrowth of the 19th century peace movements in Europe and North America. In 1815 and 1816, “friends of peace” groups were established in Britain and the United States due, in great part, to the brutality of the Napoleonic wars. Early membership was drawn from Quakers and non-conformist Protestant sects. By the end of the century, these groups were highly active societies established throughout Australia, Europe, and the United States. Membership included laborers, women’s organizations, educational reformers, temperance activists, economists, and sociologists. These different constituencies shared a common mission to promote an interstate environment that would provide international security without force or violence. Some groups looked to reform social and economic policies, others looked to international law. The first peace groups in the United States were established by strict pacifists in New York and Massachusetts in 1815. These community-oriented activists worked with their counterparts in Europe and exerted public pressure for disarmament and international cooperation. They argued that war was unnecessary, that pacifism was logical and utilitarian, and that educating people about the horrors and waste of war would help prevent future wars. The American Peace Society, founded in 1828, was the first national peace group in the United States. Its leaders were successful in business, law, and government service. Not surprisingly, the society’s policies were more establishment-oriented, focusing on AALL Spectrum November 2004 21 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 22 feature Further Exploration Barr, Robert. “Rallies Around the Globe Pummel U.S. Stance.” Charlotte Observer (February 16, 2003). Boyd, Andrew. “Web Rewires the Movement: Grassroots Power of the Net.” The Nation (August 4, 2003). Chatfield, Charles. “Peace Movement in the United States.” World Encyclopedia of Peace. 2d ed. Vol. 4: 235-240. New York: Oceana Publications, 1999. international law, especially arbitration of disputes. Like the pacifists, they maintained contact with their European peers and by the 1870s were part of the groundswell advocating peace congresses, an elaborate international code, and the formation of a permanent court for international arbitration. These are the forces responsible for a wide array of disarmament treaties, the Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907, the League of Nations, and, ultimately, the United Nations. Today’s Pacifists and Activists The two schools of thought on achieving world peace are still a part of the anti-war and pro-peace efforts of the 21st century. Cooper, Sandi E. “Peace Movements Educational and inspirational materials of the Nineteenth Century.” World representing both views proliferate on the Encyclopedia of Peace. 2d ed. Vol. 4:241Web. Today’s pacifists and social activists are 245. New York: Oceana Publications, represented by groups like United for Peace 1999. and Justice (www.unitedforpeace.org), Win Without War (www.winwithoutwarus.org), Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Peace Action (www.peace-action.org), and International Peace. University of Peace.Protest.Net (http://pax.protest.net). Virginia Library: Electronic Text These Web sites have their beliefs clearly Center. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ posted—not every activist Web sites does. cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv3-55. These sites are a well-organized Eagleton-Pierce, Matthew. “The collection of documents, publications, Internet and the Seattle WTO campaign and protest notices, press releases, Protests.” Peace Review 13 (2001): and links to other peace organizations and 331-337. resources. Visitors can find organizing tips and contact information for speakers and Harmon, Amy. “A Nation Challenged: trainers. The sites also include suggestions The Dissenters.” The New York Times for local action, posters and bumper stickers (November 21, 2001). for download or for purchase, and songs Klein, Hans K. “Tocqueville in and chants for peace. Activist toolkits Cyberspace: Using the Internet for include step-by-step instructions on teachCitizen Associations.” Information ins, handling the press, and presenting Society, 15, no. 4 (October-December resolutions to city council. 1999): 213-221. Proponents of peace through the rule of law and arbitration also have a strong Web Lee, Jennifer. “The Nation: Critical presence. Some of the institutions and Mass. How Protesters Mobilized so organizations founded during the peace Many so Nimbly.” The New York Times movements of the 19th and early 20th (February 23, 2003). centuries are still with us today, including Paulsen, David. the Nobel Peace Prize “Internet Draws Committee. The … news and Peace Activists Norwegian Nobel information are Together From Institute (www.nobel no longer the sole peaceprize.org) was Manila to Minocqua.” Wasau Daily Herald province of corporate or founded in 1904 to (March 1, 2003). the Nobel governmental media. The help Committee select and Vrazo, Fawn. Internet can carry the award Peace Prize “Millions Rally recipients. Part of its alternative information Against War with mission is to serve as a Iraq.” The Miami that is essential to center for knowledge Herald. (February sustaining social related to peace and 16, 2003). international affairs. To movements. this end, the institute has built a library collection with more than 181,000 volumes. The library is open to the public, and its 22 AALL Spectrum November 2004 “ ” online catalog is searchable through the Web (www.nobelpeaceprize.org/eng_ins_lib.htm). The philanthropy of Andrew Carnegie in the early 20th century is another important factor in the 21st century search for peace. Carnegie believed that war could be eliminated with strong international laws and organizations. In 1910, he announced the establishment of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (www. ceip.org) with a gift of $10 million. The endowment’s Web site has information about the institution’s library and offers a virtual library with links to resources for “ [Peace Web site v]isitors can find organizing tips and contact information for speakers and trainers. The sites also include suggestions for local action, posters and bumper stickers for download or for purchase, and songs and chants for peace. ” international affairs research (www.ceip. org/files/news/newslibrary.asp). The Endowment’s Democracy and Rule of Law Project (www.ceip.org/files/projects/drl/ drl_home.asp) is a source for independent research, analysis, and discussion on promoting democracy. Carnegie also gave us the Peace Palace at The Hague (www.vredespaleis.nl). Built in 1913 to serve as headquarters to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Peace Palace is also the seat of the International Court of Justice and The Hague Academy of International Law. Part of Carnegie’s original plan, the Peace Palace houses a library of international law and the law of individual nations. Today, the Peace Palace Library (www.ppl.nl) has one of the world’s largest collections in the areas of public and private international law. The library also has a special collection of the works of Hugo de Groot, or Grotius, often referred to as the father of international law. Founded in 1919 during World War I, the League of Nations did not survive the Second World War. However, it did pave the way for the establishment of the United Nations (www.un.org). The United Nations was founded in 1945 to maintain international AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 23 A Few Movements on the Web Carnegie Endowment for International Peace www.ceip.org Mothers Acting Up www.mothersactingup.org Norwegian Nobel Institute www.nobelpeaceprize.org Peace Action www.peace-action.org United Nations www.un.org Win Without War www.winwithoutwarus.org Peace Palace www.vredespaleis.nl United for Peace and Justice www.unitedforpeace.org Working Assets www.workingassests.com Peace.Protest.Net http://pax.protest.net United States Institute of Peace www.usip.org WorkingForChange www.workingforchange.com Peoples Video Network www.peoplesvideo.org peace and security and to preserve and promote human rights. U.N. programs exist around the world, which is reflected in the vast number of U.N. and U.N.-affiliated Web sites. The United Nations sponsors programs for peace (www.un.org/peace), economic and social development (www.un.org/esa/index. html), human rights (www.un.org/rights/ index.html), and international law (www.un.org/law/index.html). Online access to U.N. library resources and valuable document guides is available through www.un.org/Depts/dhl/index.html. Whether a true peace organization or an arm of government, mention should be made of the United States Institute of Peace (www.usip.org). Established by Congress in 1984 as a nonpartisan federal institution, its activities include supporting policymakers in the legislative and executive branches of government. The institute focuses on promoting the resolution of international disputes in areas of interest to the United States. The institute has a Rule of Law Program (www.usip.org/ruleoflaw/projects.html) that includes projects for constitution-making, peace building, and national reconciliation. What is old is made new again. The desire for peace must have existed since time immemorial, and it is likely that this wish has played some part in all civilizations throughout history. In the 21st century, the Internet is a communication and mobilization tool for peace activists and rule of law traditionalists alike. The search continues. ■ Teresa C. Stanton ([email protected]. edu) is the reference/foreign and international law librarian and clinical assistant professor of law at the Kathrine R. Everett Law Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. AALL Spectrum November 2004 23 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 24 chapter by Diane D’Angelo news CALL Enjoys Raffle and Rigatoni and archived issues can be accessed via the LLNE Web site, www.aallnet.org/ chapter/llne. For future issues, the editors plan to include a regular comic strip, regular reviews of high-tech resources, and an accompanying blog. SEAALL Adds Scholarship and Grant The Southeastern Chapter of AALL (SEAALL) has created a new scholarship to a library school student residing in SEAALL’s geographic area, beginning this fiscal year. The board initially decided to grant a single scholarship for $1,000 to a student interested in law librarianship. The Scholarship Committee hopes to have the applications received this fall with the committee review completed by Thanksgiving. SEAALL has also created a grant to pay for a newer law librarian to attend the Conference of Newer Law Librarians at the AALL Annual Meeting. The grant would include payment for the registration plus one night’s stay in a hotel. Any newer librarian who is a member of SEAALL may apply for the grant. At the AALL Annual Meeting in Boston, the Chicago Association of Law Libraries (CALL)’s table featured chapter awards and photos of chapter meetings and activities. Visitors were invited to take bookmarks featuring the CALL logo and candy. The chapter also AALL/Aspen Grant Recipients Help Assess held a raffle again this year. The drawing Information Literacy among First-Year represented souvenirs of Chicago. TwentyStudents five people left their business cards for the LLNE’s Stephanie Burke, senior reference gift, which was won by Carol Bredemeyer and international law librarian at of the Northern Kentucky Boston University School of Law, University Salmon P. Chase along with Kathryn Hensiak, College of Law Library. research and instructional The annual CALL noservices librarian at host dinner was held at Northwestern Tony’s Restaurant. SNELLA to Hold Professional University’s Twenty-five people Development Events Pritzker Legal attended a The Southern New England Law Librarians Research Center, wonderful Association (SNELLA) will offer members and Donna Italian meal a professional development workshop on Nixon, head of with fabulous Nov. 19 in Hartford at the Connecticut reference services at Boston iceState Library’s Van Block Conference Duke University cream for Facility. Marie Radford, assistant dean of School of Law dessert. the Pratt Institute School of Library Science Library, received an Attendees in New York City, will present “Learning to AALL/Aspen Research The Chicago Association of Law Libraries raffled off Chicago included a mix of Say No: Time Management.” The workshop souvenirs at its table in the Activities Area of the AALL Grant for $3,100 to current members, will be underwritten by LexisNexis. 2004 Annual Meeting in Boston. conduct a survey and new members, and This fall, SNELLA will also offer a evaluate skills of firstold friends, such as one-day legal bibliography course to the year law students. Their project is titled July Gaskell, who is now at the U.S. members of the Fairfield County Chapter of “Assessing Information Supreme Court Library. The dinner was a the Special Libraries Literacy Among Firstgreat way to start off the conference, and a Association. The Year Students—A wonderful time was had by all. course will be held Survey to Measure at the Kelley Drye Research LLNE’s New Editors, Grant and Warren Experiences and Recipient’s Work Law Firm Perceptions.” Newsletter Gets Two New Editors Library in The three grant After editing the Law Librarians of New Stamford. In recipients and England (LLNE) newsletter, LLNE News, for the spring, LLNE’s Kelly the past three years, Michelle Pearse, SNELLA will Browne, head bibliographer for Anglo-American Law at offer the same of reference Harvard Law School Library, has passed course to the services at the torch to Sharon Persons, faculty members of the University of research and legal instruction librarian at Fairfield County Connecticut Northeastern University School of Law Paralegal Stephanie Burke (left), School of Law Library, and Susan Vaughn, reference Donna Nixon, and Kathryn Hensiak (not pictured) presented Association and to Library, presented results of their survey about information literacy among firstlibrarian at Suffolk University Law Library. students at Sacred year law students at a program during the AALL 2004 Annual a program at the Kim Dulin, associate librarian for research Heart University in Meeting in Boston. Burke, Nixon, and Hensiak received an AALL Annual services at Harvard Law School Library, is AALL/Aspen Research Grant to complete their survey. Fairfield, where the Meeting in the new layout editor, and John Pedini, course will be held. ■ Boston titled director of media services at Boston’s Social “What in the World Do They Know?: Law Library, will stay on board as co-editor. Diane D’Angelo, Suffolk University Law Information Literacy and Today’s Law Pearse is stepping down to devote time to Library, 120 Tremont Street, Boston, MA Students.” The results of their survey are her new position as LLNE vice-president/ 02108-4977 • 617/573-8608 • fax: available at www.bu.edu/lawlibrary/working/ president elect. The LLNE newsletter has 617/723-3164 • [email protected]. stephanie/surveyresults.htm. been available online since 2002. Current 24 AALL Spectrum November 2004 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 25 committee news Mentoring Committee Wrap-Up The 2004 AALL Mentoring Committee had a successful year thanks to outgoing committee chair Joyce Manna Janto and committee members Glen Bencivengo, Carol Bredemeyer, Joe Custer, Connelly Johnson, Connie Lenz, Kristy Moon, Jennifer Murray, and Chris Tighe. The committee’s success was due in part to the well-received implementation of several new ideas. AALL Centennial Celebration Committee members Frank Mao, Jim Heller, Frank Houdek, and Carol Billings provided CONELL participants with a brief history of the Association in a skit, “Overheard at the Bar.” For example, for the first time, the committee worked in conjunction with the ALL, PLL, and SCCLL Special Interest Sections to consolidate AALL’s efforts in mentoring. This collaboration resulted in 58 new mentor and mentee matches. For those who were either a mentor or a mentee, you will receive a feedback survey soon, if you haven’t already. by Therese A. Clarke As usual, the Conference of Newer Law Librarians (CONELL) was also successful and played to a sold-out crowd. This year the committee added a new feature to CONELL. In “Overheard at the Bar,” AALL Centennial Celebration Committee members Carol Billings, Jim Heller, Frank Houdek, and Frank Mao provided participants with a brief history of AALL in a skit format. CONELL participants said they found this segment informative and useful. Another new CONELL feature that we plan on making a tradition is the Dutch Treat Dinner option for participants arriving on Friday night. The 2005 AALL Mentoring Committee looks forward to another great year. We have some big ideas and new projects on the way, but we still need your help. As you interact with newer law librarians, please mention CONELL and the Mentor Project. Also, please continue to scan this column for updates on mentoring activities in which you can participate. We look forward to working with as many of you as possible in our mentoring efforts. Submitted by Jennifer S. Murray. Publications Committee Encourages Publishing The AALL Publications Committee invites and encourages members to publish with AALL. The Association sponsors the AALL Publication Series, a wide-ranging set that includes professional development materials, bibliographies, research guides, and library management resources. If you have an idea for a new publication or need an outlet for your research, consider contacting AALL with your idea. Full information for submitting a proposal, procedures for review, and publishing policies are available at the Publications Committee ’s Web site, www.aallnet.org/committee/publications. Don’t miss this opportunity to advance your profession, impart useful information, and enhance your own professional standing. AALL is eager to publish new materials and actively welcomes proposals for publications. Submitted by Mary L. Wells. New Research Committee Members The AALL Research Committee is charged with reviewing and proposing changes to the Association’s Research Agenda. The committee works within the Association and with other library associations to encourage research and administers the Association’s research grant program by reviewing applications, making awards, and monitoring research activities. This year’s committee members are: Chair Michael J. Slinger, Cleveland State University; Duncan Alford, Georgetown University; Karen Beck, Boston College; Joel Fishman, Duquesne University/ Allegheny County Law Library; Trina Tinglum, St. Thomas University; Susan Tulis, Southern Illinois University; and Eloise M. Vondruska, Northwestern University. Information regarding opportunities to apply for research grants will be forthcoming soon. Submitted by Michael Slinger. ■ Therese A. Clarke, Northern Illinois University College of Law, David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library, DeKalb, IL 60115 • 815/753-9497 • fax: 815/753-9499 • [email protected]. AALL Spectrum November 2004 25 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 26 special interest section CS-SIS Breakfast Meeting, Roundtable Discussion, and Karaoke with Ken Computing Services-SIS rediscovered a bit of its own history at its early morning Breakfast Meeting on July 12. Attendees were privileged to hear from speakers Betty Taylor and Dan Henke, two giants in our field, who talked about the development of CS-SIS from an AALL Special Committee to Study Mechanized and Scientific Devices for Legal Literature to its current form as a special interest section. The speakers gave us fascinating insights into the way technology challenged AALL members then and continues to do so now. The CS-SIS Roundtable on Web design and maintenance was a rousing success this year. Participants included librarians from all types of libraries with a range of skills and resources. The discussion covered subjects such as SQL, ASP versus Cold Fusion, Web statistics, third-party vendors, universal Web pages, and resources Web designers cannot live without. Several CS-SIS-sponsored program proposals for the upcoming AALL Annual Meeting grew out of this roundtable. For those unable to attend or who did not hear the announcement at the roundtable, CS-SIS has posted special resources on Adaptive Technologies, XHTML, Templates, and Cascading Style Sheets on the CS-SIS Web site, www.aallnet.org/sis/cssis. CS-SIS members took the opportunity to unwind and have fun at their annual karaoke night. Every year since 1997 (officially sponsored by the section in 2001), intrepid CS-SIS members find a local karaoke bar near the Annual Meeting location and sing their cares away. This year was no exception. Led by Ken “Karaoke” Hirsh, members had a good time as they sang, laughed, and hung out. “Karaoke with Ken” took place on July 13 at Maluken Japanese Restaurant after the ALL-SIS reception in Boston. All meeting attendees are invited to join us next year. Submitted by Susan Boland. FCIL-SIS Spirit Award and Web Site Recognizing the best in our profession has become a tradition within the Foreign, Comparative, and International Law-SIS. This year in Boston, Jean Wenger, immediate past chair, presented the 2004 “Spirit of the FCIL SIS” awards to MarieLouise Bernal, special assistant to the law librarian of the Library of Congress, and 26 AALL Spectrum November 2004 by Don Arndt Herbert A. Somers, foreign/ international librarian at George Washington University Jacob Burns Law Library, for their work on the Law Library of Congress workshops held before the American Society of International Law annual meetings. The awardees were honored at the FCIL-SIS business meeting. Another important event that deserves to be mentioned is the redesign of the FCIL-SIS Web site by Ann T. Davey, a student member. The site, with updated content, had migrated to AALLNET (www.aallnet.org/sis/fcilsis), although Anne Burnett, editor of the FCIL-SIS newsletter, maintains a link to the new site from the old site at the University of Georgia. Syllabi and other course materials will be continuously added to the home page (http://brkl.brooklaw.edu/screens/ fcilsis.html). FCIL-SIS Teaching Resources home page is an important teaching and research tool for the entire community at large. The course descriptions, syllabi, and mega-collections of research guides linked on this page are creations of FCIL-SIS members. These contributions are meant to assist our membership in its pursuit of teaching research skills to members or students of the legal profession. Submitted by Mirela Roznovschi. OBS-SIS Educational Programs and New Officers The Online Bibliographic Services-SIS was fortunate to have many programming opportunities for its members at the AALL Annual Meeting in Boston. Among the programs sponsored by OBS were: “OPAC Usability Assessment: Your Passport to an Effective Web Presence,” coordinated by Mary Jane Kelsey; “XML and MARC: Should We Remodel or Build Anew?” coordinated by Kevin Butterfield; “Two-stepping with Technology Returns,” coordinated by John Nann; and “MARBI Report: What’s the Latest on MARC Standards?,” coordinated by Susan Goldner. In Boston, OBS also had a change of officers for the upcoming year. Vice-Chair/ Chair-Elect Georgia Briscoe assumed the role of OBS chair from Butterfield, while Richard Jost was elected to fill the vicechair/chair-elect slot. Caitlin Robinson was elected as the new member-at-large for 2004-2006, while Michael Maben continues to serve as secretary/treasurer and Andrea Rabbia continues to serve as the member-at-large for 2003-2005. The OBS Education Committee, chaired by Briscoe, met in Boston to prepare the program submissions for the upcoming AALL Annual Meeting in San Antonio. OBS anticipated having numerous programs ready for consideration, some co-sponsored with the Technical Services-SIS, to meet the continuing education needs of its membership. Submitted by Richard M. Jost. PLL-SIS Luncheon in Boston and Goals for the Coming Year An overflow crowd at the Private Law Libraries-SIS luncheon in Boston enthusiastically welcomed the Boston British Consulate-General John Rankin, who spoke on law and diplomacy in a changing world. Rankin, a Scot and lawyer by background, won the hearts of the audience when he said, “The first thing I should do, therefore, is to acknowledge the debt that lawyers owe to law librarians.” He mentioned several famous Scottish cases that impacted law, not only in England, but many in other countries as well. The most famous case was Donoghue v Stevenson, which addressed the concept of duty of care for the first time. In keeping with the convention’s theme of globalization, Rankin stressed the growing influence of European Commission law and the necessity of access to law in many different foreign jurisdictions and networks of contacts in these jurisdictions. BNA generously underwrote the cost of the delicious lunch and donated the nominal cost of the tickets to the PLL treasury. We wish to acknowledge again BNA’s much-appreciated contribution. One of my goals for the 2004-05 year is to have every committee, group, and caucus chaired and functioning well. To this end, I am delighted that the once dormant One-Person Library Group and the MultiLocation Library Group are both active again. You may find information about them on the PLL Web site, www.aallnet. org/sis/pllsis, and I encourage everyone who fits either category to contact the respective chairs and join the online discussion forums. We also have an enthusiastic SLA liaison in Linda Defendeifer; if you belong to both AALL and SLA and have questions or suggestions on furthering a relationship between the two, please contact her. I am excited about the upcoming year as your chair. I welcome contact from all of you and look forward to many, many e-mails, voice-mails, and even snail mails. AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 27 Let me hear from you. Submitted by Sue Johnson. Invisible Literature” on July 14. Submitted by Pamela Melton. RIPS-SIS Highlights Workshop and Programs in Boston SCCLL-SIS Program Planning and Fundraising The Research Instruction and Patron Services-SIS sponsored two programs at the AALL Annual Meeting in Boston: a workshop and a program by a RIPS member. They enlightened, educated, and entertained—as RIPS programs always do. About 50 people participated in the RIPS workshop, “Quick Start Basic Legal Reference,” on July 9. Joan Shear, of Boston College Law Library, coordinated the workshop. The following speakers taught participants how to be clairvoyant and omniscient in their reference jobs: Stephanie J. Burke, of Boston University, Pappas Law Library; John B. Nann, of Lillian Goldman Library, Yale Law School; Mary Ann Neary, of Boston College Law Library; Anne Stemlar, of Hale and Dorr LLP; Mark Sullivan, of Boston College Law Library; Susan C. Sullivan, of Boston College Law Library; Christine H. Swan, of New Hampshire Law Library; and Karin Thurman, of Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office Attorney General Library. Librarians who teach were encouraged to be creative in “Let Me ‘Edutain’ You: Game Shows and Other Unconventional Teaching Techniques in Legal Research Classrooms” on July 11. Christopher Vallandingham, of the University of Florida Levin College of Law Legal Information Center, started things off by discussing his innovative advanced legal research class. Coordinator and moderator Pamela Rogers Melton, of the University of South Carolina, Coleman Karesh Law Library, shared games she uses in her basic legal research class. She also shared some game show adaptations created by Corrin Gee, of LexisNexis, who was unable to be in Boston. Burke, Donna Nixon, of Duke University School of Law Library, and Kathryn Hensiak, of Pritzker Legal Research Center, Northwestern University School of Law, revealed some of the results of their survey of incoming law students at their respective institutions in “What in the World Do They Know?: Information Literacy and Today’s Law Students” on July 12. RIPS member Deanna Barmakian, of Harvard Law School Library, coordinated and spoke on “Electronic Law Journals: The Education Chair Marcus Hochstetler and his committee received more than 13 proposals for educational programs from State, Court, and County Law LibrariesSIS members for the 2005 AALL Annual Meeting. The proposals have been narrowed down to a select few that will be sponsored by the SIS and submitted to the Annual Meeting Program Committee for inclusion in next year’s program. SCCLL-SIS raised an additional $1,000 for travel grants through challenges to our membership. Cynthia Fellows started things off by challenging the group to meet her $150 donation. Her challenge was met quickly and followed by another challenge from Sandy Marz. Donations from members exceeded the two $150 challenges and raised $1,000. Thanks to all the members of SCCLL-SIS for responding to these challenges and contributing to the travel grant fund. Submitted by Sandy Marz. SR-SIS Book Drive a Success I am pleased to announce that the final numbers are in from the Make Way! Book Drive 2004 sponsored by the Social Responsibilities-SIS. This year’s book drive raised a total of 562 books and $1,721 in monetary donations—nearly triple the previous year’s donations and an incredible gift to this year’s recipient, Read Boston. Thank you to everyone for your generous donations and support of this initiative! As coordinator of this year’s book drive, I would like to extend a special thank you to a number of people who volunteered their time to support this initiative, including Ann Hemmens, Alison Alifano, Janet Katz, Karen Moss, Juliana Hayden, and the Association Luncheon Committee, Stephanie Burke and the LLNE Service Committee, Jill Robin Roff, Beth Adelman, Jim Gernert, Andrea Rasmussen, Katherine Coolidge, Carol Wellington, and the other volunteers who lent a last-minute hand with the final wrap-up. Thank you sincerely for your hard work. Thank you also to AccuFile Inc. for its donation. Watch for next year’s book drive, and let’s continue to make this terrific initiative grow in future years. Submitted by Annette Demers. New TS-SIS Positions, Chapman Award, and Grants Awarded Technical Services-SIS officers for 20042005 are: Cindy May, chair; Karen Douglas, vice-chair/chair-elect; Chris Long, secretary/treasurer; and Jolane Goldberg and Brian Striman, members-at-large. Committee chairs include: Diane Altimari, acquisitions; Janice Shull, awards; Amy Lovell, cataloging and classification; Chris Tarr, nominating; Pat Turpening, preservation; Michael Maben, program/ education; and Frank Richardson, serials. Eloise Vondruska will continue to chair the Joint Research Grant Committee. Striman has assumed editorship of Technical Services Law Librarian, with Julie Stauffer as layout editor. Our American Library Association representatives are Kathy Winzer for the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access and Marie Whited for the Subject Analysis Committee. Winzer has also agreed to chair an ad hoc committee on AACR3, the new cataloging code targeted for publication in 2007. Our new MARBI (Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information) representative is Karen Selden. Continuing are Martin Wisneski as Web master and Betty Roeske as discussion forum administrator. This year’s winner of the Renee D. Chapman Award for Outstanding Contributions in Technical Services Law Librarianship is Patricia K. Turpening. Turpening is the head of preservation and archives at Robert S. Marx Law Library, University of Cincinnati College of Law. She is an expert in the field of preservation and an active member of AALL and TS-SIS. She has chaired the Preservation Committee, been a member of the TS-SIS Executive Board, edited and served as preservation columnist for Technical Services Law Librarian, presented and coordinated many AALL and chapter programs, and authored numerous publications on preservation. TS-SIS has awarded a 2004-2005 research grant to Chris Long, catalog librarian at Ruth Lilly Law Library, Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis, for a project titled “Citation Practices of the Indiana Supreme Court and the Indiana Court of Appeals.” This project is a bibliometrics study of the two courts’ citation practices and will be published in a (continued on page 29) AALL Spectrum November 2004 27 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 28 membership by Sarah Mauldin news librarian at Winstead Sechrest and Minick PC and the University of Houston O’Quinn Law Library. O’Brien received both her MLS and JD from the University at Buffalo. New Librarians Joey Hernandez joined the Florida Coastal School of Law in April as a reference librarian. Hernandez has a JD and an MLIS from the University of Iowa. In her previous life, Hernandez was a police officer for the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department and is a Gulf War veteran. New Places and Responsibilities Coral Henning has been named director of the Sacramento County Public Law Library. She succeeds Shirley Hart David, who is retiring in October. Henning has worked at several law libraries in California and was most recently the training coordinator for Sacramento County Public Law Library. Susan Lewis-Somers was recently named associate director for public services at the American University, Washington College of Law Library. Lewis-Somers came to American University in 1999 as senior reference and educational services librarian. Before that she was a reference librarian at the Yale, Northwestern, and Willamette University libraries. Jana Maginness joined the Sacramento County Public Law Library as a public services librarian in March. Maginness worked as a librarian at Sacramento Public Library. She holds a master’s degree in library and information science from San Jose State University and a bachelor of science degree in conservation biology from the University of Washington. Maryellen O’Brien joined the Florida Coastal School of Law in February as a reference librarian. O’Brien comes to Florida from Houston, where she was a reference Retirements Ruth Nunez has retired from the Sacramento County Public Law Library. Nunez was assistant director for public services. She was a librarian at McGeorge School of Law Library for 15 years previous to her 15 years of service at Sacramento County Public Law Library. Professional Activities Shirley Hart David was honored by the Sacramento Bar Association with her picture on the cover of the September/October issue of Sacramento Lawyer. Her “Law Library News Column” has appeared in every issue of the magazine for 21 years. In addition, she has served on the Sacramento Lawyer advisory board since its beginning, writing articles and profiles, suggesting topics, and finding authors for the magazine. Joey Hernandez, reference librarian at Florida Coastal School of Law, has recently been listed by the army to be crossed-trained into a job that can be used in Iraq. She is attending 31B training (military police) in the fall. The school will be held at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, and will be conducted in two phases to last a total of 30 days. She will most likely return to Florida for a short period to anxiously await deployment orders (currently the tour of duty is 18 months). Maryellen O’Brien, reference librarian at Florida Coastal School of Law, has recently been accepted to the Sunshine State Leadership Institute. The institute is a comprehensive series of learning sessions that focus on developing an understanding of leadership within a conceptual framework and with practical applications. ■ Sarah Mauldin, Lionel Sawyer and Collins, 300 S. Fourth Street, Suite 1700, Las Vegas, NV 89101 • 702/383-8988 • fax: 702/383-8845 • [email protected]. Memorials AALL Spectrum has been advised of the death of Vaclav Mostecky. Mr. Mostecky died on September 11. He served as an assistant law librarian at Harvard Law School in the International Studies Library and then as director at Buffalo and at University of California-Berkeley before he retired. AALL Spectrum carries brief announcements of members’ deaths in the “Memorials” column. Traditional memorials should be submitted to Frank Houdek, Law Library Journal, Southern Illinois University Law Library, Mail Code 6803, Lesar Law Building, Carbondale, IL 62901, houdek@ siu.edu. Matthew J. Perry The Man, His Times, and His Legacy Edited by W. Lewis Burke and Belinda Gergel “If the civil rights struggle were a war, Matthew Perry would receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.” —The Honorable Ernest F. Hollings, U.S. Senate “An extraordinary testament to an extraordinary man.” —The Honorable James E. Clyburn, U.S. Congress $24.95, cloth, 1-57003-534-2 28 AALL Spectrum November 2004 University of South Carolina Press 718 Devine Street Columbia, South Carolina 29208 800-768-2500 • 803-777-5243 fax: 800-868-0740 Visit us online at www.sc.edu/uscpress AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 29 special interest section - continued from page 27 peer-reviewed legal publication. The grant is awarded in conjunction with its co-sponsor, the Online Bibliographic-SIS. Each board fully endorses the concept of the project, which offers promise of providing research findings that will enhance law librarianship in service to our users. TS-SIS also awarded eight grants for the Boston pre-conference workshop on cataloging integrating resources. Additional information on TS-SIS educational grants may be found at the TS-SIS Web site, www.aallnet.org/sis/tssis/grants/educational, or by contacting Janice Shull, chair of the Awards Committee, at [email protected]. Submitted by Cindy May. ■ Don Arndt, University of Toledo, Law Center, Mail Stop 508, Toledo, OH 43606-3390 • 419/530-2945 • fax: 419/530-5121 • [email protected]. from the president - continued from page 4 contributions received by the moderated discussion forums, the AALLNET bulletin board/blog, and direct communications with board members. Having armed ourselves with information about the legal profession and its future challenges, we will brainstorm about how AALL can best position itself to support members in that future. I am confident that we can create a plan that will be responsive now and in the near future, yet also be flexible enough to enable future boards to take decisive action when emerging challenges and strategic opportunities present themselves. Last, but not least, the holiday season is soon upon us. May you have a restorative and enjoyable holiday, whether filled with family, friends, or travel. ■ Ad Index BNA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Court Express . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside back cover Global Securities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Instant Information Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 LexisNexis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . inside front cover, 3 Purdue University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 RoyaltyStat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Softlink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 University of South Carolina Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Want . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 West. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, back cover AALL Spectrum November 2004 29 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 30 announcements Awards Committee Calls for Nominees for AALL Awards The AALL Awards Committee recognizes the accomplishments of its members and others who excel in law librarianship. The Awards Committee will consider candidates for the awards described below. Additional information for all awards, including application forms and previous recipients, may be found on AALLNET at www.aallnet.org/about/awards.asp. Recipients will be recognized at the Annual Meeting in San Antonio. All nominations must be postmarked by February 1, 2005, unless otherwise noted. The AALL/West Excellence in Marketing Award honors outstanding achievement in public relations activities by an individual, group of individuals, library, chapter, SIS, consortium, caucus, or any other group affiliated with AALL. Awards are given in five categories: Best Brochure, Best Newsletter, Best Campaign, Best PR Toolkit, and Best Use of Technology. Please submit four copies of the entry, e.g., brochure, newsletter, or handbook. In the case of a campaign or home page, submit four hard copies of all supporting documentation—a campaign notebook or printout of at least the main page and introductory material of a home page. Entries must be signed and dated, and the submission must have been used or implemented during 2004. All entries must be postmarked by February 10, 2005. Additional guidelines and the application form can be found online at the AALL Public Relations Committee’s Web site, www.aallnet.org/committee/pr/. Please send entries to: Lori Hedstrom, Manager, West Librarian Relations, 610 Opperman Drive, D5-N190, Eagan, MN 55123; 651/687-5891; fax: 651/848-2737; [email protected]. The Chapter Professional Development Award recognizes significant achievements in designing outstanding professional development programs by AALL chapters. Two awards are given: one for a single program or workshop of one-half day or more and the other for a comprehensive professional development program of up to one year in length. Send four copies of the application and documentation to: Johanna Bizub, Prudential Insurance, 751 Broad Street-22 Plaza, Newark, NJ 07102-3714; 973/367-3175. The Joseph L. Andrews Bibliographical Award is presented to honor a significant contribution to legal 30 AALL Spectrum November 2004 bibliographical literature. To be eligible, a work must be “a compilation of titles, published in any format, organized to serve as a reference tool or finding aid for such publications. Each nominated work will be measured primarily by its creative, evaluative elements and the extent to which judgment was a factor in its formation.” The works must have been published during 2004 to be considered. Send nominations, including a complete description, to: Mark Estes, Holme Roberts and Owen LLP, 1700 Lincoln Street, Suite 4100, Denver, CO 82803; fax: 303/866-0200; [email protected]. The Law Library Journal and AALL Spectrum Article of the Year Awards honor outstanding writing in both of those publications. Recipients will be chosen from articles published in volume 96 of the Law Library Journal and volume 9 of the AALL Spectrum. Nominees will be determined by the LLJ/Spectrum Editorial Board and forwarded to the Awards Committee for final decision. The Law Library Publications Award recognizes achievement in creating outstanding in-house library materials. There are two categories for the award: print and non-print. Recipients of the award may be any individual or group affiliated with AALL. Entries are judged according to the quality of the materials, creativity, and usefulness to the target audience. Send four copies of the application and supporting documents to: Michael Saint-Onge, LexisNexis, 611 W. Sixth Street, Suite 1900, Los Angeles, CA 90017; [email protected]. com. The Marian Gould Gallagher Distinguished Service Award is presented to an individual nearing or following completion of an active professional career and recognizes extended and sustained distinguished service to law librarianship and AALL. Honorees may be recognized for achievement in a particular area of law librarianship, for service to the Association, or for outstanding contributions to the professional literature. The individual must be or have been a member of AALL. The award may be given posthumously. Address these criteria in nominating letters and include either additional supporting letters or the names of others to contact for further information about the nominee. Documents in electronic form attached to an e-mail are preferable. Send nominations and supporting documents to: Shirley H. David, 77-207 Ho’owaiwai Place, KailuaKona, HI 96740; [email protected]. The New Product Award honors a new commercial legal information product that has been in the library marketplace for no more than two years. The product must be commercial, enhance or improve existing law library services or procedures, and be an innovative product that improves access to legal information, the legal research process, or procedures for technical processing of library materials. Products that have been re-introduced in a new format or with substantial changes are eligible. CRIV’s New Product Award Subcommittee screens nominations and makes recommendations to the AALL Awards Committee. To submit a nomination, complete the New Product Award Nomination Form available on the CRIV Web site at www.aallnet.org/ committee/criv/news/newproductform.pdf and send eight copies to: Beth DiFelice, Ross-Blakley Law Library, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 877806, Tempe, AZ 85287-7806; fax: 480/965-4283; beth. [email protected]. Nominations must be postmarked by January 15, 2005. The Public Access to Government Information (PAGI) Award honors significant contributions by persons or organizations involved in the protection and promotion of greater public access to government information. Recipients need not be law librarians or members of AALL and may not be members of AALL’s Washington Affairs Office. Criteria for selection include: 1) a contribution that significantly improves public access to government information; 2) the individual or organization has had a positive impact on protecting and promoting public access to governmental information; and 3) the effort advances the AALL mission and Government Relations Policy. The award is jointly administered by the Government Relations and Awards Committees. All nominations are considered on an individual basis, with complete confidentiality, and according to the criteria listed above. Nominations (one copy, preferably in electronic format), must be sent to: A. Hays Butler, Rutgers University Law School Library, School of Law, 217 N. 5th Street, Camden, NJ 08102; [email protected]. AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 31 announcements AALL Elections Go Electronic 2005 AALL election schedule and candidates The schedule for the 2005 AALL elections will change dramatically this year. Instead of sending ballots out by postal service, the Association will distribute and tabulate ballots electronically. The elections will also occur four months earlier in November instead of in March. Following is the 2005 election schedule: November 15, 2004 Ballots distributed electronically to all voting members. December 15, 2004 Deadline for receipt of electronic ballots at AALL. Ballots tabulated at AALL, and results of elections announced immediately. 2005 Candidates The AALL Nominations Committee nominated the following individuals for office in AALL. Full candidate profiles and platforms will be made available on AALLNET at www.aallnet.org/vote and published in a future issue of Law Library Journal. Vice President/President-Elect Sarah G. Holterhoff, government information/reference librarian at Valparaiso University School of Law Library Lawrence R. Meyer, law library director at the Law Library for San Bernardino County Executive Board Sarah Andeen, director of research at Greenberg Traurig Steven P. Anderson, director of research services at Gordon Feinblatt Rothman Hoffberger and Hollander LLC Alvin M. Podboy Jr., director of libraries at Baker and Hostetler LLP Francis L. Drake Jr., director of library services at Arnstein and Lehr Secretary Darcy Kirk, associate dean for law and technology and professor of law at the Lyonette Louis-Jacques, foreign and international law librarian and lecturer in law at the University of Chicago D’Angelo Law Library The Call for Papers Has Begun Have you been thinking of writing an article of interest to law librarians? Maybe you just need a push to get started? Whether for fame or for fortune, this is your chance to enter the AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers Competition. The AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers Committee is soliciting articles in three categories: • Open Division for AALL members and law librarians with five or more years of professional experience University of Connecticut School of Law Library • New Members Division for recent graduates and AALL members who have been in the profession for less than five years • Student Division for budding law librarians still in school (students need not be members of AALL). The winner in each division receives $750, generously donated by LexisNexis, plus the opportunity to present his or her paper at a special program during the AALL Annual Meeting in San Antonio. Winning papers will also be considered for publication in the association’s prestigious Law Library Journal. For more information, a list of previous winners, or an application, visit AALLNET at www.aallnet.org/about/award_call_for_ papers.asp. Submissions must be postmarked by March 1, 2005. If you have any questions, please contact any member of the AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers Committee: Chair Virginia Davis, [email protected]; Renee Rastorfer, [email protected]; or Patricia Wellinger, [email protected]. 115 AALL Meets the Strait Funding Challenge Thanks to the contributions of more than 300 individuals, chapters, special interest sections, and corporations, AALL surpassed its goal to raise $100,000 for the AALL and West George A. Strait Minority Scholarship Endowment—and a year early, too! After West contributed $150,000 in 2001 to endow the George A. Strait Minority Scholarship, the company challenged AALL to raise an additional $100,000 for the endowment. AALL immediately accepted the challenge and set a deadline of 2005 to reach its goal. 90, 000 ,00 0 80, 000 The income generated from the endowment will provide a permanent funding source, allowing AALL to award two to four Strait Scholarships per year. A portion of the income earned each year will be returned to the endowment’s principal to assure its long-term viability. Congratulations! To contribute to the endowment, please visit www.aallnet.org/services/ strait-br.asp. ,97 0 100 70, 000 60, 000 50, 000 40, 000 30, 000 20, 000 AALL Spectrum November 2004 31 AALLSpectrum_Nov 10/22/04 3:12 PM Page 32 views and viewpoints AALL Member Thoughts, Comments, and Anecdotes Share Your Views AALL Spectrum would like to publish your thoughts and comments. We are looking for short submissions about AALL and about the profession. They can be opinionated or thought provoking, humorous or poignant, but they must be short. The ideal submission will be a paragraph or less, and certainly shorter than a letter to the editor. We see this as a chance for AALL members to bring up issues or make statements about their careers, the profession, or AALL. While anything is fair game for a topic, please understand that we will edit submissions for style and length and will select submissions based on content and other factors. There is no guarantee that any particular submission will be published. Please send submissions to AALL Spectrum Editorial Director Paul Healey at [email protected] or to AALL Director of Publications Julia O’Donnell at [email protected]. View from the Tarlton Law Library’s sixth floor window, looking south into the heart of the University of Texas at Austin campus and Texas Memorial Stadium. Submitted by Scott Webel, Web and administrative assistant. Do You Have a Beautiful View from Your Law Library? Many law libraries have interesting or dramatic views of cityscapes, mountain ranges, or beautiful vistas. If your law library has a great view, this is your chance to share it with AALL. In order to be publishable, pictures must be of relatively high quality. While we can work with a print, digital submissions are better. Digital submissions must be high-resolution (300 dpi). When scanning photos, set the scanner at high-resolution/print quality/300 dpi. When taking pictures with a digital camera, make sure that the camera is set to take the largest photo possible. Depending on the number of submissions received, we will publish one or two photos in each issue of Spectrum and post them on AALLNET at www.aallnet.org/view/ view_month.asp. Publication of a submitted photo is not guaranteed. If you have questions about submitting photos, please contact AALL Director of Publications Julia O’Donnell at [email protected]. 32 AALL Spectrum November 2004 View from the Vermont Law School Julien and Virginia Cornell Library. Submitted by Charles Papirmeister, reference librarian for electronic resources. AALL cover Nov 10/28/04 4:41 PM Page 3 Litigation Trend Reports NEW from CourtEXPRESS Litigation Trend Report Litigation Trend Report Work smart. Look good. Work smart. Look good. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Litigation Trend Report Work smart. Look good. B Litigation Trend Reports Provide the Competitive Intelligence You’ve Been Searching for! Litigation Trend Reports make quick work of finding the clients, practice areas and market segments best suited for your firm’s business development efforts. comprehensive, multi-faceted perspective that lets your firm: They’re interactive! See the big picture then drill down to the details that interest you. Reports are online, can be emailed and are easy to use. B Determine a client’s full roster of cases, B Expand existing client relationships, B Learn of other firms representing your clients, B Identify thriving practice areas and jurisdictions, Litigation profiles, client histories, competitive law firm overviews and market trend lines provide the and much, much more. View a Sample Report Online and Order Your Reports Today at www.CourtEXPRESS.com or call us at (800) 542-3320 Work smart. Look good. washington, dc new york los angeles richmond chicago AALL cover Nov 10/28/04 4:41 PM Page 4 Q. UESTION: Why does West support Law Librarians? NSWER: Because we understand the value they bring to the legal profession. Anne Ellis, Senior Director, Librarian Relations Law librarians have always been integral to the practice of law, and West has been their partner all along. That’s why our Librarian Relations program exists – to offer the support and resources you need to help you better serve your patrons and demonstrate your value to your organization. From a company that’s been supporting the law for over 130 years, you shouldn’t expect anything less. Visit us online at west.thomson.com/librarians. Real People. Real Partners. © 2004 West, a Thomson business L-309645/10-04
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