The Top Super Bowl lawsuits.

Just in time for Super Bowl Sunday (not to mention Friday Fun), Bitter Lawyer has put together a nice list of the "Top Six Super Bowl-Related Lawsuits."

hat tip: Legal Blog Watch

LexisNexis Announces Lexis for Microsoft Office

We've been reading about a new Lexis product unveiled at the Legal Tech conference in New York earlier this week. Now Lexis has sent out an official announcement announcement that explains more fully what the product is. Here's the information Lexis has provided:

"In a nutshell, Lexis for MS Office allows users to seamlessly access resources from LexisNexis, the open Web, or local files while reviewing a Word document or an Outlook email message. There is a search box that delivers one-click access to all of the aforementioned sources, with results displayed in a window next to the active document. Users can also highlight any material in an active Word document or Outlook message to find related material. The product also automatically indexes material within an active Word document or Outlook email via hyperlinks.

Currently, the product requires users to have Microsoft Office 2007 (or when it is released, MS Office 2010). We are working with Microsoft to develop a solution that accommodates Mac users.

Lexis for MS Office is scheduled to be released into the commercial market this spring, and into law schools by the fall (emphasis added). Pilot tests in law schools will begin shortly to ensure a smooth fall launch. There is no information as yet about when these will begin.

You may be wondering how Lexis for MS Office ties in with New Lexis. New Lexis is the interim name the company has given to an ongoing program of product development. Lexis for MS Office is the first innovation of the broader New Lexis initiative. In the coming eighteen months, we will introduce other innovations, including the first product built upon our new technology platform. I will keep you posted on any new information that I receive regarding New Lexis. For your planning purposes, I can confidently say that the Lexis.com that you know will be with us in law schools at least through the remainder of 2010, so any major transitions are still quite a ways down the road. "

WestlawNext, Lexis, Bloomberg Law article

An article in the ABA Journal online has an exclusive look inside the "new" WestlawNext, as well as upcoming changes in Lexis and a look at Bloomberg Law. If you do legal research you ought to check it out! WestlawNext is going to be demonstrated for law librarians and legal research faculty at PittLaw before spring break; they plan to have it ready for students for the next academic year. It is very different from the Westlaw we are currently using.

Jonathan Zittrain to speak in the Moot Courtroom

The Sara Fine Institute at the Pitt School of Information Science is sponsoring a talk by Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain on Thursday February 18, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.in the Teplitz Moot Courtroom. The talk is entitled "Minds for Sale"; description:
"Cloud computing is not just for computing anymore: you can now find as much mindshare as you can afford out in the cloud, too. A new range of projects is making the application of human brainpower as purchasable and fungible as additional server rackspace. What are some of the issues arising as armies of thinkers are recruited by the thousands and millions? A fascinating (and non-scare-mongering) view is offered of a future in which nearly any mental act can be bought and sold."

State of the Union address online

The White House website has posted the text of President Obama's 2010 State of the Union Address. A summary of the major initiatives announced in the Address has been posted on the White House blog.

NEW! ALR International on Westlaw

On January 11, 2010, Westlaw launched ALR International. ALR International will be available in print and online. The database identifier in Westlaw (login required) is ALR-INTL, and Westlaw describes the database in this way:
"ALR-INTL contains the full text of annotations included in American Law Reports International. Volume 1 of ALR International contains the following annotations:
• Construction and Application of United Nations Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, June 10, 1958, 330 U.N.T.S. 38, also known as "New York Convention"-Global Cases: Jurisdictional Issues, Construction of Essential Terms, Applicability of Convention to Action, Impact of Other Multilateral or Bilateral Agreements Upon Applicability of Convention, and Reciprocity Issues
• Construction and Application of Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters, March 18, 1970, 847 U.N.T.S. 231- Global Cases
• Construction and Application of United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, April 10, 1980, 1489 U.N.T.S. 3-Global Cases
• Construction and Application of Freedoms of Speech and Expression Articles (Arts. 18-20) and Right to Marriage Article (Art. 23) of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, and National Constitutional Provisions Incorporating Such Articles--Global Cases
• Construction and Application of Article 1A of United Nations Convention Relating to Status of Refugees, July 28, 1951, 189 U.N.T.S. 137, Regarding Term "Refugee"--Global Cases ."

Search engine comparison

A new site called NoBrandSearch is an experiment to compare the core competencies of all the search engines in the market. Every time you search you will get two anonymous sets of search results side by side. Click on the result set you like the best, and you will get the name of both search engines. The idea is that this will give you an unbiased idea of the search quality of search engine like Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc. The site was developed by Hakia, which describes itself "as a general purpose "semantic" search engine, dedicated to quality search experience... Hakia’s semantic technology provides a new search experience that is focused on quality, not popularity. hakia’s quality search results satisfy three criteria simultaneously: They (1) come from credible Web sites recommended by librarians, (2) represent the most recent information available, and (3) remain absolutely relevant to the query."

Open Government Workshop held at Princeton

A workshop called "Open Government: Defining, Designing, and Sustaining Transparency" was held last Thurs. and Fri. at Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy. There were many participants using Twitter throughout the event, and their tweets are all collected here. The LII blog and Rob Richard's Legal Informatics Blog both provided coverage of what was happening and their posts are well worth reading.
Speakers included Mike Wash, CIO of the GPO, who discussed a number of issues involving digital legal information, with a focus on GPO’s new FDsys content management system. He said that FDsys has been developed to serve four key functions: versioning, preservation, permanent public access, and authentication.
Other speakers and discussions focused on the variety of legal databases online and the US Courts' PACER system that provides court documents online.

AT & T iPhone exclusivity ends Weds. ?

Hot Hardware, an online news source about computer hardware, reports that "according to an inside source" that an Apple media event planned for this coming Weds, Jan. 27 is not just about a rumored Apple tablet computer; they will also announce that AT&T's iPhone exclusivity is ending.

YouTube now renting movies

Broadcasting Ourselves, The YouTube Blog, reports that YouTube is launching a video rental service over the internet. The launch coincided with the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and the first available rentals are new movies by independent filmmakers. The first five offerings are three world premieres at this year’s festival and two audience favorites from last year’s; all will be available through Jan. 31. Rentals are $3.99. The blogpost also puts out a call for more independent filmmakers to join the rental program as part of the "Filmmakers Wanted" campaign at the festival.

PGH historic maps collection

The Archives Service Center and Digital Research Library added twelve more real estate plat maps of Pittsburgh created by the G.M. Hopkins Company to the Historic Pittsburgh Maps Collection.

They include Volume 1 and Volume 2 from 1889 (City of Pittsburgh), 1895 (eastern vicinity), 1896 (southern vicinity), 1897 (northern vicinity), Volume 3 from 1900 (City of Pittsburgh), Volume 4 from 1901 (City of Pittsburgh), Volume 1 from 1907 (Allegheny City), Volume 3 and Volume 4 from 1911 (City of Pittsburgh), and Volume 8 from 1915 (eastern vicinity).

These additions represent the conclusion of a project by the ASC and DRL to identify and digitize all of the Hopkins maps produced for Pittsburgh between 1872 and 1940. There are now 46 volumes comprising 1820 plates available online to researchers. Congrats to the ASC and DRL for this very cool project.

The Early Republic online database trial

The University of Pittsburgh School of Law has a trial subscription to The Early Republic Online, a new database from Johns Hopkins University Press. The trial will run until March 5, 2010.
According to the website, "since 1972, 17 volumes of primary material documenting the actions, debates, and thoughts of the First Federal Congress and its members have been collected by the First Federal Congress Project (FFCP) and published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. These volumes of the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress are used by Congress, historians, political scientists, and jurists to understand the most important and productive Congress in United States history."
The database is available on any law school computer or via the law school wireless network.

Proposed Web Video Restrictions Cause Outrage In Italy

The Standard reports that new rules to be introduced by Italian government decree will require people who upload videos onto the Internet to obtain authorization from the Communications Ministry similar to that required by television broadcasters, drastically reducing freedom to communicate over the Web, opposition lawmakers have warned. The decree is ostensibly an enactment of a European Union (EU) directive on product placement and is due to go into effect at the end of January. The decree was condemned by Articolo 21, an organization dedicated to the defense of freedom of speech as enshrined in article 21 of the Italian constitution. The group said the measures resembled an earlier government attempt to crack down on bloggers by imposing on them the same obligations and responsibilities as newspapers.

Haiti Earthquake info

The US State Department has a website providing links to news and resources relevant to the earthquake in Haiti which includes links to:
Briefings and Remarks
Fact Sheets
Interviews
Secretary Clinton's Visit to Haiti
White House Releases
Collected Releases
Red Cross Photos: 2010 Haiti earthquake

hat tip: BeSpacific

New York Times ready to charge for web access

New York Magazine reports that the NY Times is close to announcing that the paper will begin charging for access to its website. The Times has been debating which pay model to follow: a Wall Street Journal-type pay wall or the metered system adopted by the Financial Times, in which readers can sample a certain number of free articles before being asked to subscribe. The Times seems to have settled on the metered system.
The decision to go paid is monumental for the Times, which has been always been freely available online. The argument for remaining free was based on the belief that nytimes.com would grow into an English-language global newspaper of record with a vast audience that would prove lucrative as web advertising matured. But last year's financial crisis brought painful declines in advertising, it has become apparent that the Times has to make the leap to some form of paid content.

China now monitoring text msgs

The UK Telegraph reports that China has begun monitoring 'billions of text messages' in order to increase censorship. Customers of China’s two largest mobile phone networks, China Mobile and China Unicom, have had their texting service blocked after sending risqué messages. The People's Daily Online English version reports that the phone companies are working hand in hand with the public security bureau to curb "illegal" text messages. One person whose messaging was blocked said he was told that If he wanted to resume service, he had to take his identity card to the local public security bureau with a letter of guarantee, promising he would no longer send risqué messages.

German government tells public not to use IE

After McAfee's disclosure of an Internet Explorer vulnerability this week that had been used in Operation Aurora, the hacking and stealing of data from Google, Adobe and about 3 dozen other major companies, the German government has advised the public to switch to alternative browsers (German government statement auf Deutsch hier).

NEW Citation Finder at Legal Info. Institute

Tom Bruce and the LII crew announced a new experimental service this morning called Citation Finder. It's a bookmarklet that will scan a highlighted section of a webpage looking for a citations and then take you to the cited legal resource. It works with US Code, Supreme Court, Federal CircuitCourts, CFR, and more. This is an early release of an ongoing project and it adds a nice bit of functionality to your web browser. You can also read LII's Current project plan about the current functionality and where they hope to take this resource.

House passes HR 3237 to enact Title 51

The US House of Representatives has passed HR 3237,which gathers provisions relating to national and commercial space programs, and restates the provisions as Title 51, United States Code, ``National and Commercial Space Programs''. The bill does not provide for any new programs. As the Law Revision Counsel website points out, "Over the past five decades, a substantial amount of legislation has been enacted relating to national and commercial space programs. In the United States Code, some of these provisions appear in title 15 (Commerce and Trade), some in title 42 (The Public Health and Welfare), and some in title 49 (Transportation). No distinct title for national and commercial space programs exists in the United States Code because the organizational scheme for the Code was originally established in 1926, before such programs were contemplated."

Historical Record of the drafting of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Dag Hammarskjold Library at the UN has made available historic documentation of the drafting process of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, created by UN delegates from 1946-1948. The Declaration has become a standard of principles for human rights. The website presents documents in chronological order, arranged according to the various bodies that met to discuss, draft and re-draft the Declaration. In turn, under each of these, the site provides background on what that body did during meetings that occurred during the year.

Hat tip: InSITE

Generation gaps in technology use

Yesterday's Sunday New York Times had an article called "The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by Their 20s" that looked at how people born in different years use new technologies. OK, so you knew that there are differences between baby boomers & Gen X-Y; but did you know that there are big differences between people born in the 80's and people born in the 90's or the 00's? According to the article, "'People two, three or four years apart are having completely different experiences with technology,' says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. 'College students scratch their heads at what their high school siblings are doing, and they scratch their heads at their younger siblings. It has sped up generational differences...' Studies show that 16- to 18-year-olds perform seven tasks, on average, in their free time — like texting on the phone, sending instant messages, and checking Facebook while sitting in front of the television; while people in their early 20s can handle only six, and those in their 30s about five and a half."

Institutional Repository Bibliography updated

The Institutional Repository Bibliography, a resource maintained by Charles W. Bailey Jr., was recently updated. The IRB contains selected English-language articles, books, technical reports, and other scholarly textual sources that are useful in understanding library, technical and legal issues concerned with institutional repositories and digital preservation.

Text message reference offered in some academic libraries

Inside Higher Education has an article called "Text Generation" this morning. It looks at how some academic libraries are adapting to the popularity of text-messaging among students, and making reference librarians available via text messages from student cellphones. A variety of technological solutions are used, including purchasing a cellphone for text reference; but the article says "No matter the method, these various experiments suggest that texting, like Twitter, is creeping into academic communication, a prospect some in academe’s old guard might find troubling. "

White House review of attempted terrorist attack

The White house has release its summary of the review on the December 25, 2009 Attempted Terrorist Attack and the related directive. The White House Blog has the press release which says "The review of our security and intelligence systems following the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day has been completed. The President spoke two days ago about 'the urgency of getting this right,'and the identification of failures in this review, along with the immediate ordering of reforms and corrective steps both today and in the days since this incident, are a recognition of that urgency. This review is also a recognition that while there is no place for partisanship and the old Washington blame game in dealing with Al Qaeda and the threat they represent, keeping American safe depends on honest and direct accountability."

Immigration Primer available online

The Federal Judicial Center has made Immigration Law: A Primer (186 page pdf) freely available on its website. The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency for the federal courts. The Primer was authored by Michael A. Scaperlanda of the University of Oklahoma College of Law and provides an excellent introduction to and overview of immigration law -and, to a lesser extent, the law governing noncitizens outside of the immigration context- with a focus on analyzing issues that arise in litigation. It sets out the legislative history, explains the statutory and administrative regime, and describes the substantive and procedural law relevant to federal judges, including circuit splits. Topics covered include the Real ID Act and its effect on judicial review, categories of admissibility, asylum, deportation, removal, relief, waiver, and remedies. The Primer addresses the role of the immigration judge, and explains the procedures set forth by the BIA, DHS, and DOJ. Workplace and enforcement issues are also discussed. Case law is current through the October 2008 Supreme Court term, and appellate and district court cases reported through 558 F.3d and 594 F. Supp.2d. The monograph contains sources for further reading, glossary, appendix, and table of cases.

hat tip: beSpacific

Recovery dot gov datasets criticized

Washington Technology blog has a post today titled "Open Government or hide in plain sight?" The author takes the time to look at the massive amount of data available at the Recovery.gov website which describes itself as "the U.S. government’s official website providing easy access to data related to Recovery Act spending and allows for the reporting of potential fraud, waste, and abuse. " It purports to track all the money spent via the Recovery Act and answer the question "Where is the money going?"
However, according to the author, the data available on the site is massive, difficult to work with and doesn't provide much insight; he says "Frankly, I’ve struggled with the spreadsheet for the last quarter of government fiscal 2009. The question that keeps going through my mind is: How are we supposed to use this thing?" It's an interesting point.
I tried looking at a small dataset from the site: the Recovery monies awarded by the Library of Congress during the last quarter. There are 3 awards listed: a grant of $17,679 to Rockford, AL "to place equipped patrol cars on the road" (jobs created = 0) and then two contracts awarded to Oldcastle SW Group (a concrete contractor in Grand Junction, CO) for a total of $1.2 million dollars to do some road repairs in the San Juan National Forest, Dolores CO (number of new jobs created = 0, but they claim that they would've laid off workers were it not for the contract). The project activities descriptions for both these contracts is "Dairy Cattle and Milk Production".
Hmmm. Not sure how Dairy Cattle -or road repairs - come under the purview of the Library of Congress. I don't want to be picky but wouldn't it be nice of the Library of Congress used its Recovery Act monies to create jobs for librarians instead?

Streaming video database trial from ULS

The University Library System at Pitt is looking at various streaming video resources as an alternative to the current physical video collection. During January they have arranged a trial of Films on Demand, a streaming video database containing over 6,000 educational titles. While there is no discreet category of legal titles, there are some titles relevant to legal studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences categories. You can learn more about Films on Demand from this YouTube video or the Films on Demand website.
If you are a Pitt student, faculty or staff and would like to access the trial version of Films on Demand please contact a Barco librarian for the trial username and password.

Article: Wikipedia in Court

An interesting paper posted on SSRN is titled Wikipedia in Court: When and How Citing Wikipedia and Other Consensus Websites is Appropriate. The paper discusses how and when Wikipedia should be used in court and some of the controversies attached to it. According to the abstract, "Practitioners and courts are relying more and more on Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Hundreds of court opinions, including at least one from every federal circuit court, and thousands of law review articles cite Wikipedia. Some opinions have relied on Wikipedia for technical information, although others only turned to the consensus website for background information on minor points." The authors lays out a process for determining when it is and when it is not appropriate to cite Wikipedia and other similar online sources. The authors are Jason C. Miller, law clerk to the Honorable Deborah L. Cook, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and Hannah B. Murray, Editor-in-chief, Michigan Telecommunications and Technology of Law Review.

ULS training sess on United Nations Resources this friday

This Friday, Dec. 11 at 2 PM the University Library System at Pitt is hosting a Public Services Training Group session on United Nations Resources. Tom Twiss, ULS's resident expert, will lead the session, discussing the variety of resources we have in our UN collection, the kinds of UN materials that are most frequently requested, how to search for UN publications, and the UN call number systems. The session will be held in the Amy Knapp Instruction Room, and can also be accessed remotely via Webex by going to the webex site for the session .

House of Representatives publishes financial disclosure records online

On November 30, the House of Representatives published its Members financial records of official expenditures online. The House administration office had previously only published the records in print form, but the records will now be released in downloadable PDF form too. The pdf, which is over 3,000 pages long, is broken into three parts of about a thousand pages each. It is browsable and searchable, and you can look up a particular Congressman's or Congresswoman's information through an alphabetical list in the table of contents.

New CRS report on Executive Branch lobbying rules

The Congressional Research Service issued a report called "Lobbying the Executive Branch: Current Practices and Options for Change" on December 1. The report discusses the Obama Administration's new lobbying rules for members of the executive branch of government. It concludes that the new White House rules have changed the game in Washington, noting that "Creation of restrictions on federally registered lobbyists' access to executive branch departments and agencies has already changed the relationship between lobbyists and covered executive branch officials."
The report also suggests that Congress might consider enacting similar restrictions on itself.

New website gathers complaints about internet privacy (or lack thereof)

Technology Review reports that an internet freedom and privacy advocacy group in Washington D.C. called the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) has created a new privacy complaint site that is meant to gather information and get Congress to pass privacy protection laws. The CDT guide to online privacy problems explains existing and often narrowly-written patchwork of court rulings and laws, most of them falling hopelessly behind rapid technological advances. "In the past ten years, the ability of Internet companies to collect and aggregate information has increased dramatically," says Leslie Harris, CDT's president. But while some states have taken action, Congress has not. "We see next year as the first time in a decade that we will have serious debate in Congress on whether we will have comprehensive privacy laws."

Digitized Civil War photo collection online

The Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) has created a digitized collection of approximately 23,000 vintage Civil War photographs from the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States from the Massachusetts Commandery. This collection is considered by historians the single best Civil War photograph collection in the world because of its complexity and completeness. Ken Burns and his staff spent six weeks going through this collection to pull illustrations for his popular PBS series on the Civil War. The collection is browsable and searchable (the link is to the main page of AHEC; click on the MOLLUS collection in the lower right corner of the screen).

GWU has robot helping to digitize books

The Chronicle of Higher Education's Wired Campus blog reports that George Washington University is testing out a robot to help digitize rare books. GW has announced that it will use an automated system to digitize rare Middle Eastern texts from its own library and from that of Georgetown University. Library staffers will digitize hundreds of works over the next two years, and when the project is completed, they will examine the associated costs. They hope to be able to tell other libraries which method of digitization is more affordable. Digitizing just one book can take a human being hours and can involve removing the binding and/or having someone turn the pages. The automated robot at GW uses a black plastic arm to turn pages, pauses as two cameras take pictures of both open pages, and then turns the page again. Air circulates through the arm of the machine, creating a gentle vacuum that can attract a page and guide it from the right side of the book to the left.

Convicted Sex Offenders have Facebook, MySpace accounts disabled in New York State

Slate reports that Facebook and MySpace, two popular social networking sites, have disabled the accounts of about 4500 registered sex offenders in New York State under a new New York law called the Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act (ESTOP). Under e-STOP, convicted sex offenders forced to register with the state must provide home addresses, e-mail addresses, site usernames, and online profiles as well. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wants other networking sites to follow the lead of My-Space and Facebook.

Sprint: 50 million customers, 8 million law enforcement GPS requests in 1 year

Graduate student Chris Soghoian has a sobering post on his "slight paranoia" blog. His summary of the information says "Sprint Nextel provided law enforcement agencies with its customers' (GPS) location information over 8 million times between September 2008 and October 2009. This massive disclosure of sensitive customer information was made possible due to the roll-out by Sprint of a new, special web portal for law enforcement officers. "
Chris is gathering and analyzing this information as part of his doctoral dissertation and welcomes constructive criticism from other "experts in the field".

Write your own eBooks online with Adobe Buzzword

Adobe has a new service called Adobe Buzzword at the new Acrobat.com website (free registration required). The service allows you to write and publish your own ebook in a format that is compatible with most ebook readers (including the Kindle, Nook, and Sony eBook Reader). Adobe Buzzword is an online word processor that you can use to create and edit documents in any web browser. The service supports collaborative editing so multiple authors can work simultaneously on the same document from their respective location.
Buzzword allows you to write an eBook on any browser and then export documents directly as EPUB files, a format that is supported by all popular ebook readers - including apps like Stanza that let you read ebook on a mobile device. You just compose your document inside Buzzword, export it as an ePUB file and then import it in your ebook reader.

LexisNexis Academic adds database

LexisNexis Academic has announced the addition of a new database called "Discover America's Story". The publications in "Discover America's Story" focus on small-town and rural articles. The product is rich with articles relevant to geographic locations often under-reported or overlooked by mainstream news coverage such as natural resources, agriculture, land use, water rights and farming. "Small-town" news, op-ed, business, arts, government and life in general are covered well, plus published legal notices and obituaries are included. To see a list of publications included in the collection, go to LN Academic, click the “Browse Sources” tab and type “Discover America’s Story” in the blue Find a Source box. Click the “I” icon next to the source title for more information. You'll see a long list of smalltown publications including the Beverly Hills Weekly, Mouse River Journal, Turtle Mountain Star and Wahkiakum County Eagle.

Google Scholar Advanced Scholar Search Now Includes Free Case Law Database

The blawgosphere has been abuzz the past week about a new feature in Google Scholar: you can now use Google Scholar Advanced Scholar Search (still in beta) to find case law as well as patents and articles in legal journals! (Search options include Search all legal opinions and journals; Search only US federal court opinions; Search only court opinions from individual states).
According to Justia, the Google Scholar database includes US Federal Appellate, District Court, Bankruptcy & Tax Opinions since 1924, US 50 State Cases since 1950. Google Scholar also gives alternatives versions of cases from legal websites including Cornell's LII, Justia, and Carl Malamud's Public.Resource.org.
The Case Western law library blog has done some testing and has a useful post that reports in more depth about how to use this feature and what content you can find.
Google explains the reasons for the new addition on the Official Google Blog: "Laws that you don't know about, you can't follow — or make effective arguments to change. Starting today, we're enabling people everywhere to find and read full text legal opinions from U.S. federal and state district, appellate and supreme courts... We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of several pioneers, who have worked on making it possible for an average citizen to educate herself about the laws of the land: Tom Bruce (Cornell LII), Jerry Dupont (LLMC), Graham Greenleaf and Andrew Mowbray (AustLII), Carl Malamud (Public.Resource.Org), Daniel Poulin (LexUM), Tim Stanley (Justia), Joe Ury (BAILII), Tim Wu (AltLaw) and many others. It is an honor to follow in their footsteps. We would also like to acknowledge the judges who have built this cathedral of justice brick by brick and have tried to make it accessible to the rest of us. We hope Google Scholar will help all of us stand on the shoulders of these giants."

Pitt's University Center for Social & Urban Research resources

Last week the University Library System hosted a workshop session on the publications, research, and services provided by University Center for Social & Urban Research (UCSUR). UCSUR serves as a resource for researchers and educators interested in the basic and applied social and behavioral sciences, and as a hub for inter-disciplinary research and collaboration, it promotes a research agenda focused on the social, economic, and health issues most relevant to our society.
In addition to the programs described on their website, they host the Pittsburgh Neighborhood Community Information System (PNCIS) project, which is a large collection of data describing property and neighborhood conditions in the Pittsburgh area. This data is freely available to all non-profit, government, or University-affiliated users, at the PNCIS website. A basic layer of data is readily available just by accessing as a guest (click on that tab), but to access the property level of detail, you need to register by attending a brief (1 hour) training session (more will be scheduled after the holidays).

hat tip: Sallie Smith

Two new databases from ULS

The University Library System has added two new databases to its Databases A-Z list:
1. GreenFILE from EBSCO is a research database focusing on the relationship between human beings and the environment. Comprised of scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports, GreenFILE offers perspective on the positive and negative ways humans affect the ecology. GreenFILE draws on the connections between the environment and a variety of disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology. Topics covered include global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. The database provides indexing and abstracts for ~ 384,000 records and full text for more than 4,700 records.
2. Rand Reports is a full text archive of over 17,000 Rand Corporation titles dating back to 1948. The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis. Their research areas are wide-ranging and include Child Policy, Civil Justice, Population & Aging, Terrorism and Security, Transportation & Infrastructure, International Affairs, Education, Health & Health Care, Environment, Substance Abuse, and the Arts. Recent reports include Going Jihad: The Fort Hood Slayings and Home-Grown Terrorism: testimony presented before the Senate Homeland Security & Govt. Affairs committee, Nov. 19, 2009.

From Harvard: Report from Task Force on University Libraries

Now available online, Harvard University's Report from the Task Force on University Libraries suggests sweeping changes. From the report: "At a time of rapid change and severe financial stress, the Task Force on University Libraries was
charged to make clear recommendations to the President and Deans to adapt the Harvard
Library system to the 21st century and to make a stronger and more efficient library system.
Given the long history and labyrinthine complexity of the library system, the pressing need to
move forward effectively in the face of technological change and financial challenge, and the
universal desire to avoid unintended harm to the existing strengths of the library, the Task Force
recommends that the University and its libraries undertake a significant and focused initial effort
in five principal areas. "

New resource: Regulation Room (beta)

A new resource from those excellent folks at Cornell law, Regulation Room is "a public participation research site" for "people talking to people talking to government". It has the laudable ambition of making federal agency rulemaking more transparent and participatory. It also educates users about the federal rulemaking process and how any interested citizen can participate effectively. As a first step in the beta test of Regulation Room, users are encouraged to learn about, react to, and discuss a proposed National Highway Transportation Safety Administration rule: Tire Efficiency Consumer Information Program. Please note that the comment period for this proposed rulemaking closed in late August; Reg.Room is using materials from this rule for testing purposes only. Users can read and respond to daily posts on the tire rule and comment on particular aspects of the rule. Next Nov. 23, the research team will post a summary of the discussion. Users will then be able to comment on that summary and suggest changes to it.

Lawberry Camp Midwinter

Excellent news announcement from the AALL Computer Services SIS via Sarah Glassmeyer and Jason Eiseman!: Save the Date

When: January 16, 2010 9am - 5 pm (Casual dinner outing Friday evening)

Where: Harvard Law School Library

Why: Why wait until July to meet, learn and laugh with other law librarians and legal information professionals?

Lawberry Camp Midwinter will be a full day of activities...including lightning talks, open round table discussions and ending with the exciting and fun Battledecks Powerpoint Karaoke competition.

Have you tried an interesting project in your library and want to give a 5 minute talk about it? Is there some pressing issue that you'd like to hash out and discuss? Public services, technical services, private, court or academic...whatever your job title is and no matter where you work, if you are interested in law libraries or legal information, you should come to Lawberry Camp!

Registration is not open yet! We'll announce that closer to the date. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the organizers, Jason Eiseman or Sarah Glassmeyer. We hope to see you in Boston!

Sincerely,

Jason Eiseman and Sarah Glassmeyer

p.s. Sharp eyed individuals may note that this is the same weekend as ALA Midwinter, also happening in Boston. This is not entirely a coincidence! So come to Boston! Make a weekend of it! ALA exhibit passes are available for only $25…double your professional development fun!

PACER survey

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts announced on November 2 that it is looking for feedback on PACER through an online survey to assess user satisfaction and generate suggestions for future improvements to the system. The survey is part of the Administrative Office's year-long, comprehensive assessment of PACER. According to the announcement, the survey will be open for approximately 30 days.
It's important for the Courts to hear from law faculty, law librarians, and law students. Please take a moment to participate in the survey, and share this info with your chapters and colleagues. Note that you must have a PACER account to take the survey.

Helpful info for law journals

Lee Ryan at the University of San Francisco School of Law has put together a great resource for students who are cite checking for law reviews. Called the Source Collection for Law Reviews & Journals at USF , it provides information on where to find reliable digital versions of documents that are frequently cited in law reviews and journals. Many of the sources are subscription databases, but fortunately we have most of those subscriptions.

hat tip: Elmer Masters

CRS Report: Congressional Printing: Background and Issues for Congress

The Congressional Research Service has published a report (37 page pdf) entitled Congressional Printing: Background and Issues for Congress. It is a must-read for gov docs librarians (and law librarians who deal with Congressional documents). The report gives an overview of the GPO and the statutory requirements it must fulfill, as well as the actual practices of the GPO and statistics of what it publishes and how much it spends.
Some tidbits from the Summary:
"In current practice, more than half of all government documents originate in digital form, and are distributed electronically. As a consequence of electronic production and dissemination, some congressional materials are now more readily available to wider congressional, governmental, and public audiences than when they were only produced and distributed in paper form."
and " (T)he transition to electronic distribution of materials may raise questions about the capacity of current law and congressional practices to effectively oversee GPO’s management and distribution responsibilities regarding congressional information."
Finally, the report lists "Potential Options for Congress", should Congress believe that action on government printing practices might be necessary or desirable, (p. 16) which include:
1. Maintain the status quo.
2. Conduct Studies related to congressional printing policieson such topics as how users access congressional documents; whether current distribution practices for GPO-printed and electronic documents
are effective or efficient; the costs of creating paper and electronic documents, including retention of
archival documents, and disposal of obsolete materials; the extent to which current congressional printing and document distribution practices support Congress in its work; and what potential changes to congressional rules and practices might be necessary if Congress were to transition to “paperless” operations.
3. Consider legislation to amend current printing authorizations, found in 44 U.S.C. 906 and 44 U.S.C. 701 , to reflect current printing practices.

United States Supreme Court’s Recorder of Decisions to visit Pitt Law

Who edits and compiles the official US Supreme Court case decisions? And what is it like to deal with the dynamic and powerful personalities of the Supreme Court justices? And, by the way, do the justices write their own opinions or do they farm that work out to the clerks? Wouldn’t you love to know what goes on behind the scenes in the making of the U.S. Reports?
Here’s your chance….
On Thursday November 19, 2009 from Noon-1:00 Mr. Frank Wagner, the United States Supreme Court’s Recorder of Decisions will speak at University of Pittsburgh School of Law in Room G-12. Please join us for this exciting and illuminating presentation. For more information, contact Marc Silverman. Please note that this program is being sponsored by Jurist- Legal News and Research .
hat tip: Linda Tashbook

Veterans' Day

Today, Nov. 11, is Veterans' Day in the US. The date commemorates the signing of the Armistice that ended WWI, when Germany signed the Armistice on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 11, 1919. The United States Congress passed a concurrent resolution seven years later on June 4, 1926, requesting the President issue another proclamation to observe November 11 with appropriate ceremonies. An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday; "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."
Other US legal documents from 20th Century wars:
April 2, 1917 President Woodrow Wilson's Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Germany (1917)
April 6, 1917 40 Stat. 1 Public Resolution 65-1 Joint Resolution: Declaring that a state of war exists between the Imperial German Government and the Government and the people of the United States and making provision to prosecute the same.
Dec. 8, 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Japan
Dec. 8, 1941 55 Stat. 795 Public Law 77-328 Joint Resolution: Declaring that a state of war exists between the Imperial Government of Japan and the Government and the people of the United States and making provisions to prosecute the same.
Aug. 7, 1964, 78 Stat. 384 Public Law 88-408 The Tonkin Gulf Resolution This joint resolution of Congress (H.J. RES 1145) authorized "all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the UniteStates" and all steps necessary for the defense of U.S. allies in Southeast Asia. This gave President Lyndon Johnson authority to increase U.S. involvement in the war between North and South Vietnam.

CALI webinar: law profs using CALI lessons

This Friday, Nov. 13, at 3pm Eastern time, CALI will host a free webinar for law school faculty about using CALI lessons in your course, including how you can integrate CALI lessons with TWEN. The presenters will be Prof. Debra Cohen, Visiting Associate Professor & Interim Director of Academic Support at the University of Baltimore School of Law; and Prof. Sally Wise, Director of the Law Library and Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law Register for the webinar on the CALI website.

Don't be Evil for the holidays...

Two items of Google (our motto: Don't be evil") holiday news. First, CNET reports that Google is subsidizing free wifi in 47 airports from now until January 15 - and indefinitely in the airports of Burbank CA and Seattle WA. A full list of the airports is at Google's free holiday Wi-Fi site.
Second, Computer World has a report that Google has unveiled - also in time for the holidays - a new search engine service called Google Commerce Search, designed specifically for e-commerce sites.

Penn State's Second Life requirement

Hard to believe, but the Chronicle of HIgher Ed. reports that academic advisors at Penn State are required to be available at the Penn State World Campus Island in Second Life. The site provides the avatar names for advisors, though I don't see any real-life photos..

Luzerne County court asks lawyers to hear cases

The ABA Journal reports that the court in Luzerne County PA, where two judges were forced to resign due to federal corruption charges in the "kids for cash" scandal, is asking for seasoned lawyers to volunteer as special trial masters. According to the Luzerne County Times Leader the county court is facing a serious backlog in the trial calendar with 24 pending homicide cases (seven of which are death penalty cases) and 356 civil cases. Luzerne County President Judge Chester Muroski has asked experienced lawyers to lend a hand by serving as judges in some civil cases.

New ULS database: Brill's Encyclopedia of China

ULS has added Brill's encyclopedia of China to its database content. According to the description, Brill's contains "sound, in-depth information on China from its early beginnings up to today, with a clear focus on the modern period from the mid-nineteenth century to the 21st century. The encyclopedia is the result of an international academic effort, and covers the history, geography, society, economy, politics, science, and culture of China." It includes articles on the history of the legal system in China , Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, and much more.

Google Books adds magazine browsing

Google Books is in the process of scanning new and old magazines for the Google Books database. They have added a webpage for browsing and searching magazines; at the top you will find a search field that lets you limit your search to the content of magazines. You can also browse the editions of a given magazine - for example, you can browse every edition of Life magazine from 1935 to 1972. The magazines are all at least one year old, the number of magazines included is limited and they are all American.

Supreme Court Database

The Supreme Court Database created by Prof. Harold Spaeth (Michigan State College of Law) has been around for a long time, but it was just this week updated with new technology to make it much more user-friendly. The database has 247 pieces of information for each case, roughly broken down into six categories: (1) identification variables (e.g., citations and docket numbers); (2) background variables (e.g., how the Court took jurisdiction, origin and source of the case, the reason the Court agreed to decide it); (3) chronological variables (e.g., the date of decision, term of Court, natural court); (4) substantive variables (e.g., legal provisions, issues, direction of decision); (5) outcome variables (e.g., disposition of the case, winning party, formal alteration of precedent, declaration of unconstitutionality); and (6) voting and opinion variables (e.g., how the individual justices voted, their opinions and interagreements). The interface has been modernized to make it easy to access all variables (with descriptive names) and quickly select a case or set of cases.

Friday fun: Making it fun to take the stairs

Maybe next time an elevator breaks we should do this...

GPO's annotated Constitution

Senator Russell Feingold, chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has sent a letter requesting that the Government Printing Office post the Constitution Annotated online in xml format. He points out that the Constitution Annotated has been continuously published by the Congressional Research Service for almost 100 years and contains analysis of nearly 8,000 Supreme Court cases. Currently the Constitution Annotated is only available in pdf format and is cumbersome to browse. Sen. Feingold points out in his letter that it would be much more navigable if it were available in xml format - and since CRS provides the publication to the GPO in xml format it shouldn't be difficult for GPO to comply with his request.

leaks of Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations are taking place in Seoul, Korea with representatives from the United States, European Union, Canada, Mexico, Korea and a few other countries. The US government has been disappointingly secretive about the agreement, claiming national security interests. Prof. Michael Geist of the University of Ottawa Law School has been writing about the negotiations on his blog (Prof. Geist is a specialist on internet law and compiles BNA's Internet Law News). Despite the secrecy of the talks, he has been getting leaked information that he summarizes on his blog. BoingBoing blogged about the leaks succinctly in a post entitled "Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad. " If you are interested in internet law, it is well worth taking the time to follow Prof. Geists reporting and discussion.

Password complexity

Has the Westlaw "Strong OnePass Initiative" got you down? Do you worry that your aging brain will never be able to remember all the passwords and updates? Do you fear that some day you will be unable to use Purdon's because you just can't remember how to get into Westlaw?
Well cheer up, some people have it worse. Here's a (tongue-in-cheek) McSweeney's post containing a letter from Corporate Security on Secure Passwords. A quote from the letter:
"Here's a sample password that meets the new requirements: J8JΒΝzγΨfΛδ@6%vΤfShr57w/
(This password is for example purposes only and cannot serve as your personal password.)"

Carl Malamud on Law Librarian radio

This Friday, November 6, at 3:00 PM Eastern Time,The Law Librarian on BlogTalkRadio will welcome Carl Malamud, founder of EDGAR, FedFlix, and Public Resource dot org to discuss his newest project,Law.Gov. Host Richard Leiter of the University of Nebraska law school, co-host Marcia Dority-Baker, Margi Maes, (Executive Director of LIPA) and Roger Skalbeck, Associate Librarian of Electronic Resources, will delve into the subject of Open Access to Law, and explore the nuances of the "nation's operating system." You can call in and/or join the chat room to participate. (Follow the link above for phone numbers and log in information.) The transcript of the chat room will be posted online after the show.

CRS report on ADA implications for Flu

In a recent report , the Congressional Research Service said that individuals now infected with the H1N1 virus “would most likely not be considered” individuals with a disability under the ADA but warned that situation might change if “the virus were to mutate to cause more severe illness.” The report outlined possible applications of the ADA for employers and individuals who might become infected with the H1N1 virus, aka “swine flu.”

Library of Congress rebuffs calls to retract Honduras report

The Resource Shelf reports that the Law Library of Congress is refusing calls from Sen. John Kerry, Chair of the Senate foreign relations committees and Rep. Howard Bermanthe, Chair of the House foreign relations committee, to retract a report on the military-backed coup in Honduras that the lawmakers say is flawed. A spokesperson for the Law Library of Congress said that the research agency stands by the report and that Librarian of Congress James Billington is preparing a response to the lawmakers who, according to Resource Shelf, don’t like what the August report said: that the government of Honduras had the authority to remove deposed President Manuel Zelaya from office.

Somerset County Jail to allow Westlaw for prisoners

The Somerset (PA) Daily American reports today that Somerset County Jail inmates will be able to research cases online with Westlaw after Jan 1. Currently, when inmates do their legal research they have to ask jail staff to go to the county law library to look up and print cases that they want. The jail’s subscription will be restricted to Westlaw so inmates can’t navigate away from that site to see other online sites. They will only be able to see Pennsylvania and Supreme Court cases, not others.