Students are texting in class!

We already know that students are texting in class. Inside Higher Ed reports on a recent study done by a researcher at the University of Nebraska that looks at just how much they are texting.  The results show that Undergraduates reporting using their devices for non-class purposes 11 times a day, on average, compared to 4 times a day for graduate students. Asked why they were using their devices in class, the top answer was texting (86 percent), followed by checking the time (79 percent). e-mail (68 percent), social networking (66 percent), web surfing (38 percent) and games (8 percent).

Decline of Microsoft Windows

Speaking of decline, a post on the Wall Street Journal's new Digits blog projects the continuing decline of Microsoft and its Windows operating system. This is mainly due to the growth of mobile devices that use non-Windows operating systems: Android, iOS/MacOS  and "Other". According to the post, Windows' marketshare will shrink from over 50% in 2010 to a projected 20% in 2017.  

Is Wikipedia in decline?

There's an interesting article in MIT Technology Review titled "The Decline of Wikipedia".  The author takes a close look at how Wikipedia operates and notes that the volunteer workforce that built and maintains the English-lanaguage Wikipedia site is growing smaller.  Why? The author notes that "The main source of those problems is not mysterious. The loose collective running the site today, estimated to be 90 percent male, operates a crushing bureaucracy with an often abrasive atmosphere that deters newcomers who might increase participation in Wikipedia and broaden its coverage."  He cites a detailed study of Wikipedia by  University of Minnesota, Berkeley & Washington grad students that details various problems with useful graphs and charts. 

New on HeinOnline: citations in articles linked to caselaw

HeinOnline recently announced that case law is now integrated into all HeinOnline content via links to either HeinOnline or Fastcase. What does this mean? If you are reading a law review article in HeinOnline and the author cites a case, the citation will be highlighted in blue, and if you click the citation a new window will open so you can read the case. The case document will be presented in the familiar HeinOnline format so the document delivery is seamless. The federal case coverage includes the judicial opinions of the Supreme Court (1754-present), Federal Circuits (1924-present), Board of Tax Appeals (vols. 1-47), Tax Court Memorandum Decisions (vols. 1-59), U.S. Customs Court (vols. 1-70), Board of Immigration Appeals (1996-present), Federal District Courts (1924- present), and Federal Bankruptcy Courts (1 B.R. 1-present). The state case law covers all fifty states, with nearly half of the states dating back to the 1800s. Coverage for the remaining states dates back to approximately 1950.

Survey: Bluebook

We are currently using the 19th edition of the Bluebook, which means that the 20th is right around the corner. Here's a chance to share your opinions about the BB with the people who are revising it: the editors of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation are about to begin making revisions for the forthcoming Twentieth Edition, and are seeking the help of people who use it. They rely on user input to guide revisions to The Bluebook, and they have composed a survey to get your help so that they can target the revisions to best serve user needs. Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey at www.legalbluebook.com/survey. Surveys must be received by November 8, 2013, in order to be considered for the Twentieth Edition. Comments and suggestions are also welcome through e-mail to editor@legalbluebook.com.

Law Review reform suggested by new study

A hot-off-the-presses new article from the Loyola Law Review (59 Loy. L. Rev. 1) discusses a study that was done by surveying law faculty, law review editors, lawyers and judges about law reviews. The article is titled Do law reviews need reform? A survey of law professors, student editors, attorneys, and judges.
From the article:

"We surveyed law professors, student editors, attorneys, and judges to determine what they think about the current system of law reviews, the need for reforms, and what reforms should be implemented. We received an excellent response to the survey. A total of 1,325 law professors, 338 student editors, 215 attorneys, and 156 judges participated.... Although the present study was exploratory, has limitations, and does not definitively resolve the debate about law reviews; it nonetheless offers support for several important conclusions about them. Law reviews are likely not meeting the needs of attorneys and judges; and law professors believe that they have a capricious, negative effect on their careers. The vast majority of legal professionals and student editors believe that law reviews should be reformed and that the reforms should include blind, peer reviews and more student training. There needs to be more empirical studies about law reviews because authors' opinions about them may not reflect the views of the legal community and many of their assumptions about law reviews may lack empirical support."

Digitizing Einstein

There's news of a cool new digitization project: Princeton University Press is partnering with online publishing platform Tizra to make Albert Einstein's papers available online. The Collected Papers, will contain searchable text, in German and in English translation, for the thousands of pages of Einstein’s work throughout his lifetime. The papers include lectures, research notebooks, interviews, and letters. Nearly 14,000 of Einstein's papers will provide a complete picture of a massive written legacy that ranges from his first work on the special and general theories of relativity and the origins of quantum theory, to expressions of his profound concern with civil liberties, education, Zionism, pacifism, and disarmament.

New Databases from the University Library System

We now have access to Uniworld, the online version of two important business directories: "American Firms Operating in Foreign Countries" and "Foreign Firms Operating in the United States." Uniworld Online provides quick access to high quality contact information for businesses in over 200 countries and 20,000 industries.
Thanks to the Health Sciences Library System, we have online access to DSM-5, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. A well-known and heavily used resource, the DSM is a classification of mental disorders with associated criteria designed to facilitate more reliable diagnoses of these disorders.

American Lawyer Media subscription at Barco

The Barco Law Library now has a subscription  to 14 American Lawyer Media (ALM) publications.  These are available via IP range, meaning you can access them at any computer and via the wireless network in the Barco Law Building and the Sennott Square clinic offices. There are links on the Barco Law library databases page.  The list of publications:
1. The National Law Journal provides news and analysis for a national audience of legal professionals, and corporate and government decision makers, from Supreme Court rulings to complex litigation.
 2. The American Lawyer   is the leading daily news source covering legal business, law firms, and lawyers across the U.S. and around the world.
 3. The Legal Intelligencer  As the oldest law journal in the U.S., The Legal Intelligencer takes advantage of 170 years as the expert source of legal information for professionals in Philadelphia, its suburbs and the state of Pennsylvania.
 4. The New York Law Journal (NYLJ) is the largest selling legal daily in the country with the latest news on prosecutors, judges, legislators and law firms, along with in-depth analysis.
 5. The New Jersey Law Journal  has daily news for New Jersey’s practicing attorneys in the nation’s ninth-largest legal market.
 6. The Recorder  is a leading provider of essential California legal news and information, indispensable to the daily practice of California's legal decision-makers.
 7. The Delaware Business Court Insider , a weekly electronic newsletter distributed every Wednesday, will provide the latest news, analysis, case summaries and reporting on developments in Delaware corporate law.
 8. Corporate Counsel has information for the in-house community.
 9. Litigation  is a special report for coverage and analysis of the biggest cases, profiles of successful litigation firms and a review of the year’s highlights and trends. Print is twice a year. Online is daily.
 10. Connecticut Law Tribune is Connecticut’s only weekly newspaper devoted to covering the legal community, giving you the latest developments in Connecticut’s courts, law firms and legislature.
 11. The Daily Report  is the primary source for news about the courts and the business and profession of law for lawyers in metro Atlanta and the state of Georgia.
 12. The Daily Business Review Insider  is designated the official court newspaper by the chief judges of the state judicial circuits in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties and by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
 13. Texas Lawyer  has news for members of the Texas Bar, one of the biggest and most influential bars in the country,
14. Supreme Court Brief features exclusive high court news and analysis from the National Law Journal.