Ireland Law Reform Commission Report on Missing Persons

The Law Reform Commission of Ireland has released its Report on Civil Law Aspects of Missing Persons.

From the press release:

"(...) the Law Reform Commission concludes that there is a need to have a statutory framework to deal with some immediate practical problems for family members (often referred to as those left behind). In particular, there is a need to allow access to a missing person’s bank account (especially where the bank account is in his or her sole name) so that bills can be paid. The Commission therefore recommends that legislation should be enacted to allow the family left behind to apply to the Circuit Court after a person has been missing for 90 days to allow interim management of the missing person’s property. This would allow the family to pay bills or, for example, to renew insurance on a car or motorbike. This process could be in place for up to 2 years (with a possible extension of 2 more years). "

"Presumption of Death Orders
The current law is primarily based on a long-established rule that there is a presumption that a missing person is alive for up to 7 years, and that a presumption of death applies after 7 years. These are rebuttable presumptions, which means that a person can be presumed dead where they have been missing for less than 7 years, and an absence of 7 years does not always lead to a declaration of presumed death. The current law is limited in that family members may apply to the High Court to have the estate of the missing persons administered, but this does not allow them to obtain a death certificate (...) The Commission’s Report recommends reform of the law on presumed death, in particular to ensure that families can deal as far as possible in the least expensive way with the emotional trauma of their loved one going missing. This would include clarifying the existing law on inquests to allow families of missing persons to apply for a coroner’s inquest and to have a declaration of presumed death; this would apply to cases where death is virtually certain. In cases where death is highly probable the Commission recommends that an application to the Circuit Court would be needed to provide not only for the administration of the missing person’s estate but also to make a presumption of death order, allowing the family of the missing person to obtain a death certificate. This would have the same legal effect as any other death certificate."

Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection for the period of January 16-31, 2013 is now available on the Court website.

The web page explains: "The Supreme Court of Canada Library does not lend materials from this list, which is provided for information only."

But, once the material goes into the general collection, after about a month, the works do become available for inter-library loan to authorized libraries.

It is possible to subscribe via e-mail to receive the list.

Association of Parliamentary Libraries in Canada Launches Government/Legislative Documents Portal

The Association of Parliamentary Libraries in Canada (APLIC) has launched the bilingual Government and Legislative Libraries Online Publications Portal.

It provides access to over 340,000 electronic provincial, territorial and federal government publications and legislative materials dating back in some cases to the mid-1990s.

Users can search by keyword, title, author, and then link to the electronic copies of the materials hosted by the collecting library. Results can be cross‐jurisdictional or limited by jurisdiction or date.

APLIC provides a table describing the types of material as well as the coverage period for each jurisdiction.

Brief Library of Parliament Publication on Reforming the Indian Act

The Library of Parliament has published what it calls one of its HillNotes on Reforming the Indian Act:

"While comprehensive reform or repeal of the Act has been elusive, the past two decades have seen significant legislative initiatives aimed at removing specific communities from the application of at least some Indian Act provisions (...) "

"In addition to these sectoral governance initiatives, comprehensive and self-government agreements have steadily diminished the influence of the Indian Act over the internal affairs of signatory Aboriginal communities. Under these agreements, many – if not most – of the Act’s provisions have ceased to apply, replaced by a negotiated, modern governance framework."

It is a very brief overview. The various links in the text as well as in the "Related Resources" section are the most interesting aspect of the text.

Input Sought on Library and Archives Canada Inter-Library Loan Policy and National Union Catalogue

The Canadian Library Association (CLA) is seeking input on two issues:

• Interlibrary Loan (ILL) User Roundtable: "CLA has been participating in Library and Archives Canada (LAC) Interlibrary Loan (ILL) User's Roundtable, along with representatives from a number of other institutions and associations ... Recent discussions have resulted in the creation of the three documents below. CLA members and the broader library community are invited to respond to these documents."
• Pan-Canadian Documentary Heritage NetworkUser Round Table on the National Union Catalogue: "Since September, 2012, CLA has been participating in a User Round Table on the National Union Catalogue (NUC) convened by Library and Archives Canada (LAC).  Along with other national library associations, CLA has been providing input on the future of the NUC. Library and Archives Canada believes the database that supports the NUC is not sustainable and it falls short of what is needed to serve Canadians and Canadian libraries today. Because members of our association are important collective data contributors to this resource, Library and Archives Canada is asking the CLA community how to best maintain and improve this service in order to meet the challenges of the digital age."

Earlier Library Boy posts about LAC include: 

• Canadian Library Association Dismayed by Federal Budget Impact (May 2, 2012): "The Canadian Library Association (CLA) today released a statement criticizing the 2012 federal budget which it believes will hit federal libraries and Libraries and Archives Canada very hard."
• Canadian Association of Law Libraries 2012 Conference Resolutions (May 10, 2012): "A number of resolutions were adopted yesterday at the Annual General Meeting ... of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries in Toronto (...) members also voted to support the Save Libraries and Archives Canada campaign ..."
• September 2012 Campaign Update of Save Library and Archives Canada (September 27, 2012): "The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) launched a campaign this year called Save Library and Archives Canada (LAC) because of its fear that recent federal budget cuts would hamper the institution's many collections and activities. The campaign has just published a September 2012 Campaign Update (...)" 
• Library and Archives Canada Terminates Inter-Library Loan Service (October 31, 2012): "The CLA Govt Library & Professionals Network, part of the Canadian Library Association, has published an announcement from Library and Archives Canada (LAC) that the institution is putting an end to its inter-library loan service in the next few weeks. The LAC's service has been an indispensable tool nationwide for researchers and libraries. "
• CLA Member Advocacy Survey: The Impact of Federal Budget Cuts on Canada’s Libraries (December 15, 2012): "The Canadian Library Association (CLA) has released the results of its survey on the impact of federal budget cuts (...) More than 400 individuals provided detailed responses to the survey questions. They overwhelmingly agreed that the cuts will impact both local and national library services, with 98% of respondents indicating concern. Areas most likely to be affected were identified, and include: access to material/information, research, interlibrary loans, Community Access Program, preservation, staffing cuts, digital issues."

Public Legal Education Webinars

Last week, University of Victoria law librarian Kim Nayyer, published a post at Slaw.ca on the public legal education seminars organized by PLEI Connect:

"PLEI Connect is a multi-jurisdiction, team initiative of CLEO [Community Legal Education Ontario], Éducaloi, PovNet, and Courthouse Libraries BC. It originated only a couple of years ago at the Just a Click Away conference."

Earlier posts on public legal education include:

• Public Legal Education Webinars Just A Click Away (January 27, 2011): "Just A Click Away, a Canada-wide initiative on public legal education and information (PLEI) being coordinated by Courthouse Libraries BC, is organizing a two-day intensive conference in Vancouver, British Columbia on February 23 & 24, 2011 (...) As a run up to the conference, Just A Click Away has been running a webinar series that features different approaches being used to provide online PLEI." 
• Phase 2 of Just A Click Away Public Legal Education Project (October 13, 2011): "This next phase features four elements: An online community of practice ... A series of webinar broadcasts ... A series of hand-on web labs ...Documentation of best practices ..."
• Community Legal Education Ontario Launches Podcast Series (June 13, 2012): "Legal research news from an Ottawa law librarian Wednesday, June 13, 2012 Community Legal Education Ontario Launches Podcast Series The Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) has launched a series of podcasts that people can subscribe to for free via iTunes."
• Quebec Bar Association TV Series 3rd Season Begins in September (August 19, 2012): "The third season of the television series Le Droit de Savoir (The right to know) will begin on Quebec cable TV on September 18th on the Canal savoir channel in Quebec, and then on the Télé-Québec public educational network in the summer of 2013. The series is a production of the Quebec Bar Association."
• Quebec Bar Association Teams Up With Montreal Radio Station for Weekly Debate Show (November 5, 2012): "The Quebec Bar Association has teamed up with Montreal radio station CIBL 101,5 and the Juripop legal clinic to organize a weekly radio debate program called Droit de Cité. Every week, 2 teams of university debaters face off on a controversial public topic. Members of the public get to vote online to determine which team wins. All shows are archived on the Droit de Cité website."

European Court of Human Rights 2012 Annual Report

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) based in Strasbourg has released its annual report for 2012. There are also some interesting statistical tables that come with the document.

Among the highlights:

• The  table  of  violations  by  country  showed  that  the State with  the  highest
  number of judgments finding at least one violation of the Convention delivered against it had  been  Russia  (122  judgments),  followed  by  Turkey  (117),  Romania  (70),  Ukraine (69), Bulgaria (58), Poland (56) and Greece (52). The total number of judgments was 1,093
• One of the major innovations was the replacement of the HUDOC database, which had been in service for over a decade, with a new, completely redesigned system
• The Court has published over 40 Factsheets containing snapshots of the most interesting decided and pending cases by theme, including children’s
  rights, data protection, the environment, forced labour and trafficking,
  gender identity, mental health, new technologies, protection of
  journalistic sources, Roma and Travellers, and violence against women

The ECHR hears complaints from individuals living in any of the member states of the Council of Europe about violations of the European Convention of Human Rights. The Council of Europe is one of the continent's oldest political organizations, founded in 1949. It has 47 member countries.

Dalhousie’s School of Information Management Launches CALL's First Student Group

Dalhousie University’s School of Information Management in Halifax, Nova Scotia has launched the first Student Member Special Interest Group of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL):

"Dalhousie will be one of potentially many Canadian Universities to have a satellite student-run group for the Canadian Association of Law Libraries Student Member SIG. These individual groups will have a flexible membership policy so that students will not necessarily have to already be members of CALL in order to take part in group events."

"The creation of a Student Member SIG will increase student involvement within the Canadian Association of Law Libraries as well as inform future MLIS graduates about the many career opportunities in legal information management. This SIG will also attract established Law Librarians who are interested in promoting the law librarian profession to students."

UK Supreme Court Launches YouTube Channel

This week, the UK Supreme Court launched a YouTube channel that highlights short summaries of judgments.

According to a press release published by the Court:

"Video of the five-minute summary given by the lead Justice in each appeal as they deliver their judgment will now be posted on the popular video-sharing website YouTube shortly after delivery in court. The move follows the success of the Court’s live web streaming of proceedings provided in partnership with Sky News (...)"

"The Justices’ summaries aim to explain briefly the background to the appeal in hand, the decision the court has reached, and the reasons for that decision. They will now be available online for law students, professionals and anyone interested in the outcome of an appeal to watch at their convenience."

More from the British press:

• The supreme court's YouTube channel is a welcome step for open justice (The Guardian, January 21, 2013)
• Video footage from the UK's most powerful court to be posted on YouTube shortly after rulings (Daily Mail, January 21, 2013)
• YouTube Channel for Court Judgments (Daily Express, January 21, 2013)
• Thumbs up if you like it: court rulings go on YouTube (The Times, January 21, 2013)

Earlier Library Boy posts on YouTube and legal information include:

• YouTube as a Legal Information Tool (January 14, 2007): "The Parisian daily Le Monde reported last week that lawyers representing an individual being detained by U.S. authorities at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp have produced a video posted on YouTube."
• Fighting Crime With YouTube (February 26, 2008): "Last week, the British Broadcasting Corporation published a story about how police officials in the UK have been monitoring the video sharing site YouTube for evidence of crimes. The story, entitled Judge YouTube, describes a number of incidents where videos posted to the site have led to arrests. In many cases, perpetrators of illegal acts filmed themselves and then posted material to the Internet, perhaps as a way of showing off."
• UK Law Reports Get Their Own YouTube Channel (October 28, 2009): "Videos include interviews with the Law Report editors, a history of the ICLR, a video on the process of how a case goes from trial to official report, and a brief introduction to case law research using both online databases and hard copy reference works."
• US Federal Judiciary Gets Its Own YouTube Channel (May 19, 2010): "The U.S. Federal Judiciary launched a radical redesign of its website recently. As part of the redesign, it even created its own YouTube channel."

Report on the Evolution of Human Rights in Canada

The most recent issue of the Weekly Checklist of Canadian Government Publications features a report by the Canadian Human Rights Commission on The evolution of human rights in Canada:

"How have Canadians’ ideas of human rights evolved over time? Change begins when someone believes that they are being treated unfairly, and then decides to take action. The following report traces the emergence of human rights as the primary language for social change in Canada. It documents the rights revolution in Canada, and how it transformed social movements, politics, law, and foreign policy. Canadians began to engage with the principles of human rights long before the 1970s, but it was only in this period when human rights became pervasive and systemic. Canadians established one of the most sophisticated human rights legal regimes in the world; largely abandoned the principle of Parliamentary supremacy; produced a unique human rights movement; and became one of the first countries to advance human rights as a cornerstone of international politics."

"The focus in this report is on social movements, political debates surrounding the constitution, human rights law, and foreign policy as evidence of Canadians’ evolving human rights ideals. Sections two through four document the rights revolution from the 1940s to the 1970s, with a focus on the shift from civil liberties to human rights. The foundation for how Canadians define human rights today was established in the 1970s. Sections five and six address the legacy of the rights revolution, and how Canadians’ ideas of rights have continued to evolve even when the law and politics have remained static. In particular, these sections draw on surveys of the media, opinion polls, and social movements to document emerging rights claims. A central theme in the report is that human rights are always contested, but human rights also contain an inner logic that invariably leads to new rights claims that build upon existing recognized rights."

The Weekly Checklist includes a listing of titles made available by the Parliament of Canada, federal departments, and Statistics Canada to the Depository Services Program for distribution to a network of Depository Libraries in Canada and abroad.

AALL Webinar on SharePoint

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) is hosting a webinar on February 28 at 11AM Central called SharePoint: A Look inside One Law Firm:

"Join representatives from a large law firm library who are responsible for creating solutions in SharePoint to explore a variety of ways you can bring value to your firm/organization.  Find out how to harness this technology for creating custom pages without coding experience.  Panelists will provide examples of how they are directly involved with intranet development, not only in creating research pages, but also in creating team sites to increase efficiency for collection development, competitive intelligence, general project/task management and reporting.  Learn tips from your colleagues and come away with a few ideas for how you can do the same for your organization."

Speakers will be Misti L. Conway and Catherine Monte of the law firm Fox Rothschild LLP.

AALL Members - $30US and Non-AALL Members - $60US

Collection Development: Dealing With the Two 500-Pound Gorillas

In a recent Green Bag article, academic law librarians Julian Aiken, Femi Cadmus and Fred Shapiro discuss the pressures many of us feel when it comes to collection development. They discuss the experiences at their institutions, namely the Cornell and Yale law libraries:

"While  law  libraries are undergoing  transformative changes  in many  different  areas,  the  area  in which  the changes are probably most transformative  is  in collections. The  two 500-pound gorillas in  collection development are tighter  budgets  and  the  transition from print  to digital  formats. These gorillas are not  just both big, they  also work  in  tandem  to  clobber  traditional  collection  ideas. The  challenge  libraries  face  is  to  serve  the  increasingly  ambitious research needs of  faculty and  students  in  the  face of  flat or  some-times  decreasing  budgets  and  rapid  changes in publishing,  information  formats,  and  patrons’ use of research materials (...)"

"One major way of maintaining a stellar and unique collection  is to slash  subscriptions  to print  serials.  Serials  are for the most part very well accepted by patrons in online versions and they are often wickedly  expensive,  particularly  from  English-language  jurisdictions. Serials are  labor-intensive  to boot, requiring checking-in and other  processing  and,  in  the  case  of  looseleafs,  filing.  In  other words,  print  serials  are  perfect  candidates  for  cancellations,  especially  since  in most cases, even when print  titles are cancelled, patrons  still  have  electronic  access  to  the  same  titles.  Libraries  also have to be willing to bite the bullet and rely on interlibrary loan for some categories of expensive, infrequently-used publications."

The article also addresses other trends related to collection development, such as patron-initiated acquisitions, scan-on-demand services, collaborative collections with  other  libraries, digitization of  library materials, institutional repositories, etc.

[Source: Law Librarian Blog]

CBC Interview on Courts and Tweets

In last week's episode of Spark, CBC Radio's show on digital culture, host Nora Young interviewed Patrick Cormier, CEO of the Canadian Centre for Court Technology (CCCT), about social media in the courtroom. The Cormier interview is at the beginning of the show and lasts about 12 minutes.

The discussion covered the wide range of rules and practices in Canada, the different considerations surrounding the use of social media by reporters, court personnel, lawyers and jurors, as well as the CCCT's Draft National Guidelines Regarding the Use of Electronic Communication Devices in Court Proceedings (Twitter, blogging etc.). As one can see in the CCCT's very useful compilation of existing court policies on the issue from across the country, rules are truly all over the map.

South the of the border, there is a bulletin called Connected that covers the impact of new social media such as Twitter and Facebook on court proceedings, the ethical implications of judges and court staff using new media, and court policy issues relating to these technologies.

It is published by the Virginia-based National Center for State Courts and the Conference of Court Public Information Officers.

Most of the stories are about the United States, but there is occasionally material about non-US matters.

Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection for the period of January 1-15, 2013 is now available on the Court website.

The web page explains: "The Supreme Court of Canada Library does not lend materials from this list, which is provided for information only."

But, once the material goes into the general collection, after about a month, the works do become available for inter-library loan to authorized libraries.

It is possible to subscribe via e-mail to receive the list.

AALL 2013 Day in the Life Photo Contest

The 2013 Day in the Life of the Law Library Community Contest lasts until February 28, 2013.

This is an annual photography contest organized by the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). It is open to AALL members only:

"Sponsored by the AALL Public Relations Committee, the contest has been popular since its inception in 2005. And what’s not to love? The submitted photos are always fun to look at. They show what law librarians do: work, teach, organize, research, help, laugh, and all the other things that happen in a day. Your photographs also do something else: they promote our profession and share ideas from varied libraries with everyone in AALL. So get going—get everyone inyour library involved, have some fun,and submit your pictures."

Photos can be submitted in the following categories with one winner chosen from each category and one overall winner honoured:

1. Librarians as Information Evaluators and Managers
2. Librarians as Teachers and Trainers
3. The Artistry of Librarianship
4. Most Humorous
5. Best Altered Image/Use of Special Effects
6. Government Information Librarians or Libraries (special category this year)

Winners will be announced at the 2013 AALL Annual Meeting in Seattle.

What To Do About the Developing Skill-Employment Disconnect in Law Libraries

Sarah Sutherland, from the library at McMillan LLP in Vancouver, published a post on the blog On Firmer Ground about The developing skill-employment disconnect in law libraries and what to do about it:

"Law library staff have been somewhat sheltered from the pressures experienced by those in other library sectors and the wider economy because of conditions particular to legal publishing and research; however, these conditions are starting to change (...)"

"The development of a divide between the skills required for future jobs and the skills of existing staff has implications for both staff who wish to continue to be employable and library managers who wish to develop their libraries. With compromises and willingness on both sides, the best solution is to invest in existing staff in anticipation of developing needs, so that libraries will be able to develop while enjoying the strengths that come with long term staff (...)"

"Part of the solution to this problem is for library managers and organizations to be open to the idea of training staff on the job and being open to providing more funding for professional development. Library staff should also take responsibility to develop this paradigm. Staff members can take the initiative and approach their employers with proposals to develop skills in anticipation of coming needs and changes.  This will enable them to remain relevant and take advantage of some of the benefits of employment that are of most value to them in the form of professional development time and funding."

Connie Crosby has commented on Sutherland's text over at Slaw.ca.

The On Firmer Ground blog is a joint project of the Legal Division of the Special Libraries Association, the Private Law Libraries Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries, the Canadian Association of Law Libraries, and the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians. 

Primary Research Group Survey on Library Digitization Practices

Primary Research Group is organizing a survey of special collection digitization efforts by museums and libraries:

"We invite you to participate in our survey by filling out the survey form in exchange for a free pdf copy of the report when it is published. Your institution will be listed as a contributor but all the information that you provide is absolutely confidential; all data is amalgamated in a statistical package; no data is presented for individual institutions. The report will enable your library or museum to compare its technology, and management practices with those of similar institutions in the USA, Canada, the UK, Europe, Japan, Australia/NZ and the developing world. This survey is open to the libraries and museums of all nations."

Earlier Library Boy posts about Primary Research Group survey reports include:

• Primary Research Group Report on Library Database Licensing Practices (January 15, 2011): "The 115-page report looks closely at how nearly 100 academic, special and public libraries in the United States, the UK, continental Europe, Canada, and Australia plan their database licensing practices. The report also covers the impact of digital repositories and open access publishing on database licensing. Among the many issues covered: database licensing volume, use of consortiums, consortium development plans, satisfaction levels with the coverage of podcasts, video, listservs, blogs and wikis in full text databases, spending levels on various types of content such as electronic journals, article databases and directories perceptions of price increases for various types of subject matter, legal disputes between publishers and libraries, contract language, impact of mobile computing and other issues."
• Law Library Benchmarks 2012-13 (April 23, 2012): "This report closely examines trends for law libraries in materials spending, technology purchases, personnel and space allocation, web use and other issues. The study presents detailed data on spending on journals, books,newspapers and magazines, print reporter, eBooks, online databases and other information vehicles, as well as data on salaries and overall budget, in aggregate, and as a percentage change from prior years.  Data presented on the extent of materials spending accounted for by print resources and plans for both print resource and digital resource spending for the future."

Most Recent Issue of Information Standards Quarterly on Future of Library Systems

The Fall 2012 issue of Information Standards Quarterly, a journal published by the U.S.-based National Information Standards Organization, is devoted to the Future of Library Systems.

The guest editor is library technology expert Marshall Breeding.

Earlier Library Boy posts about Breeding:

• Top Technology Trends 2012 From ALA Midwinter Conference (March 6, 2012)
• Annual Library Automation Perceptions Survey (December 2, 2012) 
• Library Technology Forecast for 2013 (December 11, 2012)

Canadian Association of Law Libraries - Diana M. Priestly Memorial Scholarship

The closing date for applications for the Diana M. Priestley Memorial Scholarship is February 1, 2013.

The Scholarship. which is handed out by the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL):

"is intended to support professional development in the field and is awarded to a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant:

• who has previous law library experience and will be enrolled in an accredited Canadian Library School during the next academic term/year; or
• who has a degree from or is currently enrolled in an accredited Canadian Library School and will be enrolled in an approved Canadian Law School during the next academic term/year; or
• who has a degree from or is currently enrolled in an approved Canadian Law School and will be enrolled in an accredited Canadian Library School during the next academic term/year; or
• who will be concurrently enrolled in an approved Canadian Law School and an accredited Canadian Library School during the next academic term/year. "

"One scholarship will normally be awarded each year in the amount of $2,500.00. It is non-renewable except in exceptional circumstances. The award may be withheld or cancelled for lack of suitable candidates or upon termination of schooling. The money will be disbursed to the successful candidate upon supplying proof of enrollment."

The application form is available on the CALL website.

CanLII Teams Up With Montreal Agency to Translate Major Canadian Cases

CanLII, the Canadian Legal Information Institute, announced earlier this week that it will work with Montreal translation firm BG Communications to ensure that selected Canadian judgments are available in English and French:

"Judgments selected for translation will be identified in consultation with the legal community. Relevant factors include national interest, substantive change in the law and practical application having regard to frequency of referral."

CanLII, whose funding comes from members of Canada’s provincial and territorial law societies, makes Canadian jurisprudence and statutes available for free via the Internet. It already contains over 1 million documents across over 200 collections, including the statutes, regulations and current court rulings of all federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions.

More from Slaw.ca.

Supreme Court of Canada Hearings Calendar for January 2013

The Supreme Court of Canada has published its calendar for January 2013.

To find out more about any particular case, the Court's website has a section that allows users to find docket information, case summaries as well as factums from the parties. All you need to do is click on a case name.

Reminder - Canadian Association of Law Libraries January 16, 2013 Webinar on Foreign and Comparative Law

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) will host a webinar entitled Around the World in 90 Minutes: Adventures in Foreign and Comparative Law on Wednesday January 16, 2013 from, 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. EDT.

The speakers will be Mary Rumsey , Foreign, International & Comparative Law Librarian at the University of Minnesota, and Anna Szot-Sacawa of the Bora Laskin Law Library at the University of Toronto:

"The first part of the webinar will describe the landscape of foreign/international legal information—what areas are easy to travel, what areas are trickier terrain, and what traps lie in wait for the unwary.  Mary will highlight such legal topics as contracts, family law, dispute resolution, and intellectual property"

"In the second part, Anna will deal with international law, including the hot area of EU legal research. The emphasis will be on free sources, Mary and Anna will also point out some key subscription-based and fee-based tools."

Each webinar costs only $45.20 for members and $67.80 for non-members. Recordings of each session will be available to registered participants. There is an online registration form on the CALL website.

Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection for the period of December 16-31, 2012 is now available on the Court website.

The web page explains: "The Supreme Court of Canada Library does not lend materials from this list, which is provided for information only."

But, once the material goes into the general collection, after about a month, the works do become available for inter-library loan to authorized libraries.

It is possible to subscribe via e-mail to receive the list.

CALL for Nominations for Denis Marshall Memorial Award for Excellence in Law Librarianship

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is seeking nominations for the Denis Marshall Memorial Award for Excellence in Law Librarianship:

"This award is an honour bestowed upon a current member of CALL/ACBD who has provided outstanding service to the Association AND/OR enhanced the profession of law librarianship in the recent past. The specific contributions may reflect the qualities engendered by Denis Marshall [CALL President 1985-1987]:

• a continued commitment to excellence in law librarianship;
• a strong service ethic;
• a commitment to continuous learning;
• a significant contribution to the scholarship of the library profession;
• mentoring and encouraging those who seek a profession in law librarianship;
• the pursuit of innovation and/or innovative solutions;
• and/or a contribution to leadership in the law library profession."

The CALL Scholarships and Awards Committee will begin considering applications after January 31, 2013 (details on the website).

The name of the nominated person must be accompanied by two signed letters from CALL colleagues in support of the nominee, as well as a statement of support signed by three additional CALL members. 

2012 Blawggie Awards

This is a follow-up to the Library Boy post of January 3, 2013 entitled 2012 Clawbies – Canadian Law Blog Award.

U.S. legal technology expert Dennis Kennedy has been awarding his own Blawggies or annual Best of Law-related Blogging Awards since 2004.

Here are the 2012 Blawggie Awards:

"This ninth edition of the awards makes them the longest running annual awards list for law-related blogs selected by a lawyer named Dennis Kennedy living in St. Louis, Missouri. What was originally just a crazy idea turned into a bit of an institution in the world of law-related blogging."

"I’ve included some explanatory and historical information about the Blawggies at the end of this post. As I’ve said before and explain in more detail at the end of this post, the Blawggies are not based on any popular votes, surveys or, God forbid, objective criteria. I choose the winners from only the blogs I read regularly. They are highly-opinionated choices made by me alone as I write this post."

In 2012, the Best Overall Law-Related Blog is Canadian: Jordan Furlong’s Law21.ca.

And of course, how could I let Kennedy's remarks about the Best Law-related Blog Category go by without quoting them? The best category award goes to Law Librarian Blogs:

"I use this category annually to highlight the blogs written by law librarians, a category that I don’t think gets enough attention. These blogs are places to find great information, help for finding information, links to great resources and just plain interesting insights into topics like knowledge management and our changing world of information."

2012 CLawBies – Canadian Law Blog Awards

The 7th Annual Canadian Law Blog Awards (or Clawbies) were "handed out" on New Year's Eve:

"In its first year, the Clawbies had the not-terribly-difficult task of choosing among exactly 43 Canadian law blogs. This year, that number has increased nearly tenfold: there are now more than 400 Canadian law blogs to be found on the internet."

"This astonishing growth rate is a testament to the legal profession’s embrace of online self-publishing and all the benefits it delivers. But it also has made the Clawbies a far more challenging undertaking than it used to be. Not only has the quantity of Canadian law blogs increased, but so has the quality: of writing, of coverage, of frequency and of voice."

There are categories for:

• Best Canadian Law Blog
• Best Practitioner Blogs
• Legal Culture Award
• Non-Legal Audience Blog
• Friend of the North Award (US / UK blog that discusses Canada from time to time)
• EuroCan Connection Award
• Legal News
• Best Practice Management Blog
• Law Library Blog
• Legal Technology
• Practice Group Blog
• Best New Blogs
• Best Law School/Law Professor Blog

Study Shows Many Self-Represented Litigants Treated With Contempt

Earlier this week, the Ottawa Citizen reported on a research project being conducted by University of Windsor law professor Julie Macfarlane on the experiences of self-represented litigants in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.

According to Macfarlane's preliminary findings, based on interviews with 280 litigants, one common feature is deep frustration with the judicial system, even emotional trauma:

" 'What has surprised me is how traumatized people are by the experiences they’re having, how many lives are getting wrecked, how much anger and frustration there is out there,' says Macfarlane (...)"

"According to Macfarlane’s research, ... rough treatment by judges is the norm for those who appear in court without lawyers. While there are notable exceptions, most judges believe that 'if you’re a self-rep, you’re a pain in the ass, you’re going to be really annoying, you’re going to be really unreasonable,' Macfarlane says. 'And they get treated with contempt'. "

"As part of her project, Macfarlane interviewed half a dozen lawyers who represented themselves in court. Even they were shocked at how dismissive judges were. 'They couldn’t believe it,' she says. 'It has suddenly taken the blinkers off their eyes'."

“ 'Even if only 10 per cent of what I’m being told is factually correct,' Macfarlane declares, 'it would be really bad. People talk to me, only slightly tongue-in-cheek, about post-traumatic court syndrome'."

Earlier Library Boy posts on the topic include:

• Judges Struggling to Deal With Increased Number of Self-Represented Litigants (November 1, 2010): "This week's issue of The Lawyers Weekly includes the article Judges grapple with unrepresented litigants that quotes Judge François Rolland, chief justice of Quebec’s Superior Court, on the growing and disturbing trend towards self-represented litigants (...)"
• Dealing With Self-Represented Litigants (August 22, 2011): "Precise statistics are hard to come by. Still, in a survey of lawyers attending the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Family Law Summit last June, Queen’s University law professor Nicholas Bala found that 80 per cent of the 167 respondents reported they were encountering SRLs more often."
• University of Windsor Law Prof Finds Self-Represented Litigants Going Through "Real Trauma" (June 6, 2012): "University of Windsor law professor Julie Macfarlane is interviewing hundreds of self-represented litigants in Ontario, Alberta and B.C. about their experiences in the family and civil court systems. As part of her research so far, she has discovered that up to 80 per cent of people in family court and 60 per cent in civil cases represent themselves. This has to do with lower funding for legal aid programs and the greater availability of legal information online. She explained to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday that many people are having a bad experience ..."

Upcoming Job-Hunting Webinars from Canadian Library Association

The Canadian Library Association (CLA) has a number of upcoming job-related webinars this winter:

• January 21, 2013, 7PM Eastern: How to Construct a Superb Résumé
• February 11, 2013, 7PM Eastern: Cover Letters - Do They Do Us Justice?
• February 25, 2013, 7PM Eastern: The Job Interview - Projecting Competence, Confidence and Fit With Organizational Culture

The speaker for all three events is Ulla de Stricker.

Cost is $25 per webinar for CLA members, $35 for members of other professional organizations, and $40 for non-members.

Justice Canada Laws Website Gets New Look

The Justice Canada Laws website, where consolidated versions of federal Acts and regulations are published, got a facelift just before Christmas:

"The website has been upgraded to conform with the new Standard on Web Usability. This standard mandates a basic structure for Government of Canada Web page layout and design, which makes it easier to find and utilize information and services on Government of Canada Web sites and results in an appropriate degree of consistency across Web sites. "

 Since June 1, 2009, the versions of legislative material on the website have been official.

The FAQ page gives an idea of the many features available on the site (Shading of amendments not yet in force, historical point-in-time data, bilingual PDF side by side versions, etc.)

Supreme Court of Canada Website Now Has All Decisions Back to 1907

The Supreme Court of Canada decisions website now contains all decisions back to 1907.

Moreover, all the PDF versions of decisions up to 2010 are identical to the official version available in the Supreme Court Reports (i.e. French and English versions side by side).

The site is maintained by Lexum which provides the technology and infrastructure to ensure continuous availability of Supreme Court of Canada decisions.