August 2013 Issue of Connected Bulletin on Courts and Social Media

The August 2013 issue of Connected is available online. The bulletin covers news about the impact of new social media on courts. Most of the items are about the United States, but there is occasional coverage of other jurisdictions.

In this issue:

• Fourth Report Released on New Media's Impact on the Judiciary
• New Jersey Courts Offer Texting Service to Jurors
• Australia releases report on jurors using social media
• NC Court of Appeals rules that law banning sex offenders from using social media is unconstitutional

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

Canadian Library Associations on Upcoming Federal Budget

The federal government has been conducting pre-budget consultations in anticipation of the 2014 budget.

The Canadian Library Association (CLA) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) have prepared submissions:

• CLA submission
• CARL submission

One common element of both submissions is the call for more funding for digitization programs by Library and Archives Canada which has been hit by major cutbacks.

Earlier Library Boy posts on Library and Archives Canada 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."
• 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."
• Canadian Association of Law Libraries Urges Reconsideration of LAC Code of Conduct (March 27, 2013): "Earlier this month, it was revealed that Library and Archives Canada (LAC) management was proposing a new code of conduct, a move that sparked a lot of controversy and some apprehension that information professionals were perhaps being muzzled at one of Canada's most important national cultural heritage institutions at a time when it is facing cutbacks and a change in its service mix. In particular, many objections were made to the description of traditional public engagements such as teaching and going to librarian and archivist conferences as potentially 'high risk activities' that may pose a problem under the code's provisions."
• Library Associations Support Canadiana.org/Library and Archives Canada Digitization Project (June 17, 2013): "Last week, a controversy erupted over a proposed deal between Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and Canadiana.org, a not-for-profit partnership, to digitize the LAC's vast collections of material. The fear seems to be that Canadiana.org would be granted a 10-year exclusive license to sell access to many of the materials that are part of Canada's heritage. The Canadian Library Association (CLA) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) have come out in support of the project and provided more detail about what it involves. What they describe leaves a very different, much more positive impression about the project."
• Roundup of Coverage on Library and Archives Canada Heritage Digitization Plan (June 21, 2013): "There are 2 places to get an overview of what the discussion - pro and con - is all about: - The American site Infodocket has compiled a Roundup of Press and Public Statements: Library and Archives Canada Heritage Digitization Plan. - The CLA Government Library and Information Management Professionals Network, part of the Canadian Library Association, has published a page on Coverage of Library and Archives Canada/Canadiana.org Heritage Project with press coverage, commentary, statements from library and other associations and Hansard excerpts. "
• Questions on Library and Archives Canada Héritage Digitization Project (July 28, 2013): "Ariel Katz, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, last week outlined Some Questions on the Héritage Project on his blog: 'From a legal perspective, the decision to grant Canadiana.org a 10-year exclusive right to monetize the collections raises a few interesting questions: (a) can LAC monetize its collections; or (b) can LAC enter into an agreement with third parties for that purpose; and (c) can it do it by granting an exclusive right?' "

Measuring the Performance of Law Firm Libraries

Susannah Tredwell has written an article on Slaw.ca on Measuring the Performance of Law Firm Libraries.
 
The article argues that traditional quantitative library metrics provide little insight. Rather, qualitative factors paint a much better and convincing picture of what the law library contributes.

The article comes with a short bibliography which I like very much (because it mentions me!):

• Stephen Abram, “Upping Our Game: Unlocking Real Value in Libraries” Computers in Libraries, June 2013 (http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/jun13/Abram–Upping-Our-Game–Unlocking-Real-Value-in-Libraries.shtml)
• Constance Ard, “Beyond Metrics: The Value of the Information Center?” Information Outlook, 16(5): 16-18 (2012).
• Mary Ellen Bates, 2008. “Library Metrics” Librarian of Fortune, January 5. (http://www.librarianoffortune.com/librarian_of_fortune/2008/01/library-metrics.html)
• Deborah Copeman and Michel-Adrien Sheppard. “Best practices for demonstrating the value of your library services” (2010).
• Martha Haswell, “Benchmarking: A Powerful Management Tool?” Information Outlook, 16(5): (2012).
• Steve Hillier, “What Are We Measuring, and Does It Matter?” Information Outlook, 16(5): 10-12 (2012).
• Moe Hosseini-Ara and Rebecca Jones, “Overcoming Our Habits and Learning to Measure Impact” Computers in Libraries, June 2013 (http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/jun13/Hosseini-Ara_Jones–Overcoming-Our-Habits-and-Learning-to-Measure-Impact.shtml)
• Douglas W. Hubbard, How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business, Second Edition. John Wiley & Sons, 2010.
• Debbie Schachter, “Metrics and Value” Information Outlook, 16(5): 42-43 (2012).

Federal Commissioner of Official Languages Proposes Ontario Model to Increase Bilingual Judges

This is a follow-up to last week's Library Boy post entitled Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada Study on Bilingual Capacity of the Superior Court Judiciary.

Official Languages Commissioner Graham Fraser found that there was a lack of bilingual federally-appointed judges in many parts of Canada and that this state of affairs was hampering access to justice for language minorities.

An article today in the Law Times (Feds should follow Ontario in seeking bilingual judges: report) reports that Fraser spoke on the issue last week at the annual conference of the Canadian Bar Association. Fraser suggested that the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada that looks at the qualifications of potential federal judges should look at the practices adopted in Ontario for the selection of provincial judges:

"In contrast, bilingual judges must fill certain posts at the Ontario Court of Justice. Ontario, along with New Brunswick, Quebec, and Manitoba, also interviews candidates to evaluate, among other things, their language skills."

"Candidates applying to be justices of the peace are assessed on their oral and written French skills in line with provincial language standards."

"The commissioner highlighted these practices as ones that could apply to federally appointed judges."

Law Libraries & Librarians Ning Social Network Closing in September

The Law Libraries and Librarians group launched on the social network Ning in the spring of 2008 will be closing on September 21, 2013.

In a message dated August 21, 2013, Connie Crosby explains:

"The network reached 800 members in August 2012, including law librarians from all over the world and who are active in law library associations such as AALL, IALL, CALL, BIALL, etc. Presently, there are 22 groups on the Ning including Information Literacy in Law, the Gen X Gen Y Caucus, Bloggers, Web 2.0 Challenge 2009, Second Life Law Librarians, Court Librarians, Sci-Fi Law Librarians, Ordainers of the Universe (catalogers/technical services), Law Librarians in Florida, Texas Law Librarians, NELLCO Acq/CD, and Scholarly Communications (...)"

"In the past two years, however, there has been little activity. It is not the social networking community it once was. It’s pretty quiet here."

"The renewal deadline is September 25. We therefore thought that now would be a good time to sunset the Ning network and give y’all a heads-up (...)"

"We thank Jim Milles [director of the law library at the University of Buffalo and creator of the Ning law librarians network] for making the network happen. We thank you all for joining us on this tech networking adventure, and look forward to seeing y’all on other social networks/media!"

2012-2013 Annual Report of the Communications Security Establishment Commissioner

The most recent Report of the Communications Security Establishment Commissioner, the Honourable Robert Décary, Q.C., was tabled in Parliament yesterday.

The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) is Canada's national cryptologic agency working under the control of the Department of National Defence. Its code-breakers protect the Government of Canada's IT infrastructure from hostile attacks and provide foreign signals intelligence services, including the interception, decoding, and analysis of phone calls, e-mails and other electronic communications of Canada's international adversaries. It also provides technical and operational assistance to federal law enforcement and security agencies.

The Commissioner is the official watchdog over the agency's activities.

The news media concentrated on Décary's finding that the CSE may have been intercepting communications from Canadians. The CSE is legally prohibited from eavesdropping on Canadians. The Commissioner was unable to draw any definitive conclusions.

Media coverage includes:

• Watchdog says spy agency might have illegally eavesdropped on Canadians (Globe and Mail, August 22, 2013)
• Canadians may be victims of illicit spying (Ottawa Citizen / Postmedia News, August 22, 2013)
• Security watchdog says agency may be spying on Canadians (CBC / Canadian Press, August 22, 2013)
• Watchdog raises flags on Canada’s eavesdropping (Wall Street Journal, August 22, 2013)
• In wake of spying allegations, Communications Security Establishment Canada insists it didn’t break law (Canada.com, August 22, 2013)
• Espionnage de Canadiens: le NPD veut des détails (La Presse, 22 August 2013)

European Union Country Profiles on Access to Justice

This is a follow to the Library Boy post of August 19, 2013 entitled Canadian Bar Association Releases Summary Report on Access to Justice in Canada.

In 2011, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) produced a series of 27 Country thematic studies on access to justice, one for each EU member country:

"The national thematic studies constituted the background information drawn on by the FRA in order to compile its comparative report on ‘Access to justice in Europe: an overview of challenges and opportunities'. The summaries provide further details on the national situation in the selected areas covered by the comparative report. "

Each country profile describes the following elements:

• the national court system
• restrictions regarding access
• length of proceedings
• the existence or not of mechanisms for the speedy resolution of particular cases
• access to non-judicial procedures
• legal aid
• forms of satisfaction available to the winning party
• adequacy of compensation
• legal costs
• rules on burden of proof

The overall comparative report can be found on the FRA website. It concluded that victims were often deterred or unable to enforce their rights because of the:

• excessive length of proceedings
• high legal costs and difficulty in accessing legal aid
• restrictive rules on who may take a case to court
• a high degree of variation among Member States on the amounts of compensation awarded

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 August 1-15, 2013 is now available on the Court website.

The web page explains: "The Supreme Court of Canada Library lends materials from all but the most recent New Library Titles list in accordance with its Interlibrary Loan Policy."

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

Canadian Bar Association Releases Summary Report on Access to Justice in Canada

The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) released a summary report on the weekend on Reaching Equal Justice: An Invitation to Envision and Act.

The report finds that access to justice in Canada has become profoundly unequal and that this has lowered Canadians' degree of confidence in the legal system.

It proposes a series of actions to be taken to better guarantee citizens can have access to the justice system, including:

• more federal funding for civil legal aid - the report advocates that by 2025, all Canadians whose income is two times or less than the poverty line (Statistics Canada’s Low Income Measure) are eligible for full coverage of essential public legal services
• effective triage and referral systems guiding people along the appropriate paths to justice
• encouraging limited scope retainers or unbundled legal services
• legal expense insurance for middle income Canadians
• an expansion of pro bono services
• and more

Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada Study on Bilingual Capacity of the Superior Court Judiciary

The Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada has published a study on Access to Justice in Both Official Languages: Improving the Bilingual Capacity of the Superior Court Judiciary:

"For superior courts and courts of appeal to be able to respect the language rights of litigants, it is therefore essential for the federal Minister of Justice to appoint an appropriate number of bilingual judges with the language skills necessary to preside over cases in the minority official language. Currently, the institutional bilingual capacity of the superior courts remains a challenge in a number of provinces and territories. Another challenge lies in judges' ability to maintain their language skills at a level that is sufficient to preside over a hearing in their second official language (...)"

"The study looked at the appointment processes for the superior courts of six provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta. It also took into account certain practices for appointing provincial judges in New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba."

"From the consultations conducted as part of the study, it was determined that the judicial appointment process does not guarantee sufficient bilingual capacity among the judiciary to respect the language rights of Canadians at all times."

"This finding is based on three key observations. First, there is no objective analysis of needs in terms of access to the superior courts in both official languages in the different districts and regions of the country. Second, there is no coordinated action on the part of the federal Minister of Justice, his provincial and territorial counterparts and the chief justices of the superior courts to establish a process that would ensure, at all times, that an appropriate number of bilingual judges are appointed. Finally, the evaluation of superior court judicial candidates does not allow for an objective verification of the language skills of candidates who identify themselves as being able to preside over proceedings in their second language."

"In light of these findings, the study outlines courses of action to improve the bilingual capacity of superior court judges."

Law Reform Commission of Ireland Issues Paper on Evidence Legislation

The Law Reform Commission of Ireland has released an issues paper on the Consolidation of evidence legislation:

"As part of its forthcoming Report on Evidence (the “Report”) the Commission is considering recommending the consolidation of existing legislation concerning the law of evidence , together with reform of three areas of the law of evidence : hearsay, documentary (including electronic) evidence and expert evidence . The Commission envisages the Report having two aspects . The Commission first intends to discuss and make recommendations concerning a general consolidation of the existing legislation on the law of evidence, both pre-1922 and post-1922, (the “general consolidation”). This will be the focus of Chapter 1 of the Report. In the remaining chapters of the Report, the Commission also intends to discuss the consolidation and reform of the law on hearsay, documentary (including electronic) evidence and expert evidence , on which the Commission has published three separate Consultation Papers (the “specific reforms”) . The law in these three areas comprises a combination of common law and legislation, and the Commission’s Report will involve recommendations proposing consolidating and reforming the existing law . In this context, the Commission is minded to take this opportunity to consolidate into a single Bill the existing legislation together with the reforms being proposed on hearsay, documentary and electronic evidence and expert evidence. While this would not produce, at this stage, a comprehensive statement in legislative form of all the law of evidence, the Commission considers that, taking into account the reforms being proposed in the three specific areas mentioned, it would constitute a worthwhile step in that direction (...) "

"The Commission is currently inclined towards appending to its forthcoming Report a single draft Evidence Bill containing both the general consolidation and the specific reforms discussed above, which would in general apply to both civil and criminal proceedings. This general approach would be subject to some exceptions such as in the area of hearsay in respect of which the Commission is currently inclined to the view that separate treatment for civil and criminal proceedings is required."

As the Commission explains:

"The purpose of an Issues Paper is to provide a summary or outline of a project on which the Commission is embarking or on which work is already underway, and to provide readers with an opportunity to express views and to make suggestions and comments on specific questions (...) These Issues Papers represent current thinking within the Commission on the various items mentioned. They should not be taken as representing settled positions that have been taken by the Commission."

Stormy Weather Ahead: Visions of the Future for the Practice of Law

The website of Canadian Lawyer offers five different visions of what the future has in store for Canadian lawyers and the justice system.

The article has an eye-grabbing title, We interrupt your regularly scheduled law practice for this massive disruption:

"In the last few years, tremendous economic factors have been pushing and pulling the practice in all directions in Canada and around the world. While there has been much talk and many reports on dusty shelves about changes necessary to the legal profession, one senses there’s been a shift recently to a point where action has become unavoidable (...)"

"The following five essays tackle a wide swath of the practice of law: Chris Pinnington of Dentons gives us the big firm, global point of view; on a smaller-firm scale, lawyer and author Mitch Kowalski offers his insights; University of Calgary law professor Alice Woolley suggests an overhaul of the way lawyers are regulated; former Ontario associate chief justice Coulter Osborne has some pointed thoughts on improving access to the civil justice system; and incoming Canadian Bar Association president and in-house counsel Fred Headon sets out his vision for a new legal world."

2013 Stephen Hanson Awards for Excellence in Journalism

The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) has announced the winners of the 2013 Stephen Hanson Awards for Excellence in Journalism.

They "recognize outstanding broadcast and print or web journalism that fosters public awareness and understanding of any aspect of the Canadian justice system and the roles played by institutions and participants in the legal system."

The award in the print category was given to Paul Webster of Vancouver Magazine for his article entitled The War on The War on Drugs that shows that many law enforcement officers are skeptical of current drug laws.

The award in the broadcast category went to CBC reporter Joe Schlesinger and producer Bonnie Brown for their report Truth, Lies and Confessions about false confessions.

The CBA website has a complete list of winners from previous years.

American Association of Law Libraries Research Agenda

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) recently made public its Research Agenda 2013-2016:

"AALL's 2013-2016 Strategic Plan envisions that AALL and its members will be the recognized authority in all aspects of legal information. AALL's Research Agenda seeks to make that vision a reality by stimulating a diverse range of scholarship related to and supportive of the profession of law librarianship (...)"

"The Research Agenda is not comprehensive. It will evolve as research projects are completed and conditions warrant. The AALL Research and Publications Committee invites law librarians and other interested researchers to explore the items listed in the Research Agenda, and looks forward to working with them to develop research projects and publicize their results."

The Research Agenda is broken down into a number of broad topic areas:

• AALL's Role in the Profession of Law Librarianship
• Advocacy by Law Librarians
• Law Librarians' Professional Status
• The Library as a Social Institution
• Law Library Management
• Teaching by Law Librarians
• Technology
• Technical Services
• Catalog(ue)s and Metadata Services
• Preservation
• Acquisitions and Collection Services
• Digitization
• Empirical Methods
• Biographies, Local Histories, Publishing Histories
• Case Studies
• Bibliographies, Legislative Histories, Directories

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) does not have an official research agenda but its Committee to Promote Research has compiled a List of Issues Facing Law Librarians Which Require Research in the following areas:

• Planning for the mix of materials that will be required to meet future legal information needs
• Improving access to information and increasing user satisfaction
• Providing high quality service in the face of financial restraint and increasing costs
• Participation in resource sharing programmes
• Maintaining professional standards in the face of conflicting demands and perceptions
• Technological issues that have an impact on the provision of electronic information
• Recruitment and education of new law librarians.

Summer 2013 Issue of Law Library Journal Now Available

The Summer 2013 issue of Law Library Journal is available on the website of the American Association of Law Libraries.

Among the articles are the following:

• Academic Law Libraries and the Crisis in Legal Education : "Today’s law schools are threatened by declining enrollments and poor job prospects for graduates. Prominent reformers are exposing dysfunctions within the current system and recommending improvements, but many of these proposals misunderstand aca - demic law libraries and their contributions to student and faculty success. This article examines four possible curricular reforms and suggests ways that law librarians can participate in a comprehensive effort to make legal education more useful."
• A Third Place for the Law Library: Integrating Library Services with Academic Support Programs: "This article provides a brief history of the evolution of legal education in America, examining the roles of both law libraries and academic support programs. It then offers suggestions for ways to integrate library services with academic support services."
• Thinking About Technology . . . Lawyers Can’t Be Luddites Anymore: Do Law Librarians Have a Role in Helping Lawyers Adjust to the New Ethics Rules Involving Technology?: "In August 2012, the American Bar Association, recognizing the influence of tech - nology, amended the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. These changes to the standards of professional conduct require attorneys to have some basic technological competence. Ms. Jackson focuses on specific areas in which law librarians may find opportunities to share both newly developed and well-established technological exper - tise with attorneys."

Public Legal Education Association of Canada Conference in Vancouver

The next national conference of the Public Legal Education Association of Canada (PLEAC) is taking place in Vancouver on October 9-10, 2013.

PLEAC is a nation-wide, non-profit organization that promotes public legal education.

Here are a few of the sessions at the conference:

• Legal Education for Everyone (keynote address by Sarah McCoubrey, Executive Director, Ontario Justice Education Network)
• Legal Capability a Shared Responsibility
• What’s in your information rack? (panel discussion on legal triage and referral services)
• Advancing Legal Education (How do we build legal literacy skills amongst diverse community groups)?

The PLEAC event is being held in conjunction with the 9th Annual Plain Language Conference.

European Court of Human Rights Updated Country Profiles

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has recently updated factsheets for each of the 47 European countries that have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights.

Factsheets contain court statistics as well as noteworthy cases related to each country.

The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.

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 July 16-31, 2013 is now available on the Court website.

The web page explains: "The Supreme Court of Canada Library lends materials from all but the most recent New Library Titles list in accordance with its Interlibrary Loan Policy."

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

Canadian Association of Law Libraries Needs Volunteers to Visit Schools With Library Programs

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is looking for members to volunteer for educational visits to schools across Canada offering library and information studies degrees, or library technician diplomas.

The primary purpose of these  visits is to provide students with an understanding of CALL as a professional organization for the promotion of  law librarianship.

CALL's Membership Development Committee will provide volunteers with contact information as well as materials that can be used in school presentations. The Committee is trying to recruit people to conduct the visits between September and November 2013.

CALL members interested in volunteering for this outreach project should contact Paul McKenna at the School of Information Management, Dalhousie University (Halifax), e-mail: paul.mckenna AT dal.ca before August 23, 2013.

CALL is interested in finding people to visit the following institutions:

1) Library and Information Studies (Masters Degree):

• School of Information Management, Dalhousie University
• Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, McGill University
• École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l'information, Université de Montréal
• Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto
• Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario
• School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta
• School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, University of British Columbia

2) Library Technician Diploma:

• Library & Information Technology Diploma, Nova Scotia Community College
• Techniques de la documentation, Cégep de Trois-Rivières
• Techniques de la documentation, Cégep de Jonquière
• Techniques de la documentation, Collège de l'Outaouais
• Techniques de la documentation, Collège de Maisoneuve
• Techniques de la documentation, Collège Francois-Xavier-Garneau
• Techniques de la documentation, Collège Lionel-Giroux
• Information & Library technologies, John Abbott College
• Library & Information Technician Diploma, Algonquin College (Ottawa)
• Library & Information Technician Diploma, Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology (Toronto)
• Library & Information Technician Program Diploma, Mohawk College
• Library & Information Technology Diploma, Red River College (Winnipeg)
• Library & Information Technology Diploma, Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science & Technology (Saskatoon)
• Information Management & Library Technology Diploma, Grant MacEwan College (Edmonton)
• Library & Information Technology Diploma, Langara College (Vancouver)
• Library & Information Technology Diploma, University College of the Fraser Valley (Abbotsford)

User Feedback on New CanLII Beta Search Interface

Sometime in September, the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) will launch a redesigned site. In the meantime, people have been invited to test the new search interface of the beta site.

Today, Colin Lachance, President and CEO of CanLII, wrote on Slaw.ca about some of the preliminary feedback related to the new site.

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.

Happy Birthday In Custodia Legis - Law Library of Congress Blog

In Custodia Legis, the blog of the Law Library of Congress in Washington, turned 3 this week.

Since August 2010, a team of bloggers has been busily blogging about anything legal:

"Some posts are interesting things we see in the news that have a legal angle, some are interviews with staff, many are about the Law Library, and others are photos from here and law libraries around the world. Some are a bit more off beat than others."

The Law Library of Congress is the world’s largest law library, with a collection of over 2.65 million volumes from all ages of history and virtually every jurisdiction in the world.

Access 2013 Library Tech Conference in St.John's

The 2013 Access Conference will take place September 23-26, 2013 in St.John's.

The conference likes to refer to itself as "Canada's premier library technology conference bringing librarians, technicians, developers, programmers, and managers together to discuss cutting-edge library technologies."

The speakers' page gives an idea of the topics to be covered at this year's gathering. There are also links to past conferences.

CanLII Ottawa Hackathon September 2013

CanLII, the Canadian Legal Information Institute, is organizing a hackathon at the University of Ottawa this upcoming September 13-14:

"This conference and hackathon is for all, but should be of particular interest to law students, legal professionals, the press and others motivated to improve access to legal and public information."

"We want you to think about using the CanLII API and other data sets related to build apps or services that improve public understanding of law."

"Participants will:

• be exposed to and gain knowledge of data sets that include or could be mixed with legal information;
• develop innovative ideas and applications using legal data; and
• work towards advancing access to the rules and policies found in laws, court judgments and other information sources"

Canadian Library Association Feliciter August 2013 Issue

The August 2013 issue of Feliciter, the monthly journal of the Canadian Library Association (CLA), is available on line.

The issue's major focus is the 2013 CLA annual conference held earlier this year in Winnipeg.

Enhancements to Congress.gov Site for U.S. Legislative Information

This is an update to the Library Boy post of September 23, 2012 entitled Library of Congress Launches Beta Version of Congress.gov. Congress.gov is the U.S. federal legislation portal that will eventually take over from the well-known Thomas.gov.

In Custodia Legis, the blog of the Law Library of Congress, wrote earlier this week about some of the major recent enhancements to Congress.gov.

These include:

• Committee Reports back to 1995
• Standing Committees
• “Search within results”
• field searching
• legislative glossary

July 2013 Issue of Connected Bulletin on Courts and Social Media

The July 2013 issue of Connected is available online. The bulletin covers news about the impact of new social media on US courts.

In this issue:

• New Jersey Courts first to tweet audio
• New York issues new ethics opinion on judges and Facebook
• Witness intimidation and the internet
• Maricopa County Superior Court posts YouTube video on new "Juror Court"
  

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