2017 Annual Course of the International Association of Law Libraries in Atlanta

The International Association of Law Libraries will be holding its 36th Annual Course on International Law and Legal Information in Atlanta, Georgia from October 22 to 26, 2017:

"The theme of this year’s annual course is Civil Rights, Human Rights, and Other Critical Issues in U.S. Law. The birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Atlanta is internationally known as a major center for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Atlanta is also a hub for the study of international human rights as home to the Carter Center, a non-profit organization established in 1982 as a partnership between Emory University and former President Jimmy Carter. Additionally, this is a crucial time in U.S. politics with the recent change in administration, especially as the changes affect the international community. The annual course will tackle these issues and more, with a special eye toward how libraries and legal information play a role."

Planned sessions include:

• From AIDS to Zika: Access to Healthcare as a Human Right
• Black and Blue: Race and Policing after Black Lives Matter
• U.S. Immigration Policy and Refugee Settlement in Atlanta
• Information Literacy in a Fake News World
• Critical Topic: International Terrorism

Origins of ‘Peace, Order and Good Government’ in the Canadian Constitution

The Library of Parliament blog HillNotes has published a post about The Origins of ‘Peace, Order and Good Government’, an expression from the Constitution Act, 1867 that should be well-known to Canadian law librarians.

But where does it come from?:

"The phrase 'peace, order and good government' is found in the opening to section 91 of the British North America Act, now the Constitution Act, 1867. "

"Sections 91 and 92 set out the distribution of federal and provincial powers. The reference to peace, order and good government establishes that the federal Parliament can make

Laws for the Peace, Order, and good Government of Canada, in relation to all Matters not coming within the Classes of Subjects by this Act assigned exclusively to the Legislatures of the Provinces. "

"This provision, commonly referred to as the POGG power, allocates residuary jurisdiction for the areas of law not otherwise set out in sections 91 and 92 to the federal Parliament. (In contrast, the constitutions of Australia and the United States, for example, allocate residuary powers to the state legislatures)."

"Over the past 150 years, the POGG power has been interpreted and used as a basis for federal legislation where there is a gap in the distribution of federal and provincial powers, for matters of national concern, and for emergency matters."

"Yet the genesis of the POGG power is hardly orderly."

Internet Archive Wins Webby Lifetime Achievement Award

The non-profit Internet Archive, that has harvested and preserved billions of web pages and made them available for free, has been awarded a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

The Award was given to the Internet Archive in recognition of:

" ... its unflagging commitment to making the world’s knowledge available online, and preserving the history of the Internet itself. With its vast collection of digitized books, movies, music, and more, Internet Archive is one of the premier sources of information online. Furthermore, through tools like The Wayback Machine, the site is a unique catalog of the history of the Internet itself—a vital resource for such an ever-changing medium. For harnessing the power of the Internet to freely disseminate information and for being the web’s most knowledgeable historian, it’s our great privilege to honor Internet Archive with the Lifetime Achievement Award."

The Webby Awards recognize outstanding achievement in websites, online film and video, mobile and apps, and interactive advertising and media. There are numerous categories, ranging from activism to sports. They are sometimes described as the equivalent of the Oscars, Nobel Prizes or Olympics of the web.

And the tech geeks at the Internet Archive are in some very fine company in 2017.

Among this year’s winners in other catagories are FactCheck.org, Merriam-Webster (for its often cheeky definitions on Twitter), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Game of Thrones, Spotify, Pokémon Go, and Lady Gaga.

The judges received 13,000 entries from 70 countries. 2017 is the 21st year of the Webby Awards.

The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences is an international organization of leading Web experts, business figures, and cultural celebrities.

Law Reform Commission of Saskatchewan Final Reports on Intestate Succession Act and Homesteads Act

The Law Reform Commission of Saskatchewan recently published two (2) final reports.

They are:

• The Final Report on Reform of The Intestate Succession Act, 1996 : "The Intestate Succession Act, 1996 determines how an estate is divided when there is not a valid will, or if there is a portion of an estate remaining after a will has been completely applied. The Commission has undertaken a comprehensive review of The Intestate Succession Act, 1996. This Final Report makes several recommendations for reform based on current estate planning practices that will ensure Saskatchewan’s intestate estate distribution system remains relatively simple, certain, and efficient."
• The Final Report on The Homesteads Act, 1989: "The Homesteads Act, 1989 protects spouses who do not own their homes against the sale, mortgaging or other disposition of the homestead by requiring the non-owning spouse to sign a consent and be examined separately from the owning spouse before such action can be taken. This Final Report considers two distinct issues: (1) whether an attorney acting under a power of attorney should be able to consent to a disposition of the homestead, and (2) whether a homestead should include mines and minerals. This Final Report recommends allowing an attorney to consent to a disposition of the homestead in place of a non-owning spouse, subject to the condition that where the attorney is the spouse of the non-owning spouse, the attorney only be able to consent to a disposition of the homestead where the non-owning spouse lacks capacity. This Final Report also recommends that The Homesteads Act, 1989 be amended to specifically exclude mines and minerals from the definition of the homestead."

Updated Research Guides From GlobaLex

GlobaLex, the electronic collection created by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law, recently updated some of its research guides:

• Religious Legal Systems in Comparative Law - A Guide to Introductory Research: "Religious law in this guide is seen as a branch of comparative law and legal study. Further, it is argued here that comparative law itself may most usefully be seen as part of the tradition of legal philosophy. Far from being wholly academic, however, comparative law is a practical approach in the service of 1) legal education 2) the appreciation of treaty implementation and 3) choice of law in the new world of public/private international law known as transnational law. At the conclusion of this guide to sources is a brief discussion of this approach to comparative law (...) It is clear that in areas of private law such as family law, inheritance, and in come commercial transactions, several religious systems influence secular law or are incorporated as a regime which may or must be applied in those areas or to members of certain religious communities. As sources for legal research in these areas are inter-disciplinary and often less known in the world of legal research, an overview of the major world systems, and where and how they are implemented, is offered. "
• Transnational and Comparative Family Law: Harmonization and Implementation: " 'Transnational' (or 'transactional') law is becoming a frequent phenomenon in the practice of law and now occupies a prominent place in the study of international and comparative law. Both academic and practitioner-oriented information sources point to ways to locate and connect national laws with treaties and regimes of harmonization; however, commercial and procedural rules have been, in general, easier to locate than substantive and harmonized law in the family law area. This guide points researchers to significant electronic and print sources in transnational and comparative family law.  The purpose of this guide is to indicate how these international conventions are implemented in selected jurisdictions with some indication of how to locate substantive national law under these same international regimes. An excellent resource on this topic is the Encyclopedia of Private International Law (Jürgen Basedow, et al., eds), Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017. It includes article/entries on the topics dealt with most often in international family law: adoption, child abduction, divorce, marriage, and trusts. "
• International Commercial Arbitration: "International commercial arbitration is a means of resolving disputes arising under international commercial contracts. It is used as an alternative to litigation and is controlled primarily by the terms previously agreed upon by the contracting parties, rather than by national legislation or procedural rules. Most contracts contain a dispute resolution clause specifying that any disputes arising under the contract will be handled through arbitration rather than litigation. The parties can specify the forum, procedural rules, and governing law at the time of the contract. "

May/June 2017 Issue of AALL Spectrum

The May/June 2017 issue of AALL Spectrum is now available online.

It is the monthly publication of the American Association of Law Libraries.

Among the feature articles are:

• Artificial Intelligence Legal Research and Law Librarians
• iSpy: Threats to Individual and Institutional Privacy in the Digital World
• Creating Engaging Digital Media to Promote Library Services
• Technology and the Classroom: Bringing Twenty-First Century Technologies to the Law Library

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice April 2017 Access to Justice Newsletter

The non-profit Canadian Forum on Access to Justice (CFCJ) publishes a regular newsletter about Access to Justice.

The latest issue of the newsletter includes:

• news about access to justice initiatives
• a Working Data Document with results from a 125-question Justice Development Goals Survey
• and more about expanding service to low-income citizens, the changing profile of self-represented litigants, and "Social Impact Bonds" and access to justice (these bonds are contracts between investors and public sector groups, where funding is provided for projects aimed at improved social outcomes)

Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection from April 1 to 15, 2017 is now available on the Court website.

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

Five Ontario Universities in Shared Last Print Copy Repository Project

Five university libraries in Ontario (at the University of Ottawa, the University of Western Ontario, Queen's, University of Toronto, and McMaster) are participating in the Keep@Downsview partnership, which is a shared last print copy repository project:

"The project, called Keep@Downsview, aims to consolidate and rationalize low-use print materials held by the partner libraries and ensure long-term preservation of these important scholarly materials in Ontario, while still providing access via document delivery and ILL. In doing so, each of the partner institutions demonstrates its commitment to the stewardship of print collections for future generations while repurposing valuable space on campus. This paper describes the background, rationale, challenges, and lessons learned for this unique Canadian project that leveraged funding from the province of Ontario, the University of Toronto‘s high density preservation facility at Downsview, and the commitment of all partners to preserve the scholarly record in Ontario (...)

"(...) the five libraries also quickly established the goals of the project and agreed to four key principles:  

• The project strives to save costs while maintaining access to a principal research collection by sharing in the responsibility of storing and maintaining one shared preservation print copy at the Downsview facility.
• The project includes both journals and monographs.
• All materials in Downsview are low-demand materials, as determined by the participating institutions.
• All institutions share ownership of the materials they transfer. "

There has been some discussion (but less action) in relation to the idea of a "last print copy repository" in the case of legal materials, as can be seen in these 2 Slaw.ca articles from recent years:

• Where Will Old, Expensive, or Unexpected Legal Information Come From When Libraries All Downsize Together? Sarah Sutherland, December 12, 2013
• Preservation Week: Pass It On! , Louis Mirando, April 28, 2015

LexBox App Now Available on CanLII

The LexBox app is now available on the website of the Canadian Legal Information Institute, CanLII.

It allows users on CanLII to:

• Save search queries
• Set up alerts for new content matching a search
• Create folders with saved results
• See a trail of your research

Legal Information Preservation Alliance Webinar on Open Access Law Repositories

The Legal Information Preservation Alliance is offering a free webinar on the new Law ArXiv platform on Thursday, April 27 at 2PM Eastern Time.

According to an e-mail from NELLCO, an international consortium of law libraries:

"The LawArXiv mission is to empower the scholarly legal community and champion open access principles by ensuring community ownership of legal scholarship. The project has been in the planning stages for several months and is expected to launch within the next few weeks."

LawArXiv is an emerging collaborative initiative of the Legal Information Preservation Alliance, the Mid-America Law Library Consortium, the NELLCO Law Library Consortium, and the Cornell Law Library. Christine Iaconeta (Law Library Director, University of Maine) will moderate the program. Presenters are Jean Wenger (Chair, LIPA Board), Corie Dugas (Executive Director, MALLCO), and Tracy Thompson (Executive Director, MALLCO).

Meeting number (access code): 630 636 887
Meeting password: aACqXsQ2

Audio connection:
1-866-469-3239 Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada)
1-650-429-3300 Call-in toll number (US/Canada)

Interview with Colin Lachance, CEO of Compass/MLB, ex-CEO of CanLII

The Ross Intelligence blog has published an interview with Colin Lachance, the former CEO of CanLII (Canadian Legal Information Institute) and the current CEO of Compass/MLB, a new firm that has taken over the defunct Canadian case law publisher Maritime Law Book:

"In leading Compass/MLB, Colin is taking the helm of an online legal publishing company for a second time. From 2011 to 2015, he was CEO of Canada’s most used legal information resource (CanLII — a not-for-profit free law platform funded by all Canadian lawyers), and in that capacity was recognized as a Fastcase50 innovator in 2013, an ABA Journal Legal Rebel in 2014, and as among Canadian Lawyer Magazine’s Top 25 Most Influential of 2014. With degrees in business and law, including an LL.M. in law and tech awarded in 2013, he’s also held senior legal, policy, marketing and lobbying positions in the telecommunications industry, a field in which he still does a little legal work on the side."

Canadian Association of Law Libraries Webinar on Loom Analytics

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is hosting a webinar on April 18, 2017

Canadian Association of Law Libraries Early Career Advice Survey

The New Professionals Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD)  is looking for responses to an Early Career Advice Survey it has developed:

"The goal of this survey is to gather anecdotes, suggestions and words of wisdom from the CALL/ACBD community for new professionals on a variety of professional development topics. This survey takes less than 15 minutes to complete and responses remain anonymous."

The theme for this year’s survey is “the first 5 years” which includes questions such as the do’s and don’ts of the interviewing process and helpful networking tips.

Results from the survey will be posted to the SIG webpage by May 2017.

Supreme Court of Canada Calendar of Upcoming Hearings

The Supreme Court of Canada has published its calendar of appeal hearings for April 2017.

To find out more about any particular case, click on the docket number in parentheses next to each case name to find docket information, case summaries as well as facta from the parties.

New Additions to Free Quebec Law Online

This week saw two additions of free Quebec legal sources online.

1) CanLII (Canadian Legal Information Institute) and CAIJ (Centre d'accès à l'information juridique, the network of courthouse law libraries associated with the Québec Bar Association) have signed a deal to expand the coverage of Quebec administrative law on CanLII.

2) And CAIJ has a partnership agreement with Éditions Revue de droit de l'Université de Sherbrooke to make some of the University of Sherbrooke's textbooks available online on the CAIJ website.

Their material will be added to a collection that already includes full-text commentary and textbooks including the Développements récents (annual reviews of areas of law), the Collection de droit (Bar School materials), proceedings of the annual Quebec Bar Association congresses, a growing number of treatises from publisher Wilson & Lafleur, numerous annotated acts, case law, and a list of thousands of legal questions with their corresponding answers.

April 2017 Issue of In Session - E-Newsletter of Canadian Association of Law Libraries

The April 2017 issue of In Session is available online.

It is the monthly e-newsletter of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) and contains news from CALL committees and special interest groups, member updates and events.

Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection from March 16 to 31, 2017 is now available on the Court website.

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

Profile of Manager of Ottawa Public Library Alternative Services Alexandra Yarrow

The website Librarianship.ca has been running a series of profiles of Canadian librarians for a few years now.

The most recent one is a profile of  Alexandra Yarrow, the Manager of  Alternative Services at the Ottawa Public Library (OPL). Her duties include the Homebound, Bookmobile & Kiosk, and Accessibility Services.

Excerpt:

"What’s your best time-saving shortcut?
There’s no one magic bullet, but I am really big on using the right format for the task (phone call, email, meeting, conference call). For instance, I schedule independent work times (we call it “heads-down” in my team). We operate in a very Outlook calendar-centric world, so I make sure to block off time far in advance for projects or reports, so that meetings don’t get scheduled and leave me running for the finish line at the last minute. When someone sends me an email about a piece of work such as a report, I move that email straight to the Calendar and throw together a to-do list in under a minute to get it out of my inbox. Everything in my Calendar (and lots of other places) is colour-coded by team name or audience. I get about 100 emails a day and usually reach inbox = 0 by Friday afternoon (...)"

"Do you find yourself always working on something? Or when you finish a project, do you take time to let your mind wander without concern for what’s next?
One project at a time? What world is this you speak of? I have nine on my departmental work plan, and those are just the ones that the rest of OPL is directly implicated in; my team is usually cooking up at least a few other small ones all the time. I let my mind wander when I am walking to work, on my bike, on a run, or in the shower. Those are the places where I get the best ideas. I’m pretty good at disconnecting, but I believe that everyone’s neocortex chews on things and spits out answers even when we think we’re resting."

Middle Temple Library Resources on Brexit

The library of the Middle Temple in London, England has compiled an annotated list of online resources regarding the United Kingdom's decision to leave the Euriopean Union, otherwise known as Brexit.

The resources include analyses and papers by the Bar, English law firms, and governments (UK, Scotland, Wales), as well as legislation, court cases on Brexit, EU documents, library & think tank collections, and news.

As the intro states: "Links will be regularly updated."

Middle Temple is one of the four "Inns of Court" which have the exclusive right to call students to the British Bar.

[Source: Off the Shelf, the Osgoode Hall Law School Library Blog]