Library Boy on Hiatus for a Month

I m taking some time away from blogging to recharge the old mental batteries.

See ya in December.

Law Commission of Ontario Releases Consultation Paper on Defamation Law in the Internet Age

This week, the Law Commission of Ontario launched province‐wide consultations for its Defamation Law in the Internet Age project.

As part of the process, it published a Consultation Paper on the issue.

From the Executive Summary:

"The LCO’s Defamation in the Internet Age project considers whether or how defamation law should be reformed in light of fast-moving and far-reaching developments in law, technology and social values (...)"

"Defamation law in Ontario has not remained static in face of these developments. In recent years, both courts and legislatures have responded to important issues and concerns in order to bring defamation law into the internet age. This approach, while obviously an effective means of addressing specific defamation issues, is not a comprehensive response to the far-reaching challenges posed by 'internet speech'."

"This project is designed to meet that challenge. The LCO’s project is the most comprehensive analysis of Ontario’s defamation law framework to date. It is designed to analyze the underlying purpose and function of defamation law and to update the law to reflect the social and technological developments that will continue well into the future."

"The issues addressed in the project and the Consultation Paper include:

• The law of defamation in Ontario today and its limitations;
• How the legal, technological, and social landscape of the early 21st century influences and challenges “traditional” defamation law;
• A consideration of the legal elements of defamation in light of “internet speech”;
• Access to justice in defamation matters;
• Privacy and its relationship to defamation;
• Internet intermediary liability; and,
• Alternative dispute resolution."

The consultation runs to March 30, 2018.

Library Success Wiki to End in 2018

Librarian Meredith Farkas, who writes the blog Information Wants To Be Free, developed the  collaborative site or wiki known as the Library Success wiki back in 2005. It had been created to be "a one-stop shop for great ideas and information for all types of librarians. All over the world, librarians are developing successful programs and doing innovative things with technology that no one outside of their library knows about."

Farkas announced this week that the wiki will be going dark on February 2, 2018:

"Knowledge-sharing has always been a passion of mine and a wiki was a good tool (at the time) for collecting knowledge from a diverse array of librarians across the world. In 2005, Facebook didn’t exist (to the public at least). Twitter didn’t exist. Google Docs didn’t exist. Google Sites didn’t exist. A whole bunch of other collaboration and CMS-type tools didn’t exist. At the time, a wiki was one of the only free ways to collect knowledge from lots of different people, many of whom the person creating the wiki didn’t know. And it received contributions from thousands of librarians and certain pages were THE place to find information on that topic."

"But now, other more stable tools exist for this. Mediawiki software is vulnerable to spam and is not the most stable thing out there. I (and my husband when it’s beyond my capabilities) have spent so much time over the past twelve years troubleshooting the software, reverting spam, and blocking spammers. And, all the while, usage of the wiki has declined and many pages have become painfully stale and dated."

"With a heavy heart, I’m announcing that, unless someone else wants to run the Library Success Wiki on their own server, the wiki will be going dark on February 2, 2018. This should give people time to move information important to them to other collaboration tools and for a knight in shining armor who wants the hassle of managing the wiki themselves to emerge. It can be hard to let go of services that no longer have the ROI they used to, and I’ve wrestled with the idea of saying goodbye to the wiki for years. It’s time. It’s past time."

Part Two of LLRX Series on State of Law Library eBooks 2017-18

This is a follow-up to the October 11, 2017 post entitled Three-Part Series on State of Law Library eBooks 2017-18.

Ellyssa Kroski, Director of Information Technology at the New York Law Institute (NYLI), is writing a three-part series about e-books for the website LLRX.com.

The second article in the series appeared yesterday:

"This article will discuss the different pricing models that are currently available and the pros and cons to each; subscription-based, patron-driven acquisitions, short term loans, access-to-own, etc. as well as strategies for controlling costs, and questions to ask before choosing an eBook solution."

Most Recent Issue of LawNow: Special Report: Access to Justice

The most recent issue of LawNow is available online.

The magazine is published by the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta.

The issue contains a special report on access to justice.

Survey for Law Library Benchmarks, 2018-19

New York-based Primary Research Group will soon publish a new edition of Law Library Benchmarks, a survey of law libraries.

US and Canadian law libraries that contribute through a survey will receive a free copy of Law Library Benchmarks, 2018-19 Edition:

"Primary Research Group, Inc., a publisher of surveys, monographs and research reports, is planning to publish a new edition of Law Library Benchmarks, a survey of law libraries. University, corporate, law firm, government agency, int'l organization and other law libraries are eligible. Participants receive a free pdf copy of the report when it is published. Your institution will be listed as a participant but the information that you provide is absolutely confidential; all data is amalgamated in a statistical package; no data is presented for individual institutions. Only law libraries from the USA or Canada are eligible for this particular study (though many of our studies are international in scope)."

Primary Research Group has published many law library-related surveys in the past.

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

The November 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.

Feedback Sought on Format of Annual Federal Statutes

The Publishing and Depository Services Directorate of Public Services and Procurement Canada is looking for feedback about the format of the 2016 print edition of the Annual Statutes of Canada.

According to a message distributed on the listserv of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries:

"In 2016, the Department of Justice modernized the print and PDF appearance of federal legislation. As a result of the new layout for legislation, we [i.e the Government] are planning to produce the upcoming print edition of the Annual Statutes of Canada in a more standard format (8 ½ by 11 inches, longer lines, use of different fonts, etc.). The new Justice Canada layout does not change the wording or meaning of the legislation, but makes it more user‑friendly and easier to read."

"Please let us know by November 16, 2017 if you have any feedback or concerns regarding this modification to the print version of the Annual Statutes of Canada, which requires the repeal of the Publication of Statutes Regulations. Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this matter."

Feedback should be sent to publications AT tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca