Five Questions with Jacob Ericson - Stewart McKelvey

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) has been running a series of member profiles called Five Questions With...

The most recent interview is with Jacob Ericson, Legal Information Specialist at the law firm Stewart McKelvey:

"How has being involved in CALL helped you professionally (e.g. scholarships & grants, continuing education, networking)?
I’ve only been a member in good standing of CALL for a year but it has already had a profound impact on my career. First, I attended this year’s CALL conference in Halifax and had an amazing time. I met a lot of amazing people, including a group of my peers in the New Professionals Special Interest Group. Connecting with a group of newer law librarians, whose stories and experiences were similar to my own, helped me feel far more at home in my chosen profession. After the conference I also attended the New Law Librarians Institute ('NLLI'), which is organized by CALL. The NLLI, which was held in Calgary this year, is designed to help supplement new law librarians’ legal knowledge so that they can better serve their clients. I attended many courses, taught by law professors and librarians, which provided me with a lot of technical legal information that I’ve found incredibly helpful in my job at Stewart McKelvey."

Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection from December 1^st to 15^th, 2018 is now available on the Court website.

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

TVO Interview With Former Chief Justice of Canada Beverley McLachlin

Ontario's public TV network TVO had a feature interview with former Chief Justice of Canada Beverley McLachlin last week.

It was on the program The Agenda hosted by Steve Paikin.

Reports on Self-Represented Litigants in Canadian Courts

The website Slaw.ca has published an article on Self-Represented Litigants in the Courts: How They Are Shaping the Jurisprudence:

"What happens to a system of expert legal adjudication when in some courts, up to three in four litigants are advocating for themselves without the assistance of counsel?" (...)

"At the National Self-Represented Litigants Project, we began to realize about two years ago that a significant jurisprudence was being created around these questions. We successfully sought funding (from the Law Foundation of Ontario and the Foundation for Legal Research) to establish an ongoing research database for decisions regarding SRL costs, costs against them, procedural fairness issues (like judicial assistance) and vexatious litigants. Our goal is to populate the SRL Case Law Database with extensively analyzed relevant cases back to 2013, and then continue forward."

"So far we have published four research reports arising out of this work, with a fifth out this fall, as well as a preliminary report on our methodology. I encourage you to read each of these, but here at a glance are some interesting takeaways, and a few important themes."

Library and Archives Canada Launches New Aurora Catalogue

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has launched its new catalogue called Aurora.

Earlier this year, LAC added Voilà, a new National Union Catalogue that contains the holdings of hundreds of Canadian libraries.

Both Aurora and Voilà are hosted by OCLC, an international non-profit library co-operative.

LAC has prepared a page with questions and answers abut the two new systems.

News Roundup on Canadian Law Reform Agencies

The blog of the Federation of Law Reform Agencies of Canada (FOLRAC) regularly publishes a roundup of what its member agencies have been up to.

The latest post has news from British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.

Library of Parliament: Seven Facts to Better Understand Violence Against Women in Canada

The Library Parliament blog HillNotes published an article last week entitled Seven Facts to Better Understand Violence Against Women in Canada.

It appeared on December 6, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women that marks the 1989 École polytechnique massacre of 14 female engineering students in Montreal.

The 7 facts that the post lists are:

• Victimization rates are higher for women than for men
• Women are over-represented as victims of some crimes 
• Some groups of women are at greater risk of experiencing violence (due to racism, homophobia, discrimination based on physical ability)
• Homicide rates are six times higher for Indigenous women than for non-Indigenous women
• Eighty-five percent of crimes committed against women are committed by people they know
• Only about 12% of police-reported sexual assaults result in a conviction
• Violence against women has significant impacts on victims and on Canadian society

New International Law Research Guides From GlobaLex

GlobaLex, a very good electronic collection created by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law, recently published new research guides.

Among those that attracted my attention are:

• Researching the Right to Housing: "The right to housing constitutes an integral component of human dignity vis-à-vis an adequate standard of life and living. It is crucial to the realization of other rights including the right to life, the right to privacy, the right to health and the right to development. Hence, the right to housing is recognized as a fundamental human right."
• UPDATE: Researching Customary International Law, State Practice and the Pronouncements of States Regarding International Law: "This research guide is intended to be an introduction to the concept of international custom and its place as a source of international law. The primary focus is on researching state practice and the pronouncements of states regarding international law as evidence of custom. While treaties, state law and the actions of international organizations can also contribute to customary international law, this guide does not assist with researching these areas. References to some of the excellent research guides already written on these areas are included. The guide introduces the researcher to titles that provide texts of the pronouncements of states regarding international law, both U.S. and international. There are also recommendations for secondary sources and finding aids helpful in describing state practice and in tracking down additional resources. Lastly, a list of additional research guides on customary international law is also provided. These alternate research guides were used extensively in preparation for writing this guide and are highly recommended as additional resources on the subject. "

New Web App on What You Can Find in Ontario Courthouses

The Ontario Courthouse Libraries Association (OCLA) has launched a new web app to help lawyers plan their visit to the courthouses and courthouse libraries around the province.

Information includes details such as :

• location of the library in the court building
• contact info
• hours of service
• wi-fi availability
• electronic resources
• printing and copying costs
• robing room
• after hour access

UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library: 30 Key Documents for 70th Anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Dag Hammarskjöld Library at the United Nations headquarters in New York has created an online exhibit featuring 30 key legal documents that illustrate each of the 30 articles of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR):

"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document that set out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. The thirty articles that comprise the UDHR underpin international human rights law and provide a common global standard for human rights at the country and regional level."

"To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the signing of the UDHR, the Dag Hammarskjöld Library is presenting an exploration of thirty key documents related to the thirty articles that constitute the Declaration."

"The Declaration is the most translated document in the world, available in more than 500 languages. Adopted by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) on 10 December 1948, it is still just as relevant in our world today."

Library of Parliament Article on Federal Legislation Affecting People with Disabilities

The Library of Parliament has published an article in its HillNotes blog entitled Federal Legislation affecting People with Disabilities: Where We Are Today:

"The idea of overarching federal accessibility legislation has garnered attention for decades. Many voices, including a parliamentary committee, a federal task force, and advocates have called for legislative action to remove barriers to full participation and ensure the equality of people with disabilities (...)"

"Following a commitment made in Budget 2016, the federal government launched a consultation process with Canadians to 'inform the development of planned legislation that will transform how the Government of Canada addresses accessibility'. "

"Bill C-81, An Act to ensure a barrier-free Canada (short title: Accessible Canada Act), was introduced in the House of Commons on 20 June 2018 by the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, then Minister of Science and Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities. Among other aspects, as indicated by its title, Bill C-81 would enact the Accessible Canada Act, with the stated objective of enhancing the 'full and equal' participation of all Canadians, especially persons with disabilities, in society. "

"The introduction of federal accessibility legislation is expected to benefit not only people with disabilities but also their caregivers. In a society where approximately 6.2 million Canadians aged 15 years or older have reported living with disabilities that limited their daily activities, any legislative reform is likely to have a major impact from coast to coast to coast."

December 2018 Issue of In Session - E-Newsletter of Canadian Association of Law Libraries

The December 2018 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.

US Government Information Portal FDsys Officially Retires December 14

The U.S. government has been testing govinfo.gov, a government information portal that is intended to replace the Federal Digital System (FDsys) that contains official versions of Congressional, Presidential, judicial and federal agency materials.

The government has now announced that FDsys will retire on December 14, 2018:

"govinfo, launched in beta in February 2016, offers many enhancements to the way the public accesses more than one million documents from all three branches of the United States Federal Government. Highlights include a modern, mobile-friendly design; links to related documents of interest; curated feature articles with links to famous documents such as the 9/11 Commission Report, the Warren Commission Report, and the Starr Report; quick and easy social sharing; the ability to browse collections A–Z and by category; sortable search filters; RSS notifications feeds; a search engine that makes search results more relevant than ever; shorter URLs; and more. When the FDsys website is retired, existing links will redirect to govinfo. govinfo had more than 424 million retrievals in fiscal year 2018."

Survey on Canada's New National Union Catalogue

The Canadian Federation of Library Associations and Library and Archives Canada have launched a survey to gather information on what the library community thinks of the move of the National Union Catalogue  once known as AMICUS to the OCLC platform Voilà.

Comments are due by December 14, 2018.

Earlier Library Boy posts on the topic include:

• AMICUS National Union Catalogue to be Replaced Under Deal Between OCLC and Library and Archives Canada (March 27, 2017): "Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has signed a deal with OCLC, the international non-profit library co-operative, to replace AMICUS. AMICUS serves as a national union catalogue, helping users locate materials in hundreds of library collections across the country. It is often used for the purposes of identifying libraries that can provide copies of material via inter-library loan."
• Library and Archives Canada Launches New National Union Catalogue (February 4, 2018): "The launch of Voilà, a milestone for LAC in its library renewal project, marks the completion of the migration of the national union catalogue holdings from AMICUS to OCLC (...) The new catalogue offers an intuitive interface with modern features for searching published materials located in hundreds of libraries across Canada that subscribe to OCLC services, or had their holdings migrated from AMICUS to OCLC.  LAC will start enriching Voilà to provide public access to its own holdings later this year."

Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection from November 16 to 30, 2018 is now available on the Court website.

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