September/October 2020 Issue of AALL Spectrum

The September/October 2020 Issue of AALL Spectrum is now available online.

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

Among the articles:

• Novel Responses: Helping Law Firms Answer Clients’ COVID-19 Questions
• Academic Law Libraries & the Early Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Global COVID-19 Research Efforts
• Open Educational Resources Repositories for Casebooks & Textbooks
• Strategies for Redesigning Library Research Training Programs
• Talking Tech / Disaster Planning and the Virtual Law Library
• Voices Across the Spectrum / How Law Librarians Can Help Tell the Black Lives Matter Movement’s Story

Canadian Association of Law Libraries VP Kim Nayyer Named to Fastcase 50

Kim Nayyer, Vice-President of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries, has been named to the 2020 list of Fastcase 50 legal innovators. 

Kim is currently the Edward Cornell Law Librarian and Associate Dean for Library Services, Cornell Law in the state of New York.

“Created in 2011, each year the Fastcase 50 award honors a diverse group of lawyers, legal technologists, policymakers, judges, law librarians, bar association executives, and people from all walks of life. In many cases, honorees are well known, but in many others, the award recognizes people who have made important, but unheralded contributions.”

“ 'Every part of the legal market is changing right now – from law school through every part of the practice,' said Fastcase CEO Ed Walters. 'That change can be daunting or discouraging to many people. And that’s one reason that our team enjoys celebrating the accomplishments of the Fastcase 50. These are people who inspire us by their intelligence, creativity, and leadership. We hope they will inspire others as well, especially during a time of great change for the profession'. ”

Here is what Fastcase published about her:

Fastcase is an American-based provider of electronic versions of U.S. primary law (cases, statutes, regulations, court rules, and constitutions).

Simon Fodden, the founder of Slaw.ca, Canada's preeminent online legal magazine, was recognized as one of the Fastcase 50 in 2014.

Michael Mills, one of the Fastcase 50 in 2012, wrote in 2015 on LinkedIn about how the winners of the previous 5 years had begun to form an ecosystem of innovation:

“They champion transparency—in lawyer/client relations, in government data, policy, and practice, in judicial proceedings, and in legal education. They advocate for access—to the law itself, and to justice. They build structures, systems, and tools for access, quality, economy, and efficiency.”

“They also collaborate. A tour of the five classes found time and again 50’s who are working together across organizations and projects, who influence and inspire one another.” [my emphasis]

Using his company as an example, Mills writes that “from any one person among the Fastcase 250, there are lines linking in many directions to many others.”

That has only become truer with time.

Survey of Academic Library Use of Open Access Materials

Primary Research Group, a New York-based publisher of research reports and surveys about libraries, has published the Survey of Academic Library Use of Open Access Materials ($95.00 US):

"As a response to the COVID crisis many colleges and universities are turning to open access resources and this report gives highly detailed data on the extent of use of a broad range of specific open access resources including but not limited to Google Scholar, Google Books, LOCKSS, the Directory of Open Access Journals, PubMed Central,  arXiv, bioRxiv, MedRxiv, ResearchGate the Directory of Open Access Books, OAPEN, the Online Guide to Open Access Journals, PDQY, Open Access Theses and Dissertations, the Registry of Research Data Repositories, MedEdPortal, the Open Access Directory, OpenDOAR, the Free Music Archive, EBSCO Open Dissertations, Science.Gov, OpenStax, MERLOT, Lumen Learning, the Open Course Library, Boundless and Saylor Academy."

"The report also looks at use of interlibrary loan, direct appeals to authors and at pirating sites such as Sci-Hub as ways to fulfill patron demand after subscription cancellations.  The study also gives detailed data on the use of, and perception of the skill level in using, digital object identifiers to track and find open access and other available free or low- cost materials. Study participants also comment on what they are doing to publicize open access resources to their patrons, and what training they are providing in their discovery and use. "

"Just a few of the 132-page report’s many findings are that:

• 37% of those sampled turn to interlibrary loan as their first choice in replacing content to which they have lost access (...)
• 63% of US-based colleges and universities in the sample produced a guidebook, listserv or LibGuide on how to locate and use open access resources."

NYU Guide on Safe Handling of Library Materials

 NYU Libraries in New York City has published a Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) guide with a section on the Safe Handling of Library Materials.

The section on "Recommendations for Safe Handling" covers:

• Library returns
• Plastic cases (CD/DVD)
• Mail, boxes, and packages
• Computers/technology guidelines
• Book trucks
• Paging [i.e. handling physical materials] and Scanning

White Paper on Dramatic Changes to Law Firm Management Due to COVID-19

 A recent Association of Legal Administrators poll shows that many law firms see the radical changes in management and operations brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic as more than temporary.

Among the findings:

• Working from home will be permanent
• Changes to back-office support structures will accelerate
• COVID-19 has made legal staff more willing to change their working practices
• Visibility of workflow and task delegation is a significant challenge
• Returning to work requires separate plans for each office
• IT services will continue to be heavily utilized

REALM Project Test 3 Results for COVID Virus Survival on Library Materials

This is a follow-up to the July 21, 2020 post entitled REALM Project Test 2 Results for COVID Virus Survival on 5 Library Materials.

Research conducted as part of the REopening Archives, Libraries, and Museums (REALM) Project has been testing how long the virus SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 remains detectable on various library surfaces and materials.

In a third series of tests, the Project looked at various storage containers and packaging:

"Results show that after five days of quarantine in an unstacked configuration, the SARS-CoV-2 virus was not detected on the storage bag (flexible plastic) or the DVD. The storage container (rigid plastic), plexiglass, and the USB cassette all showed detectable virus at five days. Day five was the final timepoint tested."

"Compared to the results of Test 1 and 2, this data suggests that a slightly longer quarantine time for these types of plastic-based materials may be required to render SARS-CoV-2 undetectable through natural attenuation alone. Alternatively, based on the materials’ nonporous nature, suitable liquid disinfection methods may promote a more rapid decontamination than the quarantine method."

 REALM is a collaboration between OCLC, an international library services cooperative, the US government agency Institute of Museum and Library Services, and Battelle, an R&D organization.

Law Reform Commission Meeting on The Rule of Law and The Response To COVID-19

In early July, the 4 law commission of England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Jersey held a joint annual meeting to discuss government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

They recently published the proceedings from that gathering:

"Striking the balance between the urgency of the responses required by a public health crisis and the rule of law is a challenge for every legitimate government. Achieving the balance not only protects human rights and safeguards institutions but may also help to support the measures required by the emergency by sustaining public trust in the institutions and in the legitimacy and necessity of the measures introduced. It is an issue that has been considered in both international instruments and national legal frameworks ... Ten principles to reconcile the immediate exigencies of a crisis with the long-term legitimacy offered by the rule of law may be derived from these sources: legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, time ii limits, non-derogable rights, international obligations, parliamentary scrutiny, effective remedy and transparency." 

"Bodies engaged with law reform such as the Law Commissions attending this online Joint Annual Meeting of the four neighbouring Law Commissions have a role in supporting governments achieve the best outcomes. The meeting presented a timely opportunity to take stock of what measures had been introduced and to evaluate their compatibility with human rights and the rule of law (...)" 

"Presentations were made by each of the Law Commissions for England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Jersey. The Law Commission of England and Wales gave an oral presentation about potential post-COVID law reform priorities and did not present a formal paper to the meeting. The papers prepared by or digests of the presentations from each of the Law Commissions of Ireland, Scotland and Jersey follow."

August Survey Results - U.S. Academic Law Libraries COVID-19 Response

NELLCO, a law library consortium based in the North East United States, has published results from a survey it recently conducted concerning the response of American academic law libraries to the COVID-19 pandemic.

70 institutions responded. The results are focused on the fall 2020 semester and broken down into seven sections:

• Survey Overview & Demographics
• Fall 2020 Plans
• Library Collections
• Library Services
• Library Staffing
• Health & Safety
• Library Space

Top Francophone Library Conference Going Virtual in November 2020

The 5th annual Congrès des professionnel.le.s de l'information, the top information professional gathering in Québec, will take place in a virtual form November 2-6, 2020.

The program is now online.

It is necessary to register to take part. Registration includes access to recordings to keynote speeches and roundtables after the event.

The conference is organized by the Fédération des milieux documentaires, an association of library and archivist associations mostly but not only from the province of Québec. 

It includes the ABDM, the Montreal Association of Law Libraries.

Colleagues have attended past conferences and confirm it is a high calibre event. Knowledge of French is a prerequisite.

Private US Law Firm Library Summit on Coping With COVID

Recently, the Private Law Librarians and Information Professionals group (PLLIP) held a one-day Summit. 

As part of the event, PLLIP which is a section of the American Association of Law Libraries organized a panel of law firm information professionals’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic:

"The six questions tackled by the panel covered a range of territory–how  quickly staff members pivoted to remote working, along with an examination of firm policies for WFH [i.e. work from home]; identifying changes in attorney request/response tools prior to and after the conversion to remote work; the difficulties and challenges of migrating from print to electronic formats, which segued into identifying specific tasks no longer deployed; and the impact of the stressful changes on staff."

OCLC Launches New Model Library Research Program

 OCLC, an international library services cooperative, recently launched a new research program called The New Model Library:

"As a part of OCLC Research’s work in documenting how libraries as organizations operate, adapt, and evolve, the OCLC Research team met with global library leaders to discuss emerging library models in response to the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Highlights address new and evolving library practices, offerings, and policies and collaborations with other libraries, associations, consortia, and community agencies. Leaders reflect on their long-term vision for libraries as a result of changing practices and environments (...)"

"The objective was to talk to approximately 30 global library leaders in North America, Europe, including UK and Ireland, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific to identify their visions for the new library models that will emerge as they look at opportunities for converting their short-term responses to the COVID-19 pandemic into positive, long-term change. Library leaders from national and public libraries (e.g., City Librarian/Deputy Librarian/Director/CEO/President) from different regions of Europe and Asia Pacific and the US (north, south, east, and west) and in rural and urban communities; and academic libraries (e.g., Dean/Director/University Librarian/Associate University Librarian) representing public, private, secular, and non-secular research, baccalaureate/4-year colleges, associate’s colleges, technical/community colleges from different regions of the US (north, south, east, and west)."

CanLII Will Co-Host 2020 Law Via the Internet Conference

CanLII, the Canadian Legal Information Institute, will be co-hosting the 2020 Law Via the Internet Conference. The other co-host is the African Legal Information Institute. 

The conference brings together people from the Legal Information Institutes (LIIs) from different countries and continents that together form the Free Access to Law Movement.

It will take place virtually on September 22 and 23, 2020.

The goal of the LIIs is to maximize free access to public legal information such as legislation and case law from as many countries and international institutions as possible. 

CanLII and Lexum, which publishes the decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada online, are prominent members of the movement.

Law Society of Saskatchewan Librarians in the Public Library

Alan Kilpatrick, a reference librarian with the Law Society of Saskatchewan, has posted video and notes from his recent lightning talk presentation on Embedded Law Librarians in the Public Library. 

It was part of the 2020 Canadian Association of Law Libraries Virtual Conference:

"Since January 2019, Ken Fox and I, Reference Librarians with the Law Society of Saskatchewan, have attended the main branches of the Saskatoon Public Library (SPL) and the Regina Public Library (RPL), respectively, as embedded Law Librarians, one afternoon and evening a month. We provide on-site legal information assistance: guiding patrons towards online and print sources, highlighting resources for further learning, teaching basic research skills, and, when necessary, suggesting referrals to organizations that provide legal advice. I am here to talk about our experiences and to update you on what we have learned."

"Over the past five years, the Law Society of Saskatchewan has explored the role libraries and information professionals can play in improving legal information access through a variety of initiatives, such as Saskatchewan’s Access to Legal Information project. Like many courthouse libraries, we are open to the public, encourage the public to visit or contact us, and provide public visitors with information assistance. However, we have long strived to establish a more direct connection with members of the public searching for legal information. While brainstorming among our team, we realized that the public library could be an ideal place to better connect with the public."

Canadian Archives Community Developed Unified Response to Truth and Reconciliation Commission

As reported on the website Librarianship.ca, the Canadian Council of Archives, the Association of Canadian Archivists, Library and Archives Canada, l’Association des archivistes du Québec, and the Council of Provincial and Territorial Archivists have developed a joint response to the the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

That Commission looked into the legacy of the Indian residential school programme that for generations hurt children from indigenous communities in Canada.

The final report of the Commission included a series of calls to action to Canadian institutions and citizens to redress the wrongs committed:

"Call to Action #70 called upon the federal government to provide funding to the Canadian Association of Archivists to undertake, in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, a national review of archival policies and best practices. The Canadian archival community heard this call to action. In September 2015, the Steering Community on Canada’s Archives (SCCA), representing the Canadian Council of Archives, the Association of Canadian Archivists, Library and Archives Canada, l’Association des archivistes du Québec, and the Council of Provincial and Territorial Archivists, established the Response to the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Taskforce (TRC-TF) – its mandate to address Call to Action #70 specifically, and the other 93 Calls in spirit."

"With mandate in hand, the Taskforce spent the next four years conducting a review of archival policies and best practices extant across the country, and identifying potential barriers to reconciliation efforts between the Canadian archival community and Indigenous record keepers. The TRC-TF then worked in collaboration with Indigenous communities, heritage professionals and organizations across Canada to create an actionable response to this research which would become the foundation for a reconciliation framework for Canadian archives."

"The document, 'A Reconciliation Framework for Canadian Archives,' is the result of this collaborative work."

Most Recent Issue of Canadian Law Library Review

The most recent issue of the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR) is available online.

The CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL). It is an open access publication.

It is available on the ISSUU platform and in PDF format on the CALL website.