Law Library of Congress Reports Collection Surpasses 4000 Documents

For a long time, the Law Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. has been producing reports on a huge range of foreign, comparative, and international law topics.

A post today on its blog In Custodia Legis describes its efforts to make available its collection of legacy and contemporary reports:

"Since we last celebrated our milestone of over 3,000 online reports just last summer, the Law Library has continued to publish additional legacy born-digital and digitized reports on a near-weekly basis. Now, as of last month, we are happy to announce that our collection of legacy and contemporary reports has grown to over 4,000. This collection includes a mixture of both legacy and contemporary reports on foreign, comparative, and international law topics. For decades, the Law Library of Congress has prepared these legal reports in response to requests from Congress, the executive and judicial branches of the federal government, and others. In 2020, we announced a multi-year effort to digitize and publish many of our previously unreleased historical reports to make them fully accessible to researchers and other members of the public. Last month, we announced that our reports are now also available in a curated collection on HeinOnline in addition to being freely available on law.gov (...)"

"While the bulk of the published legacy reports address issues that are still of interest to policymakers today – topics such as immigration, gun control, and the regulation of emerging technologies appear frequently – there are several documents that are specific in scope and whose topics are surprisingly unique."

The blog post features 3 of those "unique" reports whose content is testimony to the breadth of topics that law librarians can be asked to research:

• a report from the 1970s on hitchhiking laws in Poland
• a report from the same decade on laws to protect the languages of France, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland from "foreign influences"
• a report from 2005 that discussed the rationing of curtains in Germany during World War I

 

Law Commission of England Consultation Paper on Evidence in Sexual Assault Trials

The Law Commission of England has released a consultation paper containing a number of proposals to change the way that evidence is used in sexual offences prosecutions in England and Wales.

The gist of the proposals is to counter the effects of rape myths and misconceptions on the trial process, treating complainants humanely, and ensuring that defendants receive a fair trial.

Some of myths and stereotypes surrounding sexual assault are that an assault will always be reported promptly, and/or that victims will be visibly distraught when describing what happened. These myths do not reflect the variety of experiences of and reactions to sexual violence. 

Among the proposals that the Commission has submitted for discussion:

• A bespoke regime for access, disclosure and use of complainants’ personal records, including counselling notes. This regime would include judicial oversight of whether and how these records should be used, considering factors such as the complainant’s right to privacy and the importance of the records to the defendant’s case.
• New framework for restricting the use of evidence of complainants’ sexual behaviour and compensation claims. When deciding whether to admit this type of evidence, the judge would consider factors such as the risk of perpetuating myths and misconceptions and the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
• Giving complainants an automatic entitlement to measures to assist them to give evidence, such as giving evidence over live link, or in private (with an exemption that allows press attendance).
• Independent legal advice and representation for complainants, which would allow them to make informed decisions about the way their evidence is given and used, and to participate in decisions about the use of their sensitive personal information.
• The paper also considers the use of educational tools that could help minimise the impact of rape myths on jury decision-making. These could include, for example, the use of expert evidence to explain the complex physical and psychological responses to sexual violence.

American Association of Law Libraries 2023 Legal Literature Award Recipients

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) has announced the names of the 2023 Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award recipients.

The winners of this annual award that recognizes a significant textual contribution to legal literature are:

• The Role of Citation in the Law: A Yale Law School Symposium (William S. Hein & Co.)
• Empirical Legal Research Services (University of North Texas)

According to the AALL press release:

“'This year’s winners of the Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award, Empirical Legal Research Services and The Role of Citation in the Law, provide a deep dive into empirical legal research and a thorough examination of the key issues of interest to law librarians and faculty surrounding analyzing, creating, and publishing works of scholarship', said AALL President Beth Adelman. 'These titles get to the very heart of what law librarians excel at—performing legal research and supporting the endeavors of law librarians and their work. Congratulations to the authors for creating these important literary works'.”

The Canadian equivalent, the Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing, is handed out annually by the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL). The 2023 winner will be announced at the upcoming CALL annual conference starting May 28 in Hamilton, Ontario.

Geek in Review Podcast Interview on the Launch of Lexis+ AI

The most recent episode of the Geek in Review Podcast co-hosted by Greg Lambert and Marlene Gebauer is available.

Lambert is a former president of the American Association of Law Libraries.

The podcast features an interview with ⁠Jeff Pfeifer⁠, Chief Product Officer of LexisNexis for UK, Ireland, Canada, and US:

"Pfeifer discusses how LexisNexis+ AI offers conversational search, summarization, and drafting tools to help lawyers work more efficiently. The tools provide contextual, iterative search so users can refine and improve results. The drafting tools can help with tasks like writing client emails or advisory statements. The summarization features can summarize datasets like regulations, opinions, and complaints."

"LexisNexis is working with leading AmLaw 50 firms in a commercial preview program to get feedback and input on the AI tools. LexisNexis also launched an AI Insider Program for any interested firms to learn about AI and how it may impact their business. There is definitely demand for the AI Insider Program with over 3,000 law firms already signed up."

New and Updated 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, has published or updated a number of research guides recently:

• Foreign Law – Subject Law Collections on the Web
• Introduction to the Norms and Institutions of the African Union
• The Amparo Context in Latin American Jurisdiction: An Approach to an Empowering Action
• Researching International Food Law

Law Commission of Ontario Report on Last Stages of Life for Indigenous People

The Law Commission of Ontario has published a report on the Last Stages of Life for First Nation, Métis and Inuit Peoples: Preliminary Recommendations for Law Reform.

The document examines the issues surrounding quality of life for Indigenous persons in Ontario who are dying and those who support them.

For the purposes of the project, the Commission considers the term "Indigenous" to include First Nation, Métis and Inuit, and status and non-status and urban Indigenous populations.

The report advocates for:

• The need to reconceive health care consent, capacity, and substitute decision-making;
• Facilitating traditional practices governing death in the home and natural burials;
• Measuring health care performance with Indigenous practices and values;
• Better supporting Indigenous health professionals, family members, and caregivers in community; and,
• Access to Indigenous hospices in community.

Stanford University AI Index Report

The AI Index Report developed at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University in California is an interesting resource to help track developments in the field.

It tracks worldwide trends in private AI investments, the number of incidents related to the ethical misuse of AI, as well as the state of AI regulation and legislation across the world.

Chapter 6 on Policy and Governance shows that there has been an explosive increase in the level of attention that legislators are paying to issues relating to AI:

"An AI Index analysis of the legislative records of 127 countries shows that the number of bills containing 'artificial intelligence' that were passed into law grew from just 1 in 2016 to 37 in 2022. An analysis of  the parliamentary records on AI in 81 countries likewise shows that mentions of AI in global legislative proceedings have increased nearly 6.5 times since 2016."

Can ChatGPT Replace Traditional Research Surveys?

I came across an article entitled The Survey Is Dead; Long Live the Survey: Can ChatGPT Replace Traditional Research Surveys?

It appeared recently on the RIPS Law Librarian Blog. It is published by the Research, Instruction, and Patron Services Special Interest Section (RIPS-SIS) of the American Association of Law Libraries:

"Our library recently hosted a guest speaker, David Wingate, a professor in BYU’s computer science department who does research on large language models, for a faculty lunch and learn. The entire presentation was fascinating, but the most intriguing part for me and many of the law faculty in attendance was the idea that generative AI systems will become so good they will be able to replace human subjects in answering research surveys. How? Generative neural networks trained on huge amounts of data—terabytes and even petabytes—ingest enough information about people that they can answer survey questions as if they were members of the survey population. Researchers provide the machine with the rough profiles for the individuals they want to survey, and the AI will generate the survey responses."

"Would this really work? Can a generative AI system learn enough about a person tell us how they will think and act in the future?"

The author of the post is unsurprisingly skeptical.

Bibliometrics and Research Impact Community Conference 2023

The 6th Bibliometrics and Research Impact Community Conference will take place in Ottawa in early June:

"Hosted in-person this event aims to advance the skills and knowledge of library and information professionals supporting research impact services and initiatives. Participants will come together to exchange tips, learn practical techniques, and hear about how bibliometrics and research impact are being applied in different institutional settings and subject areas."

The program is available online. 

The event will be held at St.Paul University,

Law Society of Ontario Tip on Finding Unreported Ontario Decisions

Know How, the blog of the Law Society of Ontario's Great Library, regularly posts very useful research tips.

It recently published one entitled Finding “Unreported” Ontario Decisions: Unreported, but not Unretrievable?

As the text explains, it may surprise some people but there are decisions (not only from Ontario but also from other Canadian jurisdictions) that have not been published and that do not appear in any of the big legal research databases.

It outlines some of the basic steps for tracking down these elusive rulings. 

The basic steps are:

• contact the courthouse where the case was heard
• find out about any offsite storage sites
• for much older cases, contact the provincial archives.

I know that many of the same steps can also apply when trying to find "unreported" cases from many other provinces.

American Libraries Releases 2023 Library Systems Report

The magazine American Libraries has released the 2023 Library Systems Report, its most recent annual report on the worldwide library technology industry.

"In recent years, business acquisitions have brought high-stakes changes to the library technology industry, creating seismic shifts in the balance of power. But other events in 2022—primarily advances in open source software—have even bigger implications for the market. Although proprietary products continue to dominate, open source alternatives are becoming increasingly competitive (...) "

"The 2023 Library Systems Report documents ongoing investments of libraries in strategic technology products in 2022. It covers for-profit and nonprofit organizations that offer strategic resource management products—especially integrated library systems and library services platforms—and comprehensive discovery products."

"The vendors included have responded to a survey requesting details about their organization, sales performance, and narrative explanations of accomplishments. Additional sources consulted include press releases, news articles, and other publicly available information. Most of the organizations provided lists of libraries represented in the statistics reported, allowing for more detailed analysis and validation."

The report is written by Marshall Breeding, a well-known library tech expert. He also edits the Library Technology Guides website and produces the annual International Library Automation Perceptions Surveys.