Library Boy on Vacation

Library Boy will be taking some time off. Talk to you in a few weeks.

New OCLC Report on Sustainability of Disciplinary Repositories

OCLC, the international library service and research organization based in Dublin, Ohio, has released a new report entitled Lasting Impact: Sustainability of Disciplinary Repositories:

"Librarians need to be familiar with the evolving aspects of scholarly communication and the changing scholarly record. One component of that is the role of repositories. It’s crucial for anyone working in a research library to understand the repository landscape, both to advise researchers on where to look for information and how to disseminate their own research articles. Librarians should appreciate the nature of the leading disciplinary repositories and have a sense of their motivations, their scope, and how they operate. Before getting involved with a disciplinary repository, they should be familiar with the risks and opportunities in depending on the repository and, most importantly, they need to know if the repository has a sustainable model. For a library considering starting a disciplinary repository or taking on the operation of an existing one, these considerations are essential."

The report profiles 7 subject-based research repositories and examines issues such as sustainability, funding models, factors that contribute to a repository's success, and how librarians can support researchers in accessing and disseminating research information. The 7 repositories described in the report are:

• AgEcon Search—Research in Agricultural & Applied Economics
• arXiv.org e-Print Archive 
• Economists Online 
• E-LIS: E-Prints in Library & Information Science 
• PubMed Central 
• RePEc—Research Papers in Economics 
• SSRN—Social Science Research Network

OCLC has also posted a video intro on YouTube.

YouTube Tutorials for United Nations Legal Materials

Debbie Rabina, who teaches International Information Sources at the Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science in New York City, has created three YouTube tutorials for learning how to use the following United Nations materials:

• U.N. Treaty Series: Multilateral treaty search
  
• Using the U.N. Juridical Yearbook
  
• Using the U.N. International Commission Law Analytical Year

[Source: beSpacific]

2012-13 Reports on Plans and Priorities for Canadian Judiciary

The 2012-13 Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPPs) have been tabled in the House of Commons on behalf of federal government departments and agencies. They are now on the website of the Treasury Board Secretariat.

These RPPs set out departmental/agency priorities, provide performance measurement indicators, and explain expected results.

Here are the RPPs for a number of federal judiciary institutions:

• Supreme Court of Canada
• Courts Administration Service (Federal Court, Federal Court of Appeal, Tax Court of Canada, Court Martial Appeal Court)
• Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada (administration of the federal judiciary, Canadian Judicial Council)

Spring 2012 Issue of Law Library Journal Available

The Spring 2012 issue of Law Library Journal is available online. It is a publication of the American Association of Law Libraries.

Among the articles is one sure to interest Canadian readers: Cancellation of Print Primary Sources in Canadian Academic Law Libraries by Nancy McCormack.

Canadian Association of Law Libraries 2012 Conference Resolutions

A number of resolutions were adopted yesterday at the Annual General Meeting held during the conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries in Toronto:

• annual membership fees will increase over the next three years 
• members voted to support the principles and actions that will flow from the Calgary Statement on Free Access to Legal Information adopted in May 2011 by the Council of Canadian Academic Law Library Directors 
• members also voted to support the Save Libraries and Archives Canada campaign of the Canadian Association of University Teachers

Canadian Association of Law Libraries 2012 Conference - Judicial Librarians Meet

Judicial libraries met over breakfast earlier this week at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries in Toronto.

Judicial librarians meet informally once a year at the CALL conference to exchange info about projects and concerns.

Some of the things we discussed include:

• what kind of performance measures different libraries use
• examples of special services we offer: examples include electronic journal table of contents services, online posting of practice notes for judges, bulletins outlining important foreign court decisions, bibliographies of academic commentary on judgments rendered, etc.
• there was discussion of e-book trends in judicial libraries: it appears that most libraries do offer access to some e-books from different vendors but via the browser as opposed to devices of e-book readers - so far...
• the group has been compiling a list of social media policies of different Canadian courts. This will be published later this year on the CALL website
• During the rest of the year, I hope to post more detailed information about many of the issues listed above

Future Trends in Law Libraries

At a session this morning at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) in Toronto, New York-based consultant Nigel Holloway outlined some of the results of a survey conducted earlier this year among CALL members.

Some 140 law librarians responded, about one quarter of the CALL membership, with two fifths of respondents coming from law firms, a bit over one third from from courthouse libraries, and about one sixth from universities. More than 50% of respondents worked in small libraries (1-3 staff), more or less 20% in medium-sized libraries (4-9), and about one quarter in libraries with more than 10 staff members.

When asked to identify the biggest opportunity they face in the next year, more than 35% answered decreased reliance on print, a little less than 20% mentioned being viewed as 'knowledge managers' and about 15% answered new technology.

What is next year's biggest challenge in Canadian law libraries? 40% said doing more with less, 15% answered less reliance on print and about one out of 7 said budget cuts.

The survey is quite revealing about the trend toward digital content. Right now, some 45% of respondents state that more than 40% of their content is in digital format. 70% of respondents expect this to be the situation by 2014.

What about non-legal research (marketing, competitive intelligence, production of continuing professional development products...)? Right now, less than a third of respondents say that they spend more than 20% of their time on non-legal research, but more than 40% expect to be spending that much time on non-legal matters within 2 years.

The law library budget picture appears stable. One survey question asked about money spent last year by law libraries. About 45% answered that it had stayed the same, and there were more people who answered they had spent more than had spent less.

Another question was about money to be spent this year. The picture was pretty much the same as for the previous question. Of course, stable spending levels when vendor subscriptions continue to rise means some other expenditures have to take a hit.

One question about vendors was revealing, Close to 30% of respondents explained they were considering moving to a single online provider, a figure Holloway described as fairly large.

The full results of the survey will soon be made available on the CALL conference website. I will post the link when it is up on the site.

CALL Webinitos - Law Librarian Videos on YouTube

In preparation for the 2012 annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) now taking place in Toronto, organizers prepared a series of Webinitos, short videos on topics from educational to playful.

Available on YouTube at  http://www.youtube.com/user/CALLWebinitos, the videos cover topics such as apps on the iPad, knowledge management, Meebo for instant messaging, the new RDA cataloguing standard, the Canadian Law Library Review, Toronto landmarks and roller derby!

Canadian Association of Law Libraries 2012 Conference - Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing

The 2012 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing was announced today at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries in Toronto.

The Award goes to JuriBistro UNIK, the global search engine on the website of CAIJ, the network of courthouse libraries in Quebec.

With this one interface, one can simultaneously search Quebec Bar association continuing education materials, the CAIJ catalogue, full text of Quebec and federal caselaw and legislation, full text of secondary literature from publisher Wilson & Lafleur, the contents of legal journal indexes and the TOPO knowledgebase of answers by CAIJ researchers to more than 3000 questions from lawyers.

Canadian Association of Law Libraries 2012 Conference - Vendor Demos

The 2012 annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) got off to a start today in Toronto.

Demos of new products by vendors were one of the highlights of the day. I attended the sessions by LexisNexis (provider of the Quicklaw database) and Thomson Reuters (the company behind the Westlaw Canada database).

New products or features from LexisNexis include:

* the first edition of the encyclopedia Halsbury's Laws of Canada will be completed this year, with regular annual updates after that
* 21 of the 25 volumes of the Quebec legal encyclopedia Jurisclasseur Quebec will be completed and available on Quicklaw by the end of the year
* new labour and employment content from publisher Lancaster House
* the Quicklaw Legal Topics bilingual and bijural topical classification is being enhanced
* caselaw cited in LexisNexis e-books will  link to the full text in Quicklaw
* the really big new thing that will be rolled out next fall is "Quicklaw for Microsoft Office": subscribers will be able to add a Quicklaw tab to the ribbon of Microsoft tools such as Outlook and Word. By clicking on the tab, any company names, parties, legal citations, legal terms of art in an e-mail or document will become links to Quicklaw collections. From within any Microsoft application, it will be possible to conduct research, note up cases and legislation, find forms and precedents, and track work to a client file

Among the highlights presentedby Thomson Reuters, those that caught my eye were:

* the legal research memo collection on Westlaw Canada is growing at a rate of 100 a month (entirely new memos or updates). The memos are in 53 areas of law and come from law firms or legal research firms. They are organized using the well-known Canadian Abridgment taxonomy and contain links to caselaw and legislation in Westlaw. As well, memos citing cases or legislation now appear as secondary sources when noting up
* Westlaw Canada is adding Kim Orr Class Action Newsletter, a biweekly bulletin of news, analysis and feature articles on class actions by defence and plaintiff sides and judges
* it is adding the Solicitor's Core product, a forms/precedents collection in the areas of corporate commercial law, estates, family law and real estate
* the merger with publisher Canada Law Book will mean the integration of tens of thousands of new tribunal cases in labour law in Westlaw Canada
* some 25 new titles are coming to the Carswell e-Reference Library in 2012 in aboriginal law, defamation, corporate commercial law, administrative law, condo law and landlord and tenant relations. The Collection is the electronic equivalent of well-known loose-leafs
* the Thomson Reuters Proview e-book platform, currently available for the browser or the iPad, is coming to the Blackberry

Victorian Law Reform Commission Project on Guardianship

The Law Reform Commission of the Australian state of Victoria is undertaking a review of guardianship laws that allow a designated person ("guardian") to have someone deprived of their liberty in a residential care context.

Yesterday, it published a background paper comparing the legislation on the topic in a number of jurisdictions, including England and Wales, the Australian state of Queensland, Ontario, British Columbia, and Yukon.

Winners of the 2012 AALL Day in the Life Photo Contest

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) has revealed the names of the winners of its latest annual Life in the Day Photo Contest.

The overall winning submission is from Rita Kaiser: I Wonder What it was Like to "Shelve a Book." The caption reads: "Yumi Blackwell, associate research librarian, evaluates the library's choices to use the shelves now that we access the reporters electronically."

New Zealand Law Commission Consultations on News Media in Digital Age

The Law Commission of New Zealand is conducting consultations on the need for changes to the regulatory regime for news media in the digital age.

It is looking at who regulates the media as well as at whether existing criminal and civil remedies for wrongs such as defamation, harassment, breach of confidence and privacy are effective in the new media environment.

In December 2011, the Commission released a discussion paper ("Issues Paper")  and invited submissions. Earlier this week, it released a list of submissions received.

May 2012 Issue of Quebec Bar Association's Journal du Barreau

The May 2012 issue of the Journal du Barreau is available online. It is the monthly news bulletin of the Quebec Bar Association.

One of the articles describes the work of the recent public commission that looked into end of life issues such as medical assistance to people who want to "die with dignity".

See the related Library Boy post of March 29, 2012 entitled Quebec National Assembly Select Committee Calls for Doctor-Assisted Euthanasia.