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State of New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library (New York County)

Inspired by the recent New York Unified Court System Report Green Justice: An environmental Action Plan for the New York State Court System*, the New York Supreme Court Law Library, Criminal Term (New York County) is pleased to announce a major upgrade to the section of our website dealing with search engines. Our objective is to best serve your information needs through enhanced access to reference and research sources. Consequently, we have have provided a wide variety of general Internet search engines as well as search engines that specifically target legal information sites. Moreover, we have included in our resource page meta search engines which combine the search results and different technologies of multiple companies (e.g. Google and MSN). We hope that these resources are another means for you to conveniently and best retrieve information from the Internet. Our new search engine page is located at: /nyc_criminal/search_engines.shtml .

You may wish to reacquaint yourselves with out library homepage which is located at: http://www.nycourts.gov/library/nyc_criminal/ .

On December 22, 2008 we posted a list of House committee assignments preferred by many freshman in the 111th congress.

Although we have heard nothing more about House commitee assignments, we have heard from the Senate. Senate Majority Harry Reid has announced a partial list of the committee assignments he anticipates members of the Democratic Caucus will hold during the 111th Congress. As required by Senate rules, Senator Reid will meet with the Republican Leader to finalize the make-up of each Committee. For additional information including the anticipated committee assignment click on the link below
Partial List of Democratic Senate Committee Assignments Proposed for the 111th Congress

At the beginning of 2007, the steering committee of OpenTheGovernment.org put a spotlignt on the importance of developing recommendations for the next administration and Congress to strengthen government transparency. OMB Watch agreed to spearhead such a project and to work with the OpenTheGovernment.org coalition and others including the AALL Government Relations Office staff in fashioning recommendations for providing a new roadmap for openness in the federal government that will in turn provide greater government transparancy, accountability and usability of government information.

The resulting report “Moving Toward a 21st Century Right-to-Know Agenda: Recommendations to President-elect Obama and Congress,” was delivered to President-Elect Obama’s transition team the day after the election. It includes more than 70 prioritized recommendations on issues relating to national security and secrecy, usability of government information, and how to create an environment for greater transparency. Those who are concerned and would like to make their own positions known can go to a special website established by OMB Watch and endorse the findings of the Report.

TITLE: Anatomy of a Trial SUBTITLE: Public Loss, Lessons Learned from The People vs. O.J. Simpson AUTHOR: Jerrianne Hayslett PUBLICATION DATE: December 2008 PUBLISHER: University of Missouri Press PAGE COUNT: 256 pp.

ISBN: 978-0-8262-1822-3 PRICE: $29.95

The author was the information officer and media liason for Los Angeles Superior Court during the 1995 criminal trial of Orenthal James Simpson, a retired NFL running back and actor, on charges of murdering his ex-wife and her boyfriend in June of the previous year. Hayslett examines how an ordinary felony murder trial was turned into a public spectacle of excessive and outrageous proportions by the outlandish and, at times unprofessional, conduct of prosecutors, defense attorneys and, unfortunately, the presiding judge, Lance Ito. As she was present daily both in the courtroom and Ito’s chambers, the author delivers an insider’s account of how the judge went from a paragon of judicial stature and competence to a celebrity aspirant devoid of talent or stage skill. Frequently criticizing the judge for being too deferential to the demands of Simpson’s attorneys, Hayslett provides more than just a captivating tale of an aberrational trial and its consequences. Her account includes an essential blueprint for what the media and judges can do in the future to avoid sideshows and to fulfill their responsibilities to the public. Recommended for public, academic, and law libraries.

According to an NBC report on MSNBC, use of library has gone “way up” during the present economic downturn; circulation is “skyrocketing”. All of this at a time when the budgets of many of these libraries are being cut..

When you go to the above link, be patient, You will first need to listen to a brief commercial before getting to the report about libraries.

TITLE: Legacy And Legitimacy SUBTITLE: Black Americans And The Supreme Court AUTHORS: Rosalee A. Clawson and Eric N. Waltenburg PUBLICATION DATE: December 2008 PUBLISHER: Temple University Press PAGE COUNT: 224 pp.

ISBN: 978-1-59213-903-3

PRICE: $23.95

One of the historic functions of libraries has been preserving and providing access to information in various media. In many ways, digitization of information has positively altered the information landscape. However, with the dynamic nature of such information, vital information preservation issues arise.

In a timely September 13, 2008, New York Times article by Robert Pear that is entitled “In Digital Age, Federal Files Blip Into Oblivion,” the issue of institutional preservation of digital information is addressed. The author maintains that many federal records created by email, word processing, or posting on the Internet are being lost to history. This is due to federal employees failing to preserve such material due to the incredible volume being generated. Dramatic examples of these preservation issues include, the appearance of non-functioning links on government websites and removal of important reports such as those critical of the Bush administration.

There is another concern about information loss not addressed directly in Robert Pear’s article. The issue Mr. Pear raises regarding the apparent failure of federal employees to implement adequate procedures to preserve the huge amounts of significant digital materials being generated may also relate to the ongoing necessary maintenance of such information to keep it trustworthy and authentic. No matter how carefully information in digital formats is maintained on an ongoing basis there is always a possibility that it may become corrupted or otherwise tainted, making it untrustworthy and therefore “lost” in terms of its value and relevancy to users. The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) is very concerned about this issue because the trustworthiness of all online legal resources, including federal. is fundamental to permanent public access and is inherently a matter of great concern to the legal community

The e-newsletter of the American Library Association*.

Critics revisit library incident that paints Palin as censor

“Journalists and bloggers scrutinizing Sarah Palin’s record of public service have made national news out of a 1996 library incident in Wasilla, Alaska, where the Republican vice-presidential nominee was then mayor. The story that has emerged-in countless reports, from the blogosphere to the New York Times-paints Palin as a would-be censor and then–city librarian Mary Ellen Emmons as nearly losing her job for disagreeing….”

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