As you undoubtedly have heard, a new strain of influenza called Swine Flu or Swine Influenza apparently started about a month ago in Mexico. It has now spread, first to at least a few states in the United States and now may be spreading world wide.
Art Bernardino who provides consulting services in pandamic planning suggests seven things people can do to lessen infection and protect themselves and others:
1. Wash hands frequently using soap and water or waterless hand sanitizers
Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a Republican since 1966, said on Tuesday April 28 that he will switch to the Decmocratic Party and will run as a Democrat in 2010, thus presenting Democrats with a possible 60th vote and the power to break Senate filibusters.
Here is a link to Senator Specter’s statement made earlier today 4-28-09
BY Philip Y. Blue, Senior Law Librarian New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library
In a move that could reshape the library automation landscape, OCLC has expanded WorldCat Locals existing cataloging and discovery tools with new circulation, delivery, and acquisitions features. This new project, which OCLC calls “the first Web-scale, cooperative library management service,” will ultimately bring into WorldCat Local the full complement of functions traditionally performed by a locally installed integrated library system (ILS).
Libraries that subscribe to FirstSearch WorldCat will get, for no additional charge, the WorldCat Local quick start service: a locally branded catalog interface and simple search box that presents localized search results for print and electronic content along with the ability to search the entire WorldCat database and other resources via the Web. Further automation support would come next year.
In response to litigation brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Obama administration authorized the Justice Department to release four secret legal memoranda used by the Bush administration to justify torture. The memoranda were releasd on April 16, 2009. President Obama also issued a statement, emphasizing that “this is a time of reflection, not retribution”.
Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent who was involved in the interrogations being discussed and who questioned Abu Zubaydah in 2002 has written an important Op Ed article, “My Tortured Decision”, which is published in the April 23, 2009 New York Times. In his article Mr. Soufan says trhat Abu Zubaydah provided important intelligence under traditional methods. He writes: “…I questioned him [Zubaydah] from March to June 2002, before the harsh techniques were introduced late in August. Under traditional interrogation methods, he provided us with important actionable intelligence”. Mr. Soufan also writes that he believes that it was the “right decision” to release the memos because “we need the truth to come out” and that releaseing these memos “enables us to begin the tricky business of finally bringing these terrorists to justice”.
Since the events being discussed transpired during the administration of George W. Bush, we thought it might be interesting and instructive to also provide a link to: Reigning in the Imperial Presidency, Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the Presidency of George W. Bush.; a report prepared by the majority staff of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
Top Ten Stories of the Week ending April 17, 2009:
In-House Counsel Some Law Firm Clients Ban 1st-Years, Says Morgan Lewis Chair Apr 13, 2009, 05:49 pm CDT
Law Practice Management
On March 30, 2009 we posted information on this blawg about the historic agreement reached by New York lawmakers regarding reform of the Rockefeller drug law. Since that time there has been significant activity related to his effort including the signing of Chapter 56 of 2009 by the Governor on April 7, 2009. Although Chapter 56 is considered as primarily related to budget matters it contains significant material related to the Rockefeller Law reform initiatives.
For your information this posting includes links to those parts of the aforementioned legislation which appear to be relevant to the Rockefeller Drug Law reform issue. The links are to items I have posted on the New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library Blog:
http://www.bloglines.com/blog/PLL?id=12751 for Part AAA of Chapter 56 of 2009.
At least one publisher appears to be experimenting with issuing flash drives to accompany at least some of the serial volumes they publish. How, or should, libraries process flash drives received in this matter and incorporate them into their collections. Below is a question posed via e-mail by someone actually receiving such materials and some responses and recommendations:*
QUESTION:
“Recently our library received an ABA serial, the 23rd Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime, with an accompanying flash drive. We have not received flash drives with print material before, and since this is sure to be a trend, I wanted to find out how others are handling this situation. The flash drive contains the contents of the entire volume, plus some unique material not replicated in the serial volume. Since we’d prefer to keep the information on the flash drive and the book together, one potential idea was to burn the flash drive contents to a CD-ROM and insert the disc in the back of the book.”
Mark Estes, Editorial Director of AALL Spectrum, has forwarded the following Press Release about an important study published in the March/April 2009 issue of American Libraries, the journal of the American Library Association. The study suggests that people with untreated severe mantal illness may pose a greater risk to America’s public libraries than the internet.*
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
http://www.msisac.org/April 2009 Volume 2 Number 4.
From the Desk of David Badertscher
The use of credit cards to pay for goods and services is a common practice around the world. It enables business to be transacted in a convenient and cost effective manner. However, more than 100 million personally-identifiable, customer records have been breached in the US over the past two years[1]. Many of these breaches involved credit card information. Continued use of credits cards requires confidence by consumers that their transaction and credit card information are secure. The following provides information as to how the credit card industry has responded to security issues and steps you can take to protect your information.
Top Ten Stories of the Week ending April 3, 2009:
Law Practice Management
DuPont Shifts From BigLaw Model, Hires More Smaller Firms Apr 6, 2009, 07:51 pm CDT
Criminal Law Library Blog