Criminal Law Library BlogIt is with regret and sadness that I forward information from Ann Fessenden, AALL President of the passing of Professor Roy M. Mersky, Professor of law and Director of the University of Texas Tarlton Law Library and Jamail Center for Legal Research since 1965. I have known and from time-to-time worked with Professor Mersky during the past 25 years and will miss him greatly. For more information please click here
Articles Posted in Library News and Views
AALL State-by-State Survey and Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources
An Introduction*
David Badertscher
How trustworthy are state-level primary legal resources on the Web? The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) published the State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources (Authentication Report) that answers this very important and timely question. The comprehensive report examines and draws conclusions from the results of a state survey that investigated whether government-hosted legal resources on the Web are official and capable of being considered authentic. The survey was conducted by the Access to Legal Information Committee of AALL. For a quick overview, the Authentication Report’s Executive Summary provides an excellent introduction to some of the underlying issues and facts surrounding the pressing and timely issue of the authenticity of state primary digital legal materials.
Take the Lead: AALL Leadership Academy
Take the Lead:
AALL Leadership Academy October 3-4, 2008 Hyatt Lodge 2815 Jorie Blvd Oak Brook, Illinois 60523
Web Based Services at the New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library, New York County*
by: David Badertscher
For those who have not visited us, the New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library of New York County (sometimes referred to as the New York Criminal Law Library) is located in lower Manhattan near the Brooklyn Bridge, City Hall, and State and Federal courthouses. Like other Supreme Court libraries located throughout the State of New York, it operates under the auspices of the New York Unified Court System and participates in the various state-wide initiatives sponsored by the OCA Office of Legal Information.
Although the primary focus of this library is to provide reference and research support to personnel of the Criminal Term, its actual responsibilities and obligations are quite broad. Using its various collections in all formats, including digital, in conjunction with various web and online services, including a website and a weblog, this library functions as both an information repository and an information service. These resources and services enable it to reach out to patrons both local and worldwide, as time and resources permit. Part of the library’s responsibility is to provide support as needed and operational oversight to the New York County Public Access Law Library, which is charged with serving those members of the public who need law-related information.
Results of Survey: Library Use of E-Books
Primary Research Group has published Library Use of E-books, 2008-09 Edition, (isbn 1-57440-101-7) and would like to share some of the results. *
Data in the report is based on a survey of 75 academic, public and special libraries.. Librarians detail their plans on how they plan to develop their e-book collections, what they think of e-book readers and software, and which e-book aggregators and publishers appeal to them most and why. Other issues covered include: library production of e-books and collection digitization, e-book collection information literacy efforts, use of e-books in course reserves and inter-library loan, e-book pricing and inflation issues, acquisition sources and strategies for e-books and other issues of concern to libraries and book publishers.
Some of the findings of the 110 page report are:
Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control – Resource Description and Access (RDA)
As information becomes available to us, we post information about the status of various initiatives including the Working Group for Bibliograph Control and RDA. On May 1 we received the following correspondence from Richard Amelung, the AALL representative to this group:
Dear all–
As your AALL representative on the Working Group on the Future of
Conference: Ninth Annual South African Online Information Meeting
The Organisation of South African Law Libraries (OSALL) is one of the sponssors and will be participating in this Conference:
NINTH Southern African Online Information Meeting
Tuesday 3rd of June to Thursday 5th of June 2008 CSIR Conference Centre
National Library Week
National Library Week is being observed April 13-19, 2008 with the theme, “join the circle of knowledge @ your library.”
First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries – school, public, academic and special – participate.
National Library Week affords a wonderful opportunity for librarians and non-librarians to both promote and reflect on the importance of libraries to our society. Here are some examples of various groups are observing National Library Week:
New on LLRX for April 2008
The following is a listing of articles which appear in the most recent issue of LLRX at the time of this posting. See http://www.llrx.com:
The Personal Information Trainer, by Stuart Basefsky http://www.llrx.com/features/personalinfotrainer.htm
Criminal Law Resources: Fingerprint Evidence Challenges, by Ken Strutin http://www.llrx.com/features/fingerprintevidence.htm
Library Reference Renaissance Conference: August 4-5, 2008, Denver
Call for Participation
Deadline Extended to April 22, 2008
A Reference Renaissance: Current and Future Trends August 4-5, 2008 Denver, CO Conference website: http://www.bcr.org/referencerenaissance