Library Organization and Planning

July 7, 2009

Law School Journals and Open Access

On june 15, 2009 we received an interesting question by e-mail regarding law school journals and open access. Somewhat later we received another e-mail from the same person, summarizing the responses to her original query. Due to increasing interest and concern regarding information access issues, including open access to law journals we are posting both the original question and responses below. In order to preserve confidentiality we will not be mentioning names but are very grateful to the legal bibliographer who raised the original question and summarized the responses:

QUESTION:

Do any of your law school journals publish their open access contents through a repository (like DSpace, BePress, etc..), or use a system like OJS-Open Journal Systems (PKP) to publish online? Do they simply post their issues/articles as pdf’s to the law school server?

June 23, 2009

Book Review: Licensing Digital Content: A Practical Guide for Librarians

by David Badertscher

Title: Licensing Digital Content: A Practical Guide for Librarians

Author: Lesley Ellen Harris

Publisher: American Library Association

June 15, 2009

Survey: Recent Changes in Bindery Policies and Procedures in Academic Libraries

by David Badertscher

Courtney Selby, the Collection Development/Instructional Services Librarian at the Mabee Legal information Center, University of Tulsa has summarized the results of her recent survey:

Last week I sent out a 4 question survey about recent changes in bindery policies and procedures in academic libraries. I received 16 replies (thanks so much!) and wanted to summarize them here. There were a few key similarities that I did want to point out. It looks like budgetary considerations are the primary motivators in most respondents’ review of bindery policies. Some folks did note that space considerations factored into their decisions, and those librarians often indicated that they also chose to discard unbound volumes after 2 to 3 years. Most respondents indicated that they had ceased binding journal titles available in HeinOnline, though most also continued to bind journals and bar materials from their home states. All respondents that mentioned CLE’s noted that they will continue to bind them.

· (budget reasons) stopped all binding except for exceptional cases, such as important books or books that are falling apart

June 3, 2009

Q&A: Trends in Funding of Court and County Law Libraries*

by David Badertscher

QUESTION:

Recently, Connecticut and New Jersey have sought to remove funding completely for their county and court law libraries through budget bills and separate legislative actions. Has anyone experienced this threat from their state legislature recently?

SOME RESPONSES:

May 27, 2009

Cool Software Every Paralegal and Law Librarian Could Use

by David Badertscher

Kim Walker, an experienced litigation paralegal with the firm of Berger & Montague in Philadelphia, has written a useful article describing software programs that can save paralegal’s time and their organizations money. Reading through Kim’s article I was struck by the thought that an increasing number of law librarians are also using this same software to save them time, enable them to work smarter, and benefit their organizations as well For these reasons I have changed Kim’s title slightly for this posting to also include law librains and placing a link to Kim Walker’s entire article, hoping that her insights can prove valuable to both paralegals and law librarians.

Article: Cool Software Every Paralegal Could Use

May 18, 2009

Safeguarding Library Collections at the Dawn of the 21st Century

by David Badertscher

In a recent e-mail Robert Richards, a Law Librarian and Legal Information Consultant from Philadelphia, mentions a recent Associatiion of Research Libraries (ARL) preservation report, “Safeguarding Collections at the Dawn of the 21st Century: Describing Roles & Measuring Contemporary Preservation Activities in ARL Libraries,” http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/safeguarding-collections.pdf .. More details are at http://www.arl.org/news/pr/preservation-14may09.shtml The report is organized around three main sections: Preservation Functions; Networked Digital Environment; and Collaboration. Within each section, background and analysis are provided and recommendations offered for consideration by ARL

May 18, 2009

Employee Web Use: What is OK and What is Not

by David Badertscher

A White Paper from MessageLabs.

Although this white paper was written primarily for IT managers we think it has considerable broader applicability and are therefore posting it here.

Summary:

May 7, 2009

Amazon Has Now Released the Latest Version of It’s Wireless eBook Reader: Kindle DX

by David Badertscher

Amazon has now released Kindle DX, a larger, more versatile veriion of its wireless Kindle ebook device. The new DX version has a larger display and a screen which rotates from portrait to landscape to view Web pages and spreadsheets, etc.

Kindle DX and other wireless ebook reading devices certainly do not portend the end of the tradional book as we know it; they are simply useful, but additional, methods of conveying information to readers.

Here are some of the features of the Kindle DX as listed by Amazon:

April 30, 2009

Library of Congress Report: Information Technology Strategic Planning

by David Badertscher

Library of Congress Report: Information Technology Strategic Planning: A Well Developed Framework is Essential to Support the Library’s Current and Future Information Technology (IT) Needs

The Library of Congress Office of the Inspector General.

Library-Wide

April 24, 2009

In Challenge to Integrated Library System Industry, OCLC Extends WorldCat By Launcing New Library System

by David Badertscher

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.