Articles Posted in Library Organization and Planning

The Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO), the New York State reference and research library resource system serving New York City and its metropolitan area, has just released its Strategic Plan 2009-2014. This stragetic plan which was developed through a broad consultative and inclusive process (including input from law libraries), addresses the needs of its member libraries, the demands of a changing library/information world, and the course METRO should take. As for disclosure, I participated in the planning and development of this Stragetic Plan as a member of the METRO Professional Planning Group. In the past I have also served as a member of the Board of Directors of METRO.

In view of the importance and urgency of issues addressed I am posting the entire Strategic Plan here with the hope that it will be distributed widely among libraries, their parent organizations, and other organizations concerned about libraries and librarianship. We would also appreciate comments.

David Badertscher

The following link leads to the Spring 2009 list of new books that can be found on the new book shelf of the New York Appellate Division Fourth Department Library:

http://www.nycourts.gov/library/ad4/datas/newbklst.pdf

The Future of Today’s Legal Scholarship:

A Symposium in Honor of Bob Oakley July 25, 2009 Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown Law Library About The Future of Today’s Scholarship: A Symposium in Honor of Bob Oakley

The time to debate the role of blogs in legal scholarship has passed. As we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st century, one of our oldest and most conservative disciplines has clearly embraced the era of electronic publishing. Blogging has indeed transformed legal scholarship. Now it’s time to move the dialogue forward.

The New York Appellate Division Fourth Department Law Library has just announced in the Spring 2009 issue of their Law Library Newsletter rolling the introduction of a new online catalog. It will be rolled out during the month of March.

The move to a new system was prompted by the end of vendor development and support for the Horizon software, which has been in use by the library since 2000. The Appellate Division Law Library will launch its own system, CeLLO (Court Law Library Online), and the Supreme Court libraries around the state will launch a different system.

According to library staff, one key advantage to having their own system is that when searching the catalog, users will be able to only pull up titles owned by their library. In the current setup, users often found titles that were not owned by their library, but owned by other law libraries around the state

The Internet in 2009 is undergoing the most significant set of changes of its entire history, ccording to one of the men who helped create it, Dr. Vint Cerf. At the official opening of the Internet Society’s (ISOC) new offices in Geneva, on 26 February, Dr Cerf explained that

technical developments in the Internet’s addressing system and the introduction of internationalised domain names are significant milestones.

Such statements carry weight, coming from the man who, in 1972, was one of the inventors of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), two critical technologies that remain at the heart of the Internet today. In addition to his technical

Legal Information Systems & Legal Informatics Resources, http://home.comcast.net/~richards1000/LegalInformationSystemsBibliography.htm , has been updated with new content. This site aggregates resources of interest to those conducting research on legal information systems. Materials listed include the following:

• Articles, Preprints, Journals, Blogs, and Indexes • Conferences and Conference Proceedings • Dissertations & Theses • Departments, Research Centers, Research Projects, and Organizations • Copyright, Licensing, and Open Access • Metadata, Knowledge Representation, and Systems Design • Preservation • Digital Libraries & Institutional Repositories • CALR & Publishers • Knowledge Management • Court Technology • Law Practice Technology
Comments and suggestions are welcome. Richard can be contacted at richards1000@comcast.net .

The following is from the Introduction to the 2008 Annual Report: Committee on Libraries and Education Technology, New York State Assembly.* A link to the entire Report follows.

I. COMMITTEE JURISDICTION The Libraries and Education Technology Committee was created in 1997 under the leadership of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. The Committee has jurisdiction over legislation introduced concerning the many issues affecting public, academic, school and private libraries.

The Committee develops and reviews legislation affecting the administration and funding of libraries and library systems across New York State. As today’s explosion in information technology has placed new demands on libraries, we are mindful of our responsibility to ensure that New York’s libraries will be able to meet the challenges of the information age. The work done by the Committee assists libraries to sustain the infrastructure and staff resources necessary to allow all New Yorkers access to technological advances available through New York’s vast library community.

FROM: News from the [New York] State Archives, Region 1, No. 1-2/2009.

Preserving the American Historical Record Act (PAHR): The Act will authorize grants to support the essential evidence of American government and society held by state and local governments, historical societies, and libraries.

Status: On May 15, 2008, the Preserving the American Historical Record Act (H>R> 6056) was introduced in the 110th Congress. Original co-sponsors were Representatives Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Chris Cannon (R-UT). This legislation would provide authorization for the Preserving the American Historical Record program to preserve essential documents and archival records held in state and local governments and historical institutions….

Sometimes it seems as though Google has become ubiquitous in the world of searching and may want to repeat its act in the world of books. While thinking about this, two articles, one forthcoming and one published Febrary 1 have come to our attention>

The forthoming article Google and the Future of Books* by Robert Darnton, Director of the Library and Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor of Harvard has much to say on the subject and should be required reading for all who are concerned about these developments. He writes:

“How can we navigate through the information landscape that is only beginning to come into view? The question is more urgent than ever following the recent settlement between Google and the authors and publishers who were suing it for alleged breach of copyright…”

Charlotte School of Law would like to assess its library collection and subsequently develop an acquisition strategy. At this initial stage, we’re seeking qualified consultants who can respond to a more detailed RFP after signing a confidentiality agreement.

Objective

Our objective is to assess the library collection and to develop a collection enhancement strategy that will be used to guide future acquisitions. More specifically, we would like to:

Contact Information