Libraries are bridges to information and knowledge.

“Who’s reading magazines and how do they flip through the pages? One research company is using RFID technology to find out.” Question: What are the implications of this development, both positive and negative? Comments welcome.

To read the complete article in the December 12, 2007 CIO Insider, click here.

STEVEN ESSIG

Recently, Cassidy Cataloguing Services announced a partnership with Thomson-West that would make available to law school libraries MARC 21 cataloging records for Westlaw items. In the words of Cassidy’s Donna Rosinski-Kauz “The Cassidy-Westlaw MARC21 records collections will be an expansion of the very popular “WLX E-Treatise Collection,” which was originally created and distributed by Cassidy Cataloguing. The new Cassidy-Westlaw MARC 21 records collections will be released in phases. All legal content of Westlaw will be covered by these new collections when they are completed.”

Already available from Cassidy are cataloging records for E-treatises, most Canadian titles, and directories published by Westlaw. The second phase, “Law Journals and Law Reviews”, is due out by January 2008. There is a “monthly update service” that informs user libraries of any dditions, deletions and other changes, while Name and Subject Authority Control is run on all records. “Authority files are available for purchase separate from the collections.”

BY: David G. Badertscher

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 andFederal courthouses. It is one of several Supreme Court libraries located throughout the State of New York, which operate under the auspices of the New York Unified Court System.

Although its primary mission 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.

“A Look at the best and worst of the years Technology implementations and innovations” as reported by Douglas Bartholomew et. al. in the November 30, 2007 issue of Baseline:

Triumphs and Travails of 2007 November 30, 2007

By Doug Bartholomew, David F. Carr, Ericka Chickowski, Mel Duvall, Deborah Gage, Laton McCartney and Lawrence Walsh

All questions and answers will remain anonymous.

QUESTION

“I have had a request from our Reference Department, to classify as much of our collection as possible, in the K and KF range, instead of A-JZ and L-Z. This would make our collection more browser friendly.

Global Climate Change and U.S. Law Michael B. Gerrard, editor

“This is a spectacular book. Offering both impressive breadth and depth in its description and analysis, Global Climate Change and U.S. Law provides the legal community with an extraordinarily useful tool for understanding the wide ranging ways that current and quickly emerging laws address what promises to be the nation’s greatest environmental challenge. Wholly accessible to those not themselves expert in environmental law, any lawyer or policymaker seriously interested in the global climate change should have a copy.”

Richard Lazarus Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

The John Marshall Award was established to honor those dedicated to the improvement of the administration of justice. The 8th annual Award will be presented at the 2008 ABA Annual Meeting in New York, NY.

For additional information on the Award and how to make a nomination, please visit the Award homepage at http://www.abanet.org/justicecenter/johnmarshall.html.

The deadline for all nominations is March 14, 2008.

Contact Information