Libraries are bridges to information and knowledge.

We are not court reporters and normally do not become involved in discussions related to that field. Nevertheless we recently came accross an interesting exchange of e-mails which helps to identify and highlight the challenges and sometimes emotial reactions regarding how stenographic reporting and electronic recording relate to one another within the court reporting process.

The first e-mail, which we refer to as a comment, presented here in exerpted form, raises concerns about the impact of increased digitization of the process and a percieved lack of planning and resources to deal with these impacts.

The second e-mail is a response to the first. It defends some of the issues criticized in the first e-mail and presents an altervative perspective regarding the roles of stenographic reporting and electronic recording in the court reporting process.

BY: Michael Chernicoff

President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has promsed to make its statistical body free from political manipulation. In making an independent statistical body, James Lynch may hope to reverse that likelihood that the BJS and its official are, “inappropriately treated in the future.”

In 2009, James Lynch was a member of the Panel to Review the Programs of the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT), which provided recommendations to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) on ways to improve the quality, creditability, and relevance of U.S. justice statistics. In that report, the Panel recommended that “BJS be moved out of OJP (Office of Justice Programs),” and further suggested, “that the position of BJS director be made a fixed-term presidential appointment with Senate confirmation.” (A full-text copy of this report behttp://www.nap.edu/catalog/12671.html).

As almost everyone knows, the 2011 U.S. Budget was submitted on February 1. Since this is such a huge budget, in terms of both bulk and scope, we have decided to limit this posting largely to links to some ” Budget Fact Sheets” prepared by the Office of Management and Budget. Each separately linked fact sheet focuses on a particular priority or group of priorities related to this budget request, thus enabling you to quickly “pick and choose” those areas that interest and concern you without devoting considerable time to other parts of the budget. If you wish to examine this budget request in greater detail, go to the GPO Access link at the end of this posting.

Here are links to the Budget Fact Sheets::

Keeping America Safe and Secure

SigInt Technologies, LLC seeks a Senior Level Digital Library Programmer Analyst to support a US Government Agency.

Salary range: $125,000.00 – $135,000.00

We are growing our hardcopy-centric collection to include a substantial amount of digital content. You will have the opportunity to chart the course as we incorporate a variety of electronic data sources into the collection and make them available to our users. You will have the freedom to select the tools you deem best and implement them as you see fit. You’ll work directly with library management to collect requirements and propose and implement solutions. You will lead and direct other developers who will assist with the implementation.

Volume3 Number 1 January 2010

From the Desk of David Badertscher

As we begin the new year, it’s an opportune time to assess the cyber security landscape and prepare for what new challenges may lie ahead, as well as what current threats may continue.

Although addressed primarily to Internet Society members, the following message contains information which should be of interest to librarians, lawyers and other important stakeholders in the internet community who need to follow ongoing developments.

Dear Members, Friends, and Colleagues,

The end of 2009 is here – and what a year it has been. The Internet

OCLC’s QuestionPoint and Mosio’s Text a Librarian announce virtual reference collaboration Project to offer text messaging reference options to QuestionPoint users. Here is the Press Release :

DUBLIN, Ohio, January 15, 2010-OCLC and Mosio are working together to enable seamless integration of Mosio’s Text a Librarian text messaging reference software with OCLC’s QuestionPoint reference management service to provide a comprehensive virtual reference solution for libraries.

OCLC and Mosio are exploring solutions to the demands of a mobile world and the need for libraries to be able to communicate with their patrons online and on-the-go.

Robert C. Richard, Editor in Chief of Vox PopoLII reports thatSarah Rhodes has just published a terrific new overview of digital legal preservation, entitled “Preserving Born-Digital Legal Materials…Where to Start?” on Cornell’s VoxPopuLII blog. The post addresses core concerns, as well as emerging issues, and provides a thorough and accessible view of the field. He thinks it will prove a very rewarding resource for novices and experienced preservation professionals alike.

The third annual IP Business Congress (IPBC) is taking place at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel, Munich’s premium five-star hotel, between 20th and 22nd June 2010.

The super early-bird discount price for the IPBC expires this Friday 22nd January. If you register by the end of Friday, the registration fee is reduced from €1,500 to just €995, risk free. To take advantage of this offer please click here.

With close to 200 senior-level attendees already confirmed, the event is once again proving incredibly popular and is well on its way to reaching capacity. With a host of cutting-edge thought-leaders already confirmed as speakers and sponsorship from Thomson Reuters, Philips and General Electric, among many others, the IPBC is shaping up to be the networking opportunity for the movers and shakers in the IP world in 2010.

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