Libraries are bridges to information and knowledge.

Brian R. Leiter the John P. Wilson Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Law, Philosophy and Human Values at the University of Chicago has conducted a poll to determine who people think were the most important legal thinkers in american law in the past century. There were 180 votes cast. Professor Leiter has post the top 25 on his blog, Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports. When looking at the list don’t forget to scroll down and read the comments which are also thought provoking. As one would expect on such a list there are always questions about why so-and-so was or was not included.

In Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Online News, Keith Perine writes: “…Obama, speaking with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as a backdrop, defended his order to close the detainee prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and outlined several tenets of his own counterterrorism strategy. The president tried to reframe the complex problem of how to treat the Guantánamo detainees as one that requires pragmatism above politics and bipartisan deliberation over partisan attacks.

“As president, I refuse to allow this problem to fester. I refuse to pass it on to somebody else,” Obama said, in one of several thinly veiled digs at the George W. Bush administration. ‘It is my responsibility to solve the problem. Our security interests will not permit us to delay. Our courts won’t allow it. And neither should our conscience.’ ” To see the entire article, including an account of a rebuttal speech by former Vice President Cheney, delivered from the American Enterprise Institute, click here.

Update from the Lexis Alert Service,

May 20, 2009:.

1. People v. McDonald, 157, 5982/07, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 2287; 60 A.D.3d 553; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2233, March 26, 2009, Decided, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Carol Berkman, J.), …

2. People v. Batista, 163, 5636/05, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 2292; 60 A.D.3d 557; 874 N.Y.S.2d 808; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2229, March 26, 2009, Decided, March 26, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bonnie G. Wittner, …

3. People v. Ramirez, 168, 6600/03, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 2296; 60 A.D.3d 560; 875 N.Y.S.2d 482; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2235, March 26, 2009, Decided, March 26, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Edwin Torres, J.), …

4. People v. Pequero, 143, 1348/06, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 2242; 60 A.D.3d 542; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2418, March 24, 2009, Decided, March 24, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bonnie G. Wittner, …

5. People v. Cantey, 120, 2132/07, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 2228; 60 A.D.3d 533; 874 N.Y.S.2d 805; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2259, March 24, 2009, Decided, March 24, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Lewis Bart Stone, …
Continue reading

Late in October 2008 rumors were circulating around the lbrary community that OCLC was in the process of updating its Guidelines for the Use and Transfer of OCLC Derived Records These rumors proved true; OCLC published its new policy on Sunday November 2, 2008. The reaction to these changes was sufficiently “swift and harsh” that on November 19, 2008 OCLC removed the original updated version and released a second updated version on November 19. Since that time reaction has continued to be animated, resulting in a continuing series of meetings, proposed changes, commentaries etc.

What is the present status of this discussion? To help answer that question Phyllis Post, who attended the May 2009 OCLC Members Council Meeting where a presentation was made by OCLC, has provided a brief but most helpful update which I received as an e-mail. With the permission of Phyllis I am posting her message below:

Colleagues,

The Justice Policy Institute, an advocacy organization based in Washington DC, has just issued a report, Pruning Prisons: How Cutting Corrections Can Save Money and Protect Public Safety, which argues that states can improve public safety and save millions of dollars by investing in community based alternatives to incarceration. Quoting from the Introduction: “as the United States grapples with harsh economic realities, states and localities continue to cut budgets, shed jobs, and trim institutions that are not cost effective. Among the least cost effective are prisons and jail systems. Bulding on these observations the remainder of the of the report outlines a number of findings and recommendations supported by charts and other data .

More from the Introduction:

The United States’ prison system continues to grow every year. Over 2.3 million people are incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails. As state prisons hold nearly 60 percent of the people incarcerated, yearly increases in the prison system are most keenly felt by states.

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

Contact Information