Legal Research

Open Access Week - October 19-23, 2009

Posted on September 23, 2009
"Open Access is a growing international movement that uses the Internet to throw open the locked doors that once hid knowledge. It encourages the unrestricted sharing of research results with everyone, everywhere, for the advancement and enjoyment of science and society...

Canada will launch a PubMed in October 2009

Posted on September 23, 2009
Patterned after the United States' PubMed, the first phase of PMC Canada will be launched during Open Access Week - October 19-23, 2009. It will include a manuscript submission system to enable CIHR researchers to deposit articles that are accepted for publication by peer-reviewed journals...

Info on SWALL 2010 Meeting in Waco

Posted on September 23, 2009
?The SWALL 2010 Annual Meeting will be held just a short drive away in Waco, April 8-10. The SWALL meeting provides a cost-effective opportunity to collaborate with your colleagues outside DFW. The SWALL theme is ?Adapt & Flourish? and features the hardy Texas Bluebonnet as its logo...

H1N1 - Swine flu

Posted on September 18, 2009
Remember - you can find the Center for Disease Control's H1N1 (swine flu) web site at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/. Current recommended groups to receive the vaccine:Pregnant women because they are at higher risk of complications and can potentially provide protection to infants who cannot be vaccinated; Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than 6 months of age because younger infants are at higher risk of influenza-related complications and cannot be vaccinated...

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Google buys recaptua

Posted on September 17, 2009
You know those funny shaped letters you have to type to leave a comment on blogs? Google has purchased them. See Google's blog entry on purchasing recaptua and how it helps teach computers to read old books.

Interesting hobby

Posted on August 31, 2009
From cnn.comTiny librarian is hell on wheelsStory HighlightsLibrarian Beth Hollis breaks stereotypes and, occasionally, bonesAfter failing at knitting, she tries her hand (and elbows) at rollerderby"MegaBeth," age 53, is among the fittest players on the team, coachsays

Will other papers follow FT.com?

Posted on August 17, 2009
This article from the New York Times made me start wondering how many other papers will start charging for articles and restricting access via our other channels.The Paper That Doesn?t Want to Be FreeBy ERIC PFANNERPublished: August 16, 2009New York TimesNot long ago, when other media executives were convinced that the only way to succeed on the Web was to give away their content, The Financial Times played the eccentric...

Executive Pay

Posted on August 14, 2009
Chart from the New York Times with summaries of executive pay and company gains/losses.The Pay at the TopThe compensation research firm Equilar compiled data reflecting pay for 200 chief executives at 198 public companies that filed their annual proxies by March 27 and had revenue of at least $6...

New lawsuit over unpaid time

Posted on August 11, 2009
From the Ars Technica web site:Off the clock? Hyperconnected workers sue employersUbiquitous Internet connections and a proliferation of smartphones have put more employees "on call" than ever before, and many aren't being paid for the extra time. Some are pushing back in lawsuits against their employers, but it may simply be time for companies to draw a clearer line on out-of-office communications...

New Supreme Court Judge

Posted on August 06, 2009
Sotomayor Confirmed by Senate, 68-31http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/us/politics/07confirm.html?_r=1&hpSotomayor Confirmed by Senate, 68-31By CHARLIE SAVAGEPublished: August 6, 2009WASHINGTON ? Voting largely along party lines, the Senate on Thursday confirmed Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the 111th justice of the Supreme Court...

TexasOnline Partners with nCourt For e-Filings

Posted on August 04, 2009
From Legal Dockets Online..."Texas Residents Can Now Take Advantage of eFiling for Lower Court Documents Such as Small Claims and Landlord/Tenants Proceedings via the Web..."http://www.legaldockets.com/files/blogger.htmlTo read more:http://www.businesswire...

Technology trend

Posted on August 01, 2009
I noticed an interesting technology trend while at AALL in DC. More people were using some type of laptop to take notes than ever before. What I noticed the most often:Netbooks (usually Acer brand)MacbooksMid-sized ToshibasiPhonesI saw some other types when people were sitting at tables (Sony, Dell, H-P), which leads me to believe think that people who had larger laptops were using them to connect back to the office, but those with lighter laptops were taking notes...

Republication of CI presentation

Posted on July 28, 2009
If you didn't see this message on one of the listservs, the Law Firm Competitive Intelligence Blog has posted one of the slide shows from "Nuts and Bolts of Competitive Intelligence:CI in the Small Firm Environment", held at AALL on Sunday.The presentation may be found here: http://www...

AALL 2009

Posted on July 27, 2009
So far, fairly busy. I've been attending sessions, meetings, and the exhibit hall. The Web 2.0 session I just attended was one of the better ones, and makes me wish we could use some of the tools in our firm library. People who have access to Microsoft Sharepoint seem to have a bit of an edge in creating new tools for their libraries and patrons...

Books disapper from the Kindle

Posted on July 17, 2009
Amazon.com Plays Big Brother With a Famous E-BookBy David PogueJuly 17, 2009, 4:01 pmDavid Pogue shares the story of hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners who found that they had books by a certain author disappear from their readers, and a credit for their purchase appear on their accounts...

Annual Sales Tax Holiday Includes School Supplies

Posted on July 15, 2009
From the Dallas Business Journal..."For the first time in 10 years, Texas? annual August sales tax holiday will include school supplies."Date: Aug. 21-23, 20009Covered: Pens, crayons, calculators, notebooks, rulers, scissors, lunch boxes, etc.http://www...

Handheld Librarian Online Conference

Posted on July 15, 2009
When: July 30, 2009More Info: http://www.handheldlibrarian.org/Price: $49/person"More people than ever are using mobile devices for a wide variety of purposes including communication, internet access, text messaging, and entertainment. It is important that libraries provide services on these devices as use increases...

Electronic only?

Posted on July 07, 2009
It seems more journals are going electronic only. I wonder what this means when we try to track down articles from patent applications 10-15 years down the road.Science moves from the stacks to the Web; print too priceyIf information isn't online, it may as well not exist...

WorldCat Searching

Posted on June 30, 2009
Interesting post about switching from FirstSearch to Worldcat.org searching...From Tuesday's LISNews...WorldCat.org rather than the FirstSearch interface http://lisnews.org/using_worldcat_org_rather_firstsearch_interface

Copyright infringement cases

Posted on June 22, 2009
I've been following this off and on - one of the larger cases of the RIAA v. and individual. Here's a summary so far from Ars Technica:What's next for Jammie Thomas-Rasset?Jammie Thomas-Rasset has at least six options for moving forward after the massive $80,000 per song judgment handeddown against her...

Library of Congress Resource: Sonia Sotomayer

Posted on May 29, 2009
The Law Library of Congress has launched a new resource on Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor http://www.loc.gov/law/find/sotomayor.php. The site contains information on articles and books by Sotomayor, Congressional documents, cases, and web resources...

AALL Best New Product Award: HeinOnline

Posted on May 27, 2009
HeinOnline Awarded 2009 AALL Best New Product Awardhttp://heinonline.blogspot.com/2009/05/press-release-heinonline-awarded-2009.htmlCongratulations!! Can't wait to see the new design on this year's t-shirt!

Madoff Documents

Posted on May 21, 2009
The Wall Street Journal has gathered most open-source documents and links about the Bernard Madoff Fraud Case. The URL is http://online.wsj.com/public/page/bernard-madoff.html There are links to resource lists, and articles in the Wall Street Journal...

New TSA travel requirements

Posted on May 20, 2009
Source: http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2009/0512.shtm I've bolded a few key bits of info. TSA?s Secure Flight Enters First Public PhaseMedia Contact:TSA PublicAffairs(571) 227-2829WASHINGTON ? The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced today that beginning May 15 the Secure Flight passenger vetting program will begin asking passengers to enter their full name ? as it appears on the government issued identification they will be traveling with ? when making airline reservations...

Newest Kindle

Posted on May 07, 2009
Amazon will soon be releasing a new Kindle that is larger and can handle newspapers and periodicals more easily. This story from eweek talks about the convergence of newspapers and digital, with hints of the future of journalism. My only question: if newstories might be lumped under a single URL with additions as the story develops, how will we cite to these articles?

THOMAS Launches RSS Feed

Posted on May 01, 2009
I just saw this on the LLSDC Listserv.The Congressional Record Daily Digest is now available as an RSS feed from THOMAS http://thomas.loc.gov/home/rss/dd.xml.The Daily Digest from THOMAS is one of five RSS feeds available from the Law Library of Congress http://www...

Chrysler to file for bankruptcy

Posted on April 30, 2009
Chrysler to file for bankruptcyBacked by $3.5 billion more in aid, Chrysler-Fiat to emerge in 30-60 daysBy Justin Hyde and Greg Gardner ? Detroit Free Press Business Writers ? April 30, 2009WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama said today that Chrysler LLC will file a historic bankruptcy shortly, backed by up to $3...

Swine Flu Resources

Posted on April 29, 2009
In a recent BUSLIB-L post, resources for info on the Swine Flu can be found at:Temple University Libraries Public Health Subject Guide

Bloomberg Law Tweets

Posted on April 29, 2009
If you would like to follow Bloomberg Law Tweets here's the address:www.twitter.com/bloomberglaw

EU to extend copyright

Posted on April 27, 2009
EU extends musical copyrights by 20 years, eyes movies nextThe European Parliament has agreed to extend musical copyrights from 50 to 70 years, just in time to safeguard The Beatles' music for another two decades. Parliament also suggested that a similar extension might be good for the moviebusiness, too...

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