The Law Library hosted a farewell party yesterday (Thursday Aug 13) for circulation librarian Paula Seeger, who is leaving after three years with the Library. Paula will be starting with the Office of Classroom Management August 17. Here are some photos from the event.
iPhone App Provides Law School Rankings
Law School 100 is an iPhone app that ranks 100 law schools in the United States and provides capsule profiles of each school. It's produced by LawTV Inc., the publisher of The Law School 100. "Even for aspiring law students, the app won't blow their budget. The cost is just 99 cents," writes Robert Ambrogi in Picking a Law School? There's an App for That. Also a useful tool, I guess, for admissions staff trying to convince college students to apply to their law school.
Source: Law Librarian Blog
GCN's list of "great" .gov web sites this year includes GPO's FDsys.
Other sites GCN lists include: data.gov, The California Metropolitan Transportation Commission's Transit.511.org, the U.S. State Department, the State of Utah, and Science.gov.
While the description of FDsys in the GCN article has no new information for those who have been following its development for years, its presence in the list is notable and important for at least two reasons. First, it is the only one of the ten that emphasizes permanence and long term access.
Second, it is revealing to see the technologies that GCN lists for each site. Every site on the list is noted for use of technologies that provide good access and rich content. These include the current batch of usual suspects, from Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight, to RSS and Cascading Style sheets; from Wikipedia and Twitter, to Google keyhole Markup Language and ArcGIS. But only FDsys also includes technologies that are specifically designed for long-term preservation and for authenticating content: The Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System, and "Digital signatures."
Now if we could just combine that with digital deposit into FDLP libraries, we'd be able to multiply the technical guarantees of long-term free public access to government information by the number of participating FDLP libraries.
Source: Free Government Info blog
Litigating animal law disputes / Joan Schaffner and Julie Fershtman, editors.
Chicago : American Bar Association, c2009. Call number: KF390.5.A5 L58 2009
Publisher's Description:
Animal law is an emerging field that encompasses a variety of legal disciplines. Today more and more lawyers are entering into this field or finding they have cases that deal with animal law. This comprehensive guide is for lawyers who may be unfamiliar with the various laws in the field of animal law and require a basic guide to handling these cases.
The book covers every major aspect of private civil and criminal litigation of animal law disputes in the areas of tort, contract, property, insurance, and criminal law. In the fifteen chapters of this book, you'll find valuable information and cases dealing with topics like personal injury and negligence, disputes over animal possession; wills and trusts involving animals; veterinary malpractice; insurance litigation; federal cases and Constitutional rights; animal ownership and land use rights; criminal cases; and more. There is even a chapter covering practical matters for lawyers handling animal cases, including fee agreements, discovery techniques, preparing your client, settlements and collecting judgments. The book also provides sample litigation documents, such as pleadings, discovery materials, expert information, and more. It's the complete resource for any lawyer who, sooner or later, will deal with a case of animal law.
Bartell, Laura B. A guide to the judicial management of bankruptcy mega-cases
Washington, DC : Federal Judicial Center, 2009. Call number: US Documents JU 13.8:J 88/2009
Description:
(update of the 2007 version incorporating the December 2007 bankruptcy rules amendments)
Building on the 1992 first edition, this guide pools the knowledge of bankruptcy judges and clerks of court experienced in handling mega-cases in a written resources for others. It describes the general time line of a mega-case, issues that are likely to arise, and how other judges have approached those issues. The revised guide reflects management strategies currently set by statute, case law, local rules and general orders, and employed by individual judges. It expands coverage of topics that have gained prominence since the guide was first published. Exhibits discussed in the guide including sample procedures and guidelines, orders, and other materials can be downloaded online. (Note: the Exhibits are only available online and are not included in the published guide.) Link to the Website
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) "now features two new videos on the site (www.nlrb.gov): 'Introduction to the NLRB Public Website' and 'How to Use CiteNet,' the Agency's electronic legal research database."
Source: Free Government Info
Free Demographics Data for 2009
http://www.FreeDemographicsData.com
FreeDemographicsData.com is your source for statistics about Cities, Counties, Zip Codes and the United States. Find free, updated US Census data and comparisons. Lookup statistics about 2009 demographics, population, income, gender, housing value, household size, education and more. This has been added to Internet Demographics Subject Tracer™ Information Blog.
Source: Marcus P Zillman blog
Here are some new resources/events for those interested in state laws or the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act:
Summary of new laws effective Aug. 1: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hinfo/0809nlrelease.pdf
See also, new laws effective July 1: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hinfo/0709nlrelease.pdf
Summaries of all new laws from the 2009 session: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hinfo/Newlaws2009-0.asp
COGI-tations: A program of the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information
Minnesota's Government Data Practices Act : A Primer
Hint: It's Not as Complicated As You Think!
Presenter: Don Gemberling
"Godfather" of Minnesota data practices
Minnesota's data practices law is based upon openness to information by and about state and local government. Advocacy groups, citizen journalists, concerned citizens, bloggers and all concerned about access to government activities need to know their rights. Elected and appointed officials need to understand their responsibility to assure access. Don Gemberling knows the law and can clarify it for those who may be intimidated, confused or overwhelmed by a straightforward law based in the assumption of transparency.
Attendees are encouraged to bring their government information horror stories
for analysis and feedback.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
4:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Midtown Commons, 2314 University Ave West, St. Paul (just East of Raymond)
Minnesota Council of Nonprofits conference room, Suite 20
COGI-tations are public forums sponsored by the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information. All COGI-tations are free and open to the public.
Minnesota Coalition on Government Information www.mncogi.org
Here is the list of new titles the Law Library acquired in July 2009. The list is on the Library's home page.
In addition, here are a few highlighted titles of particular interest:
Mokhtari, Shadi. After Abu Ghraib : exploring human rights in America and the Middle East.
Cambridge [UK] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2009. Call number: K3249 .M65 2009
Publisher's Description:
This book traverses three pivotal human rights struggles of the post-September 11th era: the American human rights campaign to challenge the Bush administration's "War on Terror" torture and detention policies, Middle Eastern efforts to challenge American human rights practices (reversing the traditional West to East flow of human rights mobilizations and discourses), and Middle Eastern attempts to challenge their own leaders' human rights violations in light of American interventions. This book presents snapshots of human rights being appropriated, promoted, claimed, reclaimed, and contested within and between the American and Middle Eastern contexts. The inquiry has three facets: First, it explores intersections between human rights norms and power as they unfold in the era. Second, it lays out the layers of the era's American and Middle Eastern encounter on the human rights plane. Finally, it draws out the era's key lessons for moving the human rights project forward.
Pyle, Christopher H. Getting away with torture : secret government, war crimes, and the rule of law.
Washington, D.C. : Potomac Books, c2009. Call number: HV8599.U6 P95 2009
Publisher's Description:
That American forces should torture prisoners in their "war" on terror is disturbing, but more shocking still is that the highest officials of the Bush-Cheney administration planned, authorized, encouraged, and concealed these war crimes. When the Supreme Court ruled that the officials were bound by the Geneva Conventions, a Republican Congress responded by granting amnesty to all responsible, from lowly interrogators to the president, while conservative judges erected a wall of secrecy to protect them even from civil liability. Meanwhile, timid Democrats have shown little stomach for repealing the amnesty law and bringing those responsible to justice.
Many Americans, including those who endorsed torture to find "ticking bombs" that never were, are now embarrassed by credible reports of CIA kidnappings for purposes of torture, secret prisons into which prisoners have disappeared without a trace, and rigged tribunals to convict al Qaeda's criminals on evidence obtained by torture. But the problem is not just embarrassment; it is the widespread acceptance of unaccountable, secret government that now threatens to destroy the very foundations of constitutional government. The moral standing of the United States will not be restored, Christopher Pyle argues, until a concerted effort is made to bring our secret government under the rule of law.
Strauss, Michael John. The leasing of Guantanamo Bay.
Westport, Conn. : Praeger Security International, 2009. Call number: KZ4129 .S77 2009
Publisher's Description:
Post-2002 events at the U.S. naval facility at Guantanamo Bay have generated a spate of books on its use as a detention center in the U.S. fight against terrorism. Yet the crucial enabling factor-the lease that gave the U.S. control over the territory in Cuba-has till now escaped any but cursory consideration. The Leasing of Guantanamo Bay explains just how Guantanamo Bay came to be a leased territory where the U.S. has no sovereignty and Cuba has no jurisdiction. This is the first definitive account of the details and workings of the unusual and problematic state-to-state leasing arrangement that is the essential but murky foundation for all the ongoing controversies about Guantanamo Bay's role in U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, charges of U.S. human rights violations, and U.S.-Cuban relations.
The Leasing of Guantanamo Bay provides an overview of territorial leasing between states and shows how it challenges, compromises, and complicates established notions of sovereignty and jurisdiction. Strauss unfolds the history of the Guantanamo Bay, recounting how the U.S. has deviated widely from the original terms of the lease yet never been legally challenged by Cuba, owing to the strong state-weak state dynamics. The lease is a hodge-podge of three U.S.-Cuba agreements full of discrepancies and uncorrected errors. Cuba's failure to cash the annual rent checks of the U.S. has legal implications not only for the future of Guantanamo Bay but of the Westphalian system of states. Compiled for the first time in one place are the verbatim texts of all the key documents relevant to the Guantanamo Bay lease-including treaties and other agreements, a previously unpublished U.N. legal assessment, and once-classified government correspondence.
