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On July 17, 2009, lawschool.westlaw.com and TWEN® will have a new look as part of the Thomson Reuters branding.

These changes are only cosmetic; there are no navigational changes to either lawschool.westlaw.com or TWEN. All links and page content still reside in the same places as before.

We did, however, take this opportunity to improve overall site performance of lawschool.westlaw.com by reducing the loading size of each page. Additionally, we increased the font size across lawschool.westlaw.com by almost twenty percent for easier reading.

Please take the opportunity to see the changes this Friday, July 17, 2009, by visiting lawschool.westlaw.com.

If you have specific questions regarding the new look of lawschool.westlaw.com, please contact your West Account Manager.

We appreciate your business and wish you a great 2009-2010 school year!

Sincerely,
West Academic Team

In a program that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder pegged as a potential model for the country, Pennsylvania has launched Get Help Now Pennsylvania, where consumers can take advantage of volunteer legal, financial, banking, and mortgage professionals at free "help desks."

Read the press release from the Pennsylvania Governor's Office.

Read a news article about the program.

Source: Harvard Government Innovators Network

Mayor Coleman appoints Kit Hadley as City's New Library Director
Hadley replaces Melanie Huggins at SPPL

SAINT PAUL - Mayor Chris Coleman named Katherine "Kit" Hadley as director of Saint Paul Public Library.

Hadley, who will be replacing Melanie Huggins, is the former director of the Minneapolis Public Library and most recently has been the executive director of Heading Home Minnesota, a statewide initiative to end homelessness and an umbrella organization for 12 state, regional, and county/city initiatives.

"Kit brings a wealth of experience in library management, capital fundraising, and community leadership to this important position," Mayor Coleman said. "As a Saint Paul resident, she understands the needs and vision for our families and communities and the significant roles our libraries play in the city - from education to workforce development. She is no stranger to the economic climate and state cuts that are challenging our libraries. Kit's talents and experience will help us overcome those challenges."

Hadley directed the Minneapolis Public Library from 2003 to 2007, taking over a system when the state enacted cuts to local government aid (LGA) that significantly impacted the library system. In response to the cuts, she worked with the Library Board to create a strategic plan to guide budget discussions, helped strengthen a capital campaign, and worked with a business advisory group to evaluate options for continued construction of the new Central Library.

"The Saint Paul Public Library is so fortunate to have Kit Hadley for its next leader," said Peter Pearson, president of the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. "As the director of the Minneapolis Public Library, Kit stepped into a very difficult fiscal situation. Not only did she craft a brilliant plan for the Minneapolis Public Library, but she had the universal respect of everyone with whom she worked in making some very painful decisions. Her fiscal skills, her interpersonal skills and her visionary leadership are exactly what the Saint Paul Public Library needs at this time. The Friends looks forward to developing a strong and effective partnership with Kit."

Before directing the Minneapolis Public Library, Hadley was commissioner of the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, a position to which she was appointed by two different governors. At MHFA, she also served as deputy commissioner and director of government affairs. She began her career as a staff attorney, first with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services and then with the Legal Services Advocacy Project. She earned her law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School and has a bachelor of arts in urban studies from Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass.

"Kit will be a great asset for the library," said Councilmember Pat Harris, chair of the board of directors for the library agency. "She has the tools Saint Paul needs to provide a top quality library system for our community."

"The Saint Paul Public Library plays such a vital role in the lives of our children and families. I am excited to join the staff in the library and return to an institution whose mission and purpose I believe in so strongly," Hadley said. "Our libraries face significant challenges, but Mayor Coleman's strong commitment and vision for the Saint Paul Public Library will allow us to overcome those challenges and continue creating a strong system befitting of the most livable city in America."

Hadley will start her duties August 3.

Roles of public library technology in supporting E-government highlighted in new issues brief

CHICAGO - In the fourth of a series of reports regarding technology access in U.S. public libraries, the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Research & Statistics (ORS) is highlighting how public library technology supports public access and use of e-government information and resources. The issues brief draws from national data published in the Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study (www.ala.org/plinternetfunding).

"U.S. Public Libraries and E-Government Services" describes the increased use of online government information and services, the critical role of public libraries in helping provide access and assistance using these resources and the challenges that must be addressed to improve e-government at the local, state and federal level.

"Public libraries often are the only organizations within a community that can help individuals interact with government agencies and access e-government services," said ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels. "As more and more government information and services are becoming only available online, there is an urgent need for governments to collaborate with public libraries to provide e-government services that best meet community needs."

Among the findings from the national study are:

• 71 percent of libraries report they are the only source of free access to computers and the Internet in their community;
• 80 percent of libraries report providing as-needed assistance with e-government services;
• 61 percent of libraries report providing access to government information is one of the most critical Internet services they provide; and
• Public libraries offer a number of training classes and/or as-needed assistance on a range of topics, particularly Internet use (92.8 percent), general computer skills (91.3 percent) and online Web searching (76.9 percent).

Library staffs are encouraged to use these briefing papers as educational tools with community stakeholders, including elected officials, funders and program partners, as needed to raise awareness of the specific - and sometimes unique - concerns of libraries around technology deployment. Staff may also use this format as a template for providing local data and examples related to a given topic.

The briefing reports are not intended to be comprehensive, but rather to share key findings from the largest and longest-running study of Internet connectivity in libraries. The Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and ALA, continues work begun in 1994 by John Carlo Bertot and Charles R. McClure. The study assesses public access to computers, the Internet and Internet-related services in U.S. public libraries, as well as the impact of library funding changes on connectivity, technology deployment and sustainability.

For more information or to download a copy of the issue brief, please visit http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/ors/plftas/Issues_Briefs.cfm. The research team also invites feedback about future topics and additional tools that would be useful in raising awareness around library technology needs. Please write Larra Clark at lclark@ala.org with comments.

The Law Library is proud to announce the arrival of our STEP-UP Intern for Summer 2009. Johnnisha Williams will be a junior this fall at Minneapolis South High School. She will be spending her internship in both the Library and Law Clinics office, and is planning on a career in law. Please join us in welcoming Johnnisha to the Law School and Law Library!

From The Dallas Morning News:

The George W. Bush Presidential Library in University Park could be one of the last brick and mortar institutions of its kind.

Congress is looking for ways to cut the expense of overseeing such buildings, and some researchers say the traditional library setup for keeping presidential documents is outdated in a digital world.

What to do? Use a cave to store vital paper records instead of big compounds. Get out of the museum business and let the president's backers run that part of the library.

Read more, including opinions about what a Presidential Library means as a national monument, at the Free Government Information blog.

The China-US Conference on Legal Information and Law Libraries is underway! Here is an excerpt of the impressions of one of the participants. The conference involves Associate Dean and Director of the Law Library Joan Howland in a significant leadership role.

The China-US Conference on Legal Information and Law Libraries here in Beijing, opening today, is a miracle conference. First, the mere fact of it is a miracle. That librarians from the U.S. and China, (in fact, there are librarians here from other countries, too!), should put together a jointly planned conference, and gain support from China’s central education ministry for it is quite amazing. With the blessing of the ministry, not only most of China’s law schools’ librarians, but also their deans are attending! And many western librarians are attending – not only directors, but also reference and cataloging librarians. This is a wonderful development.

Read more of this participant's impressions at Out of the Jungle blog.

It’s a normal reaction — people see a fire and pull over to watch.

People see a car accident and slow down to rubberneck.

But what happens when those same people, now equipped with cell phone cameras and text messaging, decide to snap photos? Or release the identity of the victim before a family is notified?

Those are some of the new challenges that emergency and law enforcement personnel say they are encountering more often these days as technology evolves.

Read more.

Source: St. Petersburg Times via Resource Shelf blog

Cornell library removes all restrictions on use of public domain reproductions

In a "dramatic change of practice," Cornell University Library has decided it will no longer require its users to seek permission to publish public domain items duplicated from its collections. Will other library's follow suit?

"The threat of legal action, however," noted Anne R. Kenney, Carl A. Kroch University Librarian, "does little to stop bad actors while at the same time limits the good uses that can be made of digital surrogates. We decided it was more important to encourage the use of the public domain materials in our holdings than to impose roadblocks." The immediate impetus for the new policy is Cornell's donation of more than 70,000 digitized public domain books to the Internet Archive (details at www.archive.org/details/cornell).

"Imposing legally binding restrictions on these digital files would have been very difficult and in a way contrary to our broad support of open access principles," said Oya Y. Rieger, Associate University Librarian for Information Technologies. "It seemed better just to acknowledge their public domain status and make them freely usable for any purpose. And since it doesn't make sense to have different rules for material that is reproduced at the request of patrons, we have removed permission obligations from public domain works."

Source: Free Government Info blog

Suzanne Thorpe, Associate Director of Faculty Research and Instructional Services, was quoted in City Pages in an article about Westlaw.

The article gives a detailed history of West Publishing and its rise over the years.

Changes Proposed for Civil Trials
Source: The Virtual Library Cat's Eye View blog

In their final report issued this week, a task force of prominent plaintiffs' attorneys and defense attorneys from the American College of Trial Lawyers agreed on something. They called for changes that would transform the current civil discovery rules--including replacing notice pleading with fact-based pleading, revising the rules for initial disclosures, and making civil discovery more targeted and time-limited. The College's Task Force on Discovery and the University of Denver's Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, issued the report based on an 18-month joint project to examine the role of discovery in perceived problems, such as delays and prohibitive litigation costs, in the American civil justice system. The anticipated "public discussion and debate" will no doubt follow.

World War II Poster Project wins 2009 ACRL IS Innovation Award
March 10, 2009

CHICAGO — The Bucknell University World War II Poster Project, developed by Abby Clobridge, librarian and digital initiatives group leader, and David Willson Del Testa, assistant professor of history, at Bucknell University, is the recipient of the 2009 Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Instruction Section (IS) Innovation Award. Sponsored by Lexis-Nexis, the annual award recognizes a project that demonstrates creative, innovative or unique approaches to information literacy instruction or programming. A prize of $3,000 and a plaque will be presented to Colbridge and Del Testa during the 2009 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago at the IS program at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 12.

“The IS Awards Committee chose the Bucknell University World War II Poster Project because of its creative and collaborative approach to research, information literacy and technological skills within the context of an introductory history course and a special collection,” said award committee Co-chair Emily Rogers, assistant professor and reference librarian at Valdosta State University.

Read more at the press release site.

American Library Association announces winner of annual James Madison Award
Ceremony to be held during Freedom of Information Day at Newseum

March 6, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Library Association (ALA) today announces that the winner of the annual James Madison Award is Thomas M. Susman, the director of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Government Affairs Office.

The James Madison Award, named in honor of President James Madison, was established by the ALA in 1986 to honor individuals or groups who have championed, protected and promoted public access to government information and the public’s “right to know” on the national level.

The honor is presented annually on the anniversary of Madison’s birth during Freedom of Information (FOI) Day. Susman will be presented with the award Friday March 13, 2009, during the Freedom Forum’s 11th Annual National FOI Day Conference to be held in the Newseum’s Knight Conference Center.

ALA President Jim Rettig said Susman, who practiced with the D.C. law firm Ropes & Gray for 27 years before being named to his current position at the ABA in 2008, has shown a long commitment to the importance of open access to government information.

“Tom has stood shoulder to shoulder with our nation’s librarians in our efforts to make government information available to the public and our long, historic fights to protect library patrons’ privacy,” Rettig said.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (VT), the 1989 winner of the ALA James Madison Award, said Susman has been a steady defender the public’s “right to know.”

“Tom Susman has seen the importance of the public’s ‘right to know’ both from inside and outside the realm of policymaking,” Leahy said.

“He has also seen the fragility of laws like the Freedom of Information Act, especially when agencies drag their feet. Tom has always been a dependable ally in the struggle to keep the flame alive.”

More information on the ALA James Madison Award, including a list of previous winners, can be found here.

Patrick Coleman, the acquisitions librarian at the Minnesota Historical Society and a member of the board of directors of Coffee House Press, has been honored with this year's Kay Sexton Award.

By LAURIE HERTZEL, Star Tribune
Last update: March 3, 2009 - 11:27 PM


Patrick Coleman, the acquisitions librarian at the Minnesota Historical Society and a member of the board of directors of Coffee House Press, has been honored with this year's Kay Sexton Award.

The award is given annually to a person who is dedicated to books and to fostering reading in Minnesota.

"I'm seriously humbled by this," Coleman said Tuesday. "I feel I shouldn't be on any list that Elmer Andersen is on."

Coleman has served on the boards of the University of Minnesota's Friends of the Library and the Minnesota Humanities Commission. He writes a blog about the 150 best Minnesota books, a cheerful and deeply knowledgeable look at Minnesota books throughout history. It's at
discussions.mnhs.org/collections/category/150-best-minnesota-books. He has been acquiring historical books for the state for the past 30 years. He remembers quite clearly the book that got him started. "I was maybe 17 years old when I read this autobiography by James Manahan called 'Trials of a Lawyer,'" he said.

Coleman liked the book so much he wanted to buy it, but it was out of print. So he called West Publishing Co., which published law books. "The person on the other end of the phone was more patient than I deserved," he said. "They said, 'Have you tried a used bookstore?'"

Aha. Within two years, Coleman was on his way to amassing a great library of Minnesota books, though it was 20 more years before he found another copy of the Manahan. His avocation became his vocation, and he donated his private collection to the state Historical Society when he began working there.

Previous recipients of the Kay Sexton Award include Emilie Buchwald, founding publisher of Milkweed Editions; Norton Stillman, a longtime bookstore owner and publisher of Nodin Press, and, yes, Gov. Elmer Andersen, who was a well-known book collector. The first award, in 1988, went to Kay Sexton herself, a book buyer for B. Dalton Booksellers.

Source: Star Tribune

Mayor Coleman, Officials from Across Minnesota Launch Campaign to Save Police, Fire, Libraries

SAINT PAUL — Firefighters, police officers, librarians, mayors, prosecutors and Minnesota families braved snow-covered roads Friday February 27 to announce a statewide campaign that will show how Governor Pawlenty’s proposed cuts to Local Government Aid (LGA) will affect Minnesota cities.

The group, led by mayors from across the state, will educate the public on how LGA is critical to funding services and keeping property taxes low. State lawmakers will also be urged to protect LGA from the governor’s proposed reductions.

“The reason we have snow plows on streets in cities across Minnesota this morning is because of LGA. We have libraries, police, firefighters and parks because of LGA. We need to keep our communities strong, safe and affordable places to live—and we can’t make that happen without LGA,” Mayor Chris Coleman said.

Without LGA, the speakers argued, Minnesotans would see massive increases in property taxes and dramatic cuts in the core services that make their communities strong.

“Everyone here today will be impacted directly by cuts to LGA,” Mayor Coleman said. “But this isn’t just about their jobs. It’s also about Minnesotans who depend on the services they provide—public safety and fire protection at a moment’s notice, prosecution of criminals, and a community library with Internet access for job seekers and reading materials for our children.”

Wadena Mayor Wayne Wolden, who is also president of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, warned that LGA cuts usually result in property tax increases.

“We have seen the effects of LGA cuts before, and the result is always the same: less services and higher property taxes. In this economy, whether you live in Warroad, Worthington or Wadena, we cannot afford to see our property taxes skyrocket,” he said.

Speakers directed the public and legislators to the website, www.ThankLGA.org, to learn about the LGA program and the specific services that cities may cut if LGA reductions are passed into law. Visitors can also join an online forum to speak up for the services they depend on and voice opposition to the governor’s proposed cuts.

“Anyone who cares about public safety, libraries, parks, or other city services needs to contact their legislators and the governor immediately. Let them know that these cuts will be devastating and must be opposed,” Mayor Wolden said. “The good news is that the governor’s proposed cuts aren’t final. The ball is now in the state legislature’s court and they can stop this from happening.”

Source: City of Saint Paul

Due to the inclement weather, the Law Library is closing at 6 pm today.

Sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

Photo by jackleg

Free Pacer Sites Shut Down After Mass Download by Open Records Advocate
By Debra Cassens Weiss

A trial of free Pacer service at 17 public libraries shut down last fall after public records advocates downloaded an estimated 20 percent of the entire database.

At the time, an official from the Government Printing Office told librarians that Pacer security had been compromised and the FBI was conducting an investigation, the New York Times reports. A government notice said the program was suspended “pending an evaluation.”

Aaron Swartz, a 22-year-old Stanford dropout, did the mass download from Pacer at the behest of open records advocate Carl Malamud, who wants to make the court documents available for free on the Internet, the story says. Last year, Malamud used $600,000 in contributions to buy and post 50 years of federal appellate papers. Now he wants to post lower court records.

Read the whole story at this site.

An Effort to Upgrade a Court Archive System to Free and Easy
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13records.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Excerpt from the article:

Americans have grown accustomed to finding just about anything they want online fast, and free. But for those searching for federal court decisions, briefs and other legal papers, there is no Google.

Instead, there is Pacer, the government-run Public Access to Court Electronic Records system designed in the bygone days of screechy telephone modems. Cumbersome, arcane and not free, it is everything that Google is not.

Recently, however, a small group of dedicated open-government activists teamed up to push the court records system into the 21st century — by simply grabbing enormous chunks of the database and giving the documents away, to the great annoyance of the government.

Read the whole article at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13records.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Paula Seeger, Circulation Librarian at the Law Library, has had a chapter published in the book, Academic Library Outreach: Beyond the Campus Walls, ed. Nancy Courtney (Libraries Unlimited/Greenwood, 2009). Call number: Z711.7 .A25 2009

The chapter is titled “Redefining Outreach from Inside the Academy: Law School Libraries and Their Communities�? and highlights the services that academic law libraries are creating to reach not only members of the wider public community, but users within the law school or university who sometimes overlook a law library's many resources available to them.

REMINDER: As previously reported in October, don't forget about this opportunity.

MORRIS L. COHEN STUDENT ESSAY COMPETITION

The Legal History and Rare Books Section of the American Association of Law Libraries announces the first annual Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition. The purpose of the contest is to encourage scholarship in the areas of legal history, rare law books, and legal archives, and to expose students to the American Association of Law Libraries and law librarianship.

ELIGIBILITY
Currently enrolled students attending accredited graduate programs in library science, law, history, or related subjects are eligible to enter the competition. Students may be enrolled either full- or part-time. Membership in the American Association of Law Libraries is not required.

REQUIREMENTS
Papers may be on any topic related to legal history, rare law books, or legal archives. No paper, or portion of a paper, that has been published or accepted for publication before April 15, 2009 will be eligible for consideration. Papers and all supporting documentation must be submitted by April 15, 2009. The winner will be announced by May 15.

PRIZE
The winner will receive a $500.00 prize from Gale Cengage Learning. In addition, the winner will receive up to $1000 to be applied towards expenses associated with attendance at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries. The 2009 Annual Meeting will be held July 25-28 in Washington, D.C. Attendance at the Annual Meeting is encouraged, but not required.

Detailed procedures and an application form are available at the website of the Legal History and Rare Books Section of the American Association of Law Libraries: http://www.aallnet.org/sis/lhrb/

Questions may be directed to Katherine Hedin, University of Minnesota Law Library: k-hedi@umn.edu OR Jennie Meade, Jacob Burns Law Library, George Washington University: jmeade@law.gwu.edu

Download an informative brochure here

January 29, 2009
University Libraries Receive Prestigious "Excellence in Academic Libraries" Award

The University of Minnesota Libraries have received the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) 2009 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award. Sponsored by ACRL and Blackwell’s Book Services, the award recognizes the staff of a college, university and community college library for programs that deliver exemplary services and resources to further the educational mission of the institution.

“Receiving an Excellence in Academic Libraries Award is a national tribute to a library and its staff for the outstanding services, programs and leadership they provide to their students, administrators, faculty and community,�? said ACRL Executive Director Mary Ellen K. Davis. “It is wonderful to learn of the innovative programs and services being offered by these three exemplary institutions.�?

The University of Minnesota Libraries, winner of the university category, was praised for developing excellent strategies to successfully transform and rebrand the libraries to secure a highly valued position on campus.

“The libraries understand the importance of the process of conducting scholarship and have implemented programs to support behaviors rather than product,�? said Pamela Snelson, chair of the 2009 Excellence in Academic Libraries Selection Committee and college librarian at Franklin & Marshall College. “By ‘getting in the flow of users,’ the libraries have moved out of their comfort zone and shifted into an engagement-centered model for all library services and programs.�?

"We’re immensely proud of the success we’ve had in integrating our expertise and resources into the life of the campus,�? said Wendy Pradt Lougee, university librarian and McKnight presidential professor at the University of Minnesota. “To have our staff’s innovative work recognized by the ACRL community is quite simply wonderful."

The Libraries will receive $3,000 and a plaque, presented at an award ceremony to be scheduled on campus in the spring, as well as special recognition at the ACRL President’s Program during the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, July 13, in Chicago.

Download the award nomination (PDF; 2.2MB)

Source: News from the Libraries

The UBE
Source: Virtual Library Cat's Eye View

The National Law Journal reports that the bar examiners in up to 19 states are considering incrementally implementing a Uniform Bar Exam. The uniform bar exam would consist of three components, all developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners: the MBE; the Multistate Performance Test; and the Multistate Essay Examination. The uniform test score would include performance on these components only and would not incorporate a state law portion.

The National Endowment for the Arts released their report “Reading on the Rise�? on 12 January documenting that for the first time in 25 years, more Americans are reading.

According to the demographic breakdown, young adults show the biggest increase and fiction is the largest growing market in adult readers.

Online readers also report reading books. 84% of adults who read literature (fiction, poetry, or drama) on or downloaded from the Internet also read books, whether print or online - and nearly 15 percent of all U.S. adults read literature online in 2008.

Read the press release and report at: http://www.nea.gov/news/news09/ReadingonRise.html

In an opinion issued on Tuesday, a panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals set aside the assessment of penalties against a major telecommunications firm, AT&T. Among the issues in the case was whether the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission maintained the authority to penalize misconduct by a regulated party after the sunset date of the Commission’s penalty statute, but as to conduct which occurred before the statute expired.

Read more about this case here.

The panel’s complete analysis is accessible here.

Stalking Case Could Expand Harassment Protections
Run Date: 01/08/09
By Rich Daly
WeNews correspondent

A case linking gender violence and workplace stalking is under Supreme Court review and could determine if stalking by a non-employee qualifies as sexual harassment. Advocates say the case also highlights a lack of protection for victims.

WASHINGTON (WOMENSENEWS)--The Supreme Court is slated to give a final review Friday in a case that probes the legal boundaries between stalking and sexual harassment.

Dawn V. Martin v. Howard University, et al., has serious implications for workplace safety nationwide, according to legal advocates, and spotlights the lack of any federal protections for victims of stalking who face retaliation from their employers when they complain about it.

The specific issue raised by the case is whether someone can make a sexual harassment claim against the employer under federal-worker protections if the harasser is not an employee. Martin, an attorney, brought the case after she was stalked by a homeless man while she was working as a law professor at Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C. Her teaching contract was subsequently not renewed.

The case arises during National Stalking Awareness Month, when advocacy groups will be publicizing data from the Washington-based Stalking Resource Center finding that 1 in 12 women and 1 in 45 men will be stalked during their lifetime. Eighty-seven percent of all stalkers are men, and among stalking victims on campuses, 80 percent know the perpetrator.

Read more: http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=3880

Survey Gets Law-School Students' Thoughts on Laptops, Writing, and Ethics
By STEVEN BUSHONG
Chronicle of Higher Education Wed Jan 7, 2009

An excerpt:
Law-school professors are fed up with students using laptop computers in class to surf to Facebook, eBay, everything but LexisNexis. And some have even banned the distracting machines. But results from a new survey show that an outright ban might not be such a good idea.

The 2008 Law School Survey of Student Engagement, released today, suggests that, when used wisely, laptops can actually enhance student engagement. The survey found that class-related laptop use correlates highly with reported gains in several areas, including critical and analytical thinking.

Read the rest of the article at: http://chronicle.com/daily/2009/01/9153n.htm

View the whole survey report at: http://www.lssse.iub.edu/index.cfm

Amazon Author Stores FAQ
Question: What are Amazon Author Stores?

Answer: Amazon Author Stores (beta) are new corners of our bookstore dedicated to offering customers a new way to browse and shop favorite authors, discover new books, and more. Today each Author Store includes a bibliography, and can include a biography, author photo, and discussion board. But stay tuned--we'll be adding more features in the months to come.

View Author Stores

James H. Binger ('41)

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (12/17/2008) -- The University of Minnesota Law School’s agenda for transforming legal education and research to address some of the greatest legal and social challenges of the 21st century has received significant support from a former student. The Robina Foundation, created by James Binger ('41), has granted the Law School $6.01 million to be administered over five years. The grant will fund the Law School’s new Program on Law, Public Policy and Society (LaPPS), which will support innovative public policy research and prepare law students to serve as agents of social transformation.

The program will stimulate inventive new policy proposals and train students in analytical skills, visionary and pragmatic approaches to law, and development of practical solutions to complex problems. With Robina Foundation support, the Law School aims to become a nationally recognized center for public policy research and a national model of curriculum reform.

With Robina Foundation funding, the Law School will establish:

o Two research chairs in LaPPS
o A clinical chair in LaPPS
o A research fund for LaPPS
o Four capstone courses
o Annual conferences in LaPPS
o 50 law student internships in public policy

As part of the plan, John Borrows, a professor of law at the University of Victoria and a scholar in indigenous law, will join the Law School in September., adding his expertise to the International Law and Human Rights faculty. Borrows will be the first to hold one of the new Chairs in LaPPS.

Binger created the Robina Foundation shortly before his death in November 2004 to fund creative, forward-thinking projects proposed by four institutions--the Law School, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Yale University and the Council on Foreign Relations. Funding from the Robina Foundation is intended for exploration of new ideas and transformative new approaches to complex issues. The University of Minnesota and the Law School will provide additional funding for ongoing support of clinical and research chairs in LaPPS.

Binger was born in St. Paul and earned a degree in economics from Yale College in 1938. He returned to Minnesota to attend the Law School and subsequently joined the law firm that would become Dorsey & Whitney. In 1943, he joined Honeywell and became its president in 1961 and its chairman in 1965. Binger served on many boards, including those of 3M, Northwest Airlines, AT&T, the McKnight Foundation, the International Peace Academy and the Guthrie Theater, and he founded and owned a theater company on Broadway in New York. A dedicated patron of many educational and social-advancement organizations, Binger was widely recognized for his quiet philanthropy. The Law School’s Everett Fraser Chair in Law and the Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center were established through Binger's generosity.

Source: UMNews and UMN Law School

UMN Law Librarian Sarah Yates, foreign law and rare book cataloger has reviewed Robert Hickey's Honor & Respect: The Official Guide to Names, Titles, and Forms of Address.

An excerpt:

I turned to the Protocol School of Washington’s Honor & Respect to answer a specific question: If I am ever introduced to a former vice president of the United States, how should I address him? The question is not purely hypothetical for me; one former vice president does appear now and again where I work. But if you are neither one of my colleagues here in Walter F. Mondale Hall nor a librarian at the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis, you might not expect to run into former vice presidents in the line of duty. In that case, would Honor & Respect be a useful addition to your library?

Read more of the review at: http://aallspectrum.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/review-of-honor-respect/

Twin Cities-area schools more segregated than ever
By Beth Hawkins and Cynthia Boyd
Monday, Nov. 17, 2008

Thirty-six years after a federal judge ordered Minneapolis to begin busing students to achieve racial balance, Twin Cities-area schools are more segregated than ever. The trend is accelerating, as well as the likelihood of serious social consequences, a MinnPost investigation reveals. First of five parts.

You can read the full story at Minnpost.com:
http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2008/11/17/4549/twin_cities-area_schools_more_segregated_than_ever

Source: Kenny Ronnan, Minnpost - Staff Member
http://www.minnpost.com/

The UMN Human Rights Center's recently produced Community and School guides for the Close the Gap documentary series -
http://www.hrusa.org/closethegap/main.php

The video segment on "Resegregation: Fact of Fiction",
http://www.mnchannel.org/partners/closethegap/case_place.php, highlights Myron Orfield and the Institute on Race & Poverty's work on this issue.

Brief Summary of the Close the Gap Initative:

The 5-part Close the Gap documentary series on race, class, and place disparities was created by the Twin Cities Public television (tpt) in close partnership with the Itasca Project and Twin Cities Compass & Wilder Research. The University of Minnesota Human Rights Center designed two companion guides to foster dialogue on ways to recognize and eliminate these race, class, and place disparities in our schools and communities.

The Educator Guide provides curriculum resources for engaging youth in grades 8-12. The Community Guide offers key discussion activities for Human Rights Commissioners, community leaders, and other interested individuals to better understand these disparities and their causes, as well as to work to overcome them.

The American Association of Law Libraries announces the first annual Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Contest.

Currently enrolled students attending graduate programs in library science, law, history, or related subjects are eligible to enter the competition. Papers may be on any topic related to legal history, rare law books, or legal archives. Papers must be submitted by April 15, 2009.

Award is $500 cash & up to $1000 to attend the 2009 AALL conference in Washington DC

More info here (pdf):
http://www.aallnet.org/sis/lhrb/Cohenessayprocapp.pdf

Source: Beyond The Job blog via nextgenlib

I am working with a project for the Blandin Foundation and I’m hoping that you might be able to help or if you’re a blogger that you might be interested in joining.

The Blandin Foundation (http://www.blandinfoundation.org) and E-Democracy (http://www.e-democracy.org/) have teamed to promote and support Online Citizen Engagement & Media Projects in rural Minnesota. To begin to promote these Minnesota Voices we are compiling a list of rural, citizen-led online projects including blogs, online discussions, YouTube channels, Flickr groups, wikis, and more. You can see a list of the MN Voices resources we have found here: http://delicious.com/tag/mnvoices

Our next step is to try to support the citizens maintaining these tools. To that end, we are creating a citizen media and online engagement community of practice online – in other words, an email-based discussion list where Minnesota Voices can meet and talk about issues that interest them – be it cross-promoting each other's work, technical assistance, opening the door to collaboration, or simply meeting people with a shared interest in Minnesota-based citizen engagement. You can learn more about the list here: http://e-democracy.org/citizenmedia

So why are we writing to you? First, if you know of any citizen-based resources we should add to our list, please let us know. Our goal is to be comprehensive and we are happy to hear of new additions. Also, if you maintain a site or know of someone who does and might like to join our Citizen Media Online Group, please feel free to join or invite others to join.

Every attempt will be made to invite owners of the sites we find to join the list – but your help in compiling the list and spreading the word is greatly appreciated.

Ann Treacy
Treacy Information Services
1841 Fairmount Ave
St Paul MN 55105
651-239-4581

http://www.treacyinfo.com
atreacy@treacyinfo.com

The College of William Mary Law Library was recently spotlighted on the I Love Libraries website.

An excerpt:
Nearly 30 years ago, in 1980, the College of William & Mary opened its original 36,500-squarefoot library. By the mid-1990s, shelf space, work space, and seating were in short supply. The library looked dated and offered little support for today’s technology—only a small portion of the library’s carrels and tables had access to power outlets, its computer lab was carved out of former stack space, and its tiny “typing rooms�? had long outlived their usefulness. During the sabbatical inspections that took place in 1995 and 2002, the American Bar Association (ABA) and Association of American Law Schools (AALS) both pointed to the library’s physical facilities as a serious weakness for the school.

Using a combination of state funds, private donations, and student fees, the law school budgeted $16.8 million for an expansion and complete renovation of the library. The new library would not only be 60 percent larger than the old library, but would be much brighter and more inviting. Law Library Director Jim Heller worked on the plans with Shelley Dowling, who had recently joined William & Mary (W&M) as a part-time librarian. Heller had experience with two small renovation projects at the W&M Law Library; Dowling had been involved in renovations at the U.S. Supreme Court Library and Georgetown’s law library before coming to W&M.

Read more at: http://www.ilovelibraries.org/news/libraryshowcase/williamandmary.cfm

Source: American Libraries Direct, The e-newsletter of the American Library Association | October 15, 2008

In the Oct 12 issue of the St Paul Pioneer Press, retired immigration judge Joseph Dierkes is profiled. Here's a short excerpt:

Q What's the quality of legal representation in Minnesota compared to elsewhere?
A I saw a much, much lower level of attorney preparation out there (in other places). (Dierkes occasionally was sent to Los Angeles and other areas to help clear high volumes of cases.)
We have the group Advocates for Human Rights here. They have a clearinghouse of private attorneys to represent people. The first week I was here, I had an attorney from Pillsbury representing someone. There's nothing like that I have encountered in any other city.

Read the entire article at: http://www.twincities.com/ci_10696573?nclick_check=1

Barriers to Justice to be Explored at JPLP Spring Symposium
In commemoration of the centennial of Southern Minnesota Legal Services (SMRLS), The Journal of Public Law and Policy at Hamline University School of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota, will host a symposium entitled "Barriers to Justice: Responding to the Needs of the Low-Income Population in America." The symposium will begin on Thursday, March 12 and will continue throughout the day on Friday, March 13, 2009. Read more at: http://law.hamline.edu/newsitems

St. Thomas School of Law establishes James L. Oberstar Professorship of Law and Public Policy
The St. Thomas School of Law has established the James L. Oberstar Professorship of Law and Public Policy to honor the Minnesota congressman and St. Thomas alumnus. The professorship was announced Tuesday, Oct. 7, at a private reception at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Read more at: http://www.stthomas.edu/law/news/headlines/Fall2008/JamesLOberstarProfes.html

William Mitchell launches new Center for the Empirical Study of Legal Practice
William Mitchell has launched a new Center for the Empirical Study of Legal Practice which will research the daily realities of the work of a lawyer and the business of the legal profession. Led by Professor Herbert Kritzer, a political scientist, the Center will be officially launched with a reception and CLE program on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008, at 6 pm. in the Haynsworth Conservatory at William Mitchell. The program, “Changing Legal Practice in the Wake of Medical Malpractice Reform�? begins at 7 pm. Read more at: http://www.wmitchell.edu/news/articles/default.asp?articleId=11730&from=RSS

Coen family intrigue might be worthy of a movie plot
The 222-page complaint, filed in March 2005, boils down to an accusation that Lou, who lives in France, cheated his brother when he bought Ed's shares of Compayne (Hempstead) Ltd., which appears to be a London real estate company. She argued that Ed didn't have the same information that Lou had when he sold his shares. Read the whole story, with a link to the complaint, at: http://www.minnpost.com/judithyatesborger/

O’Connor Conference: the connection between a strong court system and the economy

Tony Mauro of the New Times, wrote an article published October 3rd on Law.com, about a conference attended by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, held at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC. The purpose of the conference was to promote the ideal of fair and independent courts.

Numerous dignitaries joined Justice O’Connor including Justice David Souter, and Justice Stephen Breyer. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan tipped his hat to the judiciary stating that it is the only branch of government “still functioning.�? O’Connor herself emphasised the importance of having a dependable court sytem especially when the economy is in turmoil.

To read the full article, go to http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202425001778.

Source: Ross-Blakely Law Library Blog

A recent article, by Leah M. Christensen, Associate Professor of Law at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, presents some intriguing results about a study which asked 157 law students to respond to a survey about their learning goals and motivations for learning in law school. An interesting finding from the study showed that the LSAT score was the weakest predictor of law school success. You may read the article by clicking on the link below.

Predicting Law School Success: A Study of Goal Orientations, Academic Achievement, and the Declining Self-Efficacy of Our Law Students

Source: Ross-Blakely Law Library Blog

A study by the Center for Equal Opportunity has found discrimination in admissions at the Arizona State University and the University of Arizona law schools:

CEO chairman Linda Chavez said: “Racial discrimination in university admissions is always appalling. But the degree of discrimination we have found here, at both schools but especially at Arizona State, is off the charts.�? She noted that the odds ratio favoring African Americans over whites was 250 to 1 at the University of Arizona and 1115 to 1 at Arizona State. “As a result, nearly a thousand white students during the years we studied were denied admission even though they had higher undergraduate GPAs and LSATs than the average African American student who was admitted--and over a hundred Asian and Latino students were in the same boat with them.�?

CEO president Roger Clegg agreed, and stressed that, not only was race weighed, but it was weighed much more heavily that residency status. “For instance, a white Arizonan in 2007 was about eight times less likely to be admitted to the University of Arizona than a black out-of-state applicant, and at Arizona State he would be twelve times less likely to be admitted.�?

Read the report press release at: http://www.ceousa.org/content/view/623/119/

Source: Execupundit.com

In Sunday's Parade Magazine, Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia offered up his take on the question of whether there are too many lawyers in the US:

You’ve said that there are too many lawyers in the U.S. Why do you think that?

I don’t mean to criticize lawyers, just the need for so many lawyers. Lawyers don’t dig ditches or build buildings. When a society requires such a large number of its best minds to conduct the unproductive enterprise of the law, something is wrong with the legal system.

Read more at: http://www.parade.com/hot-topics/intelligence-report/archive/too-many-lawyers

The Law Library is pleased to announce that remote access to all Law Library databases is easier than ever before!

Law faculty, students, and staff may now access nearly all of the library’s subscription electronic resources from outside Mondale Hall by selecting the resource from the library’s Directory of Electronic Resources and simply logging in with your U of M Internet username and password.

For a full listing of all the Law Library’s electronic resources, consult the Directory of Electronic Resources at: http://local.law.umn.edu/library/ERDirectory.html. If you have questions or need assistance please contact the Reference desk at 625-4309 or email: law-ref@umn.edu.

Wheels of misfortune; bicycle thefts are rarely solved but UW-Madison campus police are trying a new deterrent
08/06/2008 | The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)

University of Wisconsin-Madison police are taking extra steps to keep bikes safe from thieves. Under the new "Bait Bike" program, the police have equipped decoy bikes with GPS devices around campus. When the bike is stolen, police follow the GPS signal and try to catch the thief. Typically, bicycle thefts rarely lead to recoveries or arrests. However, under the new program, 18 people have taken the bait since May, leading to 18 recoveries and 16 arrests.

Read more at http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/news/111731.html

UMN Foreign, Comparative & International Law Librarian Mary Rumsey recently published an article in the Syracuse Journal of International Law & Commerce, entitled “Gauging the Impact of Online Legal Information on International Law: Two Tests.�?

Spring, 2008 35 Syracuse J. Int'l L. & Com. 201
This article is currently available electronically through LexisNexis Academic.

From the Introduction:

This article examines two strands of legal work - decisions of human rights tribunals and legal scholarship - to test whether online legal information has affected them. I hypothesize that the availability of electronic sources has resulted in increased citations to documents from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in human rights jurisprudence1 and in increased citations to journals (vis-a-vis books) in scholarly articles on international law.

First, I will briefly summarize the advent of legal and human rights information on the Internet. Second, I will provide a citation analysis of two forms of human rights jurisprudence: United Nations Human Rights Committee "Views" and European Court of Human Rights decisions. Third, I will compare citations of scholarly literature over time in the American Journal of International Law. Last, I will briefly discuss the possible implications of my surveys.

Redeeming Law
In a cynical society suspicious of lawyers, Christian law schools are decidedly not.
Tim Stafford | posted 8/15/2008 08:44AM

Excerpt:
Until the 1970s, many Americans assumed that they shared a Christian culture, and nowhere was that attitude more pervasive or complacent than in law. Whether in church-related schools or not, law students studied the same basic elements of law set down by Harvard Law in the 1870s: property, contracts, criminal law, civil procedure, evidence, and torts. There was no distinctively Christian way to consider these; people assumed the law was fundamentally compatible with Christian thinking.

Roe v. Wade trashed that assumption, launching culture wars and struggles over religious liberty. Groups like the American Center for Law and Justice sprang up in response, going to court in defense of Christian causes. Gradually, Christian lawyers expanded their thinking beyond controversial court cases. They began to wonder what had become of their profession.

Sam Casey, executive director of the Christian Legal Society (cls), says he was typical when he started law school at the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit institution, in the '60s: "I wanted to make it in America." Law offered money, influence, and a membership at the country club. If some entered law school with higher ideals, the intensely competitive grind tended to wear them down. It seemed that success in the law could be measured in billable hours.

Today, Casey sees a "big change in the type of law students. They are coming to law school with a serious faith." Such students form the core of cls chapters at many law schools; they also feed distinctively Christian law schools.

Read the entire article at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/august/24.34.html

The University of Minnesota Law School has a chapter of the Christian Legal Society (CLS):
The University of Minnesota Christian Legal Society (CLS) is a non-denominational group of Christian law students seeking to integrate the Christian faith with their studies and careers. It is affiliated with the national Christian Legal Society, an Illinois-based, non-profit corporation with its principal offices in Annandale, Va. Although CLS is a Christian organization, it welcomes all religious denominations and traditions.

CLS engages in a variety of on-campus activities. It hosts events each semester where experts on various issues of faith and law come to the law school to discuss or debate their views. Several Bible studies occur on a weekly basis and are tailored to the needs of law students. This organization provides invaluable networking opportunities with local Christian attorneys, including volunteer opportunities with local legal aid groups. It also helps new students find churches to call home. Throughout the semester, it also sponsors social events where Christian law students have a chance to take a break from the demands of school and connect with each other. All of these events are open to the entire law school community.

Mondale knows firsthand the unique ups and downs Obama and McCain will soon experience
By Doug Grow, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008

The former vice president is one of only 10 men alive today who know the pressures of being the standard-bearer of one of the nation's two major parties. Walter Mondale recalls that when he gave his acceptance speech in 1984, he was confident of his big moment, but anxious, too, knowing from experience that just about anything could go wrong.

You can read the full story at Minnpost.com

Source: Kenny Ronnan, Minnpost - Staff Member
kronnan@minnpost.com

University of Minnesota hosts Associated Press photo exhibit of 'The American President"
Contacts: Jen Keavy, University of Minnesota, (612) 625-8095
Mark Cassutt, University News Service, (612) 624-8038

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL ( 8/8/2008 ) -- "The American President," an exhibit of compelling news photos from the Associated Press, will be on view in the Humphrey Museum and Forum at the Hubert H. Humphrey Center, 301 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis. The exhibit is co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota School of Journalism & Mass Communication and the Humphrey Institute's Center for the Study of Politics and Governance.

The display will be open to the public from 8:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, Aug. 13 through Sept. 19. Admission is free. More information about the exhibit is available on the Associated Press Web site at http://www.ap.org/americanpresident/

The exhibit shows American presidents at war and at ease, in victory and in defeat, confronting national crises and facing personal scandals, running for office and leading the country on the world stage.

Amid the extraordinary voter interest in the 2008 race for the White House, the new exhibit helps illustrate one constant in the ever-shifting media landscape. The coverage of the White House by AP reporters and photographers has been the dominant source of presidential news across the United States and around the world.

"The American President" features a number of the AP's Pulitzer Prize-winning images, including Paul Vathis' view of John F. Kennedy conferring gravely with his predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, at Camp David after the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961; Ron Edmonds' rapid sequence documenting the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, and White House photos taken by J. Scott Applewhite and others during Bill Clinton's 1998 impeachment battle.

The more than 80 photos in the exhibit underscore the need for the AP photojournalists assigned to cover the White House to always keep their eyes on the president, so they won't miss those revealing, unexpected moments that could easily dominate thousands of front pages and Web sites around the world.

"The American President" includes memorable shots from the AP Images photo library, which contains more than 10 million film and digital images, and pictures taken in this year's run for the White House by Senators Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama.

For further information, visitors may call the University of Minnesota School of Journalism & Mass Communication at (612) 625-9824 or email mnjrnctr@umn.edu.

As previously indicated, the Law Library photocopiers have transitioned to a new debiting system. The Law Library no longer sells copy cards.

To make copies:
Users must either have a UCard (a University Identification Card with value added to it) or buy and add value to a Gopher Gold card (available for purchase with cash only at the Library).

To add value:
For cash transactions, use the Value Port in the 1st floor copier area. The Library does not give change.
For check transactions, go to the UCard Office (basement, Coffman Union) from 8-4:30 M-F.
For credit card transactions (coming soon), users will go to the UCard Office website: http://www1.umn.edu/ucard/

For users with value left on the old library copy cards that no longer work: Go to the UCard Office (Basement, Coffman Union) 8-4:30 M-F to have the value transferred to a card that will work in the photocopiers.

Thank you for your patience during this transition. Questions? Contact the Library or the UCard Office.

In Manhattan, defendants in criminal court have the right to be silent, to an attorney — and to be blogged about. At least, they do when New York Post photojournalist Steven Hirsch is there with his camera, snapping stylish pictures of defendants who submit to his questions and agree to be documented. The results are fascinating: an almost anthropological study of New York’s least-publicized denizens, in which they tell their own stories in their own words — and often leaving out the most incriminating bits (naturally).

For the stories and photos, see Courthouse Confessions at http://courthouseconfessions.blogspot.com/

Source: Mental Floss

The University Library System announces that MNCAT Plus has Launched:

For the past several months we've been testing a new interface for searching our catalog, and today we’re pleased to announce its official launch.

As of July 31, 2008, you will notice new features when using MNCAT Plus, a tool that will allow you to easily find print and electronic books and journals, audio and video materials, databases and indexes, and the articles within them.

Highlights include:

Google-style searching. Simply type a search term or two and click “Go.�?

Relevant results. The items that best match your search terms will rise to the top of your results list.

Powerful filters. Start with a broad search and refine your results with the links on the right-hand side of the screen.

Real-time availability information. See at a glance whether materials are available online or at one of our libraries.

Familiar functions. Features like Did You Mean? suggestions and links to Google Books and WorldCat make it easier for you to find what you need. When available, cover images of books will be displayed.

Social networking features. Reviews and tagging allow you to make your own contributions to the experience of others.

Save and gather your citations. Push citations for materials you want to use or share to RefWorks and del.icio.us.

Integrated access and delivery. Search MNCAT Plus and then move directly to online versions of items or request delivery of physical items with the “Get It�? link.

Source: News from the Libraries blog

Law Firm to Law School: We're not hiring your grads until you improve your legal research program
An excerpt:

I was hanging my hopes on the implementation of a legal research bar exam component but I've just read about a much more effective way to overhaul legal research instruction in law schools; law firms go tell law schools that you won't hire their graduates until their legal research program improves. That's what one law firm did and the law school got the message. "The school ended up completely changing the structure of their program. The firms have the power to do that in law schools."

Should Law School Students Pay for Something That Does Not Benefit Them, Namely Faculty Research?
Edward Rubin (Vanderbilt) has posted Should Law Schools Support Faculty Research? in SSRN. Here's the abstract:

Law schools are predominantly financed by student tuition payments, yet a significant proportion of their expenditures do not directly benefit the students, but rather support faculty research. Moreover, as Judge Harry Edwards has argued, the research that faculty members are conducting is increasingly remote from their pedagogic role. Thus, that great bete noir of economists, the cross-subsidy, seems to be operating in force - students are paying for something that does not benefit them, and they are being compelled to do so by means of an intra-institutional transfer that they cannot control. Without venturing into the complexities of moral theory, one can say that this appears to correspond to most people's notion of unfairness. This article has two purposes. The first is to identify the nature of the cross-subsidy with more precision, and the second is to explore the question of its possible justification or correction. The article is also divided into two main parts, but rather than addressing these two questions in turn, each part attempts to serve both purposes, although in different ways. The first part of the article concludes that the cross-subsidy is a good deal more complex than it initially appears, and, as a result, a good deal less unfair. The second argues that there is nonetheless a residual unfairness toward students that should be remedied. The remedy, however, does not involve reducing research costs, or altering research to relate more closely to the curriculum, but rather lies in altering the curriculum to correspond more closely to existing faculty research.

New on LLRX.com - Legal Research Training for Summer Associates
Reference from Coast to Coast: Summer Musings - Jan Bissett and Margi Heinen provide a timely and valuable refresher on a range of well-sourced, reliable, topical websites, guides, print and program materials useful for summer associate legal research training.
Source: beSpacific

How (and Why) to Invite a SWAT Team Into Your Home

By Susan Perry | Wednesday, July 16, 2008

On a recent gray, rainy morning, Jon and Barbara Scoll calmly sipped coffee on their private dock while 100 feet away a SWAT team broke down the front door to their Edina home. The Scolls are among a small number of area homeowners who have donated their houses to police or fire departments to use for training. But donating a house isn't as easy as it sounds, and if it's not done right, taking a tax deduction could put you in hot water with the IRS.

You can read the full story at MinnPost.com:
http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2008/07/16/2556/how_and_why_to_invite_a_swat_team_into_your_home

Source: Kenny Ronnan, MinnPost

Jamaica's Justice Minister Highlights Critical Role of Law Librarians at CARALL's Annual Conference

Speaking at the annual conference of the Caribbean Association of Law Librarians (CARALL) earlier this week, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Senator Dorothy Lightbourne, highlighted the critical role law librarians play in providing information required in the legal profession. Read more about it.

Source: Law Librarian Blog

H.W. Wilson and MLA to make article-level records available in OCLC WorldCat.org

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 18 June 2008—Database producers H.W. Wilson and MLA have agreed to make article-level records available in WorldCat.org, increasing visibility and access to authoritative content licensed by libraries on the Web.

MLA and H.W. Wilson will permit a portion of their content to be indexed in WorldCat.org, the Web destination that allows information seekers to find what they need from a single source, online through OCLC’s cooperative organization of libraries.

The article-level metadata from H.W. Wilson and MLA will be added to the more than 50 million articles indexed from NLM MEDLINE, the Department of Education’s ERIC database, the British Library Inside serials, the GPO Monthly Catalog and the OCLC ArticleFirst® database to expand access and discovery of authoritative content through WorldCat.org.

OCLC will continue to add article-level records to WorldCat.org to enrich the search experience, and make collections from libraries more visible on the Web.

Read more...

In this month's Minnesota Monthly magazine, incoming Law School Dean David Wippman offers these thoughts on law school rankings. (The article is at http://www.mnmo.com/media/Minnesota-Monthly/July-2008/Winds-of-Change/ if you scroll almost to the bottom)

Objection! The U’s law school grapples with a slip in the rankings
—BETH HAWKINS

When David Wippman takes over as dean of the University of Minnesota Law School on July 1, he’ll have his work cut out for him: This past spring, for the first time in 12 years, U.S. News & World Report announced that the school had dropped out of the top 20 in the magazine’s annual ranking of the nation’s law schools.

U faculty have long claimed that the scores have little relationship to a school’s overall quality. Midway down the list, the differences between, say, 15th and 16th place can amount to little more than a few odd factors—like the number of books in the school’s library. Wippman argues that the formula can “create some perverse incentives�? for schools to game the numbers (buying more volumes for the stacks, for example). Still, he’s happy to highlight the spots where the U is a standout: “On one measure, peer reputation…

Minnesota is still doing very well,�? Wippman says.

Administrators concede that the list has a major impact on a school’s ability to recruit students and faculty, place graduates in sought-after jobs, and tease dollars from alumni pockets. “We do hear from lots of students that it is something they pay attention to,�? says Wippman, who already has his finger on the school’s pulse. “If the ranking falls, alumni express concern. If it goes up, they are appreciative of that.�?

Wippman, a Minnesota native, most recently did double duty as a vice provost and law professor at Cornell University, which, incidentally, is number 12 on the list. Not that anyone’s keeping track.

Local lawyers anxiously await Exxon Valdez decision
By Judith Yates Borger
Monday, June 23, 2008

Twin Cities lawyers are all a twitter today waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court decision on the $2.5 billion damages in the Exxon Valdez case. This is the last week the court will be in session, and as of noon it had issued decisions in all but seven of the cases it has heard since October.

Read the full story at Minnpost.com

Source: Kenny Ronnan, Minnpost.com

Cancellation of law school loan in exchange for public service work wasn't included in income

Photo by curious_spider (Flickr)

Rev Rul 2008-34, 2008-28 IRB IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/

Summary. In a revenue ruling, the IRS has ruled that the forgiveness of a law student's loan in exchange for the borrower working for a certain period of time in a qualifying law-related public service position wasn't includible in his/her gross income. The revenue ruling clarified that a law school loan made under a Loan Repayment Assistance Program generally satisfies the requirements of Code Sec. 108(f).

Background. In the case of an individual, gross income doesn't include any amount which (but for this rule) would be includible in gross income by reason of the discharge of all or part of any student loan if the discharge was made under a provision of the loan that all or part of the indebtedness would be discharged if the individual worked for a certain period of time in certain professions for any of a broad class of employers. (Code Sec. 108(f)(1))

RIA illustration : A student received $100,000 under a medical educational loan program. Under the terms of the program, one-fifth of the loan (or $20,000) is canceled each year he practices medicine in a qualifying state hospital. He doesn't include those amounts in income.

Facts. An individual, who we'll call Joel, attended law school and accumulated debt on his student loan. Neither the loans nor the underlying loan documents addressed whether any of the indebtedness would be forgiven if Joel worked in a particular profession for a specified period of time. However, Joel's law school offered a Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) to help reduce the student loan debt of graduates who engage in public service. The LRAP was designed to encourage graduates to enter into public service in occupations or areas with unmet needs. After Joel graduated from law school, he signed an LRAP promissory note and accepted the terms and conditions of the law school's LRAP loan.

Under the LRAP, the law school made loans that refinanced the graduates' original student loan(s). To qualify, a graduate had to work in a law-related public service position for, or under the direction of, a tax-exempt charitable organization or a governmental unit, including positions in: (1) a public interest or community service organization, (2) a legal aid office or clinic, (3) a prosecutor's office, (4) a public defender's office, or (5) a state, local, or federal government office. The LRAP loan amount was based on the graduate's outstanding student loan debt and annual income. After the graduate worked for the required period in a qualifying position, the law school forgave all or part of his LRAP loan.

Conclusions. In Rev Rul 2008-34, IRS concluded that the terms of the LRAP loan satisfied the requirements of Code Sec. 108(f)(1), and the LRAP loan was a “student loan�? under Code Sec. 108(f)(2). Consistent with the requirement in Code Sec. 108(f)(1) to work in certain professions for a certain period of time, Joel's loan was forgiven under the terms of the LRAP loan, only if he worked for a certain minimum period of time in a qualifying law-related public service position.

Further, Rev Rul 2008-34 noted that the LRAP was designed to encourage its students to engage in public service in occupations or areas with unmet needs. All of the positions listed in the LRAP were for, or under the direction of, a governmental unit or a tax-exempt charitable organization. In addition, the LRAP loan was made to refinance A's original student loans.

RIA Research References: For cancellation of debt under student loan programs, see FTC 2d/FIN ¶ J-7508; United States Tax Reporter ¶ 1084.04; TaxDesk ¶ 188,006.

Source: Federal Taxes Weekly Alert (preview) 06/26/2008, Volume 54, No. 26 via RIA Newsstand 6/23/08 (Part of Westlaw's Checkpoint Resources) via Ref Librarian Mary Rumsey

Coming in July: a new debiting system for making photocopies in the Law Library!

The Law Library photocopiers on 1st and 2nd floor are being wired for a campus network debiting system. Please excuse the noise that may be associated with this project.

Starting in July (exact date TBA), users who wish to make photocopies will need to add value to their UCard, or if they do not have a UCard, a Gopher Gold card. The Library will no longer sell copy cards.

Gopher Gold cards can be purchased at the Library, and users can add value with cash or go online to add value with a credit card ($2 transaction fee applies to credit card use). Departments will obtain a departmental card from the UCard office and receive a monthly statement. For a limited time during summer and fall semester, users will be able to transfer value from their old copy cards (which will no longer work in the copiers) to their new cards.

More information wil be forthcoming as the transition nears, but you can find additional info now on the UCard office website at: http://www1.umn.edu/ucard/umtc/tcg4g.html

Summary:
"An independent investigation of the office by St. Thomas Law Dean Thomas Mengler cleared the Attorney General of wrongdoing related to her handling of cases in the office. In response to the investigation report, Attorney General Swanson fired the attorney who brought the original complaint." Read more at the UMN Law School Institute for Law and Politic's blog.

On June 3, 2008, the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) released the results of a preliminary assessment of allegations concerning the Minnesota Attorney General´s Office. The results are presented in a letter to members of the Legislative Audit Commission. The commission members did not find a basis for further investigation by OLA.

Other sources have a different view of the investigation.
Read more at MinnPost.

Read the Commission's report.

National Archives Creates Plan for Online Access to Founding Fathers Papers
From the press release from May 7, 2008:

"Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein submitted a report, entitled The Founders Online, to the Committees on Appropriations of the U.S. Congress. This report is the National Archives response to concerns raised by the Committees that the complete papers of America’s Founding Fathers are not available online. The Founders Online is a plan for providing online access, within a reasonable timeframe, to researchers, students and the general public. The report is available electronically on the National Archives web site.

In announcing the completion of the report, Professor Weinstein said, “We feel this plan would provide scholars and the public access to the best available versions of the complete papers; it would also protect the longstanding interests of the publishers and host organizations which along with the Federal government have invested great resources in the past four decades. Most importantly, it would build a monument to the Founders of our nation in their own words.�?

The National Archives received suggestions from the editors of the papers of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington, university publishers, and others in crafting a blueprint for providing access to the already completed print editions and the raw materials for the editions to come. If carried out, the plan ensures that interested readers worldwide can see the work in progress with the already complete editions accompanied by transcriptions of the papers yet to be published. To hasten the transition process, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission plans to invest $250,000 as a demonstration pilot project."

COPY OF ORIGINAL LETTER – William Duane to Thomas Jefferson, 14 Feb. 1813

Read the report: The Founders Online

Source: Law Librarian Blog

UPDATE (7/15/08):
In just a few days, the long-awaited EBSCOhost 2.0 interface will be fully implemented. Its brand new look and feel, based on extensive user testing and feedback, will provide you with the most powerful, clean and intuitive interface available. This is the first redesign of the EBSCOhost interface since 2002, and its functionality incorporates the latest technological advances.

We have created a wide range of tools and information to streamline your transition to the new design:
An overview of EBSCOhost 2.0 is provided in the Flash demonstration here. (www.ebscohost.com/2.0_flash)

The EBSCOhost 2.0 Support Center is available here. (http://support.epnet.com/ebscohost2)

Our marketing web site also features new EBSCOhost 2.0 web pages, where you can learn more about its key features, here. (http://www.ebscohost.com/2.0)

We hope that you and your users enjoy the clean new design of EBSCOhost 2.0, and welcome your feedback.
Visit EBSCO's Support Site (http://support.ebsco.com) to learn about new features, search among thousands of FAQs, download Flash tutorials, Help Sheets or User Guides, or communicate with Technical Support at any time, using the EBSCO Support Form (http://support.epnet.com/contact/askus.php).

May 19, 2008:

EBSCO will be coming out with a new interface in July.

Many interesting options worth a peek (e.g. ability to preview images or abstracts from a results list; a date slide limiter; etc.).

A list of new features, with a self-paced demo, is available at:
http://ebscohost.com/thisTopic.php?marketID=1&topicID=969

Source: Monday Memo

Changes to the Key Number System

On May 12, West plans to release significant changes to the Key Number System. Attorney editors have completed the reclassification of over 500,000 headnotes. The improvements include the following:

A large portion of the topic CRIMINAL LAW has been revised and expanded to account for recent changes in the law relating to the right to counsel, effectiveness of counsel, conduct and argument of either prosecuting attorneys or defense counsel, authentication of evidence, mistrial, regulation of trial, and standards of review on appeal.

Revisions have been made to the topic SENTENCING AND PUNISHMENT relating to application of the Sentencing Guidelines.

Dozens of other areas of the Key Number System have been given minor improvements, particularly in the topics AUTOMOBILES, INNKEEPERS, INSURANCE, and NEGLIGENCE

Changes to the Key Number System do not affect a researcher’s ability to search by a former classification number. West tracks the former Key Number next to the updated classification, so Westlaw can be searched using old or new numbers. Depending upon the total impact on the bound print volumes, the reclassified headnotes may go into the pocket part.

Questions about these changes or Westlaw research in general? Contact the Law Library Reference Office at 612-625-4309 or law-ref@umn.edu.

Source: Tom Duggan, Manager, Librarian Relations, Thomson West Company

A new intellectual-property law clinic at the University of San Francisco School of Law will assist students accused by the record or film industries of violating copyright law by swapping multi-media files online. The clinic will give advice on how to respond to pre-litigation letters and walk students through the steps of bringing an effective defense should suit commence.

From the article:

A new legal clinic at the University of San Francisco, created by Professor Robert Talbot of the USF School of Law, matches tech-savvy law students with frightened undergrads. The future lawyers get experience; the music fans get counsel.

"It helped. I didn't feel so alone," said a 20-year-old San Francisco State University psychology student who asked that she not be identified because it would expose her to embarrassment. Accused of sharing songs on her computer through the service Limewire, she received an RIAA letter last month threatening suit - and telling her that she had 20 days to pay $6,000 or face up to a $20,000 fine.

"It made me realize that more and more students are going through this," she said.

Read more at: http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/news/91511.html
Source: Government Innovators Network at Harvard Business School

Beginning with the 110th Congress, the Public and Private Laws on GPO Access have been digitally signed and certified. GPO has signed and certified the PDF files to assure users that the online documents are official and authentic.

"To help meet the challenge of the digital age, GPO has begun implementing digital signatures to certain electronic documents on GPO Access that not only establish GPO as the trusted information disseminator, but also provide the assurance that an electronic document has not been altered since GPO disseminated it." Read more at GPO Access' authentication efforts.

Source: WisBlawg via FDLP-listserv

According to a GPO Request for Information:

The United States Government Printing Office (GPO) plans to digitize the entire collection of legacy materials that have been disseminated through the Federal Depository Library Program. The estimated size of the collection is approximately 2.2 million documents, which amounts to about 90 million pages.

Source: WisBlawg via GOVDOCS-L list

Something new is coming to the UMN Public Catalog: GET IT!
Get It is a one stop paging service for the TC UMN campus.
Get It combines three previous services (Recall, Point-to-Point, and Libraries to U) with an in-house paging service for more convenient, simplified delivery service!

Watch for more details coming soon. Get It is planned to start March 3.

myLibrary is an interactive library page where you can help shape the information provided to you. myLibrary features librarian based suggestions for resources and libraries, easy access to the materials you may have checked out from the University of MN Libraries, and spaces where you can save your favorite library resources like databases and e-journals.

Watch for myLaw Library...coming soon!

Source: News from the Libraries blog

The law library's website has undergone a remodel! Check out our new look!

New user navigation tabs at the top of each page help direct you to custom information and resources. We've also opened up the "Quick Links" menu located on the left side of our home page for easier, direct access to some of our more popular resources and services.

If you would like to offer any feedback on the new site, please email lawlib@umn.edu with your message. Feel free to report any broken or misdirected links to this email as well.

Home Page: http://www.law.umn.edu/library/home.html

From the Harvard Business School's "Working Knowledge" magazine comes their top 20 most popular stories of 2007, including #2:
HBS Cases: How Wikipedia Works (or Doesn't)
For HBS professor Andrew McAfee, Wikipedia is a surprisingly high-quality product. But when his concept of "Enterprise 2.0" turned up on the online encyclopedia one day—and was recommended for deletion—McAfee and colleague Karim R. Lakhani knew they had the makings of an insightful case study on collaboration and governance in the digital world.

See all the stories at http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5836.html

The Minneapolis Public Library and Hennepin County Library are getting closer to finalizing the merger of their two systems. The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners approved the merger on Dec. 18. Here are three news stories about the approval:

http://www.edenprairienews.com/node/3852 (Eden Prairie News)

http://www.startribune.com/local/west/12612176.html (Star Tribune)

http://www.hclib.org/pub/info/news_releases/MergerApproved.cfm (Hennepin County Library)

Mary Rumsey, who handles foreign and international legal research here at the Law Library, has published a book on researching foreign and international law. Her co-author is Marci Hoffman of the University of California-Berkeley, who was Mary’s immediate predecessor as the foreign and international law librarian here.

Martinus Nijhoff/Brill is publishing the book this month. Its title is International and Foreign Legal Research: A Coursebook.

The book covers research on treaties, foreign law, customary international law, the UN, EU, human rights, trade, intellectual property, environmental law, and other topics. Its companion website offers research exercises and useful web links.

Also read the good press here: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/2008/01/first-legal-res.html

The law library has an additional place for information and news! Located near the circ desk is a display case that will rotate library news and new book announcements on a monthly (or more frequent) basis. Next time you are in the library, please take a look!

You can now access MN state trial court records via the internet through the Minnesota Trial Court Public Access Remote view (MPA): http://www.mncourts.gov/publicaccess

Please note that the information accessible via MPA is NOT exactly the same as what you get when you search MNCIS at the courthouses.

From the www.mncourts.gov website:
"Courthouse public access terminals provide the most complete access to electronic district court case records, because they are not restricted by the remote access provisions of the Rules of Public Access (see Rule 8, subd. 2). For example, street addresses and name searches for pre-conviction criminal case records are available at courthouse public access terminals, but not through the online case inquiry, as described above."

Attorney searches cannot be completed via MPA, but are available via the courthouse terminals.

Additionally, the MPA system is based on the MNCIS system (MN Court Information System). Dakota County records and Ramsey criminal records are not yet part of this system. Dakota records move to MNCIS at the end of February and Ramsey criminal records move the weekend of April 11, 2008. Those records are currently only available at their respective courthouses.

Source: MN Association of Law Libraries

From Thomson West:

In response to the discussion about the far-reaching changes to the Federal Civil Rules of Procedure, Thomson West has posted a 5 minute video featuring the authors of the Federal Civil Rules Handbook. The authors, Steven Baicker-McKee and Professor William Janssen, discuss the dramatic amendments to the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure, and why every major rule and form is changing on December 1, 2007. The video can be found under the "What's New for Law Librarians" section at: www.west.thomson.com/librarian.

The changes have mostly come about as a result of a comprehensive overhaul by a federal style committee. There are stylistic and substantive changes, and all the forms have changed as well.

Thomson West has published the Federal Civil Rules Handbook just in time for the coming rule changes. All rule changes will be in this volume, along with all the new forms, and a great deal of annotated commentary. There will also be a "roadmap" at the end of each rule indicating the Style Project changes and the non-stylistic (substantive) changes to the rules.

Source: Law Librarian Blog

News from the OPL Plus Blog:
Faculty members overwhelmingly prefer using online material to printed material, according to the results of a survey released this week by Ebrary, a company that provides electronic content and technology to libraries, publishers, and other businesses. The survey shows that half of faculty members prefer electronic resources, and 18 percent prefer print. Another 32 percent said they had no preference. The results were based on responses of 906 faculty members from 300 colleges and 38 countries.

From an article by Andrea L. Foster in The Wired Campus (an online feed from The Chronicle of Higher Education), 8 November 2007.

URLs:
The full article: http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2531
Register to read the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=PgvLHSl_2fYAN_2fsblRBJYqqg_3d_3d

From the Out of the Jungle blog:
"The National Conference of Bar Examiners is still considering how to create a test of legal research skills that can be administered, scored and validated. If that test is ever added to state bar examination requirements, it will not be long before advanced legal research becomes a required subject at many schools. At this point, there are only a handful of schools (actually only one that I know of) that has a required advanced research class. That school is University of Maryland, who reported at the NE2007 regional meeting on their experience."

How does this affect law libraries? Read more...

From the Government Innovators Network (JFK School of Government at Harvard) comes news of at least two innovative legal programs. You can read more at http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/

Grant will fund 'new life' court
09/20/2007 | The Herald-Sun (Durham, North Carolina)

In North Carolina, the Durham County District Court has received federal funding to begin "The New Life Court," an 18-month project that works with previous low-level offenders, such as child support delinquents, trying to reenter the work force. The program will work with 25-30 clients at a time, using social services to help parents having trouble paying child support or people released from jail to avoid the further punishment of unemployment or underemployment.

Free legal help will be available to veterans
09/06/2007 | Chicago Daily Herald

The Illinois State Bar Association, the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, the John Marshall Law School, and several other entities are partnering to ensure that veterans obtain free legal services to file claims for the health and education benefits they deserve. The project will recruit and train attorneys to represent disabled veterans at hearings on appeals related to their claims.

To combat gang violence, the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is considering a proposal to set up a online registry of people convicted of gang-related crimes. Modeled after the now ubiquitous sex offender registries, this gang violence registry would include offender data such as convictions, legal names, aliases, birth dates, and places of employment. Read more at the link below.

Source: Government Innovators Network at Harvard University blog

News from the Educational Technology Department:

Five of the law schools seminar rooms have just had installations of projection equipment and computers with internet access. Rooms 473 & 475 on the fourth floor and rooms N202, N204 & N209 on the second.

This means that groups and classes will no longer have to reserve Laptops and LCD projectors for these 5 rooms, it will be as simple as bringing in your flash drive and pressing a button.

Glen Anderson put a great deal of effort into setting up the computers and with the physical installation.

Educational Technology Home Page: http://www.law.umn.edu/technology/edtech.html
The Educational Technology Office phone number is 612-625-6385 and the e-mail address is LawEdTec@umn.edu. The Control Room is Room 184, located by the Law Clinics.

Jackee Heslop started her term as Step-Up Student Intern at the Law School. Jackee will be a senior at South High this fall and is interested in learning more about careers in the law, especially working with children.

She will be working here 20 hours a week for six weeks, splitting her time between the Clinics office and the Law Library. Step-Up is a city initiative aimed at reducing economic disparities in the community. Each summer, several hundred high-achieving students are placed in “internships�? throughout the city. This year, the U has the largest number of interns of any employer.

If you see Jackee around the building, make sure to say hello.

The Law Library's own Reference Librarian Vic Garces (who is also co-author) and Director Joan Howland are profiled in the new book Celebrating Diversity: A Legacy of Minority Leadership in AALL

From the release:
Celebrating Diversity: A Legacy of Minority Leadership in AALL

Profiles of 32 past and present minority law librarian leaders are featured in this informative book. Also included are a historical overview of AALL’s diversity efforts and the results of a survey of nearly 200 minority law librarians.

"This book is itself reason to celebrate. It chronicles the increasing richness and ethnic diversity in our profession; it recognizes the significant contributions made by these members; and it celebrates the leadership of many pioneers within the Association. This book is a look back at where we have come from and a look forward at some of our younger leaders who will define the future of the profession.�? - Past President, Robert L. Oakley (2001-02), Foreword

Celebrating Diversity: A Legacy of Minority Leadership in AALL is no. 71 in the AALL Publication Series, published by Hein. All royalties for this publication will be contributed to the AALL & Thomson West George A. Strait Minority Scholarship Endowment Fund.

Read more, including a 16-page sample from the book at http://www.wshein.com/Catalog/Product.aspx?sku=730

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (6/6/2007) -- The University of Minnesota, along with the 11 other leading Midwest universities in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), have entered into a ground-breaking collective agreement with Google to digitize up to 10 million bound volumes, nearly doubling the number of universities participating in the Google Books Library Project.

The U of M and the CIC announced the agreement today, June 6. The agreement allows Google to digitize significant portions from CIC library general collections. In addition, collection areas of particular strength and distinction will be contributed from each university. The distinctive collections the U of M will have digitized could include, for example, Scandinavian history, literature and culture; forestry; bee-keeping; medicine, including oncology, radiology and pediatrics.

Read more from today's press release.

Walter Mondale, the former Vice President of the United States (1977-1981), U.S. senator, and ambassador to Japan, will be returning to his alma mater this fall to teach a lower-level course examining the ongoing battle between the President and Congress over control of the country's most vital decisions.

Read more

Source: UMNnews

"The St. Croix River is a natural treasure that must be protected from "nicks and cuts" caused by development pressure, former Vice President Walter Mondale said in an interview with the Pioneer Press.

"Bit by bit, through nicks and cuts, they destroy it," said Mondale, who Thursday was named an honorary National Park Service ranger for his role in protecting the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. ..."

Read the full story at the Pioneer Press website: http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_5708789

The hectic pace of academic life can be stressful--and what better way to refresh and renew than to enjoy a beverage and a bit of light reading? The Popular Reading Collection in the Wise Owl Café at Walter Library is a non-circulating collection of popular fiction and nonfiction. Patrons at the Wise Owl can relax with a good book from the collection anytime the café is open.

Planning a trip to the Wise Owl? Curious to know in advance what's available in the Popular Reading Collection? Go here to browse and search titles. Collection materials rotate quarterly, and new titles are added monthly.

Source: UM Libraries News

Here is a quick update on the law library construction projects:

Staff Elevator Access Project: The doors to the elevator corridors have been hung and will be painted this week. The doors have their locks disabled (taped over the latch) and are not activated. If the door is shut, just push on it and it should open. The elevator still needs to be switched over to card access so this project should last at least a few more weeks.

We are using fans during the painting, but if the paint fumes seem more overwhelming in a specific area, please let library staff know so we can re-direct fan circulation.

Stack Lighting Project: The 1st floor study tables are in the process of having their wiring updated and better task lighting should result. Next, the stack lighting will be re-wired and undergo timing changes. This means brighter lighting for longer periods of time. The stack rewiring will start on 4th floor and work down. This project will last the next several months.

During these periods of library construction, expect more noise in the work areas. We have posted signs alerting to any possible disruption, but feel free to contact library staff with any questions or concerns during these projects. The main contacts are Paula Seeger (612-625-1547) and Suzanne Thorpe (612-625-0187). Thanks for your patience and cooperation.

Source: Minnesota Coalition on Government Information

PRESS RELEASE - MARCH 6, 2007

GARY HILL HONORED WITH JOHN R. FINNEGAN FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AWARD

Minnesotans struggling to gather public information collected by the state no longer encounter such intrusive questions as "Who wants to know?" or "Why do you want to know?" They have Gary Hill to thank. In the late 1990's Hill led efforts to eliminate these and other barriers to open records. Over the past decades Hill has worked at the state and national levels to support a Shield law, to expand the use of cameras and recording devices in the courts, and to advocate at every turn for open government.

When Gary Hill received word that he was named recipient of the 2007 John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award, his response was self-effacing: "To have my name associated with Jack Finnegan is truly an honor." As fellow journalists, Finnegan and Hill share a commitment to openness in government, to mentoring socially responsible journalists, and to ethics in the profession.

The Freedom of Information Award, established by the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MnCOGI) in 1989, is named for John R. Finnegan Sr, retired senior vice president and assistant publisher of the St Paul Pioneer Press. Finnegan is founder and stalwart of the Minnesota Joint Media Committee which continues to support open records, open meetings and other First Amendment-related causes in the Legislature and other public arenas in Minnesota.

Nominated by the Minnesota Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Gary Hill has been a leader of that organization "for more years than anyone can remember." Until recently Hill was a journalist with KSTP-TV. In January 2007 he moved to a new position as Communications Director for the Majority Caucus of the Minnesota Senate.

The Board of the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information also recognizes a select number of outstanding nominees for the annual award:

The City of Chanhassen, nominated for its enhanced website which provides in-depth access to city government documents for residents, businesses and other governments.

Red Wing residents Pat and Roger Sween, recognized as crusaders for intellectual freedom and against censorship. As leaders of the Minnesota Coalition for Intellectual Freedom, the Sweens are responsible for landmark position papers on Internet policy, censorship, and teaching of scientific theory in public schools.

The Twin Cities Daily Planet http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/, a program of Twin Cities Media Alliance, is an online news service that offers access to news and government information sources not covered by major local media while providing an outlet for citizen journalists.

The John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award will be presented on Friday, March 16, at 12:00 Noon at the Minneapolis Public Library. March 16 is celebrated nationally as Freedom of Information Day; the date is the birth date of James Madison, defender of an informed citizenry supported by an open government. The event is free and open to the public.

In 2005 the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information was recognized nationally with the Eileen Cooke State and Local Information Madison Award, named for the long-time government information advocate, and Minnesota native, who led lobbying efforts of the American Library Association for 25 years.

The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) yesterday (Monday Feb 26) recommended that the cost of a first-class stamp rise to 41 cents, a 2 cent increase. They also recommended the introduction of a forever stamp, that would work even when the cost of a stamp increased.

Want to read the documents related to this decision? Check them out on the PRC's web site. In addition to the 502-page opinion, you can also find a 34-page summary for the press.

Who is the PRC? It is an independent regulatory agency made up of five commissioners. This group makes recommendations on new domestic mail rates, fees and mail classifications. The Board of Governors for the U.S. Post Office generally follows these recommendations. According to the Washington Post article "Postal Commission Favors Selling Stamp That Locks In Current Rate" the last time they deviated from the recommendations was in 1980.

Want to know the historical cost of mailing a letter? Check out this letter to Thomas Jefferson in March of 1792 from Thomas Pickering of the Post Office (from the Thomas Jefferson collection at American Memory). In this letter he recommends against carrying the mail 100 miles a day, due to the increased cost.

Source: Gov Pub Library-U of CO Boulder

NEWS RELEASE:
February 2, 2007
Law Library of Congress To Celebrate 175th Anniversary in 2007
In celebration of its 175 years of service to Congress and the nation, the Law Library of Congress is launching a yearlong series of events designed to celebrate its achievements and showcase its unparalleled resources.

The celebration began with a special ceremony held at the Library of Congress on Jan. 18. The American Bar Association presented the Law Library with a resolution recognizing this historic milestone, and the American Association of Law Libraries presented the Law Library with a commemorative plaque.

Read the rest of the press release here: http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2007/07-019.html
Link to the law library of Congress here:http://www.loc.gov/law/public/law.html

Beginning with the start of the second semester (Tuesday, January 16) and continuing until the end of the semester, Wilson Library will open at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday on both the first floor and basement levels.

Copy Services Hours. In addition, a second pilot will keep the basement exit and photocopy/circulation desk open until 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday. This is a response to increased demand for the photocopy service and user convenience.

The new coffee shop, located on Wilson's basement level, will open in February.

Reserve & Periodicals hours at Wilson for Spring 2007 will NOT change.

ATTENTION STUDENTS:
During the exam period (December 9 - 21), part of the first floor of the Law Library is designated as a QUIET ZONE.

We have posted signs near the area and would appreciate your cooperation in keeping this part of the library as quiet as possible.

When studying in this area please be sure to:
• turn-off the sound on your laptop,
• turn-off or silence your cell phone,
• and refrain from talking.

Please avoid walking through this area, unless you plan to study there, and please keep your voices low in nearby areas as well.

If you are looking for a place to study in a group, please check at the circulation desk for an available study room.

Thank you.

Professor Tom Cotter accepted the prize for the winning entry in the blog naming contest.

Do you have suggestions for the content of this blog? Perhaps you've always wondered what is in a certain collection and why you would use those resources? Maybe you're curious to know more about who is responsible for cataloging the books? Send your suggestions to lawlib@umn.edu.

Welcome to LexLibris, the new blog for the U of MN Law Library!

Our goal is to make this blog a useful tool for the law school students, faculty and staff. We aim to keep the law school community abreast of recent developments in the world of legal research, as well as what's happening in the library. We'll spotlight collections, introduce staff, explain common reference queries, and alert you to changes in hours or other library policies, with a few fun things thrown in for good measure.

If you are interested in subscribing to a notification service so you're alerted when new entries are made to the blog, there are links on the side of this blog. You can also receive email notifications by sending your email address to lawlib@umn.edu. This is also the email address to use when you'd like to submit comments, questions, or suggestions about the blog.

Congratulations to Professor Tom Cotter who made the winning suggestion for the name. He won a $50 gift card to either Best Buy or Target.

Welcome!