Biddleblog

A website called Aviva has posted a list of "12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Should Know." The rights and restrictions of blogs are particularly germane these days, given the recent spate of suits involving blogs and other online content providers. This should be an interesting trend to monitor.

Via librarianinblack.

A recent program on Public Television featured an interesting story about the conflict between intellectual property rights and traditional knowledge.

Established in 1998 under the Clinton administration, the Internet Tax Freedom Act banned taxes on Internet use. The moratorium sunsets November 1. (More after the jump.)

DRM, or digital rights management, refers to software and hardware based restrictions placed on creative material which aims at protecting a copyright holder’s interest in limiting access to the material. DRM determines where and how you can access a digital product and what modifications, if any, you can make to the content. DRM can be viewed as conflicting with systems interoperability---that is, the ability or lack of ability for a user to play a song downloaded on Itunes on her Zune. (More after the jump).

Last summer, a couple of law school professors--Frank A. Pasquale of Seton Hall and Oren Bracha of Texas--posted an article to SSRN that called for the regulation of the Internet's gatekeepers of information: search engines. (More after the jump.)

Welcome back! There's a nice debate online this week between a Columbia Law School professor and an entertainment industry executive regarding copyright and privacy. (More after the jump.)

Do you blog? Do you read blogs? Do you want to learn more about the many ways in which blogs are used? (More after the jump.)

Last week, the Copyright Office's Section 108 Study Group released a report that suggests changes in current copyright law for the benefit of librarians and their patrons. (More after the jump.)

If you're a blogger and want to hold down a steady job, tread lightly. (More after the jump.)

Welcome and welcome back!

Some of you who have been around here in the past might have noticed that we like to create at least one technology-related exhibit per year. Last year, we displayed some library resources related to copyright alternatives, including the "copyleft" and "free software" movements, and Creative Commons. This time, we thought we'd kick off the year taking a look at yet another emerging topic in law and society: the Open Source movement.

An eagle-eyed Biddle patron might notice that we've recycled some of our materials from the "Alternatives to Copyright" exhibit. This is by design, because Open Source does often challenge traditional understanding of ownership and intellectual property.

We've broken the exhibit into three main topics. The main display case (pictured above) provides an overview of the Open Source movement, including some prominent examples--tech geeks will notice the the Linux penguin, an icon of open source. The other two cases deal with Open Education and Open Law, both of which Penn Law School's faculty and journals have contributed to in a number of ways.

As the center for information on campus, the Biddle Law Library is always interested in alternative models to the distribution, creation, and accumulation of knowledge. The Open Source movement engages a variety of cultural, educational, and legal topics. We hope our fall exhibit on the topic will answer some questions and raise even more.

Check back with the Biddleblog for regular updates on some of the things we're working on and thinking about. Enjoy the year!

Did you know that October 14 was Open Access Day?  No?  That's ok, because Ed Greenlee and I didn't either until we were asked by Shawn Martin, Head of Scholarly Communication at Van Pelt library, to commemorate the event by giving a talk to the librarians on examples of Open Access in legal research and scholarship.  While the presentation was geared towards our library colleagues, we provided links to some important legal research tools that are available free of charge on the Internet.  They include:

Cornell University's Legal Information Institute.  The Legal Information Institute is a web portal to a large number of free web sites containing primary legal materials: case opinions, statutes, and administrative materials.

THOMAS.  The THOMAS site is maintained by the Federal Government and offers a wide range of legislative materials, from various versions of bills, to selected hearing transcripts and legislative history summaries along with hot links to key documents.

The Directory of Open Access Law Journals.  This site provides a list of institutions participating in the Open Access Law Program.

"Wikibooks" and virtual casebooks.  Wikibooks is an open source for a wide range of texts. At the present they offer a limited number of books in the area of law but Wikibooks will be a growing resource for open access legal texts.

Wex.  Wex is like Wikipedia but for legal information: it attempts to provide a community-edited legal encylopedia and dictionary.

eLangdell.  eLangell is an open source project of CALI (Computer Assisted Legal Instruction) program and the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School. Just initiated in June of this year, it will offer a variety of materials including multimedia course materials and case books.

Opencongress.org.  Part of the Sunlight Foundation's suite of free government information databases, Opencongress.org is an innovative example of bringing Web 2.0 tools like blogging, RSS feeds, and social bookmarking to the public policy arena.

As our presentation demonstrated, there are a great many resources for legal research out there that aren't named Westlaw or Lexis-Nexis.  And they are doing some innovative things in the way that legal information is presented online.  None of this would be possible without the Open Access movement's committment to unfettered access to, and use of, information resources.

Law librarians are regularly called upon to provide information with regards to how individual members of Congress have voted on certain topics.  As both a lawyer and a librarian, I am constantly amazed by the availability of U.S. Government information, including the voting records of our Federal Electorate, which is handily available on the Internet.  This is true process transparency in action, as part of what makes our democratic process great is the ability to hold our electorate responsible for their action (or inaction) through the voting process.  As we are on the heels of an important election, the interests of legal research and the public interest are once again intertwined.  I offer you below some legal resources by which you can make your own accounting before you head to the polls this November.  Beyond the near term elections, this information can help any student of the law track bills, examine a bill's history, and understand the voting records of our elected officials.

Project Vote Smart is a bipartisan-volunteer organization that has proclaimed itself the "voter's self-defense system."  This fantastic website makes accessible the voting records of every candidate and elected official from the President to local government officials in each state.  Another important feature is that the website breaks votes down by subject area to enable voters to examine how candidates cast their ballot on subjects of special importance to them, the individual voters.  Not only is the information readily available and presented in a format that is easily understood, Project Vote Smart provides a variety of search mechanisms, including an area code search, to assist voters to gain information on candidates who hold local government offices that they might not be aware of.  Additionally, the website enables RSS feeds to allow voters to stay informed and updated on a regular basis.

Thus, if you're nearing Election Day and can't decide on a candidate for either a federal, state, or local position, I would recommend visiting Project Vote Smart to see where your candidate falls on the issues that interest you.  If, on the other hand, you are interested in examining the roll call votes on a particular piece of legislation that is, or was, pending before either the House or the Senate, then you should also be aware of the official government websites described below.

THOMAS is a source of U.S. Government information that is organized and published by the Library of Congress.  Here, you can gain information relating to the roll call votes on every bill that went before the house (since 1990) as well as the Senate (since 1989) by visiting the roll call vote page.  Additionally, another two sources for examining roll call votes are the Clerk's office for the House of Representatives and the Secretary's Office of the Senate.

On each of these government sites, the roll call votes are broken down by Congressional Session and individual bills instead of individual members.  This information, however, when combined with that available through Project Vote Smart, allows any citizen to get the complete picture with just a few clicks of their mouse.

Governmental web sites are usually one of the first places people go for official government information. Few of us, however, know that government blogs exist as a possible source of information. It may surprise many to learn that the federal government maintains a web page entitled "Blogs from the U.S. Government," which lists active and archived government blogs.

While governments have been slow to embrace Web 2.0 technology, it has nevertheless begun to do so. According to Webcontent.gov, "Blogs put a human face on government. They can make government more 'open' by allowing more interaction between government and its citizens." Bill Gates, Microsoft founder, is quoted on webcontent.gov as saying: "It's all about openness. People see blogs as a reflection of an open communicative culture that isn't afraid to be self-critical." Since 57 million adult Americans read blogs (according to a 2006 Pew Internet & American Life Project report called Bloggers: A Portrait of the Internet's New Storytellers (PDF)) government blogs serve as a more dynamic way to engage or further a dialogue between citizens and governmental officials.

A perusal of "Blogs from the U.S. Government" reveals a variety of blogs ranging from "Peace Corps Volunteer Journals," concerning the experiences of Peace Corp workers, to the State Department's "Dipnote," which "offers the public an alternative source to mainstream media for U.S. foreign policy information and the opportunity to discuss important foreign policy issues with senior State Department officials." Of particular interests to many of us at this moment is the Congressional Budget Office Director's Blog, which among several objectives, attempts to remedy misunderstandings of CBO data or testimony.

There are those who will seriously question the veracity, value and reliability of information found on government blogs, as indeed should be the case. Regardless, government blogs remain a potential resource which may provide invaluable information and insight.

For further reading about government blogs, I recommend Professor David C. Wyld's report entitled The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0 (PDF).

Reference librarians like to help people find useful information; it is one of the joys of our jobs.  Recently, I have been asked by several patrons where they can access PDF copies of information produced by the Federal Government.  As a reference librarian, I enjoy these kinds of questions because they provide terrific opportunities to both assist and educate patrons on a legal resource available, available to anyone free of charge, through the Government Printing Office (GPO).

The GPO is the Federal Government's primary centralized resource for gathering, cataloging, producing, providing, authenticating, and preserving published Federal Government information in all its forms.  The GPO's core mission--"Keeping America Informed"--dates to 1813, and it is this inherent function of government that GPO carries out on behalf of the public for all three branches of government and many of the federal agencies. 

One of the ways that GPO produces and distributes information products and services is through online access via their GPO Access website.  The information provided on this site is the official U.S. Government published version, and GPO Access makes approximately a quarter million titles available to the public.  Moreover, through GPO's partner websites, an additional half million titles are accessible.

The GPO has done a terrific job organizing access to materials produced by the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches of our Federal Government.  Visiting these sites, you will encounter the kinds of resources reference librarians are asked about on a a daily basis such as the Legislative History of Bills, the Congressional Record, Conference and Committee Reports, Public and Private Laws, the Statutes at Large, the U.S. Code, the Code of Federal Regulations, the Federal Register, and Court Opinions, just to name a few.  It is important to note however, that excepting the Supreme Court materials, GPO Access only provides historical access to resources dating back to the 1990s.

GPO Access is a terrific resource that is both free and easy to use.  With just a little practice, researchers can save themselves and their clients a great deal of money by pulling resources from this open source.

 

The 2008 Presidential Campaign was an exciting and historically significant race of special interest to legal and political researchers. The importance of the issues and the biographies of the candidates ensured this race a place in history. However, this election cycle also marked the advent of new ways to involve the average citizen in the campaign process. Web 2.0 technolgies were applied to politics through the use of sophisticated, interactive websites and social networking tools. Interested observers were given unprecedented access to information. 

The election may be over, but your access to the issues doesn't have to end with Inauguration Day. The Obama administration has committed itself to transparent government, which is a boon for legal reseachers. A great place to begin exploring the Executive Branch is the the official website of the White House. This site offers many useful resources to the legal researcher, including videos, audio clips, blogs, position statements, and the text of important Executive actions.

The home page highlights recent important events with video clips and links. Notice that in the upper right hand corner, you have the option to sign up for email updates. The main page also offers you a basic keyword search feature. Scrolling down to the bottom of the page allows you the option of viewing the page in Spanish or reading copyright and privacy policies.

The Briefing Room portion of the site features a frequently updated blog that reports on the activities of the President and Vice President.The Briefing Room also holds the text of all Executive Orders,  Presidential Proclamations, and the the names and positions of all Presidential Appointments and Nominations.

Another useful feature of the site is the Agenda page. This portion of the site explains the Obama administration's position on a number of important issues, such as the economy, Iraq, and the environment.

The White House site also quickly links you to important government officials through the Administration page. Short biographies and appropriate website addresses are available for the President, First Lady, Vice President, the Cabinet, White House Staff, and Executive Office staff. Information on the branches of government and federal agencies and commissions is available through the section of the site entitled "Our Government".

It is important to note that the White House site only contains information on the current administration. To access documents from past administrations, use GPOAccess, as explained in the Nov. 25th Biddleblog post.

In the case of the Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft (303 F.3d 631), Judge Damon J. Keith stated "Democracies die behind closed doors." The Obama administration has pledged itself to transparent government. A good way to monitor this committment is through the White House website.

Are the doors of our government truly open? Visit the White House site and form your own judgment on the Obama administration's "Open House" policy.

Biddle Law Library at the University of Pennsylvania Law School will host the first MidAtlantic Academic Law Libraries Symposium on March 13, 2009. The symposium is being sponsored by  Bloomberg, Law Division.

The morning session will feature John Palfrey, Henry N. Ess III Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School and a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society will deliver the keynote speech. 

In the afternoon Jordon Steele, Archivist at Biddle,  will facilitate a panel on blogs in academic law libraries and Ed Greenlee, Associate Director for  Public Services at Biddle will moderate a panel on the role of Facebook in academic law libraries.

A few of the institutions attending include the law libraries at Duke, Fordham, Howard, Cardozo,
Hofstra, University of Maryland and University of Pittsburgh.

Ed Greenlee and Tim Von Dulm, Reference Librarian, are the co-organizers of the symposium.

For more information,  please email Ed Greenlee at egreenle@law.upenn.edu. 

 

 

A couple of Saturdays ago, while most of you were sleeping, relaxing, or mowing the lawn, I was at work.  Well, sort of: I attended a symposium at Georgetown Law Center called "The Future of Today's Legal Scholarship."  Despite the seemingly broad title, the bulk of the day centered on one particular resource that is emerging as an important way for people to exchange, discuss, and comment on aspects of the law: the legal blog.  The symposium was organized in honor of Bob Oakley, former Director of Georgetown's law library, who passed away in 2007. 

 

The keynote address was delivered by Bob Berring, a well known figure in the both the legal and library fields.  While Berring admitted that he had to teach himself to be blog literate, he expressed a broad understanding of the nature of legal scholarship and research and the extent to which the blogosphere is shaping these fields.  Berring argued that, while it is unlikely that the law review will be supplanted by a new form of legal resource anytime soon, legal blogs have their role in advancing legal thought.

Berring's comments set the tone for the day.  There were refreshingly few--if any--broad-brush criticisms of the blogosophere as a debased form of communication.  If anything, most of the speakers pointed out the distinct advantages of blogs when compared to other publishing platforms: namely, the immediate topicality of the posts, the casual tone, and the ability to receive feedback from readers.  These qualities were echoed by Chris Borgen, Associate Professor of Law at St. Johns and founder of the popular law blog Opinio Juris.  Borgen outlined what he believed blogs did well and what they did not do well.  In the latter category, Borgen argued that, by and large, you don't see a legal subject treated with the same depth in a blog post as you do in a journal article.  On the other hand, Borgen argued that a major exception to this characterization was the way many law blogs have handled current controversies over civil liberties, torture, and Guantanamo Bay.  In this scenario, these blogs were better than mainstream news articles, Borgen argued, because you had legal experts (lawyers, professors, etc.) writing the posts.  "They already knew what the Geneva Conventions were," Borgen said of these legal bloggers.

Underscoring the increasing importance of blogs in judicial contexts, Lee Peoples, Law Library Director at Oklahoma City University School of Law, presented recent research he had conducted on instances where blogs had been cited in judicial opinions.  Peoples' research suggests that blogs are increasingly taken more seriously as reliable locations for legal theory, but that they still have not been standardized enough to facilitate wholesale adoption.  Furthermore, Peoples raised a point that other panelists returned to during the day: if a blog or blog post is cited, how can we be sure that this resource will be preserved in perpetuity?

Tom Goldstein, founding of the very popular SCOTUSblog, claimed that bloggers have totally different priorities than librarians and preservationists: bloggers think about the information itself, not the long-term preservation of that information.  However, later in the day Ph.D. student Caroyln Hank presented findings in a study that gauged bloggers' perspectives on digital preservation that would suggest otherwise.  Hank found that most bloggers actually do think about the long-term access to their blogs, but that, by and large, responsibiltiy for preservation should lie with the individual blogger and not a library or archives.

Continuing on the preservation theme, the symposium organizers were wise to include representatives describing two different approaches to digital preservation.  Linda Freuh, a Project Manager from the Internet Archive, discussed that organization's approach: a centralized model, whereby the Internet Archive harvests blogs and stores them on their own servers.  Stanford's LOCKSS model, however, takes a different strategy, advocating a distributed approach to preservation, whereby multiple institutions preserve the same digital resource.  LOCKSS stands for "Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe."

The entire list of speakers can be found here.

Once the panel discussions ended, attendees broke up into working groups roughly divided along themes raised throughout the day--selection, preservation, research, and so forth--and brainstormed about ways of tackling these issues.  Lots of great ideas were bandied about, but there was a common thread among all of them: when selecting which blogs to preserve and decided how to preserve them, libraries are encouraged to form partnerships with peer institutions rather than "going it alone."

In the end, the "Future of Today's Legal Scholarship" symposium provided a lively forum for reflection about the rise of the law blogosphere, its impact on legal research, and the major challenges facing law libraries as they attempt to provide access to these and other digital resources in perpetuity.  I consider the day an unqualified success.  Bob Oakley would have been proud.

Dear Online Search Expert,

I am an experienced searcher. I use Google all the time, but I am new to Westlaw. When I searched the Westlaw databases ALLSTATES, ALLCASES with the terms "power of attorney" and "conservator," it turned up the maximum of ten thousand documents. I modified it as follows: "power of attorney," "conservator," "new york," and I still got the same maximum of ten thousand documents. Something went wrong. What happened?

Frustrated 2L
 

Dear Frustrated 2L,

There are a couple of factors at work here.  Let's explore them.

First, we need to look at which databases you selected. If you had chosen a more relevant database, you would have received fewer, but more appropriate results. In short, selecting the right jurisdictional databases limits your results to relevant authority.

Similarly in legal practice, selecting a multi-jurisdictional database, whether in Lexis or Westlaw, will cost more than selecting a limited jurisdictional database. Larger more all encompassing databases are more expensive than smaller more relevant jurisdictional databases, resulting in less cost and better results. This will allow you to spend more time with analysis and writing.

Second, your search query can be improved. Adding terms narrows a Google search, but adding additional terms does the opposite with Westlaw. This has to do with Boolean connectors, such as AND or OR. Where there is no express connector, Google implies an AND between terms. On the other hand, Westlaw implies an OR, increasing the number of results.

Westlaw limits search results at 10,000 to reduce unnecessary strain on its servers, caused by poorly constructed search queries. In your case, adding "new york" would have increased the actual number of results from the hundreds of thousands into the millions.

What would I have done? I would have chosen a New York cases database like NY-CS. I would also have wanted "power of attorney" and "conservator" to be near each other in the discussion.   To do this, I would have run a search with a proximity connector (such as "/p" to search terms within the same paragraph) instead of an implied OR. Therefore, one search would be: "power of attorney" /p conservator. Using this search, results in 24 manageable cases.

Thanks for asking,
Online Search Expert