Final Draft Report - Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control - Released Today

The Library of Congress's Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control just released their final draft today. Comments are being taken until December 15th and can be submitted via a link or by snail mail here.

For more information on this subject, you can read a letter issued by the Working Group today or view the November 13, 2007 Interim Draft Report & Recommendations Webcast.

Jurisprudence - Viriginia Indians Blog

Earlier in the month I created a list of U.S. American Indian Legal Resources that are available free on the Internet. Another good resource is David Richardson's Jurisprudence - Virginia Indians Blog.

David is a University of Richmond student with multiple blogs and a passion for American Indian law in Virginia. He describes his "Jurisprudence" blog as:

"A Chronicle Journal of the quest for Federal recognition and sovereignty struggle of the Virginia Indian tribes based upon principles of equity and the rule of law."

Even though I no longer do library work in this area, I enjoy reading his blog. He keeps up with current events related to the struggle for 6 Virginia Indian tribes (already recognized in Virginia) to be recognized by the federal government.

David also has some excellent links in his posts and on the left navigation bar of his blog. Here's the feed for Jurisprudence - Virginia Indians:
http://jurisprudence-va-indians.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Law Library Societies

Lately I've found myself referring other law librarians to their local law library society discussion groups for consensus answers to general law library questions. I thought it might be helpful (it certainly will be to me!) to point out links to law library society Web sites.

The best list of links out there appears to be the American Association of Law Libraries' (AALL) list of AALL chapters (from Atlanta to Western Pennsylvania). If anyone is aware of any other law library societies out there, or if you want to add links to law library societies in countries other than the U.S., it would be terrific to add them in the comments. I will do the same.

By the way, did you know that the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C. (LLSDC) site has feed? Here it is: http://www.llsdc.org/en/rss/

2007 U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual

The 2007 Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual (containing federal sentencing guidelines and policy statements effective November 1, 2007) is available in PDF and HTML versions at the U.S. Sentencing Commission's Web site here. Current and past versions for handheld devices (PDAs) are available here.

Academic Law Library Statistics 2005-2006

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published the ARL Academic Law Library Statistics 2005–06 (PDF). The 51 page document provides information on:

• Collections
• Expenditures
• Personnel
• Services

The statistics are based on 75 law libraries at ARL member institutions throughout North America. You can view earlier statistics back to 1998-99 here. You can read today's ARL press release here.

USA.gov Now Has Mini Tutorials

USA.gov has added Flash and HTML tutorials on how to find government information from their site.

ABA Journal's Top 100 Blawgs...Categorized

The American Bar Association's ABA Journal has come out with a list of their top 100 blawgs. They have also listed them in the following categories:

• Generally Speaking
• All Business
• Politics for Sport
• Benched
• Ivory Tower
• Black Letter Law
• Lawyer's Toolkit
• Caution: Gossip, Rumor, & Innuendo Ahead
• Your So-Called Life
• Crime Time
• J.D.s in Training
• Lawyers Behaving Badly

Family Law (and more) Links for the Public

Thanks to Nancy at Stark County Law Library Blog for pointing out FindLaw's Family Law Center. It has links to helpful materials regarding:

• Divorce
• Child Custody
• Child Support
• Marriage
• Living Together
• Adoption
• Parenting & the Law
• Domestic Violence
• Same-Sex Couples

and a whole lot more, including some new hot topics.

FindLaw has a lot of useful information on a wide-variety of legal topics. Here is a list of All Topics in FindLaw for the Public.

iheard: Search & Listen to Radio Stations on the Web

I don't know why so many of my recent posts have been been about music, but here's another one! Earlier in the year, I was desperately searching for international radio stations on the Web and was disappointed with the search results I was getting.

I saw mention of iheard ("find your favorite music, sports and talk radio stations") on ResearchBuzz last month and finally got around to checking it out. It has a great selection of international radio stations from which to choose. You can even search or browse by language.

There are many other genres you can choose from too. The results provide direct links to the stations, so you can just click and listen without leaving the iheard site. You can also add an "iheard Badge" to your site so that your loyal viewers can tune into your favorite station.

New Nixon Documents to be Released Nov. 28th

On November 28, 2007, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum is releasing approximately 122,800 pages of documents from the Nixon presidency. The National Archives' Media Alert, issued today, says you'll be able to see approximately:

• 10,000 pages of materials previously withheld from the public - "The documents are from file segments for the White House Special Files, Staff Member and Office Files; the National Security Council File series including the Henry A. Kissinger Office Files and the National Security Council Institutional Files."
  
• 4,800 pages of materials from the White House Central Files, Name Files - "Included in the release are files on Mark Felt (Deep Throat), Robert Byrd, Bob Hope, Elvis Presley, Ronald Reagan, Richard Cheney, and Frank Sinatra."
  
• 83,000 pages of materials from the White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files, and White House Press Office Files - "The files contain materials created by the Press Office for distribution to the media including White House press releases and press conference transcripts."
  
• 25,000 pages of materials from Records of Temporary Committees, Commissions, and Boards, as well as Records of the Cabinet Committee on Education - "The Cabinet Committee on Education served as a Federal Government point of contact for states undergoing school desegregation."

Alice's Restaurant Massacree

For many, listening to Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant is as traditional on Thanksgiving Day as asking, "How am I supposed to carve this thing again?" If you are one of those many, here are some links you'll like:

• Listen to Arlo sing Alice's Restaurant (all 18+ minutes of it)
• Watch Arlo sing Alice's Restaurant (all 18+ minutes of it)
• Read the lyrics
• Read a Tribute to Officer Obie
• Read Arlo's blog (and get the details about which radio stations will be playing Alice's Restaurant on Thanksgiving - here's the feed)

If you don't know what all of this is about, the song is the story. If you don't have 18 minutes, you can read this Washington Post article (though I think it's longer than the lyrics) and get a pretty good idea as well.

Lots of Alternatives to TinyURL

Most of you are familiar with the popular TinyURL.com site that takes horribly long URLs like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI73MA/sr=53-1/qid=1195611880/ref=tr_359161

and turns them into something like this: http://tinyurl.com/yr6eyk. You may also know that TinyURL recently had problems and all those tiny, tinyurl links broke.

What surprised me is that so many people had been using TinyURL for permanent links. I can see using them to send a long link in an e-mail message or for use in a presentation (so people can copy it down quickly and get the real link later), but not as a Web site link. A bit risky....

Anyway, TinyURL appears to be working again, but I thought it might be helpful to point out a few alternatives to TinyURL. Here they are:

• SHurl
• SNIPURL
• urlTea
• dwarfURL
• urlx
• Tinylink
• URLcut
• 6URL
• TightURL

You can find even more listed at notsolong.com's links page.

Holiday Ornaments with a Legal/Government Theme

'Need to give someone a little pre-holiday gift? Here are some 2007 commemorative holiday ornaments with a legal/government slant:

• U.S. Supreme Court Ornament
• U.S. Capitol Ornament
• The White House Ornament

I think The White House wins with the most attractive (on a tree) and most reasonably priced ornament. However, the Capitol ornament is cast from a real piece of the Capitol. The Supreme Court ornament combines 24kt gold plate with plastic and is the most expensive.

SeatQuest: Map Out Your Concert Seats

CNET's News Blog has a post about the SeatQuest ticket search. It looks like SeatQuest's interactive maps will show you exactly where you can sit and how much it will cost.

NewsNow: Real-Time News

ResourceShelf just mentioned that NewsNow has Intellectual Property news. That's not all it has. NewsNow searches over 30,000 news sources every 5 minutes. You can use the drop-down menus to choose a topical news feed or you can search headlines. It's a great way to get the latest news on just about any topic.

Search Live Webcasts

It's not available yet, but NowHound is almost ready for launch. When it becomes available, NowHound will tell you "what’s on now, and what’s on next." You'll even be able to set alerts for upcoming Webcasts, too. Thanks to Alt SearchEngines for pointing this out!

Songza - Search For and Play Your Favorite Song

Thanks to Aaron at TechBlog for pointing out Songza (Doesn't that mean "throat" in Chinese?). It's a quick and easy way to search for a song/tune on the Web and listen to it in its entirety. You can also share, rate, and add the song/tune to your playlist. I did multiple searches and found multiple versions of songs.

This is, however, a dangerous tool for people like me who will listen to each version of a song over and over again ad nauseam. Please don't ever play Arthur McBride around me again.

U.S. Federal Court Rules Changes

On December 1st, many federal rules changes take effect. That's nothing new. What is new, and what's creating a bit of a hullabaloo in the legal/law library world, is the number of changes being made to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Every one of the rules in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure will be changed...but not in the way you might think. The reason all of the rules are changing is because the rules are being "restyled," basically to make them more ..."user friendly."

This Report of the Civil Rules Advisory Committee has details regarding the style changes, as well how they might effect laws (see: "Addressing the Relationship to Other Laws"). The Current and Restyled Civil Rules Comparison Chart may also prove useful in understanding the style changes. These reports and more (including all proposed federal rules amendments that become effective on December 1st) can be found at the U.S. Court's site here.
According to this section of the U.S. Court's site, you can expect the following federal court rules changes:

• Appellate Rule 25
• Bankruptcy Rules 1014, 3007, 4001, 6006, and 7007.1, and proposed new Rules 6003, 9005.1, and 9037;
• Civil Rules 4, 5.1, 9, 11, 14, 16, 26, 30, 31, 33, 34, 37, 40, 45, 50, 71.1, and 78; Comprehensive Restyle Civil Rules 1-86; Restyle Illustrative Civil Forms; and new Civil Rule 5.2; and
• Criminal Rules 11, 32, 35, 45, and new Rule 49.1. (The Judicial Conference also approved the recommendation to abrogate the Model Form for Use in 28 U.S.C. § 2254 Cases Involving a Rule 9 Issue in the Appendix of Forms to the Rules Governing Section 2254 in the United States Courts.)

NLJ 250

The National Law Journal's list of the 250 biggest law firms in the U.S. is out. You can view it here (free registration required).

American Election Returns 1787-1825

Thanks to the University of Michigan Documents Center for bringing light Philip Lampi's A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825.

The data includes local, state, and federal election returns from all 25 states and territories that existed during that time period. The data for the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, and Michigan have been completed thus far. At the time of this post, 15,633 elections (approximately 27% of the returns) are now available. You can check the status of the project on the Home page.

Lampi's data is being made available for free with a grant from National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the assistance of The American Antiquarian Society and Tufts University Digital Collections and Archives. You can browse the data or search by:

• keyword
• state
• office
• year
• candidate
• party
• election type

The election returns cover a wide variety of offices. Check out this list. Here are the currently available returns for the office of U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative.

Now You Can Get Conference Reports Faster

Now you can get U.S. Congressional Conference Reports faster, thanks to an amendment to Rule XXVIII of the Standing Rules of the Senate which states:

"9. (a)(1) It shall not be in order to vote on the adoption of a report of a committee of conference unless such report has been available to Members and to the general public for at least 48 hours before such vote. If a point of order is sustained under this paragraph, then the conference report shall be set aside."

Now, when a Conference Report isn't available to be printed in the Congressional Record the day after being filed, the Government Printing Office (GPO) will scan them and post the searchable PDF on this Web page.

U.S. American Indian Legal Resources

In recognition of U.S. National American Indian Heritage Month, I've decided to post some very useful U.S. American Indian legal resources that are available on the Web for free.

For American Indian treaties, there are two main publications:

Volumes I & II of the American State Papers (Indian Affairs from 1789-1827)

and

Volume II of Kappler's Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties (U.S. government treaties with American Indians from 1778-1883)

Additionally, The University of Nebraska, Lincoln, has 9 Early Recognized Treaties with American Indian Nations. (The site explains that these 9 treaties are not included in the online version of Kappler's (linked above), but are recognized as ratified treaties by the Department of State. Seven of these are between the British and the American Indian Nations and two are between the U.S. and the American Indian Nations. The site says that the two U.S. party treaties are included in the American State Papers.)

The other 6 volumes of of Kappler's are also of significant value. They contain U.S. laws and executive orders concerning American Indians from 1871-1970.

The Library of Congress's American Memory Project (which houses the American State Papers) has Indian Land Cessions in the United States,1784-1894 including 67 maps.

The Native American Constitution and Law Digitization Project has quite a lot of good information.

"This Project is a cooperative effort among the University of Oklahoma Law Center and the National Indian Law Library (NILL), and Native American tribes providing access to the Constitutions, Tribal Codes, and other legal documents."

Included in the "other legal documents" are items like Cases and Materials on Problems In Lands Allotted to American Indians by Joseph F. Rarick, 1982. and Handbook of Federal Indian Law by Felix S. Cohen, 1941 (though the site mentions that there are errors in the imaged copy of Cohen's and an original should be checked for complete authority).

The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) provides access to Tribal Codes and Constitutions too. NARF also has recently updated:

• Basic Indian Law Research Tips--Part I: Federal Indian Law
  (Original at AALL here)



• Basic Indian Law Research Tips--Part II: Tribal Law
  (Original at AALL here)

You can find Indian trust and Cobell lawsuit information at DOI's Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians:

"In 1994, the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act established the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians to improve the management of the Indian fiduciary trust in the Department of the Interior. OST manages Indian beneficiaries’ financial assets and is responsible for coordinating reform efforts to improve trust asset management and beneficiary services throughout Interior."

The Tribal Court Clearinghouse is a good place to go for current legal issues:

"The Tribal Court Clearinghouse is a comprehensive website established in June 1997 to serve as a resource for American Indian and Alaska Native Nations, American Indian and Alaska Native people, tribal justice systems, victims services providers, tribal service providers, and others involved in the improvement of justice in Indian country."

New U.N. Site: Interactive Maps, Country Profiles

UN Pulse introduces a new United Nations Web site. It's called MDG Monitor (MDG stands for Millennium Development Goals) and it includes interactive maps, country profiles, and news (with real-time Google news feed).

Latest Canadian Legal Publications

Using Yahoo Pipes and Feedburner, Steve Matthews over at Vancouver Law Librarian Blog has created a site called LegalPubs.ca that aggregates Canadian Legal Publication feeds. You can read more about how Steve did this here and here. You can also subscribe to the big, combined feed which is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/LegalPublications.

The site is having a few problems reading French at the moment (I always have that problem too), but I suspect he'll have that fixed shortly. It's a very cool thing Steve's done, so go check it out.

Free Copy of E-Discovery for Dummies

Monica Bay points out, at EDD Update, that you can order a free copy of Electronic Discovery for Dummies from RenewData just by filling out a form. You can order your copy at: http://renewdata.com/dummies/