Oregon Legal Research BlogIf you have a long weekend looming, with nothing to do (hard to imagine but some do have lives of leisure), did you ever think about building your own DIY Book Scanner?
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DIY Book Scanners
Articles Posted in Other
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Librarians are Prestidigiterians
I was reading the Rex Stout novel (League of Frightened Men, with Nero Wolfe) and came across this wonderful, and largely forgotten, word: prestidigitation (see also Word of the Day a few years ago.)
Isn’t this what a lot of us do, especially “digital” librarians (without the deceit, of course)?
Those ones and zeros are powerful things (or perhaps they are utter nothingness or naught-iness)
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The West Digest System is Your Friend
Rarely does a day go past without someone coming into our law libraries frustrated as can be: “I just spent #$% hours online and I can’t find what I need.” In the law librarian version of “breathe deeply,” we talk and walk the attorney through the search, more often than not taking them back to the origins of the West Digest System.*
Say what you will about the business-customer (vs. business-shareholder) side of Thomson-Reuters print and online services (and I surely won’t stop you), the legal research premise (or taxonomy, to be more precise) on which the original West Digest System is based is a thing of beauty. (See also West Digest System, from Wikipedia.)
The West Digest taxonomy (as remarkable as Roget’s Five Classes, the periodic table of the elements, and our 26 letters of the alphabet or even the Ten Commandments) is comprised of only seven topics – amazing:
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Books to Prisoners (Nonprofit Organization)
Books to Prisoners is a nonprofit, all-volunteer, organization that sends literature to prisoners.
Prisoners across the country write letters requesting titles/genres/etc. The organization tries to match these requests with books received through donations. A family foundation has recently awarded a 2:1 matching grant for donations.
Visit Books to Prisoners online for more information.
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Justice Bedsworth Reveals a Few “From the Bench” Appellate Advocacy Secrets
… in the OC Lawyer Magazine, Criminal Waste of Space column: Carpentry Without Tools, by Justice William W. Bedsworth
Excerpt: “My father was a casketmaker. He taught me not to judge the carpenter if you don’t know his tools. It was just a homey tradesman’s adjuration not to be judgmental, and I remember as a boy being unimpressed by it as a mantra. But I sure appreciate it now. It has helped keep my blood pressure in check for many years.
I think of it often when I encounter an opinion I do not think is the author or panel’s best work. I remind myself that I don’t know how good the briefing was, I don’t know what the record was like, and—perhaps most important—I haven’t sat down and struggled with the cases cited….”(Link to full article.)
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Oregon Pottery Extravaganza!
In a periodic break from legal research, I remind you of the upcoming:
Oregon Ceramics Showcase: April 30, May 1 and 2, at the Oregon Convention Center
If you’ve never been to the Ceramics Showcase (aka “pottery show”), GO!
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Make Your Facebook Account Private
1) iLibrarian has a post on how to make your Facebook account private. They link to the Wired How-To website, which has many other useful tips.
2) All Facebook dot com has additional information on Facebook privacy.
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FDR’s Supreme Court: Terry Gross Interview with Jeff Shesol
We just heard that Terry Gross’s April 13th, 2010, interview with Jeff Shesol, author of “Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court” was highly entertaining and educational (a team that is hard to beat).
Those of us in the OPB “listening area” can hear it tonight at 7 p.m.
Or, link to the transcript and podcast of Fresh Air, “FDR’s Losing Battle To Pack The Supreme Court”.
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50th Anniversary of “To Kill a Mockingbird”
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
What can one say? A remarkable book, indeed.
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Spousal Support and “The Feminine Mistake”: A Gift that Keeps on Giving
County law librarians work with a lot of family law attorneys and pro se litigants contending with family law issues (marriage, divorce, custody, support). Not a small percentage of them have questions about spousal support (and subsequent modification). If your practice (or your life) hasn’t been such that you keep up with the law on this subject on a regular basis, you’ll need to do some research in the primary sources (starting with your state’s “Digest,” usually), the secondary sources (e.g. treatises and periodicals), and in your state’s legal practice research resources.
(I highly recommend a West “Digest” Topic (e.g. Divorce or Husband and Wife) search for starters and make sure you read the Scope Notes.)
Lately, though, every time I hear a summary of the facts for these cases, I think of the book “The Feminine Mistake.”