“What is Access to Justice?,” by Sarah Glassmeyer, LLRX, published on June 30, 2016.
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Copyright Tools for Libraries and Librarians (ALA)
First: Librarians, please do not make legal decisions, copyright or otherwise, for your employer (or your own business for that matter) if there is possible litigation down the road. Do not be penny wise and pound foolish. Your library employer has, or should have, a lawyer who is paid for making these decisions that will keep you and the institution from getting sued. Keep in mind that it is not just a matter of right or wrong, lawful or unlawful, win or lose. It takes time and money to defend yourself in a lawsuit, frivolous or not. Wouldn’t you rather spend that time and money on services for your library’s patrons?
Now, on to those Copyright Tools for Librarians, from the February 2016 Legal Research Plus blog post, and their link to the ALA Copyright Tools website.
Hat tip to Legal Research Plus for this and many other research tips (and for their Law Library blog).
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“Desk Set” (the movie) and the 2016 Robot Lawyers
If you’re not tracking news of Robot Lawyers then you’re not keeping up with the legal research profession.
No, not a “robotic” lawyer, but the Artificial Intelligence (AI) kind. See lots of robot, and AI related, lawyer news at LawSites and 3 Geeks and a Law Blog.
These developments are neither good nor bad. It’s a process and you have time to think, explore, experiment, and eventually panic, as humans always do. (Look at Wall Street traders. They panic sooner and more than almost anybody, although, admittedly, many of them are ruled by robots and robotic mentors.)
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Brexit, Huh? And the Brits Think Our Elections are Crazy
So, a one-time 52 to 48 percent [Brexit, Wikipedia article] popular vote is a solid basis for making massive economic, political, and social changes to the governance of the Not So United Kingdom and the larger European Union of 28 (at the moment) member states. Huh? Ain’t Democracy grand?!
Even tennis, baseball, soccer and basketball teams get to play more than one game to determine who wins.
We have much to learn from what happens next (and after that, and after that, …) and there will be an awful lot of discussion, hand-wringing, foreboding, fear, panic, etc. (Just like the lead up to our November 2016 elections!)
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Brexit Election (Voting) Results are Not Binding
Just Google these words: brexit not legally binding
The voting takes place on Thursday, June 23, 2016.
See also “Neil Walker: The Brexit Vote: The Wrong Question for Britain and Europe,“ linked to from the UK Current Awareness Blog.
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Regulating Birth and Birth Control, plus a Short Story Comic (Oregon Historical Quarterly)
“From the regulation of midwifery and home birth, to the history of genetic counseling, to the impact of federal Indian policies on Native communities, the history of birth reflects both cultural values and government power….”:
“Special Issue: Regulating Birth,” Oregon Historical Quarterly: The Journal of Record for Oregon History, Summer 2016, and:
“Special Bonus!
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“Fully Loaded: How America’s 10 biggest gunmakers do business” (Mother Jones)
“Fully Loaded: How America’s 10 biggest gunmakers do business,” by Josh Harkinson, Mother Jones, June 2016
Do you want to do more research?
Sample searches: see note below about how to control and limit your wildly random Internet searches:
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How a Prison Inmate Became a Jailhouse Lawyer and Changed the System (New Yorker)
Home Free: How a New York State prisoner became a jailhouse lawyer, and changed the system,” by Jennifer Gonnerman, in: New Yorker, A Reporter at Large, June 20, 2016 issue.
“Derrick Hamilton was wrongfully convicted of murder, and spent more than two decades trying to prove his innocence…. He started spending time in the library, and eventually taught himself enough criminal law to become one of the most skilled jailhouse lawyers in the country….” [Link to New Yorker article.]
Hat tip to Longform.
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Oregon Attorney General’s Public Records Law Reform Task Force
Visit the Attorney General’s Public Records Law Reform Task Force for meeting Agendas, Minutes, and related documents:
“On October 23, 2015, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced the formation of the Attorney General’s Public Records Law Reform Task Force, a group designed to review and recommend improvements to Oregon’s public records laws….” [Link to Task Force website.]
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Oregon Revised Statutes, 1995 and 1997, Appearing Online
We have been informed that that the 1995 and 1997 ORS are appearing online at the Oregon Legislature’s website. Our partners in this have been Legislative Counsel, so please thank them for this effort.
In time, pre-1953 Oregon laws, codes, and statutes and 1953 to the present ORS will appear online. (Although not yet UELMA-compliant. Only a few states are managing that miracle.)
Previous blog posts on our superseded ORS digitization project can be found with these tags, among others: