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The library regularly receives questions about raising chickens in urban areas (view previous blog posts on chickens here).   So, it’s not too surprising the Saturday (March 23) edition of The Oregonian’s Community News (West Metro) featured an article on the popularity of raising hens in Washington County.  As the article mentions, researching your local ordinances is important if you want to raise chickens on residential property.  For example, Hillsboro drafted new livestock, bee, and exotic animal regulations a few years ago and now has a permit process.  Beaverton also has codes relating to hens, and like Hillsboro, they don’t allow roosters.  Don’t overlook possible local regulations regarding building structures/enclosures for poultry (for example, Hillsboro requires a building permit for structures over a certain size, and Beaverton’s code specifies the minimum distance an enclosure has to be from a neighboring dwelling).

Other helpful resources include your local animal control office, code enforcement office, and extension service office. OSU’s Extension Service has offices throughout the state, and their poultry specialist was interviewed for The Oregonian’s article.

On a fun note, Goblinproofing One’s Chicken Coop by Reginald Bakeley recently won the Diagram Prize for oddest book title of the year.

 

 

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As part of their Open States project, the Sunlight Foundation recently released their Open Legislative Data Report Card.  They rated each state legislature’s website on the following criteria: completeness; timeliness; ease of access; machine readability; standards; permanence.  You can read more details about the criteria behind the ratings at their blog. The Report Card also offers details on some of the ratings for each state (for example, why Missouri scored highly on permanence). The final tally of grades was:

  • A: 8 states
  • B: 11 states
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In the race to eBook-nirvana, should lawyers and judges stop long enough to read the privacy fine print in their eBook contracts?  (You can be sure law librarians are reading it.)

We all know (at least I hope you all do) that publishers and digital distributors collect data on how you use your eBook. They know what you read, how fast, if you read the end before you read the beginning – well, maybe not the latter. But they could track that if they wanted to and come up with a profile of people who do just that (ahem).

Don’t forget that Wall Street Journal article, July 19, 2012, “Your E-Book is Reading You,” by Alexandra Alter, about data collected on the average eBook reader.

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An Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was proposed in 1923:

“Freedom from legal sex discrimination, Alice Paul believed, required an Equal Rights Amendment that affirmed the equal application of the Constitution to all citizens. In 1923, in Seneca Falls for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the 1848 Woman’s Rights Convention, she introduced the “Lucretia Mott Amendment,” which read: “Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction.” The amendment was introduced in every session of Congress until it passed in reworded form in 1972….” [Link to more from ERA History at Equal Rights Amendment dot org.]

Wikipedia Equal Rights Amendment

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Are you an “English as a Second (or 3rd or 4th) Language” law student or lawyer?

Are you thinking about going abroad to teach U.S. law or legal research to foreign students or lawyers?

There are books for non-English speakers learning the Language of American and (UK) English Law. Some might even be e-books.

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Read about FOI Day at the Newseum, to commemorate the (March 16th) birthday of James Madison.

Federal Freedom of Information Act.

How to file a federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request.

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The Oregon legislature will consider a proposal this year to adjust the boundary between Multnomah and Washington counties so that approximately 160 acres, known as “Area 93,” would change jurisdiction.

Read about the Multnomah and Washington Counties plan at the Washington County Area 93 website and the Area 93 Updates page.

You can also follow 2013 House Bill 3067 from the Oregon Legislature’s website.

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You can find links to Oregon cities’ biennial photo radar and red light reports from the Oregon State Library’s Reports to the Legislature website, including Beaverton, Sherwood, and many others.

Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 810.438 was amended in 2005 to require cities using photo radar equipment to conduct a process and outcome evaluation for the legislature once each biennium.

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We’ve had many patrons ask questions about copyright, including an interesting one about getting permission to sell or make reproductions of an original oil painting. If you own an original work of art and are looking for resources on reproducing the artwork for profit and/or obtaining authorization to resell the artwork, including finding the applicable forms, there are a few resources you can try (including our new legal research guide on copyright law).

Permission and copyright in regards to artistic works can be a bit more complex than other forms of copyright. Nolo press publishes a number of excellent copyright-related titles that provide an overview of the issue including: Getting Permission: How to License & Clear Copyrighted Materials Online & Off; Patent, Copyright & Trademark; and The Craft Artist’s Legal Guide (check at your local public library to see if they carry the above-mentioned titles).

Works of visual art are covered by copyright. However, certain kinds of works of visual art (particularly limited editions) are also protected under the attribution and integrity aspects of the Visual Rights Act (VARA), 17 United States Code, Section 106A . Circular 40 from the US Copyright Office covers copyright registration for works of visual art. The Artists Rights Society also covers other rights assigned to artwork creators, including resale rights and moral rights. The Craft Artist’s Legal Guide has a section on what rights a customer has when they buy a work of art.  Nolo has an online article that covers the basics of assignments and licensing.

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