Monday, January 31, 2011

First Annual Report on Implementation of English Law Commission Recommendations

Last week, the Lord Chancellor presented the first annual report to the UK Parliament on the extent to which Law Commission proposals have been implemented by the Government.

The Lord Chancellor is the member of the British Cabinet responsible for the efficient running of the courts and protecting the independence of the judiciary.

As the report explains:
"The Law Commission Act 2009, which came into force on 12 January 2010, amends the Law Commissions Act 1965 to place a duty on the Lord Chancellor to report to Parliament each year on the extent to which Law Commission proposals have been implemented by the Government. This report covers the period 12 January 2010 to 11 January 2011. "

"The Law Commission Act 2009 also provides the statutory basis for the protocol between the Government and the Law Commission. The protocol was agreed in March 2010 and sets out how the Government and the Law Commission should work together on law reform projects. The Government is committed to ensuring that the law is modern, simple and accessible and holds the work of the Law Commission in very high regard. This report demonstrates that progress is being made to implement the excellent work of the Law Commission. "
The report indicates that Law Commission recommendations have been adopted in areas such as:
  • rule against perpetuities (wills and trusts)
  • third parties - rights against insurers
  • murder and manslaughter
  • trustee exemption clauses
  • bribery

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 8:24 pm 0 comments

Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection for the period of January 16-31, 2011 is now available on the Court website.

The web page explains: "The Supreme Court of Canada Library does not lend materials from this list, which is provided for information only."

But, once the material goes into the general collection, after about a month, the works do become available for inter-library loan to authorized libraries.

It is possible to subscribe via e-mail to receive the list.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 8:22 pm 0 comments

February 2011 Issue of AALL Spectrum

The February 2011 issue of AALL Spectrum is available on the website of the American Association of Law Libraries.

It has articles on such things as library public relations, workflow, free online legislation and potential conflicts of interest in vendor relations.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 12:29 pm 0 comments

European Court of Human Rights 2010 Annual Report

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), based in Strasbourg, last week released its annual report for 2010.

The ECHR hears complaints from individuals living in any of the member states of the Council of Europe about violations of the European Convention of Human Rights. The Council of Europe is one of the continent's oldest political organizations, founded in 1949. It has 47 member countries.

Among the statistical highlights of 2010:
  • more than a third of the judgments delivered by the Court concerned four of the Council of Europe’s forty-seven member States: Turkey (278 judgments), Russia (217 judgments), Romania (143 judgments) and Ukraine (109 judgments)
  • the Court delivered a total of 1,499 judgments, slightly down on the 1,625 judgments delivered in 2009
  • on 1 June 2010 Protocol No. 14 to the Convention entered into force with the aim of guaranteeing the Court’s long-term effectiveness by optimising the screening and processing of applications. Among other matters covered, it established a new admissibility criterion and a new judicial formation – the single judge – to deal with inadmissible cases. In all, 38,576 cases were declared inadmissible or struck out of the list in 2010 (compared with 33,067 in 2009). The number of cases declared admissible was 2,474 (compared with 2,141 in 2009)
  • more than a third of the judgments in which the Court found a violation included a violation of Article 6 of the Convention, whether on account of the fairness or the length of the proceedings. More than 20% of violations found by the Court concern the right to life or the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment (Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention)
  • more than 93% of the Court’s judgments since its creation in 1959 have been delivered between 1998 and 2010

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 12:23 pm 0 comments

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Golden Gavel Awards - Nominees for Top Supreme Court of Canada Decisions of 2010!

Osgoode Hall Law School's blog The Court is organizing its second annual Golden Gavel Awards to recognize the top Supreme Court of Canada decisions of 2010.

There are "nominees" in the following categories:
  • Criminal Judgment of the Year
  • Constitutional Judgment of the Year
  • Civil Judgment of the Year
  • Concurrence of the Year
  • Dissent of the Year
  • Most Disappointing Refusal of Leave
  • Most Exciting Grant of Leave
  • Justice of the Year
  • Judgment of the Year
  • The Court website has a list of last year's nominees and Award winners.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 12:32 pm 0 comments

    Thursday, January 27, 2011

    Public Legal Education Webinars Just A Click Away

    Just A Click Away, a Canada-wide initiative on public legal education and information (PLEI) being coordinated by Courthouse Libraries BC, is organizing a two-day intensive conference in Vancouver, British Columbia on February 23 & 24, 2011.

    The conference is about how to use Internet and social media technologies to better educate the general public about the law and provide resources for individuals to solve legal problems.

    As a run up to the conference, Just A Click Away has been running a webinar series that features different approaches being used to provide online PLEI.

    So far, 2 webinars have been offered (they are archived online):
    The next webinar is on February 8, 2011 and features Educaloi (Quebec) and www.inmylanguage.org (Ontario).

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 8:39 pm 0 comments

    Wednesday, January 26, 2011

    Updated GlobaLex Research Guides - EU Law and Comparative Civil Procedure

    The GlobaLex collection at the New York University Law School has updated a number of its research guides:
    • European Union Legal Materials: An Infrequent User's Guide: "This guide is intended for the researcher who infrequently needs to research European Union (EU) law or related materials or to locate EU official documents. The expert or experienced researcher should consult the research guides listed at the end of this article for more detailed information on EU legal materials. With the addition of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, the EU has a population of approximately 493 million people comprising twenty-seven European nations. The EU gross national product has a value of nearly U.S. $11 trillion, a bit larger than the U.S. economy (...) knowledge of EU law will become more widespread as this organization takes a more prominent role in international trade and international affairs generally. Even the law library that does not consider international law a strength of its collection will occasionally have to meet the needs of patrons seeking to locate information on EU law."
    • Comparative Civil Procedure: A Guide to Primary and Secondary Sources: "The comparison of legal systems has for a long time been an essential branch of legal research and jurisprudence. It has become even more important and relevant in our era of globalization, an era in which there is no field of law that can base its knowledge exclusively on national ideas and rules of procedure (...) The first part of this guide lists: general works of comparative civil procedure; basic books about the civil and common-law systems; and encyclopedias and treatises covering several jurisdictions. The remainder of the guide is arranged by country. Depending upon the country, the sources listed may be in English or in the vernacular (or both in some cases). Under 'Primary Sources' are listed codes of civil procedure and civil procedure statutes and, for civil law jurisdictions, basic treatises and commentaries. Under 'Secondary Sources' are listed monographs, treatises and commentaries (for common law jurisdictions), which may also contain the text of civil procedure code sections and statutes."
    More research guides can be found from the GlobaLex home page.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 8:06 pm 0 comments

    University of Toronto Launches Securities Law Portal

    The University of Toronto has launched a Canadian Securities Law Portal:

    "On May 26, 2010, the Government of Canada tabled for information in Parliament the proposed Canadian Securities Act, which would establish a Canadian securities regulator. The Attorney General of Canada concurrently referred the Act to the Supreme Court of Canada asking whether the proposed Act is within the legislative authority of the Parliament of Canada."

    "The Attorneys General of Alberta and Quebec have also initiated references with their respective Courts of Appeal, asking whether the proposed Act is within the legislative authority of the Parliament of Canada. The filing of evidence to each court has begun and oral arguments before the Supreme Court of Canada are set to be heard in April, 2011."

    "These constitutional references are extremely important to the future of capital markets in Canada. Does the Parliament of Canada have legislative authority to enact the proposed Act? Why is a Canadian Securities Regulator necessary? What legal structure will ultimately govern issuers, intermediaries, self-regulatory organizations, investors and other capital market stakeholders? Would the structure proposed under the Act be effective if implemented? What are its strengths and weaknesses? "
    The site sees itself as a gateway for debate among the various stakeholders involved in the issue of securities regulation in Canada.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 11:20 am 0 comments

    Monday, January 24, 2011

    Library Day in the Life Project Round 6

    This week marks the beginning of the "6th round" of the Library Day in the Life Project.

    American librarian Bobbi L. Newman started the idea of blogging about A Day in the life of a Librarian and the idea then morphed into the Library Day in the Life project wiki.

    The project asks librarians to share stories about what a "typical" workday encompasses. There are hundreds of contributions so far.

    Here is how to get involved as per the wiki's instructions:

    Any one who works in a library can participate. You may share your day (or week) on your blog, Twitter, Flickr and/or YouTube (or any other way you choose. If you have none of these don't worry, just create a new page in the wiki and post your day there. Once you decided on your format(s)

    1. Create a PB Wiki account (it's free)!
    2. Add your name, your job title (so we can see what you do at a glance) and a link to your blog, Twitter, Flickr and/or YouTube account. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO DELETE OR EDIT ENTRIES OF OTHERS.
    3. Start capturing your day.
      1. Include your job title and the type of library you work in at the beginning of your post.
      2. Include a link back to librarydayinthelife the wiki
    4. Bloggers, Flickr & YouTube users tag your posts with librarydayinthelife. Twitters use the #libday6
    5. After your first post come back and edit this page to change your blog link to a link to your tagged posts
    6. Add your Flickr photos or videos to the Group on Flickr and/or join the Facebook Page.
    7. Follow along!
      1. What the Hashtag
      2. Netvibes page
    Here is my contribution from an earlier round in 2009. I will try to cook something up for Round 6.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 8:05 pm 0 comments

    Some Future Plans of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

    As I mentioned in late November 2010, the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice has moved from Alberta to York University in Toronto.

    The Forum's goal is to conduct research into how the administration of the civil justice system can be improved and made more accessible to Canadians.

    Today, the Forum contributed a post to Slaw.ca describing some of its future plans:
    "In early February, senior academic researchers and systems and technology specialists from several faculties of the University will meet to brainstorm and identify collaborative, multi-disciplinary research initiatives to address critical issues in civil justice processes and systems"

    "This meeting will be followed by a gathering in March of key Forum stakeholders from provincial attorneys general and federal justice departments, provincial law commissions and foundations, the judiciary, civil justice systems administration, the academy and other stakeholders with a critical interest in the effectiveness and efficiency of civil justice systems to discuss and provide input into the current and future role of the Forum, as well as specific research proposals for addressing important civil justice needs of the Canadian public (...)"

    "One of the Forum’s newest projects is focused on The Cost of Justice: Weighing the Costs of Fair and Effective Resolution to Legal Problems."

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:58 pm 0 comments

    Saturday, January 22, 2011

    2011 A Day in the Life of the Law Library Community Photo Contest

    The 2011 A Day in the Life of the Law Library Community Photo Contest starts in February.

    This is annual event organized by the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). It is open to AALL members only.

    Photos can be submitted until Feb. 28, 2011 in the following categories:
    1. Librarians as Information Evaluators and Managers
    2. Librarians as Expert Researchers
    3. Librarians as Teachers and Trainers
    4. Librarians as Trailblazers in New Technology
    5. The Artistry of Librarianship
    6. Most Humorous
    Results from earlier years:

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 1:11 pm 0 comments

    New Guide to Elder Abuse and Neglect Law in Canada

    The British Columbia Law Institute has released A Practical Guide to Elder Abuse and Neglect Law in Canada:
    "This comprehensive resource includes snapshots of the law in each of the thirteen provinces and territories, a comparative table that allows for quick reference, a set of guiding principles for working with vulnerable adults, and sections that discuss mandatory reporting of abuse and neglect, rules around confidentiality of personal and health information, and the relationship between mental capacity and elder abuse. The guide also contains a lengthy list of resource agencies."
    [Source: Slaw.ca]

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 12:26 pm 0 comments

    Thursday, January 20, 2011

    Bastarache Commission Report on Judicial Nominations in Quebec

    Michel Bastarache, a former Supreme Court of Canada Justice, submitted his official report yesterday into allegations of influence peddling in the nomination of municipal and provincial court judges in Quebec.

    The commission that he led had been created by Quebec Premier Jean Charest after the province’s former Justice Minister Marc Bellemare alleged that he been forced to name three judges to the bench at the behest of Quebec Liberal Party organizers and fundraisers.

    Bastarache rejected the allegations but he did document gaps in the judicial nomination process in Quebec in terms of transparency, writing that the process was vulnerable to all manner of interventions and open to potential partisan favouritism.

    He recommends that the current vetting system be removed from the Justice Department. In its place, a new law should be introduced to create an independent secretariat for judicial nominations, to be composed of 30 members, including judges, lawyers and members of the public. For each nomination, there would be a panel of 7 members.

    The secretariat would not answer to the Justice Department and would report to the legislature. Representatives of the public would be selected by the National Assembly.

    Last fall, the Commission posted a number of expert studies on how judges are selected in a number of jurisdictions, including:
    • Parametres of Politics in Judicial Appointments, by Roderick A. Macdonald F.R. Scott Professor of Constitutional and Public Law Faculty of Law, McGill University: "The specific issue to be discussed is whether an executive appointments process is compatible with the principle of neutral appointment. The paper begins by identifying what the principle of 'neutral appointment' means. This involves exploring whether human decision-making – whether by judges themselves, by any type of judicial selection (or vetting) committee or by the executive – can be purged of subjectivity. It argues for the impossibility of 'objective' cipher-like human decision-making, be this by judges or selection committees. The paper then explores the types of criteria that have been advanced as necessary for identifying who is qualified to be named a judge. It illustrates that these are often incommensurable, and even when agreed upon, they are ranked differently by different people, and differentially applied to potential candidates for judicial office. It follows that there is rarely, if ever, an objectively 'best candidate' for appointment. The last sections of the paper attempt to illustrate the difference between an appointments process that expressly acknowledges the influence of subjective considerations in decision-making, and seeks to make these transparent, and a process that hides this subjectivity from public scrutiny. In so doing, a distinction is drawn between 'political considerations' of the type that may legitimately enter into the appointments calculus, and 'Political considerations' that must be extirpated from the appointments process. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations relating to the manner in which the final steps in the judicial selection process in Quebec – appointment by the executive branch of government – may be designed so as to achieve as neutral an appointments process as possible and a concomitant enhanced public confidence in the independence of the judiciary. "
    • Selecting Trial Court Judges: A Comparison of Contemporary Practices, by Peter McCormick, professor, Department of Political Science, University of Lethbridge: "This comparative report presents the systems for appointing judges in the Canadian provinces and in selected comparator jurisdictions, seeking to identify the implicit purposes of recent reforms and to set out the issues and choices that are involved. It advances a conceptual framework for analyzing the choices to be made in this area, and concludes with a set of recommendations as to the optimal method of selecting judges today (...) Recent decades have seen a considerable evolution in many comparable jurisdictions of the methods of judicial selection, although it is important to remember that in different countries the judicial selection process is designed to deal with specific problems and specific priorities, and this is relevant to how much we can learn from them and which parts of their process we can draw on. The specific systems that are examined, and the idea it is suggested we can draw from each, are:
      • Canadian federal judicial selection committees: designed from minimal constraints on executive choice, and demonstrating a vulnerability to partisan manipulation of the structures
      • U.S. state merit nomination committees: an emphasis more on bipartisanship than on non‐partisanship and recurring concerns about the extent of useful lay participation
      • South African judicial selection committees: a central focus on "transformation" from the apartheid past to a multi‐cultural and black dominated society, involving extensive use ofelected political representations in the committees
      • United Kingdom judicial appointment committees: committees that select rather than screen or nominate, with an unusual attention to independent selection processes for a strong lay membership
      • civilian systems of Europe: merit screening through a formal examination process as a way of selecting judges without executive discretion"

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:01 pm 0 comments

    Wednesday, January 19, 2011

    Interview With Deputy Law Librarian of Congress

    In Custodia Legis, the blog of the Law Library of Congress in Washington, has started an interview series featuring members of the library staff.

    Today, the twelfth interview in the series appeared. It is with David Mao, Deputy Law Librarian of Congress:
    "I tell people that I work with the foreign law specialists, legal research, and legal information analysts at the Law Library. The team provides foreign and comparative legal research and reference services to Congress, the Executive and Judicial branches, and the general public. Usually, the first response I get is, 'Wow, I didn’t know the Law Library did that!' (...) Who wouldn’t want to work at the largest and most comprehensive law library in the world? Seriously, I was really attracted to being a part of a team that was not only unique (i.e., foreign and comparative research) but also creative and farsighted (e.g., digital initiatives)."

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 5:59 pm 0 comments

    Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

    The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection for the period of January 1-15, 2011 is now available on the Court website.

    The web page explains: "The Supreme Court of Canada Library does not lend materials from this list, which is provided for information only."

    But, once the material goes into the general collection, after about a month, the works do become available for inter-library loan to authorized libraries.

    It is possible to subscribe via e-mail to receive the list.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 5:57 pm 0 comments

    Tuesday, January 18, 2011

    Walt Crawford: Library 2.0 Five Years Later

    In the most recent issue of his Cites & Insights, Walt Crawford tracks the evolution of discussions over the concept of Library 2.0 in the last five years:

    "One truly beneficial result of the whole 'Library 2.0' phenomenon is that some (by no means all) library groups and libraries recognize the virtue of small, rapidly-deployed, 'failable' projects: ones done without a lot of planning and deployment, ones that can grow if they succeed, die if they fail and in many cases serve as learning experiences."

    "Not that such small projects are new to Library 2.0, but I believe the rhetoric and experiences of Library 2.0 made the virtues of small projects more evident to some library folk who had forgotten them."

    "It’s also certainly the case that, used thoughtfully, the tools and techniques of the web and the internet expand the universe of feasible small projects. A library can start a blog or a Facebook group a lot more easily and affordably than it can start a mailed newsletter—and, done right, the blog or group may be recognizable as a failable experiment: one that might reasonably disappear after a few months (...) "

    "I’d love to do an overview that summarizes the Library 2.0 story since that first essay appeared, but I can’t imagine attempting something that ambitious. I don’t have ready access to most of the articles that have appeared on the topic; I haven’t read most of the books; I certainly don’t have the patience to go through all the posts related to Library 2.0. Nor, for that matter, am I naïve enough to believe an overview from Walt Crawford would be accepted as objective or balanced—or even to make such a claim. "

    "What this is, is another set of recent notes (...), commingling items that are related to the term 'Library 2.0' or the set of tools and perspectives or that I found fit within that framework. That discussion slops over into issues about balance in libraries and for librarians, some of which aren’t clearly Library 2.0-related. Finally, we’ll look briefly at a new term and quasi-movement that may exhibit some of Library 2.0’s characteristics—or may not."

    Cites & Insights is described as "a journal of libraries, policy, technology and media" published monthly since 2001.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 1:34 pm 0 comments

    Monday, January 17, 2011

    Supreme Court of Canada 2011 Winter Term

    The most recent issue of The Lawyers Weekly provides an overview of the kinds of issues the Supreme Court of Canada will be tackling this term:

    "May a lawyer privately tell off a judge who has disparaged that lawyer in open court? Is it permissible for the defence to try to ferret out a police informant’s secret identity? Can an administrative tribunal hear a complaint already decided by another tribunal? When may local courts assume jurisdiction over defamation on the Internet?"

    "These are some of the novel questions facing the Supreme Court of Canada in a winter session packed with interesting issues, including: the nature of the Crown’s fiduciary duty in non-aboriginal cases; foreseeability in historic environmental contamination cases; the existence of an aboriginal right to commercially fish; the new contours of the 'real and substantial connection' test in private international law; the ambit of the artistic merit defence in child pornography cases; and the application of the dreaded general anti-avoidance tax rule to a 'series of transactions'."

    The Court website has a complete list of all of the Winter 2011 session cases. You can click on any case name for a summary of the issues involved as well as for links to facta from the parties. And don't forget the webcast link for each case. The oral hearings are webcast live and the webcasts are then archived "for your listening pleasure".

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 8:02 pm 0 comments

    Saturday, January 15, 2011

    Primary Research Group Report on Library Database Licensing Practices

    Primary Research Group has published a a new report entitled The Survey of Library Database Licensing Practices 2011 Edition:
    "The 115-page report looks closely at how nearly 100 academic, special and public libraries in the United States, the UK, continental Europe, Canada, and Australia plan their database licensing practices. The report also covers the impact of digital repositories and open access publishing on database licensing. Among the many issues covered: database licensing volume, use of consortiums, consortium development plans, satisfaction levels with the coverage of podcasts, video, listservs, blogs and wikis in full text databases, spending levels on various types of content such as electronic journals, article databases and directories perceptions of price increases for various types of subject matter, legal disputes between publishers and libraries, contract language, impact of mobile computing and other issues."
    You have to pay to get the report but ResourceShelf has summarized some of the highlights:
    + Consortium contracts account for a mean of 43.72% of libraries' total licenses for electronic content.

    + Prices for journals and market research rose the most in the past year.

    + Libraries in the sample required a mean of 7.74 hours of legal assistance in contract disputes though the range was 0 to 200 hours.

    + Less than 10% of higher education libraries use e-Book lending services, and all were very large libraries.

    + Nearly 43% of libraries with annual licensed electronic content spending of greater than $1.2 million annually track patron use of open access journals. Digital repositories now account for 17% of the journal articles obtained when libraries need an article that is not in their own collection.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 3:56 pm 0 comments

    Thursday, January 13, 2011

    Canadian Association of Law Libraries 2011 Conference Website

    The website for the 2011 annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is now available.

    The conference takes place in Calgary from May 15 to 18, 2011.

    I co-chair the Courthouse and Law Society Libraries Special Interest Group of CALL. Our Group is sponsoring 3 panels:
    • Monday, May 16, 2011
      11:15 -12:15
      Workflow - How Not To Be Swamped!
      There's just so much stuff coming at me!" Between reference requests, administrative meetings and everything else, it's far too easy to lose control of information and important tasks. Panelists will discuss strategies and tools that they use in their organizations to keep control, and their sanity. Participants will learn tips on managing workflows from the micro (solo) to the macro (team) scale.
    • Monday, May 16, 2011
      2:15 - 3:15
      Going Green at your Law Library: Learning from Calgary Public Library's Eco Action Team
      Law libraries face unique challenges when attempting to implement green initiatives. They are often located within courthouses and law firms, making it difficult to have full control over building practices such as recycling and energy use. Law libraries also serve clientele and boards of professionals that may not place green initiatives high on their agenda, resulting in a unique environment for advocacy and marketing. Calgary Public Library (CPL) is a leader in implementing green initiatives in Canada's library community, and has won multiple awards for green marketing and efforts such as recycling and waste reduction. CPL's Crowfoot Branch was the first building to be designed and constructed under the City of Calgary's new Sustainable Policy, and the library is working to achieve LEED certification at other branches. In this session, a panel of members from CPL's Eco Action Team will share their experience and offer advice to law libraries on how to get staff, clients, and board members involved in green initiatives, and tackle complex issues such as recycling and procurement of sustainable materials. The panel will also share ideas for simple changes that can be made at your library to reduce its ecological footprint.
    • Tuesday, May 17, 2011
      3:30 - 5:00
      Beyond the adversarial criminal court system
      There is a growing recognition that traditional courts cannot deal very well on their own with many of the social causes of recidivism. Various initiatives such as drug treatment courts, domestic violence courts and aboriginal courts have emerged in many parts of Canada to help the criminal justice system respond more effectively and more compassionately to the often complex social and personal issues involved in crime. In these courts, judges, probation officers, social workers, Crown and defense counsel and members of the community work in a more cooperative way to address all the dimensions of crime, restitution and rehabilitation. This panel discussion will introduce CALL members to a few of these alternative "problem-solving" courts, their origins, rules of procedure, manner of record-keeping and decision-making, challenges, and successes.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 6:02 pm 0 comments

    Interview With Legal Collection Specialist at Law Library of Congress

    In Custodia Legis, the blog of the Law Library of Congress in Washington, has started an interview series featuring members of the library staff.

    Today, the eleventh interview in the series appeared. It is with Elizabeth L. Moore, Legal Collection Specialist:
    "The Law Library has consolidated the basic reference collection used by its legal specialists into the Global Legal Resource Room. I manage this 'ready reference' collection, which includes primary and secondary sources from more than 200 jurisdictions worldwide. I assist the legal specialists in locating bibliographic material and I work on keeping the collection current, looking for later editions of codes and making sure that the Law Library receives updated material (...)"

    "While this room is mainly used by the legal specialists for their research, it is also open to the public, and I assist them with locating material in the GLOBAL collection and in using the Library’s online resources."

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 5:59 pm 0 comments

    Wednesday, January 12, 2011

    Information Today's Trends Watch 2011

    Paula J. Hane, columnist with Information Today, recently published her Review of the Year 2010 and Trends Watch 2011:
    "The year 2010 saw the emergence of the iPad, the Android, and apps—lots and lots of apps. The market for mobile computing skyrocketed this year. And, information industry providers were quick to jump in with content delivery apps of all kinds."

    "But, I actually think it’s a toss-up for top news of the year. While some say 2010 was the year of the app, there’s also a very strong case that it could be considered the year of the ebook. And, in our information industry, you could make a claim for it being the year of the platform relaunch (...) Content providers hustled to implement new platform architectures that would provide a more agile development environment (i.e., make improvements faster) and provide customers with a more satisfying and productive search experience (i.e., more like Google)."

    "At any rate, it’s been a fast moving, mobile, digital, always connected, and social world in 2010. I think we can expect more of the same in 2011. Will we see a backlash to such constant connectivity?... The pace does take its toll."

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:19 pm 0 comments

    Top Tech Trends Panel at American Library Association Midwinter Meeting

    The Library Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has posted the video of its recent Top Tech Trends panel.

    The panel took place January 9, 2011 in San Diego during the ALA Midwinter conference.

    The panelists were:
    • Lorcan Dempsey, Vice President and Chief Strategist, OCLC
    • Rachel Frick, Program Director, Digital Library Federation
    • Erik Mitchell, Assistant Director for Technology Services, Wake Forest University
    • Monique Sendze, Associate Director of Information Technology, Douglas County Libraries, Colorado
    • Jeffrey Trzeciak, University Librarian, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:14 pm 0 comments

    Tuesday, January 11, 2011

    Upcoming Canadian Association of Law Libraries Webinar on Next Generation Catalogues

    The upcoming webinar in the continuing education series of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) will be about the next generation of Integrated Library Systems. It takes place on January 25, 2011 from 1:00 - 2:30 (EST).

    The speaker will be Steven Lastres, a well-known speaker and writer on libraries and KM. He is currently the Director of Library and Knowledge Management at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.

    From the webinar description:
    "Through case studies of various Next-Gen ILS features, including customizations and third-party integration solutions deployed at an AMLAW 100 law firm library, the presenter will show how technical services librarians can take a more proactive role as enablers of Knowledge Management and technology initiatives, resulting in improved client services and more efficient utilization of library professionals and paraprofessionals."

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:20 pm 0 comments

    Canadian Association of Law Libraries Conference Travel Bursary

    The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) offers the Eunice Beeson Memorial Bursary to help members with travel expenses to attend the next CALL Annual Conference in Calgary (May 15-18, 2011):
    "All members of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries are eligible to apply for assistance. However, it is required that members shall apply to their own institutions for financial support before applying to the Scholarships and Awards Committee."

    "As funds permit, grants shall be allocated to meet expenses in the following order of priority:
    1. To cover travel expenses;
    2. To cover the cost of accommodation"
    In a time of tight budgets, the Eunice Beeson Memorial Bursary could make the difference between being able to attend and being stuck at home.

    Applications have to be sent to CALL by March 31, 2011.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:12 pm 0 comments

    Monday, January 10, 2011

    Legal Resource Centre of Alberta Launches LawNet Public Info Portal

    The Legal Resource Centre, a public legal education organization in Alberta, has launched 3 new law and justice information portals: LawNet Alberta, LawNet Canada, and LawNet Français.

    The portals replace the old ACJNet, or Access to Justice Network.

    They are aimed at the general public and at organizations that work with the general public.

    [Source: Blogosaurus Lex]

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 4:01 pm 0 comments

    Saturday, January 08, 2011

    Ted Tjaden's Site on Law-Related Movies

    Slaw.ca contributor Ted Tjaden maintains a law-related movies section on his Legal research and Writing website.

    Tjaden is the National Director of Knowledge Management at McMillan LLP.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 2:41 pm 0 comments

    Law Reform Commission of Nova Scotia Final Report on Rule Against Perpetuities

    The Law Reform Commission of Nova Scotia has published its final report on The Rule Against Perpetuities:
    "The rule against perpetuities limits the duration of certain restrictions on the use and transfer of property. The Rule is to the effect that no legal interest in property is valid unless it is certain, at the time when the disposition (e.g., a trust) takes effect, that the interest must vest within a life or lives in being plus twenty-one years."

    "In other words, property may not be tied up in trust, subject to restricted use, or otherwise held subject to any contingency, for longer than twenty-one years after the death of a person who is alive at the time of the disposition and whose life is relevant to the validity of the disposition. The Rule applies to all sorts of property interests - e.g., options to purchase, conditional easements, remainder estates, etc. - but today arises most commonly in connection with trusts. The Rule is generally understood to serve the purpose of balancing the rights of property owners to impose conditions on the use and exchange of their property against the importance of having property under the control of living persons, so that it may be put to its best contemporary use."

    "The common complaint is that the Rule is simply too complex and abstract in its application, resulting in a substantial risk that beneficiaries or grantees will be deprived of their interests through inadvertent errors in drafting. In the estate planning context, a great number of vesting conditions may offend the Rule, most often unintentionally, and often only hypothetically in any event. The consequence of a breach is very real, however; the intended gift or transfer will generally be entirely invalid (...)"

    "Given these difficulties, the Rule has been subject to significant reform in most jurisdictions other than Nova Scotia. The most common sort of reform - referred to generally as ‘wait and see’ - maintains the substance of the Rule, but allows the disposition to run its course for the perpetuity period, rather than declaring it to be invalid at the outset (...)"

    "A more radical reform, adopted in Manitoba, South Australia, Saskatchewan, Ireland, a number of US states and certain Caribbean nations, is to simply abolish the Rule, relying on other laws to serve the purposes the Rule was designed to fulfill (...) We recommend abolition."

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 2:32 pm 0 comments

    Thursday, January 06, 2011

    Canadian Legal Publishers Start Offering iPad Content

    Gary P. Rodrigues comments today on slaw.ca about the arrival of the first iPad-ready content offerings from two Canadian legal publishers, Wilson & Lafleur and LexisNexis.

    These first products are in French:
    "Offering a handful of French language titles first is seen by some as a low risk test of market acceptance. No major revenue sources have as yet been put in play by the titles that have thus far been offered for sale but that will quickly change as the major English language legal publishers act to ensure that they do not lose market share in the event that the ipad catches proves to be a game changer. A key battleground will be in the market for annotated criminal codes and rules of civil procedure. The publisher first to market may gain a competitive edge."
    More interestingly, Rodrigues speculates about the impact a wide adoption of the iPad in the legal community could have:
    "The ipad may also help re-establish the pre-eminent position of the legal treatise as the starting point in legal research, freeing the mind of the user from the distraction of unlimited access to case law and legislation, which some believe impedes the quality of legal research. The use of a treatise permits the researcher to focus on the legal problem at hand."

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 6:52 pm 0 comments

    Wednesday, January 05, 2011

    Interview With Director of Information Technology at Law Library of Congress

    In Custodia Legis, the blog of the Law Library of Congress in Washington, has started an interview series featuring members of the library staff.

    Today, the tenth interview in the series appeared. It is with Henry Rossman, Director of Information Technology:
    "I manage the IT infrastructure for the Law Library of Congress. This means that when anything goes wrong, it is my fault; when we pull rabbits out of hats and perform IT miracles, it’s just doing my job (...)"

    "Overall, the most interesting fact that I have come to appreciate about librarians is that they are the original Information Technology workers. Back in the day of the Great Library of Alexandria, librarians had metadata; they could find one scroll out of 600,000 and put it back, after use, in its proper place."
    The full list of interviews is available on the blog website.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:10 pm 0 comments

    Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

    The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection for the period of December 16-31, 2010 is now available on the Court website.

    The web page explains: "The Supreme Court of Canada Library does not lend materials from this list, which is provided for information only."

    But, once the material goes into the general collection, after about a month, the works do become available for inter-library loan to authorized libraries.

    It is possible to subscribe via e-mail to receive the list.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:08 pm 0 comments

    Tuesday, January 04, 2011

    Law Offerings on iTunes U

    Simon Fodden writes at Slaw.ca about Law on iTunes U.

    He has created a spreadsheet of over a dozen universities that have posted law-related material (classes, conferences, talks) on iTunes. There is also a link to the data file that he will update.

    So far, the list includes material from Australian National University, Cornell, De Paul, Harvard, New York University, Oxford, Penn, Stanford, Suffolk, Edinburgh, Plymouth, Berkeley and Yale.

    There is already a lot of law-related video material on YouTube:
    • YouTube as a Legal Information Tool (January 14, 2007): "The Parisian daily Le Monde reported last week that lawyers representing an individual being detained by U.S. authorities at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp have produced a video posted on YouTube."
    • More on YouTube as Legal Information Tool (March 30, 2007): "This Wednesday, Slate.com published an article entitled The YouTube Defense - Human rights go viral that analyzes the impact and potential of non-traditional means such as web 2.0 technologies as legal tools: (...) 'Critics pooh-pooh the importance of all of this by pointing to the fact that civil rights advocates have traditionally had a friend in the press. But they're missing the point: YouTube goes where the mainstream media can't or won't go. It's visceral. It's story first, message second. And it gives advocates instant access to an audience in a way that press releases and op-eds never ca' .The Slate article also describes an online video created by a former Marine who paid two friends $800 to waterboard him in his basement."
    • University Law Lectures on YouTube (March 31, 2008): "The YouTube video sharing portal has created a special section with videos from higher education establishments worldwide."
    • Official European Union Website Gets Makeover (September 22, 2009): "Europa – the European Union’s official website - has just had a makeover (...) the layout has been simplified and the site has been divided into 6 main themes: ... Take Part! (online debates, blogs, YouTube videos)"
    • UK Law Reports Get Their Own YouTube Channel (October 28, 2009): "Videos include interviews with the Law Report editors, a history of the ICLR, a video on the process of how a case goes from trial to official report, and a brief introduction to case law research using both online databases and hard copy reference works."
    • Law Library of Congress Now on YouTube (January 10, 2010): "The Law Library of Congress has started making content available on YouTube (Law and the Library) and iTunes. In iTunes, search for Library of Congress and then select the "Law and the Library" iTunesU series."

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:34 pm 0 comments

    2011 Predictions by Osgoode Hall Law School Dean

    Lorne Sossin, the dean of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, makes a number of predictions in a January 1, 2011 post on his blog.

    Sossin sees the coming year as a "tipping point" in a number of areas:
    • 2011 may be the year of the electronic casebook in law schools
    • the trend towards alternatives to the traditional justice system, such as alternative dispute resolution, will accelerate "through diversion programs to mediation and arbitration, collaborative law approaches, on-line public legal education and advice clinics, administrative adjudication and greater prevention and avoidance through quasi-independent agencies in fields such as consumer protection"
    • law schools such as his will move more forcefully into what he calls the "pedagogy of experiential learning", increasingly joining theory and practice

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:24 pm 0 comments

    Monday, January 03, 2011

    Round-Up of 2011 Legal Tech Predictions

    Jack Newton has posted a 2011 Prognostication Round-Up on slaw.ca:
    "At this time of year many legal bloggers are busy making predictions about what major trends, technologies and shifts we’ll be seeing in the legal space in the coming year. Here’s a roundup of what some of the legal blogosphere thinks is in store in 2011:

    (...)
    • Mobile will be huge in 2011
    • Tablet computing will continue to see huge gains in 2011
    • Cloud computing is on the rise, and continuing to reshape the legal (and overall) technology landscape
    • Social media will continue to see increased adoption and impact in 2011
    • Legal Process Outsourcing will have a dramatic impact on the legal profession"
    On December 30, 2010, Steven Matthews posted on slaw.ca about Web Law Predictions for 2011.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 5:09 pm 0 comments

    Librarians Without Borders 2009-2010 Annual Report

    The Canadian student-run NGO Librarians Without Borders (LWB) has published its 2009-2010 Annual Report.

    The report highlights the fieldwork of LWB members in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 5:01 pm 0 comments

    Sunday, January 02, 2011

    Last Year’s Top 10 Drug Stories

    The British website openDemocracy publishes a regular feature called the Drug Policy Forum that takes a critical reformist look at stories about the "war on drugs" and criminal justice issues.

    Yesterday, the Drug Policy Forum published its selection of Last Year’s top 10 Drug Stories:
    • The Mexican Tragedy: "Mexico's ongoing tragedy is exhibit number one in the failure of global drug prohibition. This month, the official death toll since President Felipe Calderon deployed the military against the so-called cartels in December 2006 passed 30,000, with 10,000 killed this year alone. The multi-sided conflict pits the cartels against each other, cartel factions against each other, cartels against law enforcement and the military, and, at times, elements of the military and different levels of law enforcement against each other."
    • The Rising Clamor for a New Paradigm and an End to Drug Prohibition: "The critique of the international drug policy status quo that has been growing louder and louder for the past decade or so turned into a roar in 2010. Impelled in part by the ongoing crisis in Mexico and in part by a more generalized disdain for failed drug war policies, calls for radical reform came fast and furious, and from some unexpected corners this year."
    • Opium and the Afghan War: "More than nine years after the US invaded Afghanistan in a bid to decapitate Al Qaeda and punish the Taliban, the US and NATO occupation drags bloodily on (...) the Taliban runs to a large degree on profits from the opium and heroin trade. In a Faustian bargain, the West has found itself forced to accept widespread opium production as the price of keeping the peasantry out of Taliban ranks while at the same time acknowledging that the profits from the poppies end up as shiny new weapons used to kill Western soldiers and their Afghan allies."
    • The Netherlands Reins in Its Cannabis Coffee Shops: "Holland's three-decade long experiment with tolerated marijuana sales at the country's famous coffee shops is probable not going to end under the current conservative government, but it is under pressure. The number of coffee shops operating in the country has dropped by about half from its peak, local governments are putting the squeeze on them via measures such as distance restrictions (must be so far from a school, etc.), and the national government is about to unveil a plan to effectively bar foreigners from the shops. "
    • Russian Takeover at the UNODC: " In September, there was a changing of the guard at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), one of the key bureaucratic power centers for the global drug prohibition regime. Outgoing UNODC head Antonio Maria Costa, a former Italian prosecutor, was replaced by veteran Russian diplomat Yury Fedotov. Given Russia's dismal record on drug policy, especially around human rights issues, the treatment of hard drug users, and HIV/AIDS prevention, as well as the Russian government's insistence that the West resort to opium eradication in Afghanistan (...), the international drug reform community looked askance at Fedotov's appointment."
    • US War on Coca on Autopilot: "Coca production is ongoing, if down slightly, in the Andes, after more than a quarter century of US efforts to wipe it out. "
    • Canada Marches Boldly Backward: "When the Liberals held power in the early part of this decade, Canada was something of a drug reform beacon ... They supported Vancouver's safe injection site and embraced harm reduction policies. But under the government of Prime Minister Steven Harper, Canada this year fought and lost (again) to shut down the safe injection site."
    • A New Drug Generates a Tired, Old Response: "When in doubt, prohibit. That would seem to be the mantra in Europe, where, confronted by the emergence of mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant derived from cathinone, the active ingredient in the khat plant, first Britain and then the entire European Union responded by banning it. "
    • Heroin Maintenance Expands Slowly in Europe: " In March, Denmark became the latest country to embrace heroin maintenance. The Danes thus join Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and, to a lesser degree, Britain, in the heroin maintenance club. In June, British scientists rolled out a study showing heroin maintenance worked and urging the expansion of limited existing programs there. The following month, a blue-ribbon Norwegian committee called for heroin prescription trials and other harm reduction measures there"
    • Opium is Back in the Golden Triangle: "Okay, it never really went away in Laos, Burma, and Thailand, and it is still below its levels of the mid-1990s, but opium planting has been on the increase for the last four years in the Golden Triangle (...) While Southeast Asian opium production still trails far behind that in Afghanistan, opium is back with a vengeance in the Golden Triangle."

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 4:39 pm 0 comments

    Saturday, January 01, 2011

    European Union Launches Website on Human Trafficking

    In December, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs launched a new website devoted to combating trafficking in human beings.

    The site will offer national information pages of all European Union member states information on legislation, action plans, prevention, assistance and support to victims, investigation and prosecution and international coordination.

    Earlier Library Boy posts on human trafficking include:

    • New Library of Parliament Publications (October 6, 2006): "Trafficking in Persons: 'The United Nations estimates that 700,000 people are trafficked annually worldwide – this is a fluid figure that is difficult to pin down (...) This paper will discuss the concept of trafficking in general terms and provide an overview of the legislative framework surrounding the issue at the international level and within the Canadian context. It will conclude with a discussion of potential gaps in Canadian legislation and policy with respect to trafficking in persons'."
    • New Library of Parliament Research Publications (February 18, 2007): "Human Trafficking: 'Trafficking in persons is not the same as migrant smuggling. The key distinction is that smuggled migrants are usually free once they arrive at their intended destination, whereas trafficking victims may be held against their will and subject to forced labour or prostitution (...) The 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report [U.S. State Department] also indicates that 'Canada is a source, transit, and destination country …' Some 800 people are trafficked into this country each year, while an additional 1,500 to 2,200 are trafficked through Canada to the United States'."
    • Library of Parliament Legislative Summary on Immigration Bill (June 19, 2007): "The Bill proposes amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to allow immigration officers to refuse to authorize foreign nationals to work in Canada if they are judged to be at risk of exploitation or trafficking."
    • Annual U.S. State Department Report on Human Trafficking (June 27, 2007): "The State Department of the United States has been producing an annual report since the year 2000 called the Trafficking in Persons Report. It reports on foreign governments' efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons (...) According to the country section on Canada: 'Canada is principally a transit and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Women and children are trafficked mostly from Asia and Eastern Europe for sexual exploitation, but victims from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East also have been identified in Canada'."
    • New U.S. Reports on Human Trafficking (August 1, 2007): "The Government Accountability Office in the United States recently published 2 reports on human trafficking"
    • International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (December 2, 2007): "Today is the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery and the Dag Hammarskjöld Library of the United Nations has put together a web page with resources on contemporary forms of human trafficking."
    • Council of Europe Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings (December 8, 2007): "The Council of Europe website has a subsection about its campaign to combat trafficking in human beings. On the site, one can find Council of Europe legal conventions against trafficking in human beings, press releases, conference and seminar proceedings and publications on the issue. There are also links to regulations, conventions and legal texts from other international organizations (European Union, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, International Labour Organization)."
    • New Library of Parliament Publication on Prostitution (May 1, 2008): "Each level of Canadian government attacks the problem in different ways, according to its priorities and powers. The end result is a broad network of prostitution-related measures that generally complement one another and work to resolve the problem at multiple levels. The federal government is striving to live up to its international obligations, and in large measure has succeeded through criminal law that punishes procurement, trafficking, and the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Nonetheless, trafficking in women and children remains a reality in Canada and a further battle for the government, which must also work to strengthen its social programs to provide protection and a viable future for the victims of such crimes."
    • State Department Trafficking in Persons Report 2008 (July 7, 2008): "According to the country section on Canada: Canada is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children are trafficked primarily from Asia and Eastern Europe for sexual exploitation, but victims from Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean also have been identified in Canada. Many trafficking victims are from Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and South Korea, in addition to Russia and Ukraine. Asian victims tend to be trafficked more frequently to Vancouver and Western Canada, while Eastern European and Latin American victims are trafficked more often to Toronto and Eastern Canada. A significant number of victims, particularly South Korean females, are trafficked through Canada to the United States. Canada is a source country for sex tourism, and NGOs report that Canada is also a destination country, particularly for sex tourists from the United States. Canadian girls and women, many of whom are aboriginal, are trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation. NGOs report that Canada is a destination for foreign victims trafficked for labor exploitation; many of these victims enter Canada legally but then are unlawfully exploited in agriculture and domestic servitude."
    • Wiki on Forced Migration Issues (September 17, 2008): "Librarian Elisa Mason, who has worked at the UN High Commission for Refugees and the Refugee Studies Centre in Oxford, has created the Forced Migration Guide using wiki software. The guide offers descriptions of resources for the study of refugees, internal displacement and human trafficking."
    • Library of Parliament Publication on Trafficking of Humans (October 21, 2008): "This paper will discuss the concept of trafficking in general terms and provide an overview of the legislative framework surrounding the issue at the international level and within the Canadian context. It will conclude with a discussion of potential gaps in Canadian legislation and policy with respect to trafficking in persons."
    • UN Study on International Organ Trafficking (October 19, 2009): "The United Nations and the Council of Europe have released a new study that calls for an international convention to combat organ trafficking (...) The Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women was concerned that organ trafficking and trafficking in human beings for the purpose of organ removal, long considered to be myths, seem to be realities all over the world. These phenomena exist for many reasons, but particularly because of extreme poverty and discrimination, including gender discrimination. In general, victims of trafficking in human beings tend to be women and children who know far too little about their rights or how to appropriately assert them."
    • New Research Guides on International Law and Human Trafficking (July 14, 2010): "The GlobaLex collection at New York University has just updated two of its legal research guides (...) The Exploitation of Women and Children: A Comparative Study of Human Trafficking Laws between the United States-Mexico and China-Vietnam by Christina T. Le (immigration lawyer in Houston, Texas): 'This paper seeks to understand the push and pull effects of human trafficking and to determine what may be the appropriate government practices to combat the problem. The research will focus on two parallel country conditions: United States-Mexico and China-Vietnam. The four countries on both sides of the world are experiencing similar problems with human trafficking. Preliminarily, the push and pull causes of human trafficking between the countries appear to be quite similar with the more affluent countries, China and the United States as the receiving country. The United States and China with better economic opportunities are seeing an influx of trafficking victims into their country from their southern neighbors. However, the policies the countries choose to address their human trafficking problems are quite different. The United States has a unilateral enforcement approach to stop human trafficking whereas China has a bilateral approach in working with Vietnam to address the situation. How each respective country has chosen to deal with the problem provides a great opportunity for research and analysis'."
    • United Nations Report on Globalization of Crime (September 5, 2010): "The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recently published a report on The Globalization of Crime A Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment. The report examines a range of transnational criminal activities, including human trafficking, the heroin and cocaine trades, cybercrime, maritime piracy and trafficking in environmental resources, firearms and counterfeit goods."
    • Library of Parliament Legislative Summary of Proposed Human Smuggling Law (December 1, 2010): "The Library of Parliament recently published a legislative summary of Bill C-49: An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Balanced Refugee Reform Act and the Marine Transportation Security Act: Specifically, the bill: (...) amends the definition of what constitutes 'human smuggling' under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), introduces new mandatory minimum sentences for human smuggling, and adds new aggravating factors to be considered by the court when determining the penalties for the offences of 'trafficking in persons' and 'disembarking persons at sea'; (...) There have been some recent high-profile cases where a large number of persons have arrived in Canada by boat to claim refugee status, such as those arriving on the Ocean Lady in October 2009, and on the Sun Sea in August 2010. These events highlighted a growing trend of individuals paying large sums of money to human smugglers to assist the migrants in gaining entry into Canada. A key objective of Bill C-49 is to deter large-scale events of irregular migration to Canada, particularly where these involve human smuggling."
    • United Nations Proposes Model Law Against Human Smuggling (December 11, 2010): "The federal government's proposal to crack down on human trafficking has been heavily criticized by the opposition parties (...) In the midst of all this, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has released a new publication on a Model Law Against the Smuggling of Migrants. The document was prepared  in response to a request by  the UN General Assembly  to  the Secretary-General  to  promote  and  assist  the efforts of Member States to become party to and implement the United  Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the  Protocols thereto."

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 5:20 pm 0 comments

    36th Annual List of Banished Words

    Lake Superior State University (LSSU) in Sault Ste.Marie, Michigan has published its 36th annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.

    And the winners are:
    • Viral
    • Epic
    • Fail
    • Wow factor
    • A-ha moment
    • Backstory
    • BFF
    • Man up
    • Refudiate
    • Mamma Grizzlies
    • The American people
    • I'm just sayin'
    • Facebook or Google used as a verb
    • Live life to the fullest
    The complete archive of banished words is on the university website. The list started in 1976 and is based on submissions by the general public. LSSU receives well over 1,000 nominations annually through its website, lssu.edu/banished.

    Earlier Library Boy posts on the topic include:
    • Banished Words List 2006 (January 2, 2006): "Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste.Marie (Michigan) is continuing its tradition of compiling an annual Banished Words List, or 'List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness' first launched in 1976'."
    • American Dialect Society Words of the Year 2005: Legal Expressions 'Patent Troll', 'Extraordinary Rendition' Make List (January 11, 2006): "A few other law-related terms scored highly in the 'most euphemistic' category (hmmmm, I wonder why): 'internal nutrition: force-feeding a prisoner against his or her will' and 'extraordinary rendition: the surrendering of a suspect or detainee to another jurisdiction, especially overseas' (in order to be tortured by a friendly dictatorship with less regard for the niceties of courts and a legal defense)."
    • Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year 2006 (December 12, 2006): " 'Truthiness', a term coined by the American satirical TV show The Colbert Report, has been chosen as the word of the year by dictionary maker Merriam-Webster. Truthiness is defined as 'truth that comes from the gut, not books", or "the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true'. It was the American Dialect Society word of the year in 2005."
    • Banished Words List of 2006 (January 1, 2007): "It has been a tradition since Jan. 1, 1976 for Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste.Marie, Michigan to publish its annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness. The list is published every New Year's Day... Among the choices for 2006 are: Combined celebrity names like Brangelina; Awesome ; Gone missing ; Now playing in theaters; We're pregnant; Drug deal gone bad; i-Anything"
    • 'Plutoed' Voted Word of the Year by American Dialect Society (January 7, 2007): "In its 17th 'word of the year' contest, the American Dialect Society chose 'plutoed': 'To pluto is to demote or devalue someone or something, as happened to the former planet Pluto when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto no longer met its definition of a planet' (...) There were a number of law-related terms considered for this 2006 edition, including data Valdez: an accidental release of a large quantity of private or privileged information. Named after the 1989 oil spill by the Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound, Alaska; waterboarding (winner in the most euphemistic category): an interrogation technique in which the subject is immobilized and doused with water to simulate drowning; reported to be used by U.S. interrogators against terrorism detainees."
    • Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year (December 3, 2007): "Locavore refers to an environmentally conscious shopper who seeks out locally grown foodstuffs that can be bought and prepared without the need for extra preservatives (...) To tase is the only one that has any relation to legal issues."
    • 2008 List of Banished Words (January 2, 2008): "This year, in a gesture of humanitarian relief, the committee restores 'truthiness,' banned on last year's list, to formal use. This comes after comedians and late-night hosts were thrown under the bus and rendered speechless by a nationwide professional writers' strike. The silence is deafening."
    • 2009 List of Banished Words (December 31, 2008): "Among this year's list are: green anything; carbon footprint and carbon offset (...)"
    • Most Annoying and Overused Buzzwords (November 23, 2009): "There is an article in this week's edition of The Lawyers Weekly about all those irritating buzzwords that have invaded the professions, including the law. Among the phrases discussed in the article are: leverage, viral, disconnect and interface. And 'outside the box'. "
    • 35th Annual List of Banished Words (December 31, 2009)

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 5:02 pm 0 comments

    Special Libraries Association Launches Future Ready Blog

    The Special Libraries Association (SLA) has launched a new blog, the Future Ready 365 blog, a "daily dose of intelligent solutions answering the question: How are you Future Ready?".

    The blog is open to librarian and information professionals who can send in their ideas:

    "There’s no way to sugar-coat it. The upheavals in the library and information industry in the recent past due to economic turmoil, technological developments, and shifting user expectations, have caused many corporate libraries to close and even made some fundamental library services irrelevant."

    'However, I’m convinced that amongst ourselves, we have the ideas, insight, and knowledge to create our desired future..."

    "Your contribution—250 words, a handful of images, even audio and video—will build a mosaic that offers this community actionable insights into the future of our profession and association."

    (...)

    "Need to jump start your medulla oblongata? Here are some ideas:

    • How have your client’s expectations of your products and services changed over the past year and how have you addressed those changes?
    • If you are not feeling future ready, what is it that is getting in the way?
    • With tighter budgets, what criteria do you use to make your clients future ready?"

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    posted by Michel-Adrien at 4:44 pm 0 comments