Thursday, February 27, 2014

PACERPro: Service Offers a Better Way to Search Federal Court Records Than PACER

Please see a link to Robert Ambrogi's "Ambrogi on Tech" column from the ABA Journal:

http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/service_offers_a_better_way_to_search_federal_court_records_than_pacer


I've been using PACERPro recently. I like the ability to move from court to court easily.



Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Comparative Constitutions Project


I read about this web site on BeSpacific, one of my favorite librarian-written current awareness services (http://www.bespacific.com/).


http://comparativeconstitutionsproject.org/

Description copied and pasted from BeSpacific.com:



The World's Constitutions to Read, Search and Compare
“New constitutions are written every year. The people who write these important documents need to read and analyze texts from other places. Constitute offers access to the world’s constitutions that users can systematically compare them across a broad set of topics — using a modern, clean interface.]
HOW TO USE CONSTITUTE? Constitute allows you to interact with the world’s constitutions in a few different ways.
  • Quickly find relevant passages. The Comparative Constitutions Project has tagged passages of each constitution with a topic — e.g., “right to privacy” or “equality regardless of gender” — so you can quickly find relevant excerpts on a particular subject, no matter how they are worded. You can browse the 300+ topics in the expandable drawer on the left of the page, or see suggested topics while typing in the search bar (which also lets you perform free-text queries).
  • Filter searches. Want to view results for a specific region or time period? You can limit your search by country or by date using the buttons under the search bar.
  • Save for further analysis. To download or print excerpts from multiple constitutions, click the “pin” button next to each expanded passage you want to save. You can then view and download your pinned excerpts in the drawer on the right.”

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Social Security Death Index Restrictions Now Law



http://pibuzz.com/social-security-death-index-restrictions-now-law/

Law Student Guide to Free Legal Research on the Internet

The Law Student Guide to Legal Research, a helpful flowchart, is worth a look.


http://freelaw.classcaster.net/about/

About this guide

This guide is meant to help law students navigate the confusing world of Internet legal resources.  All resources listed here can be considered reliable and accurate.

About the author

Sarah Glassmeyer, JD MLS is the Faculty Services and Outreach Librarian and Assistant Professor of Law at the Valparaiso University School of Law.  In addition to providing reference services, she also teaches in the First Year Legal Research curriculum.   Professor Glassmeyer speaks frequently on the intersection of web technologies and legal research and blogs at SarahGlassmeyer(dot)com.

About the sponsors

This guide is sponsored by the Free Law Coalition, comprised of The Legal Information Institute and Justia.com.  Get your pens and mugs from the other guys. The only thing they give away is legal information.
The Legal Information Institute is a non-profit organization housed at the Cornell Law School.  Their website hosts a collection of federal case, statutory and regulatory law as well as provides links to government sources of state laws.  Additionally, it provides Wex, a community edited legal dictionary and encyclopedia.
Justia is a company that assists law firms with Internet marketing. They also have a strong public service and pro bono mission and provide an extensive collection of federal law, as well as links to state law.  Justia also has links to useful materials such as forms and subject specific guides.
This electronic guide is graciously hosted by the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction.  CALI hosts electronic lessons that support the law school curriculum as well as course supplements on its Classcaster blogs.

Monday, February 17, 2014

New York State Department of Civil Service Announces Open-Competitive Examination Open to the Public: Library Clerk 2

The NYS Dept of Civil Service has announced that it will be offering the Library Clerk 2 exam this year.

The written test is scheduled to be held May 3-4, 2014; applications must be submitted or postmarked by March 19, 2014.

Taking the Civil Service exam is required these positions, so anyone who may be interested in a New York State library job may wish to take the exam. Additional details and a link to the exam application are at http://www.cs.ny.gov/examannouncements/announcements/oc/25-715.cfm

Friday, February 14, 2014

Student Services Librarian - Charles B. Sears Law Library

The University at Buffalo Libraries seek applicants for the position of Student Services Librarian in the Charles B. Sears Law Library. This is a faculty appointment with rank leading to tenure in an academic research-oriented environment. The Charles B. Sears Law Library has a collection of close to 600,000 volumes and volume equivalents and serves the research needs of the University at Buffalo Law School, the University community, surrounding colleges, the local bar and bench, and the general public. The Law School, with approximately 700 JD and LLM students and 50 full-time faculty members, has a strong tradition of interdisciplinary scholarship.

The Student Services Librarian develops and coordinates programs and services to enrich the law student experience, promotes library services through student events and social media, oversees the Law Library’s Passport Acceptance Facility, and serves as the library liaison to the Buffalo Law Review, the Moot Court Board and other student organizations at the law school. In addition, the Student Services Librarian assesses students' research needs and satisfaction with library services annually through surveys and focus groups.

The incumbent provides reference assistance, collaborates with the Head of Collection Management and the Head of the Koren A/V Center to manage the library's study aids collections, and coordinates the upkeep of existing and the development of new LibGuides. The Student Services Librarian may participate in providing legal research instruction in the Legal Analysis Writing and Research Program and other law school courses.

The incumbent will assist law students with curriculum related projects that involve multimedia productions including video and audio production work. Duties will include teaching the fundamentals of digital video and audio production and editing; presentation of productions; and integration of productions within other media such as the embedding of a video in PowerPoint presentations. If necessary, on-the-job training will be provided for media services responsibilities.
The Student Services Librarian must be available to work evening and weekend reference shifts on a rotating basis. This position reports to the Director of the Law Library.

Minimum Qualifications:
  • A J.D. from an accredited ABA Law School and a Master's degree in library and information science from an ALA-accredited institution
  • Minimum of 1 year of full-time professional employment in an academic law library
  • Sound knowledge of legal systems, legal bibliography, and strong legal research skills
  • Demonstrated experience using mobile devices, social networking, and other forms of technology to deliver information services
  • Advanced computer skills and the ability to learn new technologies quickly
  • Strong and effective interpersonal, oral and written communication, analytical, and organizational skills
  • Demonstrated capacity to work effectively and collegially with faculty, students, and staff
  • Strong service orientation with the ability to provide exceptional service to a diverse clientele
  • Creative capacity to foster and manage change
  • Demonstrated ability to meet the University at Buffalo’s promotion and tenure standards in librarianship, research, service, and outreach
Salary Range: $58,000 minimum, commensurate with qualifications and experience  

Special Instructions to Applicants:
All applicants must apply using the UBJobs website https://www.ubjobs.buffalo.edu/
Search for posting number 1400072.
  • Applicants should fully describe their qualifications and experience in their cover letter with specific reference to the minimum qualifications of the position.
  • Include contact information for three professional references (names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses) at the end of your cover letter.
  • Provide a brief paragraph describing your interest in legal scholarly research and law library professional service. Attach this to your application as "Other Document 1."
  • Candidates invited to interview for the position will be expected to give a short presentation to faculty and staff from the University Libraries and the Law School.
Review of applicants is currently underway. We anticipate that the position will be filled on or before June 1, 2014.

The University at Buffalo is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. The University is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic University community committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment.

posted to ALLUNY-L listserv
--
Beth Adelman
Director of the Law Library
Vice Dean for Legal Information Services
Charles B. Sears Law Library
SUNY Buffalo Law School
205 O'Brian Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260
(716) 645-2089
eadelman@buffalo.edu

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Winter 2013/2014 issue of ALLUNY Newsletter

The latest issue of ALLUNY Newsletter is available at http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/alluny/2013-03winter.pdf .
Back issues of the Newsletter are available at http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/alluny/newslett.asp .

Congratulations and thanks to editor Barbara Briggs and all contributors on another wonderful publication!