Target Audience: Law librarians in all settings looking for EU research guidance.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will identify the current law-related functions and documentation of the institutions and organizations of the European Union.
2. Participants will identify and execute the best strategies for researching legal issues involving the European Union.
The European Union, established in 1951, has expanded its scope and responsibilities greatly over the years. The policies, laws and actions of the EU affect not just its 27 member countries, but due to its economic power, the entire globe. Following the passage of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009, the EU's powers and competencies will expand even further in the coming years. To provide law librarians the necessary information and tools to keep up with these changes, this workshop will offer a brief overview of the legal history of the European Union and show the research tools that are provided by the EU, namely EurLex, the online law portal of the EU, N-lex and other tools for locating the national law of Member States, and PreLex, for tracking legislative proposals. Further presentation will give an overview on trade relations/corporate law, religious freedom and energy and environment in the European Union. Engaging speakers will enable law librarians to approach EU research tasks systematically and successfully.
Separate registration fees
AALL Members: $90.00
Nonmembers: $135.00
Attendance is limited for all workshops - be sure to register well in advance of the June 17 deadline!
Target Audience: All law librarians
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to identify the factors that have made Delaware preeminent in the area of corporation law.
2. Participants will better understand whether changes in federal law will affect corporations choosing Delaware in the future.
Why do corporations choose Delaware, and will they continue to do so? Participants will learn why a majority of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware. Participants will be introduced to Delaware General Corporation Law and discover how the law, the courts, and the legislature work in tandem to make Delaware the preferred state in which to incorporate. They will learn why its Court of Chancery is the choice of forum for corporate disputes. Panelists will discuss how the law has developed and seminal cases that have shaped Delaware corporate and entity laws. Is Delaware's dominance being challenged by the federal government's increased interest in regulating corporate governance? Speakers will discuss the effect of these measures on Delaware's traditional role as the leader in corporation law and corporate litigation.
Target Audience: Librarians exposed to maritime issues but not working in specialty firms
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will gain an understanding of key issues in the practice of modern-day maritime law.
2. Participants will learn where to find answers to key maritime issues.
Pirates, rovers, and assailing thieves. Drunken sailors and leaking rigs. With modern-day piracy and increased ship-based disasters, more and more maritime issues are creeping into our daily lives and legal practices. This program will cover key issues in current maritime practice, what is on the horizon in the field, and where you can find answers once the issues are sorted out. Our speakers represent both academia and the private sector for a well-rounded presentation of the topic. Prepare to set sail for the high seas!
Target Audience: Law librarians interested in collaborating on the creation of institutional repositories and open access digital collections, as well as those interested in the research and teaching opportunities afforded by such collections
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to describe collaborative methods for developing digital collections.
2. Participants will be able to discuss how digital collections facilitate research access to rare resources, as well as how such collections can enhance teaching.
Building digital collections and repositories to facilitate research and enhance teaching has been a focus of much recent activity by state and university libraries. However, few law libraries have participated in this trend, largely due to the costs associated with content management systems and the need for specialist metadata librarians. By joining together in consortia, or by participating as junior partners in university digitization projects, law libraries are beginning to engage in the opportunities offered by digital collections. A panel of law librarians and professors will discuss the collaborative development of law library digital collections, as well as examine how these collections have greatly simplified research access to rare materials and enhanced teaching.
Target Audience: Law librarians interested in gaining a further understanding of THOMAS
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to articulate a user-centered design business model.
2. Participants will be able to name several ways that THOMAS can be improved in the near future.
THOMAS.gov, the legislative information database from the Law Library of Congress, was created in 1995. It is regarded as the "go to" place for bills, laws, Congressional Record, etc. This program will focus on the recent changes to THOMAS, many of which stem from user-generated feedback such as permanent links and integrated social media. The program will also cover how these changes better the user experience and make reference transactions using THOMAS easier. A member of the Library of Congress Information Technology Services Division will explain the challenges and requirements of revamping THOMAS around a user-centered design. The Law Library of Congress would like feedback and input from the participants on the next generation of THOMAS.
Target Audience: Mid-level law librarians/information professionals responsible for supporting scientific research needs of a user community
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to develop and execute scientific search strategies necessary to support their IP practice.
2. Participants will implement methods to identify and evaluate their organizations' scientific research needs and provide valuable input regarding information resources to aid end users in choosing the appropriate research product.
In the patent filing system, certain literature is important to disclose when a company files for a patent. The patentee needs to include non-patent literature related to their invention. Non-patent literature includes scientific, medical, or technical journal articles; book chapters; conference proceedings; theses; industry standards and much more. Understanding the process of how to conduct scientific literature research is an essential skill for law librarians in a patent practice. This program will address the strategies involved and resources available for conducting a scientific or technical literature search. Both subscription and free resources will be discussed, as both are helpful to the intellectual property researcher. In addition, this program will address how to retrieve copies of these documents once a search has been performed.
Target Audience: Reference librarians and others interested in access to justice issues
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to explain the issues affecting the functionally illiterate in their access to justice.
2. Participants will be able to design a reference plan to be able to assist functionally illiterate law library customers.
Many litigants who can neither afford an attorney nor qualify for any assistance programs find their way to the local law library to see if they can proceed on their own. A significant number of these individuals would be classified as illiterate. The National Institute of Literacy estimates that more than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level. Librarians typically supply these customers with written materials because they are the only (or easiest) resources available. Nevertheless, such texts may be too difficult for these litigants, so what other assistance can librarians provide? This program will examine some of the hurdles that face the illiterate as they try to navigate the legal system. It will also offer some ideas on how to help such individuals who come to the law library seeking assistance.
Target Audience: Librarians who have OCLC ILL responsibilities
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will identify OCLC ILL techniques and tips to create more effective ILL requests.
2. Participants will be able to implement more effective OCLC ILL procedures.
Interlibrary loan (ILL) plays an important role in meeting the needs of patrons, whether they're judges, lawyers, students, or faculty. Unless you have an unlimited budget and can purchase every item requested by your patrons, you, at some time, will need to rely on another library—sometimes not even a law library—to help meet your patrons' needs. You probably turn to ILL and OCLC to identify what libraries own the item, place your request through the ILL system, and then you wait and hope… Did you know that by using OCLC more effectively you can help raise the odds of placing a successful ILL request with less "unfilled" replies? As an ILL lender, are you frustrated that you receive requests for materials that you don't lend? Do you know how to analyze the policy directory listings? Does your library have an informative policy profile? Would you like to be considered a "good ILL-er" by your colleagues? This 30-minute, quick-fire session will showcase techniques and tips that will give you the background to place more effective ILL requests, and create and analyze library profiles. This program is intended for those familiar with OCLC's ILL system. While you won't learn the basics of ILL, you will come away with the skills to become a better "ILL-er"—both borrower and lender—resulting in a more efficient ILL operation.
Target Audience: Librarians and researchers interested in learning the uses of modern forensic science techniques and exhumation to prove historical legal facts; librarians and researchers who wish to learn about new developments in the Meriwether Lewis case; librarians and researchers interested in how Philadelphia played a key role in the genesis of the Lewis and Clark expedition
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to assess the role of modern forensic science techniques and exhumation in re-examinations of historical legal events.
2. Participants will be able to explain why the accepted version of Meriwether Lewis's death could be controverted by forensic examination of his remains, and will be able to discuss recent developments in the Meriwether Lewis case.
James E. Starrs, Professor Emeritus of Law and Forensic Sciences at The George Washington University Law School, will discuss his Meriwether Lewis Project, now in progress at the request of the Lewis family, to secure the approval of the U.S. Park Service under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) for the exhumation of the remains of explorer Meriwether Lewis. The primary goal of the project is to determine whether Lewis's controversial 1809 death at a frontier inn along Tennessee's Natchez Trace was a suicide or a murder. The contemporary evidence was inconclusive, there being no eyewitnesses. Via forensic analytical techniques nonexistent in the early 1800s, scientists now may be able to provide answers to key questions, such as whether the body exhumed is in fact that of Lewis, and if so, whether gunpowder residue reveals a close-range shot, as well as the location of the bullet wounds, if any. Other facts about Lewis that could bear upon the issue of murder or suicide perhaps could be determined, such as whether he suffered from disease and whether his remains show evidence of the therapeutic use of mercury or other toxic substances. Professor Starrs will explore these issues as well as new developments in the Meriwether Lewis affair. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Corps of Discovery to explore the American West with the hope of discovering a transcontinental water route. Though the Lewis and Clark undertaking was aimed at gathering information about the Louisiana Purchase and uncharted western territories, it was not strictly a western venture. It is fitting for this program to be offered in Philadelphia, which later twentieth century research has shown to have furnished not only the venue, but the expertise, to assist and guide Meriwether Lewis in the year of preparation necessary for the launch of the expedition. Today, Philadelphia is home to the archive of the journals of Lewis and Clark (American Philosophical Society), as well as to the Charles Willson Peale portraits of both Lewis and Clark (Second Bank of the United States), both part of Independence National Historical Park in Center City, Philadelphia.
Target Audience: Librarians who support students, faculty, and attorneys working in the areas of international law or humanitarian law specifically
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will list the key features of the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect.
2. Participants will create a research plan in International Humanitarian Law.
The purpose of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine is to prevent mass atrocities by placing a duty upon state actors to protect their citizens. When individual states fail in this duty, it is the collective responsibility of the international community to respond. This response may include, in an exceptional case, military intervention. Gareth Evans, a former Foreign Minister of Australia, and the former President of the International Crisis Group, has promoted this development in International Humanitarian Law. The Responsibility to Protect is an emerging norm with an uncertain future. Its status has been a subject of debate in the United Nations General Assembly. This program will discuss its development, its application or misapplication, and its future as a mechanism to prevent mass atrocities. The program will also provide a strategy for researching a cutting-edge topic in International Humanitarian Law.
Target Audience: FCIL, academic, and socially responsible law librarians interested in libraries as cultural institutions that must be rebuilt after man-made catastrophes
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to explain U.S. accession to the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the work of UNESCO as "lead agency for the protection of the world's documentary heritage in libraries and archives."
2. Participants will be able to participate in the rebuilding of national libraries and archives destroyed in the Balkan, Iraqi, and Afghan conflicts.
"Libricide" is a recently coined term for the destruction of a culture's memory by obliterating its historical documentary record. Beginning with the Lieber Code in the U.S. Civil War, libraries were recognized as institutions to be safeguarded during wartime; the hanging of Hitler's chief plunderer in the Nuremberg trials was crucial recognition of destruction of cultural property as a potential war crime. The 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two additions completed the process and led to its inclusion in the Serbian war crimes trials. Destruction of the Iraqi national archives, the ongoing plunder of archeological sites and academic libraries, and sales of Sumerian tablets and other pre-Islamic cuneiforms make this a topic of current and urgent interest to librarians and legal researchers. This program will examine 20th century instances of state-sponsored libricide, the development of the Hague Convention with an assessment of its use to date, and the efforts of the international library community to rebuild destroyed libraries and archives.
Target Audience: Reference librarians, library directors and managers
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to list at least five business tools typically available at public and academic libraries open to the general public.
2. Participants will be able to identify the libraries in their communities that are likely to provide access to free or inexpensive business resources.
Even the best legal collection may not answer every question asked by attorneys, legal support staff, and public law library patrons. Business resources better answer questions about starting a new business, competitor intelligence, writing business plans, locating industry reports, SEC filings, working with contractors, and economic or demographic profiles. Especially in today's economy, it may be impossible to justify purchasing expensive business materials your patrons use periodically but infrequently. Join a panel of public and academic business librarians who will examine a variety of free or inexpensive business tools typically available in libraries open to the public in your community. Patrons may have to visit another library, or online resources may be accessible from a library website with a borrower's card. Learn to be savvy about business resources on a shoestring!
Target Audience: Law librarians who support faculty, students, and government and private attorneys who work with civil law jurisdictions and U.S. litigation involving the doctrine of forum non conveniens
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to describe the essential principles of the civil law tradition necessary to understand the impact of U.S. transnational litigation in Latin America.
2. Participants will be able to explain forum shopping and the repercussions of the U.S. doctrine of forum non conveniens.
Globalization has brought different legal systems closer together. Legal practitioners, government lawyers, and judges increasingly need to deal with cases that require research and understanding of a foreign legal system or specific aspects of comparative law. People doing business in civil law countries need to understand the fundamentals of civil code-based jurisdictions. This presentation will introduce the main elements that distinguish common law and civil law traditions, especially with respect to Latin American jurisdictions. Additionally, the U.S. bar has been very active on issues of forum shopping involving civil law jurisdictions. For example, there are cases involving U.S. multinational corporations litigating in Latin American and U.S. courts for damages arising from activities related to petroleum exploration and banana plantations, or based on U.S.-manufactured defective products. The presentation will also discuss various responses (judicial decisions and legislation) from Latin American civil law countries to the U.S. forum non conveniens doctrine, and provide participants with a research guide for exploring these issues further.
Target Audience: Librarians who want to focus their library services to best meet the needs of their patrons
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to identify and assess the issues to be addressed in a patron satisfaction survey.
2. Participants will be able to create and distribute a satisfaction survey and analyze the results to identify the best services and delivery methods for their patrons.
Librarians provide a multitude of services for patrons, but it’s not always easy to know how—or if—these services are being used, or whether they’re even of value to patrons. Do patrons consult the web pages you create? Do the handouts and pathfinders help patrons, or do they even know these are available? What resources—including those beyond your library’s—are patrons consulting? Is most of their current awareness via social media? What do you do with this information? These issues directly affect what to deliver and how to deliver it using methods most beneficial to patrons. But how do you determine the “what” and the “how”? To learn how to better survey library patrons, the Student Services Committee of ALL-SIS is undertaking a project to collect and compile student satisfaction surveys from member libraries. The result will be a compilation of the contributed surveys and a sample “best” survey culled from the responses, which can be used as a blueprint for your library surveys. This program will examine the benefits of a satisfaction survey, how to determine what information you want to ascertain, the best way to ask the questions to get those answers, the sample “best” survey, and what to do with the results. Although based on information from ALL-SIS members, the results will be of value to those in all library settings.
Target Audience: Law librarians who want a step-by-step plan for conducting medical legal research in medical databases
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will learn the strategies and skills necessary to perform comprehensive medical searches in specialized medical databases, including MEDLINE.
2. Participants will become familiar with the different levels of medical proof found in the medical literature.
Most law librarians will have to locate and find appropriate medical or health-related research during the course of their careers. However, many are intimidated by medical or scientific information and do not know how to start. This program will provide an introduction for law librarians to locating and evaluating medical information. Topics include: defining evidence-based medicine, applying the methods of evidence-based medicine to the process of medical research, and evaluating retrieved information. Effective searching of MEDLINE, using the controlled vocabulary MeSH (the National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings), will also be covered.
Target Audience: Directors, reference librarians, and IT librarians serving self-represented litigants and other members of the public
Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will be able to assess the development of new national objectives and proposals for serving self-represented litigants.
2. Participants will be able to explain new federal requirements regarding language access and interpreter services to their libraries and parent organizations.
In the last few years, there have been dynamic changes in how government institutions serve self-represented litigants. First, the effects of the 2008 change in federal administration are now reaching the courts and ancillary agencies, including libraries that serve self-represented litigants. For example, the Department of Justice is now mandating significant increases in interpreter services and the use of Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Plans. Second, the Legal Services Corporation has adopted innovative new technologies to reach under-served self-represented litigants. Third, state courts are focusing their attention on the financially driven re-engineering of court services by including streamlined and improved services for the public. Two nationally known innovators in these fields will review these significant changes and explain how participants can best prepare for them.
Target Audience: All librarians
Learning Outcomes:
1. Librarians will analyze and apply the information provided to evaluate which of these new legal research products will be appropriate for use within their organizations.
2. Librarians will use the information provided to assist them in determining how best to implement these new legal research tools in their organizations.
During January 2010 (Legal Tech-NY), with much fanfare, WestlawNext and Lexis for Microsoft Office were unveiled. Lexis Advance arrived in late 2010. WestlawNext for the iPad is now here. Eighteen months after the first debuts, it’s time to examine their impact. How did the rollout of WestlawNext go in law schools? Have law firms embraced WestlawNext? What are the reactions, the benefits, and the burdens? What synergies exist between the schools and firms and other law organizations with regard to the introduction of WestlawNext? Have those synergies been explored? What has happened to Lexis for Microsoft Office? Presenters will take an in-depth look at the experiences two law schools and two law firms had with these products.
This program will be webcast live here.
