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CanLII Announces More Commentary

2018-04-23T18:26:39.600-04:00

CanLII, the Canadian legal Information Institute that makes legal information content available to Canadians free of charge, has been aggressively adding commentary to its online collections in recent months.

As a recent blog post on its site explains, it is expanding its offerings of law journals, newsletters, materials from legal non-profits and law reform commissions, etc.:

"We continue to work at making sure that the Canadian legal community has the tools it needs in ways that give them the best value possible. Commentary is the next logical step. For the growing number of users of CanLII who rely only on open materials for their practice (for need or by choice), knowing that one particular law review or content provider publishes materials openly on its site or other platform is great. Having access to a list of what’s open and the possibility of searching it all at once in the same interface than where they search for primary law is better by several orders of magnitude."

"In short, publishing more commentary on CanLII will facilitate improved access and discoverability of existing secondary content that’s currently published around the web, which will help this valuable content become more integrated into researchers regular processes."

Report on Higher Education Inter-Library Loan Management Benchmarks

2018-04-23T18:17:19.327-04:00

New York-based Primary Research Group has released a report entitled Higher Education Inter-Library Loan Management Benchmarks, 2018:

"The study presents data from 39 colleges and universities predominantly from the USA but also from the UK, France, Spain, Denmark, Israel and New Zealand, among other countries.  The 160+ page comprehensive study presents detailed data on budgets, staffing, borrowing and lending, turnaround time, technology use, consortia and partnerships, revenues and costs, eBook lending, special collections lending, audio-visual materials lending and much else ..."

"Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:

• The vast majority of respondents reported that ILL staffing has stayed the same over the last three years.
• Only 10% participated in international agreements or consortia.
• For borrowing requests fulfilled through transfer of paper resources by post or courier, the average turnaround time for articles is between 6 and 7 days and for books is between 7 and 8 days."

Print and PDF versions are available for $112.00 (US). Site licenses are also available.

Getting to Know the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals Part Two

2018-04-19T18:41:11.167-04:00

This is a follow-up to the February 26, 2018 post entitled Getting to Know the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals.

The Index has been around since 1960 and is now available on the HeinOnline platform.

In this 2nd post, DipLawMatic Dialogues, the blog published by the Foreign, Comparative, and International Law Special Interest Group of the American Association of Law Libraries, looks at the breadth and scope of the database:

"As its name implies, the IFLP focuses primarily on law journals published outside the U.S. Casual users of the Index may be surprised at just how broad its coverage is. The IFLP includes over 365,000 records of articles and book reviews published in more than 500 top law journals from jurisdictions throughout the world. More than 60,000 of these articles are available in full text on HeinOnline. Articles from nearly four dozen international, regional, jurisdiction-specific, and subject-specific legal yearbooks also are included. In addition, the IFLP analyzes the contents of approximately 50 individually published collections of essays, Festschriften, Mélanges, and congress reports each year. Roughly half of the articles indexed are published in languages other than English. In total, more than two dozen languages are represented, making the IFLP the only truly multilingual index to legal scholarship worldwide."

Statistics Canada Articles on Violent Victimization and Discrimination

2018-04-18T18:54:20.282-04:00

Last week, the Statistics Canada publication Juristat published 3 articles on violent victimization and discrimination: Violent victimization and discrimination, by religious affiliation in Canada, 2014Violent victimization and discrimination among visible minority populations, Canada, 2014Violent victimization, discrimination and perceptions of safety: An immigrant perspective, Canada, 2014 Among the highlights:  According to the 2014 General Social Survey on Canadians' Safety (Victimization), individuals who reported no religious affiliation experienced a higher rate of violent victimization (113 incidents per 1,000 population) than Christians (67 per 1,000 population). This difference was in large part attributed to age as individuals with no religious affiliation tended to be younger. People who reported a religion other than Christianity (72E per 1,000 population) experienced violent victimization at a rate similar to Christians.People affiliated with a non‑Christian religion were significantly more likely to report experiencing discrimination on the basis of their religion in the previous five years than Christians (11% compared to 1%). Between 2004 and 2014 there was a significant decline (-44%) in the rate of violent victimization among the visible minority population. The decrease was much larger than that of the non-visible minority population (-25%). Visible minorities reported being physically assaulted at a far lower rate than non-visible minorities but were equally as likely to report having been sexually assaulted. Canadian-born visible minorities experienced violent victimization at a rate almost five times higher than that of their immigrant counterparts. One in five (20%) members of the visible minority population reported experiencing some form of discrimination in the five years preceding the survey. Of these, over three in five (63%) believed that they were discriminated against because of their race or skin colour. Visible minorities expressed lower levels of satisfaction than non-visible minorities on three out of six indicators of police performance: being approachable and easy to talk to (62% versus 67%), providing information on ways to prevent crime (51% versus 57%), and treating people fairly (59% versus 63%).In 2014, there was a marked decline (-43%) in self‑reported violent victimization rates among immigrants compared to what was reported in 2004 (39 incidents versus 68 incidents per 1,000 population); among the non‑immigrant population, a decline of 26% was reported over the same time period (86 versus 116 incidents per 1,000 population). In 2014, violent victimization rates were similar between immigrant men and women. This was not the case among the non‑immigrant population where women were found to be at a higher risk for victimization than men.Although most violent incidents against an immigrant did not lead to serious physical injuries, most had negative emotional consequences. About one in ten violent incidents led to symptoms that align with those associated with post‑traumatic stress disorder. The large majority of immigrants who were victims of violent crime did not believe their victimization was motivated by hate (76%). However, they were more likely than non‑immigrants to report that the violence was gang‑related. More than half (53%) of immigrant victims of violence did not report the incident to police. Of all victims who reported the incident to police, immigrants were more likely to have been dissatisfied with police action than non‑immigrants.Experiences of discrimination were more commonly reported by immigrants (17%) than non‑immigrants (12%). This was more common among recent immigrants, those who had immigrated to Canada after 2004 than established immigrants, those who had immigrated to Canada earlier (20% versus 16%). Immigrants who had experienced discrimination most oft[...]

Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

2018-04-16T09:16:25.854-04:00

The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection from April 1 to 15, 2018 is now available on the Court website.

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

Issue no. 6 of Information Matters

2018-04-12T16:23:29.335-04:00

The website librarianship.ca has published Issue no. 6 of Information Matters, its regular newsletter.

Each issue includes:

• news/announcements from the Canadian librarianship community
• new items from Librarianship.ca
• people highlights
• articles and reports
• upcoming events

US Government Publishing Office Digitizes Entire Collection of Federal Register

2018-04-11T17:52:59.596-04:00

The Government Publishing Office (GPO), the official publisher of the U.S. government, has completed the digitization of all issues of the Federal Register going back to the initial issue in 1936.

The Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents. It is analogous to the Canada Gazette.

The material is available on the Govinfo information portal which contains official versions of US Congressional, Presidential, judicial and federal agency materials.

Merger of Canadian Research Knowledge Network and Canadiana.org

2018-04-10T19:54:56.427-04:00

The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) and Canadiana.org merged operations earlier this month:

"Merger discussions began in June, 2016 in recognition of a changed research environment and with the goal of building on the strengths and complementary activities of two of Canada’s most impactful content-based national organizations serving Canada’s digital research infrastructure. This merger allows CRKN and Canadiana to cohesively pursue a united and coordinated strategy that is envisioned and directed by member libraries, and works in partnership with research and memory institutions, funders, and other partners, broadening and expanding Canada’s vision and impact in digital scholarship."

CKRN is a partnership of Canadian universities that undertakes large-scale content acquisition and licensing initiatives to help its member institutions.

Canadiana.org is a not-for-profit, charitable organization made up of public libraries, archives, research institutions, and other organizations committed to digitizing, preserving, and providing access to Canada’s documentary heritage.

The press release announcing the merger provides some "quick facts":

• CRKN has worked with Canadiana since 2006 to provide subscription access to the Early Canadiana Online (ECO) collection, which is a large collection of full-text historical content about Canada, including books, magazines and government documents.
• Currently, 54 CRKN members have subscriptions to Canadiana Online or the ECO collection. CRKN members provide the bulk of Canadiana's funding through subscriptions and membership fees.
• In 2013, CRKN and Canadiana collaborated on the Heritage Project, a 10-year initiative to digitize and make accessible online some of Canada’s most popular archival collections encompassing roughly 40 million pages of primary-source documents. This project was funded by 46 CRKN members.
• The merger will leverage Canadiana’s certification as a Trustworthy Digital Repository (TDR) to support members in their own institutional digitization work.
• As part of the merger, CRKN will propose By-Law changes at its next Annual General Meeting that would allow Library and Archives Canada (LAC), Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) and Toronto Public Library (TPL) to qualify as CRKN institutional members
• The merger allows CRKN and Canadiana coordinated representation as part of the Canadian National Heritage Digitization Strategy, which outlines a way for Canadian memory institutions to work together to digitize, preserve and make accessible Canada’s documentary heritage.
• The merger allows for CRKN and Canadiana to pursue activities that further the preservation, digitization, access, and discoverability of content, as well as goals in the development of open access to Canadian content.

Canadian Association of Law Libraries Webinar on Digital Repository Success Stories

2018-04-09T17:29:08.344-04:00

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is hosting a webinar on April 19, 2018 on Digital Repository Success Stories. It starts at 1PM Eastern time:

"Open access to scholarship has become an important mandate for research and teaching institutions in Canada and around the world. For the better part of the past decade, the number of universities and law schools that have implemented digital repositories has grown dramatically. In this movement, Librarians have naturally assumed the role of facilitating, preserving and expanding access to the intellectual output and educational materials of their organizations. In this webinar, you will hear digital repository success stories from three librarians who have been entrusted with protecting the vital assets of their respective law school or university."

The three speakers will be:

• Mariya Maistrovskaya, Institutional Repositories Librarian, University of Toronto
• F. Tim Knight, Associate Librarian and Head of Technical Services at the Osgoode Hall Law School Library, York University
• Kim Nayyer, Associate University Librarian, Law and Adjunct Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria

Supreme Court of Canada Calendar of April 2018 Hearings

2018-04-09T17:23:28.417-04:00

The Supreme Court of Canada has published its calendar of appeals that will be heard from April 16 to April 27, 2018.

To find out more about any particular case, click on the docket number in parentheses next to each case name to find docket information, case summaries as well as facta from the parties.

CanLII Adds Newsletters

2018-04-04T19:47:58.329-04:00

CanLII, the Canadian legal Information Institute, has started adding newsletters to its online collections. CanLII is a law society-supported open access Internet site for finding Canadian jurisprudence and legislation.

The first publications added are the Siskinds Class Actions Review and Justice as Healing from the Native Law Centre at the University of Saskatchewan.

This comes after the recent announcement that CanLII is adding a number of law journals going back to 2015.

CanLII's secondary sources include a few e-books but mostly the tens of thousands of case summaries and commentaries on the CanLII Connects platform.

CanLII Connects allows publishers, law firms and academics to share commentary on Canadian cases and legislation for anyone to read free of charge.

April 2018 Issue of In Session - E-Newsletter of Canadian Association of Law Libraries

2018-04-03T20:24:20.903-04:00

The April 2018 issue of In Session is available online.

It is the monthly e-newsletter of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) and contains news from CALL committees and special interest groups, member updates and events.

Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

2018-04-03T20:17:13.730-04:00

The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection from March 16^st to 31^th, 2018 is now available on the Court website.

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

Law Firm Bulletin Articles on the Recent Federal Budget

2018-03-28T16:35:20.573-04:00

The website of the CAIJ (Centre d'accès à l'information juridique), which is associated with the courthouse libraries in the province of Quebec and the Quebec Bar Association, has a section devoted to private law firm news publications.
There have been many articles written about various aspects of the recent federal budget, including tax, trusts, charities, cannabis, trade and  financial institutions. There are articles in English and French:

• March 26 roundup
• March 27 roundup

Recent Research Publications from Canada's Library of Parliament

2018-03-28T16:13:10.667-04:00

The Library of Parliament has published a number of research publications recently:

• The New Veterans Charter: Developments Since Its Adoption in 2006 : "On 1 April 2006, the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act1 came into force. Commonly known as the New Veterans Charter (NVC), it became the legislative framework for the programs, services and benefits provided to Canadian veterans through Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) (...) Since the NVC was adopted, various stakeholders have reviewed the regime it established. They noted its positive aspects, but also identified significant shortcomings. Many recommendations to improve the new programs have been put forward by, among others, the Veterans Ombudsman, the parliamentary committees on veterans' affairs, the New Veterans Charter Advisory Group, and various veterans' rights groups. Changes have been made to address some of these shortcomings. For example, the budget implementation bills of June 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 brought in changes and added new provisions to the NVC.This document summarizes the purpose and content of the NVC, the changes made to date, and some ongoing issues."
• Cybersecurity: Technical and Policy Challenges : "Starting with a quick overview of some of the types of cyberthreats confronting Canada and its allies, this paper examines how Canada defines cybersecurity and considers the many human, technical, economic and political factors that make achieving cybersecurity so difficult. Finally, it touches on some of the international initiatives that have been undertaken to enhance cybersecurity."
• Carbon Pricing Policy in Canada : "Policies that put a price on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are in place in a number of jurisdictions. Commonly referred to as “carbon pricing systems,” they are meant to help reduce the GHG emissions that are contributing to climate change. In Canada, carbon pricing policy is in development. On 15 January 2018, the federal government published for public comment a document on draft legislation aimed at codifying its proposed national carbon pricing system. The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act is expected to be introduced in the House of Commons during the 1st Session of the 42nd Parliament. The proposed legislation would require provinces and territories to implement carbon pricing systems by 1 January 2019, or adopt a federally administered carbon pricing system that the federal government calls the 'backstop.' Jurisdictions where no carbon pricing system is adopted, or where the pricing system fails to meet federal standards, will have the backstop imposed on them, in whole or in part, on the same date. Several Canadian provinces have already implemented some form of carbon pricing, and other provinces and territories have either announced pricing systems or are studying the question. The federal government has asked provinces and territories to detail their carbon pricing approach by 1 September 2018. After a discussion of what carbon pricing is and how it works, this document presents the federal, provincial and territorial pricing systems. "

Newest Issue of Canadian Law Library Review

2018-03-26T17:00:20.110-04:00

The most recent issue of the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR) is available online.

The CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL).

It is available on the ISSUU platform and in PDF format on the CALL website.

As of January 2018, the CLLR is open access.

Eleventh Annual International Library Automation Perceptions Survey

2018-03-25T17:18:14.772-04:00

On March 17, Library Technology Guides posted the results of its most recent International Survey of Library Automation:

"3,992 libraries completed this year's survey, providing sufficient data to focus the analysis more on each category of library type and size rather than aggregating across all responses. Libraries of different sizes and types bring different expectations to their systems, making it essential to segment survey results to make meaningful comparisons and extract trends. The functional requirements of public, academic, school, and other types of libraries overlap to a certain extent, but in other areas each has distinctive, if not contradictory, functionality. Some of the products represented in the survey have been designed for specific sectors. For those used by multiple types of libraries, the analysis of the survey results by size and type of organization provides an opportunity to observe any differences in satisfaction across these categories."

"Some interesting themes can be seen in the analysis of this year's survey results. Large libraries of all types have complex requirements and evaluate their systems on a much harsher scale than smaller organizations. Conventional integrated library systems dominate public libraries, with top scores going to proprietary products in the largest tier and to those based on commercially supported open source software in the mid-size category. Small and very small public libraries also favored proprietary ILS products. In the academic library sector, survey results reveal interesting patterns regarding the newer generation of library services platforms. These products received strong marks in most categories but are perceived as less capable for managing print resources than legacy ILS products. Small libraries give superlative scores to products able to meet their basic requirements without complex features they don't need."

The annual survey has been conducted every year since 2007. The results of all previous surveys are available on the Library Technology Guides website, which is maintained by Marshall Breeding, a well-known library automation expert.

Webcast of Official Ceremony Appointing Justice Sheilah Martin to Supreme Court of Canada

2018-03-25T17:11:41.822-04:00

Last Friday, the official ceremony to mark the appointment of Justice Sheilah Martin to the Supreme Court of Canada was held in Ottawa.

The ceremony's webcast has been archived on the Court's website.

New Canadian Copyright Law List

2018-03-25T17:12:17.103-04:00

Copyright expert Leslie Ellen Harris has launched a new listserv (e-mail discussion list) devoted to Canadian copyright law.

In an e-mail last week, Harris wrote:

"We're excited to announce the formation of our new email list - our Canadian copyright law list. On or about the 1st and 15th of each month we will be sending an email with content, news, updates, information and discounts relating to our copyright courses specifically aimed at a Canadian audience. We invite you to join our list."

"2018 is going to be an important year in Canadian copyright law. We have the Canadian government review of the Copyright Act, and several lawsuits to keep an eye on. Plus it's always a good time to be more aware of how Canadian copyright law works and how you can specifically apply it in your library or organization."

Harris runs the site copyrightlaws.com that offers many courses on international and Canadian copyright law.

Tomorrow the Supreme Court of Canada Will Start Publishing Plain Language Case Summaries

2018-03-22T18:37:50.330-04:00

Starting tomorrow, the Supreme Court of Canada will publish Cases in Brief on the Court website, and on its Facebook and Twitter accounts. These are short, plain-language summaries of Supreme Court decisions.

The first such Case in Brief will be made available tomorrow at noon in the case of Carson v. The Queen.

In a statement released today to Court staff, Chief Justice Richard Wagner writes:

"We’re doing this because we want to be more transparent and accessible to Canadians—but we’re also doing it because we must. The reality is that there are fewer journalists covering the Court than ever, and those who remain are pulled in many different directions. This is an attempt to fill the gap."

"This initiative has been in the works for some time, beginning under former Chief Justice McLachlin. Because many people are involved, we have been developing the process over the last few months to find the best method and format. I personally want to thank all the staff who have helped with this, particularly the jurilinguists, law clerks, and legal counsel (...)"

"The work this Court does is important, and I strongly believe this initiative is necessary. The Court has always strived to be transparent and accessible to the Canadian public, and that’s exactly what we’re doing."

Article: Understanding Twitter Use by Major LIS Professional Organisations in the United States

2018-03-21T16:19:59.225-04:00

SAGE Journals is allowing access for one month behind its paywall so people can read the article Understanding Twitter Use by Major LIS Professional Organisations in the United States.

The article is from the recent issue of the Journal of Information Science :

"Although Twitter has been widely adopted by professional organisations, there has been a lack of understanding and research on its utilisation. This article presents a study that looks into how five major library and information science (LIS) professional organisations in the United States use Twitter, including the American Library Association (ALA), Special Libraries Association (SLA), Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) and the iSchools. Specifically explored are the characteristics of Twitter usage, such as prevalent topics or contents, type of users involved, as well as the user influence based on number of mentions and retweets. The article also presents the network interactions among the LIS associations on Twitter. A systematic Twitter analysis framework of descriptive analytics, content analytics, user analysis and network analytics with relevant metrics used in this study can be applied to other studies of Twitter use."

People can check out the Canadian Association of Law Libraries' Twitter presence (which is awesome) at https://twitter.com/CALLACBD.

[Source: infoDOCKET]

13 Questions With Fiona Anthes - Canadian War Museum

2018-03-20T12:54:41.553-04:00

The librarianship.ca website has been running a series of librarian profiles called 13 Questions With ...

Here is the most recent one with Fiona Anthes, Supervisor, Military History Research Centre, Canadian War Museum:

"Why a career in librarianship?
Because I get to bounce between my different brain functions and bridge the gap for others trying to do the same. I constantly alternate between big thinking and individual applications, long term planning and nitty gritty daily data management, process design and client service. When I was in school and was asked the much feared 'what are you going to do with your life?' I gave the unsatisfying answer 'something interesting.' I now can truly claim I’ve never had a boring day on the job." (...)

"Career advice – what’s your top tip?
Do something that has nothing to do with your career as doggedly as you do career development. Having a personality is one of the best assets you have going for you. I once had an interviewer ask me out of curiosity about when I played in a flute and harp duet (I got the job), and know someone that was asked about their circus experience while being interviewed for medical school (they are now a doctor). I also know hiring managers for whom ‘having a life’ is a non-advertised hiring requirement. Job applications aside, you will network better, avoid small world syndrome, and generally have more fun if puppy-like enthusiasm permeates your life. "

Issue no. 4 of Information Matters

2018-03-18T18:37:23.786-04:00

The website librarianship.ca has published Issue no. 4 of Information Matters, its regular newsletter:

"Each issue includes:

• news/announcements from the Canadian librarianship community
• new items from Librarianship.ca
• people highlights
• articles and reports
• upcoming events"

Statistics Canada Article on Violent Victimization of Women with Disabilities

2018-03-18T18:14:42.773-04:00

Last week, the Statistics Canada publication Juristat published an article on Violent victimization of women with disabilities, 2014 that shows that persons with a disability were overrepresented as victims of violent crime.

Among the highlights:

Library Journal's Movers and Shakers 2018

2018-03-15T18:09:46.256-04:00

Library Journal has released its 2018 list of Library Movers and Shakers. It is an annual snapshot of the transformative work being done by those in libraries of all types and sizes and across the field.

Winners were chosen in the following categories:

• Change agents
• Innovators
• Advocates
• Educatotrs
• Digital developers
• Community builders

Most winners are from the USA (as befits an American publication) but there are also two Canadians this year: Jenny Ryan from the Saskatoon Public Library and Dayna Hart from Constable Neil Bruce Middle School, West Kelowna, BC.

The publication provides a map of all the Movers and Shakers from 2002 to 2018.

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