Tuesday Cocktails

Tuesday Cocktails
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Cocktails were held in the "Garden" area of the hotel. We were then escorted into the dinner by a drum regiment. Unfortunately my photos of that part were too dark.

Celtic Fiddlers

Celtic Fiddlers
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Our pre-dinner entertainment. They invited us up for a "scuff".

Pre-Dinner Scuff

Pre-Dinner Scuff
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

A couple of our local hosts took them up on the invitation, to everyone's delight.

The Irish Descendents

The Irish Descendents
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Local celebrities The Irish Descendents played after dinner. We had a terrific time, especially those of us who had attended their concerts in town the previous three nights.

Enthusiastic Dancers

Enthusiastic Dancers
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

The dance floor was quite crowded; this is the best shot I could get of the big group arm-in-arm dancing together in a sort of group jig.

Wednesday Coffee Break

Wednesday Coffee Break
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

After the AGM, a number of people stuck around for the final session. The numbers at this coffee break were no indication as to how full the room would really be.

The Tip

The Tip
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

"Thank you for the tip. Have a great afternoon!

Room Attendant
Janette"

Law Librarian Blog - Academic Focus

Based in the U.S., the jointly produced Law Librarian Blog has an academic focus. Part of the Law Professors Blog Network. Edited by Joe Hodnicki of University of Cincinnati Law Library. Contributing editors are Mark Giangrande of DePaul University Law Library and Ron Jones of University of Cincinnati Law Library. Sponsored by LexisNexis. Taking law library blogs to the next level...

UBC's Law Library Blog

Thanks for reminding me about this, Elim! -- University of British Columbia's Law Library Blog. Notably they are posting their new books (or "new acquisitions" in libraryspeak).

St. John's Celebrity Sightings

Well, anecdotal evidence suggests there are more celebrities per capita in St. John's than in Toronto (and I do see a LOT of celebrities in Toronto). In addition to Blue Rodeo on the flight over, Wendy and others report having Justin and Sasha Trudeau on the flight over with them. Wendy saw Mary Walsh in the hotel on her floor. I am currently in the airport waiting to get out and have seen the lead singer of Great Big Sea,Alan Doyle, on his way to a concert in Yellowknife, and pollster Allen Gregg is here in the waiting room. I suppose it might have something to do with being on a rare direct flight between St. John's and Toronto, if there is going to be a celebrity this is the flight they will be on. And is it a coincidence that Blue Rodeo and Great Big Sea are friends? It appears it is the season for Canadian concert tours!

Reuse Those CDs! Mail Art Project

Here is a little aside: from creative Carla Cryptic comes a new type of mail art project, the Mandala Mail Art Call. "Mandala" is Sanskrit for circle and this project is about circles, oh, about the size of that CD you are about to throw out. Carla asks us to explore some artistic alternatives. Due date for this project is June 30th, 2005.

I have sent Carla mail art once or twice in the past (a long, long time ago). She often puts the results together as an exhibition, either physically or virtually.

Carla, by the way, was one of my fellow hosts on Cafe Utne a lifetime ago (of which I have spoken periodically). I like to check in periodically to see what new projects she has on the go!

Cheers,
Connie

Final Day CALL 2005 - quick summary

This morning's AGM was well-attended. We had a by-law amendment to allow for electronic voting; a resolution (the content of which I should probably allow to be publicized by more official means); and messages from the various associations represented (AALL, BIALL, the Australian law libraries group, New Zealand Law Libraries, and SLA - Legal Division were represented). A public thank you was made to the 2005 Conference Planning Committee, and the 2006 Committee made a splash for their city, Edmonton. They showed us the entertaining film Edmonton: The Movie. Then they had us all sing an Edmonton folk festival favourite, Ian Tyson's Four Strong Winds which nicely tied in with the theme, "Four Strong Winds: Leadership, Resources, Innovation, Expectations". Perhaps they will be holding more singsongs in Edmonton?? We then had an entertaining entrance by new CALL President John Sadler in his sou'wester. I'm afraid my photographs in this area are sorely lacking!

After the coffee break we enjoyed a panel discussing reference tools: how to conduct reference with someone at a distance; an academic review/study as to how reference research has changed since 1985 when electronic resources became more prevalent; top 10 non-legal resources for the law librarian. All speakers, Caroline Hyslop, Holly James and Lindsay Glynn, were excellent.

After that, a number of people shipped out; however, I was surprised to see how many are staying around to spend some personal time either around St. John's or around Newfoundland. Pairs of familiar faces could be seen strolling around the Duckworth and Water Streets in the early evening.

Vanessa and I had dinner in a local pub this evening, having barely seen each other during the whole conference. We agreed, however, that we've had an excellent experience here. Despite the cold! Fortunately the sun was still shining (even while the fog rolled in) as we walked around.

I hope to post more photos soon, but have run out of all that energy this evening. I am heading back home tomorrow afternoon. Vanessa is off on a boat to see the puffins and then will be touring the island for several days. I am envious! However, at this point it will be quite wonderful to see home (whatever state it is in, Mom) and sleep in my own bed.

A Quick Update

Well, I haven't been able to blog as much as I hoped. I was optimistic the conference centre would have good wireless connection so I could blog to you during sessions; however, it appears the wireless was mostly in the lobby. Nevertheless I have continued to take photos and mental notes and will gradually catch up over the next few days.

Let me tell you, however, that I just got back to my room from a riotous good time dancing to the Irish Descendents. Really only stopped because the band did finally. What a great time! I think they were genuinely surprised how much this group partied.

It was called the closing banquet, but we have a little more to go tomorrow--final installment of the AGM and then last programme before the crowds head out.

CALL/ACBD 2005 - Welcome Sign

CALL/ACBD 2005 - Welcome Sign
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

This sign greeted us each day at the entrance. I LOVE the logo of the houses in St. John's.

Sunday Reception

Sunday Reception
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Hosted by CCH at the GEO Centre. This photo taken from the glass elevator looking down. Note the planets at the top. We toured the Titanic exhibit and the geological exhibit.

Monday - Connie Speaking

Monday - Connie Speaking
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

This is me in action during the "Cool Things I am Doing in my Law Library" session. Eight presentations, five minutes each. I was thankful not to have to speak longer than a few minutes! The room was packed, and I even heard of people who could not get in. Thanks to Steve for kindly taking photos for me during the session!

Monday - St. John's Harbour

Monday - St. John's Harbour
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Monday afternoon between sessions, Richard and I took advantage of the sun to have a nice stroll. Some great photos!

Monday - Tall Ship

Monday - Tall Ship
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Richard kindly took this photo of me. That is not a toy behind me--that is a real tall ship in the harbour.

Monday - Reception

Monday - Reception
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

This is from the reception at The Rooms, new imposing architecture not yet opened. Canada Law Book hosted this one to celebrate their 150th birthday. They also made the announcement that (surprise, surprise) they were newly co-operating with Thomson Carswell to create a new IP product on WestlaweCarswell (presumably to be called IP Source). Even though some of us saw it coming a mile away, it still seems a bit strange (a la Belinda Stronach as a Liberal...)

Tuesday - Coffee Break

Tuesday - Coffee Break
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Tuesday's coffee break was held in the "garden" area of the hotel while the exhibits were being torn down in preparation for the evening's banquet.

My Head is Swimming

First day in to CALL 2005, and already my head is swimming with ideas. I helped to host the First Timers' breakfast this morning, which was host to over 20 people whose first time it was to the conference, and our delegates from other countries. I met quite a few people who are delighted to be here first time out. One good tip we learned was that, unless a session is specifically marked "closed" in the programme, everyone attending is welcome to a session.

Immediately after we slipped in to some of the Special Interest Group (or SIG) business meetings. I caught the end of the Private Law Libraries (PLL) SIG, where they managed to appoint a couple of co-chairs for next year. This is not an onerous job as the SIG does not have a lot of carry-over business one year to the next, and the main bit of business is to chair the annual meeting (such as this one) and organize a speaker at the annual conference. This year's topic is negotiating skills Tuesday afternoon featuring Denis Mahoney, partner at McInnes Cooper. Looks like he may be using the "Getting to Yes" model of negotiation (originated at Harvard Business School), something which we strive toward in my firm as well. The suggestion for next year's session is regarding training (presumably of law students--I only heard the last snippet of this).

Then it was off to the Vendors Liaison SIG. Wendy Reynolds and Mary Saulig from Toronto spoke to their involvement giving CCH feedback at a focus group yesterday. They invited other vendors to use CALL member librarians (and presumably other law librarians) as a resource for improving their products and getting feedback, both bad and good. Pat McNeill from LexisNexis Canada Inc. spoke to the question of the content of Factiva moving over, and he invites input from librarians as to what we would like to see happen in the transition. He has invited us to the booth to discuss this. Presumably if you weren't at the conference you can contact him or your sales rep if you have feedback in this regard. The consensus seems to be that we trust Pat and know he will do his best to smooth things over with this difficult transition period.

Finally, the new Knowledge Management SIG held its first organizational meeting, run by Phyllis Thornton and Jane Parkinson. Phyllis was unanimously appointed as the new chair. This group is co-sponsoring the session on Tuesday originally organized by the Electronic Information SIG, the topic being developing a taxonomy for business records classification. Today the new KM SIG developed an idea of how this group will share ideas, what level of interest everyone has with KM, and the types of topics we would like covered in the next year. It was felt it is time to embrace KM rather than waiting until we are pulled "kicking and screaming" towards it. Level of expertise in the room ranged from "gestation" to "advanced knowledge".

Some other things that have come to mind as I have spoken with colleagues. These are just little ideas not fully gelled yet:

- if we want students and new librarians to be involved, we need to lead the way. We need to extend a personal hand to contact them and not expect they find us on their own. If we want them to develop CALL (and other organizations) in a certain way, we have to lay the groundwork and pass along the memory of that groundwork to them. We can't just toss it up in the air and hope someone will catch it.

- lawyers are highly skilled wordsmiths. Whether students, practitioners, or judges, we have to take care with the wording we use, written and oral. Rather than focusing on the ideas we are conveying (oft times in quickly-spewed e-mail messages) they may be focused on our exact phraseology. Should you have used "at" "on" or "in"? It makes a great deal of difference to them, and so should it, as a result, to us. They may have a difficult time hearing the message if it is not relayed correctly. In the case of e-mail, best get to the point in the first couple of sentences.

- Wal-mart and other big box stores are starting to require their vendors mark products with RFID tags. Should we be requiring the same of our vendors, with CIP (generic bibliographic/catalogue info) included in the tags? We could load data from the RFID tags up to our catalogues by scanning, "tweak" the records for our own libraries, then re-load the corrected version back onto the tag. Sue Rigney from the Dept. of Justice in Brisbane says she walks around and scans the barcodes in each office each week to track location of the books. With RFID tags we could just walk around the halls to read this information. I'm waiting for the day when we can track it all on satellites! (And in case you asked, RFID = radio frequency identification - see RFID in Libraries.

That's it for now! I'm going back now to see the vendor demos. A little break and then the opening reception. I am starting to get hungrier what with little substantial food. I may need to grab a bite beforehand.....

Ciao!
Connie

This Morning's Sightseeing in Newfoundland - Flat Rock

FlatRock
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

This morning Marty and I took a drive part-way around the northern coast from St. John's. This is at Flat Rock

Flat Rock - take 2

FlatRock2
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

This is a continuation of the coastline--a boathouse is perched on top of a natural boat ramp.

Blessing of Pope John Paul II

BlessingofPopeJohnPaulII
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

"Site of the Blessing of the Fleet and Homily By His Holiness Pope John Paul II September 12th 1984"

Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto

OurLadyofLourdesGrotto
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto. In 1958 a bishop travelled to Lourdes, France, site of various Mary sightings (I think). He was impressed with how the rock formations were similar to here near St. John's, so he created the Stations of the Cross in the rock. It appears they have everything to conduct a service outdoors as well. Marty and I walked around and up top, as there are stairs carved into the rock. It is difficult to see against the bright sky, but their is a crucifix on top of the rock on the left side.

Pope John Paul Was Here

PopeJohnPaulIIwuzhere
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

In front of the "pulpit" at Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto: "On this Spot His Holiness Pope John Paul II Knelt and Prayed September 12th 1984"

Pouch Cove

PouchCove
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Coastline at Pouch Cove.

Coastline at Torbay, Newfoundland

Torbay
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Coastline at Torbay. This photo was taken from a churchyard, as evidenced by the graveyard in the foreground.

View from my window in St. John's

Portholeview
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

This is the view from our window at the conference hotel. This photo was taken yesterday about 5 pm, when it was quite foggy. This is looking out over downtown St. John's, Newfoundland.

Breakfast at Classic Cafe, St. John's

ClassicCafe
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Marty recommended we eat at the Classic Cafe, across the street from the conference hotel. It was almost noon (more lunch than breakfast), so I had the "Newfoundland Fish Cakes" which included two huge cod and potatoe cakes, two eggs, toast, and home fries. Marty was trying to get me to order scrunchions, but I wisely selected this instead. (Scrunchions are basically fried pork fat and wouldn't do in my diet at all!)

Lighthouse at Cape Spear

CapeSpearLighthouse
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

This is, you guessed it, the Lighthouse at Cape Spear.

Connie at Cape Spear

ConnieCapeSpear2
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

This is me earlier today at Cape Spear, the most easterly point of North America. It is raining and I am a little soggy here!

Overlooking the lighthouse from Signal Hill

SignalHillLighthouse
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

View from Signal Hill, looking out over the lighthouse. The Cape Spear lighthouse is located on the point at the left (in the distance)

Tour of Quidi Vidi Brewing Company

QuidiVidiBrewingCo
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

Marty and I took a tour of Quidi Vidi Brewing Company (the green building). $3 for the tour, $5 for tour with tasting of all their beers, $6 for tour, tasting, and a free beer! We went for the $5 deal. Our tour guide, a marketing student, was very knowledgeable.

St. John's Friday afternoon

StJohns
Originally uploaded by ConnieC.

The view from our window Friday afternoon. After raining during our big tour, the sun broke out when we reached the hotel again!

Can't Find this Blog?

Thanks for checking out this blog! I am currently at the annual conference for the Canadian Association of Law Libraries, this year in St. John's, Newfoundland. Photographic evidence above!

If you cannot gain access to this blog, it may be that the support service, Blogger, is down for maintenance. I was trying to gain access earlier today and was frustrated with it down. Please have patience and try back in an hour if you cannot get on.

Cheers,
Connie

Hello from St. John's!

Arrived about 4:45 yesterday. Mild weather, not much cooler than Toronto, but foggy. Today is cooler still, about 7 C, with rain and possibility of snow.

We had a good flight over; they said it would be rough, but seems to me it was actually quite smooth. Several of our colleagues were on the same flight. Also most of the band Blue Rodeo, on their way to do a few concerts on the Rock, playing at Mile One Stadium here in St. John's tonight. Jim Cuddy was actually sitting with me and Marty. I think there might be a joke in there somewhere....a country/pop band and some law librarians were on a flight to Newfoundland... Oh, never mind.

We found a nice spot for dinner last night, the Thymestone Cafe on Duckworth Street. It was pricey for St. John's, but we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. And we had the place to ourselves at 7 pm on a Thursday evening. I had a lovely squash/roasted vegetables soup, and the wild mushroom ravioli Marty had was to die for. For our main courses I had the special, a cod and salmon combo and Marty had "surf and turf". We were both very pleased with our choices. Portions were a good size but not too big. Anyone here at the conference looking for a nice meal, I would highly recommend it. The soups, salads and appetizers in particular sound exquisite. Marty says the Thymestone Cafe is a relatively new place since it wasn't here last June when he was last here. Hopefully it is here to stay.

Well, I look forward to seeing some of you arrive on Saturday, and for others hopefully I will get the photographs working shortly.

Cheers,
Connie

CALL on the Cover of The Lawyers Weekly

I am quite excited--our talk at the upcoming CALL conference "Cool Things I am Doing in My Law Library" has been covered by the May 13, 2005 issue of The Lawyers Weekly, and the photo of yours truly (same one as I use for this blog) has been included. See May 13 Lawyers Weekly PDF for the front cover. (It will be up on the website for about a week).

Full text of the article is currently available here: current issue The Lawyers Weekly (again, for about a week).

How thrilling! I look forward to seeing lots of you in St. John's. I will, by the way, hopefully be blogging from the conference. Maybe even adding photos if all goes well with the new camera battery. I leave for St. John's tomorrow, so will send out a message to the CALL listserv if I can get it all working and will be blogging.

Stay tuned!
Cheers,
Connie

Where Were You When You Realized the World Is Flat? (Or Have You?)

Amazon.ca has a great interview with Thomas L. Friedman, the author of the new non-fiction book The World Is Flat : Where Were You When You Realized the World Is Flat? (Or Have You?).

Quoted from the interview:

...most of our political elite has not realized that the world is flat. Most of the leading U.S. companies get it and are responding like crazy. But no one has told the country, because most of our politicians don’t have a clue. I just wrote a 469-page book about this and I interviewed only two people in Washington--and I live in Washington! [laughter] We are led by lawyers who do not understand either technology or balance sheets. I am hoping, though, that many of them have kids, who, when they have a moment to take a break from their iPods, Internet, or Google, will explain to their parents running the country just how the world is being flattened.

...

I have a daughter who is a sophomore in college and another who is in the 11th grade of high school. My message to them is very simple: Girls, when I was growing up my parents used to say to me, "Tom, finish your dinner. People in China and India are starving." I say to my girls, "Girls, finish your homework. People in China and India are starving for your jobs." When the world was round, say 30 years ago, you would much rather have been born a B+ student in Indianapolis, Indiana, rather than a genius in Bangalore, India. Because the Indian genius, unless he or she could get a visa out of India, really could not plug and play with his or her talent. Today, you do not want to be a B+ student in Indianapolis. You would much rather be a genius in India, because that genius can now innovate at a global level without ever having to emigrate. That is what the flat world makes possible.

Should we be concerned about this?--

There is no substitute for face-to-face reporting and research. But it is now much easier to do all the things that go with it. I basically did all the library research for this book on Google, and it not only saved me enormous amounts of time but actually gave me a much richer offering of research in a shorter time....

Certainly some thought-provoking statements in the interview. Okay, so now I'm going to have to take a look at the book itself.

Aside from supply chains, economics, and globalization, I think the act of blogging itself has helped to flatten things out. Never before has it been so easy for so many average people to publish their opinions widely. I wonder if we are in the midst of a publishing revolution as influential as the advent of the Gutenberg printing press?

Virtual Reference Coming Soon for Ontario Lawyers

Michel-Adrien Sheppard, in his blog Library Boy, points out a recent notice from Library Co., the country and district law libraries system in Ontario: LibraryCo appoints Project Manager for Virtual Reference Service. It will be interesting to see what business model this virtual reference takes on, whether extended hours will be in the picture. If so, it may just supplement reference already provided on a "9 to 5" (I use this phrase loosely) basis.

My CALL 2005 Presentations

I will be making a short presentation about my blog at the upcoming CALL conference. I will be talking about why I started blogging, benefits I have seen, and where blogs are going in the future. All in five minutes! It is part of the "Cool Things I am Doing in My Law Library" session on Monday. See: Program - CALL/ACBD 2005 Annual Conference - Monday May 16, 2005.

I have also created a related poster presentation, called "Anatomy of a Blog". I finished creating that last night, and think it looks pretty good for my first attempt at a poster. It will hopefully be printed out for me in 3 ft X 4 ft size tomorrow. Can't wait to see it! I chose a simplified look at a blog, both the public screen and the behind-the-scenes administrative screens. Since it uses this blog for the screen shots, it therefore has a focus on Blogger features. It will allow me not only to talk about how easy it is to set up a blog with Blogger, but will also allow me to discuss other features available in packages such as WordPress and Typepad. For anyone who is currently blogging, I doubt there will be anything new; however, I find a lot of people are still not familiar with all of this so will be a good starting point for discussions.

If you are at the CALL conference, do drop by my poster. I hope to get it set up Saturday afternoon. I look forward to your questions and feedback.

Cheers,
Connie

Blog Software for Law Firms

From "Real Lawyers :: Have Blogs", this post is interesting: Which blog software best for law firms?. Kevin O'Keefe recommends the use of WordPress or Moveable Type for firm use. He says Blogger is fine for personal and social journaling, but WordPress and Moveable Type are more professional. Also, they may allow for taking an RSS feed from the firm blog and posting it to a firm's website. Both of these applications require technical set up and periodic installation of updates. As he says, you wouldn't use a Yahoo or AOL e-mail address for work, why would you use a free application for work blogging? It's good to learn on the free "amateur" applications, but when using it on a professional level, get the professional application. I tend to concur, but have yet to move away from Blogger myself. Maybe someday soon!

Are Bloggers Journalists? - Protecting Confidential Sources

Some good things in today's Modern Practice from Findlaw. Of note is this article about a high profile court case in the U.S., discussing whether bloggers can be considered journalists and thereby keep their sources confidential: Can Bloggers Invoke the Journalist's Privilege to Protect Confidential Sources Who Leak Trade Secrets? in this month's Cyberlaw column by Julie Hilden.

Developing a Law Firm Taxonomy

Today's Modern Law from Findlaw had some gems in it. In particular, I thought people interested in KM or indexing generally might find this article useful: Developing a Global Law Firm Taxonomy, Inside-Out - this month's Technology Tech column by Jason Marty.

He compares two different ways to develop a taxonomy for a law firm. He relates this back to work done at the global law firm Baker & McKenzie, where they looked to the experience of other law firms before jumping into this area. From the introduction:

We were interested to note that for some firms, the difficulties a global taxonomy project entails are causing them to focus more energy on other aspects of content management - search, information architecture and workflow. A global law firm taxonomy though, if accepted and adopted, can provide tremendous benefits to working lawyers, not only by helping them find needed content, but also by helping organize activities and content development efforts.

Nov. 5/08 - link updated

Les Blogs - conference WIKI

Posting this here for my future reference: Les Blogs wiki - Paris 2005. Take a look. I found it from a link to a recent paper on Sabrina Pacific's blog beSpacific.

Hunter's Passing

I am saddened to hear about the passing of Bob Hunter earlier today. While I came to know him on our local TV station City Pulse, especially from his "Paper Cuts" segment on Breakfast Television where he gave a critical reading of the morning's newspapers, he is best known for his environmental work. He was a founder of Greenpeace and spoke often of his experiences.

See the story here: Pulse24 - Toronto's News.

Thomson Financial acquires Macdonald & Associates

Thomson Financial, owned by Thomson Corporation, has now acquired Macdonald & Associates Limited. MacDonald & Associates specialize in Canadian private equity market information and are best known for their service the VCReporter. See: press release (PDF).

See also the Macdonald & Associates website www.canadavc.com .

Another independent info company being purchased by one of the "big three". Sigh.

CSA - Industry news feeds

The Canadian Standards Association is now publishing industry-specific news from this page: CSA - News & Events - Industry News. News is provided by Thomson Dialog's NewsEdge service. Industries covered are: construction, electrical, environmental, fuel cell technology, health care, oil & gas, and privacy news. Articles appear to be very specific--about specific companies and products.

While it doesn't look like you can read these feeds in an aggregate feed reader, you can sign up for an e-mail subscription to the industries of your choice and receive the headlines once a week.

I'm now updated

Last night I added my updated photo. But wait, there's more! I spent tonight working on the column to the right, finally giving you direct access to my feed once again, adding links for sites I refer to frequently, and list of blogs I like to read now and then. Of course, it took several hours only because I had to read through all of the latest on each of them since I hadn't read them in a while.

Still to do: add statistics counter; list of blogsearch links (esp. for those with which I'm listed); and as per the last post, improve the printability.

All of this is in preparation for the "Cool Things" session at the upcoming CALL conference. I have five minutes to talk about my blog. My focus will be: why I started blogging, what benefits I have seen, and where I see blogs going in the near future. For anyone into blogs, most of it won't be news; however, I figure it will be personal. I'm hoping to also put together a little bibliography of recent papers and articles on blogging.

They've also suggested I do a poster session to accompany this presentation so I can speak individually with people. I have an idea for that, but want to keep it under wraps until it's actually put together. You know, just in case I decide to go in a different direction.

Well, time to pack it in. It's been a busy day; in addition to my usual workout and lunch-with-the-gang routine, had to hunt down a fleece for CALL (in St. John's) and office supplies (bought a new colour toner cartridge finally) and signed up for the SLA conference at the last minute i.e. just before the early bird pricing ended. Back to the gym in a few short hours (spinning at 9:30 am), and then groceries and continuing on with the PowerPoint for the presentation. Oh well, the housework will have to wait yet again. Oh, but I got the laundry done as I've been sitting here. I've got that going for me.

I'm a Printability Loser!

Apparently I have a printability problem, according to Walt Crawford in his recent column Cites & Insights 5:6 - disContent Perspective: Printability (see bottom of article). Who knew? I guess the good news is that he's somehow reading this column despite my lack of printability.

I purposely try to keep only a few day's worth of postings on the first screen to reduce the need to scroll, but the problem likely lies with the Blogger formatting. Something to think about for future blog changes. I think it would have to be resolved by going to a different blog host. I noticed when recently printing out one of my pages that the colours come out completely different in the print--like a whole different format. To get the same look I had to take screen shots and paste them into Word or PowerPoint instead.

Anyway, this article is a good review of what makes a web page printable, and why webmasters should take this issue seriously.

David Duchovny Blog

This isn't specifically regarding law, but it is interesting: David Duchovny blog. He is directing a new film, House of D, and has been blogging the experience since February. He includes text, audio and video. The design of the site is particularly good for a commercial site--not too much advertising. Lots of good linkage.

Checking out j's scratchpad

Steve Matthews' blog today mentions j's scratchpad as the blog to read. I hadn't seen it before so was just reading it. Looks interesting, so am linking to it here for later reference.

One of these days I should create a little blogroll over in the right column.....

CLE Programmes from PLI - Now in Downloadable MP3s

U.S.-based Practising Law Institute is now offering audio programs in downloadable MP3 format. See the list PLI - Downloadable MP3s.

Their e-mail announcement states:

Now you can download PLI MP3 programs direct to your home or office PC. Download the MP3 audio files and play them on your computer, transfer them to your portable MP3 player or copy them to a compact disc, it's up to you! You can listen to them whenever you want, wherever you are. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At the gym, in your car, on the bus or train…in the office. Anywhere, anytime.

The future is here!

Lexis Web Seminar Series

Lexis out of the U.S. have a free monthly web seminar series: LexisNexis InfoPro - Professional Development - Web Seminar Series. Each session is an hour via the Internet. Looks quite good. Upcoming sessions include Adult Learning Styles with Gayle Lynn-Nelson and Priscilla Stultz (May 19/05) and Marketing the Library (Oct. 20/05).

New Blogging Presentation by Sabrina Pacifici

Sabrina Pacifici has posted a new presentation on blogging to LLRX.com: Blogs...Got Content! [Note: this is a PowerPoint file]. As I am just working on my little 5 minute presentation for CALL about blogging, she comes along and blows me away with a full-blown amazing presentation. Lots of updated information and tons of links to excellent web resources. And many things I didn't already know. This will be going into my webliography for sure!

Things I've Been Obsessing About Lately

• how I am going to get both a PowerPoint presentation and poster presentation ready for the upcoming CALL conference. I have it mostly worked out in my head, but every time I sit down to create something, a small glitch gets in the way. Last weekend it was the colour cartridge in my home printer running out.
  



• my firm's website
  



• how I can get my firm to take the leap into a full intranet
  



• whether I will have time to blog the CALL conference, preferably with pictures
  



• whether, after all this, I would have time to learn how to podcast so I can do interviews with people and get a few sound bites or full discussions onto my blog during the CALL conference
  



• when I am going to sleep during the CALL conference
  



• the NE2007 conference, especially what our logo will look like and what our theme will be
  



• what my report to TALL on VDX Host will look like exactly. I have an idea of content, but I'm not sure how to format it to make it a useful document.
  

The good news is staffing here at the office is now in a stable position, and it has been a bit quieter this week, so I am in a position to get 'unclogged' on a number of fronts. The key, I think, will be to just be focussed and not fritter my time away on less important things.

CLA: Tsunami Relief Fund created

I found this notice today from the Canadian Library Association: CLA Raising Funds for Tsunami-Affected Libraries. CLA is allocating $10,000 toward relief and will be taking charitable donations to add to the fund. They will be doing a fundraising drive at the CLA Annual Conference, June 15-18 in Calgary.

The notice includes a donation form in PDF if you would like to make a contribution. Use of the funds will be coordinated through IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions). IFLA has supposedly created a Relief and Development Partnership group to work in this area, helping to match international resources with areas that need assistance (both monetary and personnel/expert assistance). I had a look at the IFLA website and couldn't see anything specifically on this, so have sent an e-mail to CLA as to whether they can direct me to it.

I hope to publicize this info with TALL and CALL once I have more details.

Cheers,
Connie

Job Title Generator

I was looking for a title generator for seminars to allow me to do a little brainstorming, and happened upon this Job Title Generator for Careers in Library and Information Science. Give it a try!

Mentoring

I was looking at the professional development material on the Canadian Library Association website and found this excellent article on mentoring for librarians: "Mentor, Mentor, Who's the Best Mentor?" by Joanne Oud and Angela Madden of Wilfred Laurier University. It says that currently most librarians do not have formal mentors, and it discusses both how to find a mentor and how to be a mentor.

Over the years I have sought out individuals for various aspects of my career, but never asked someone formally to be a mentor. Finding a "coach" seems to be the bigger trend these days, especially when jobs seem to be expanding beyond traditional boundaries. I have also tried to give advice to the individuals coming up after me, but again never suggested formal mentoring to them. Will have to give this some thought.

This makes me think--what are the big differences between mentoring and coaching?

Possible Reform of Supreme Court of Canada Appointments Process

Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, has tabled a new process for Supreme Court of Canada appointments with the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. See the News release from the Dept. of Justice website: Government of Canada Moves to Reform Supreme Court of Canada Appointments Process (April 7, 2005). From what I can see, the big change is forming an advisory committee that would review and recommend candidates for vacancies in the future.

Probably a good idea. Better than letting the PM pick his buddies I suppose. If that ever happens. Hmmm....

Who are your Law Firm Library's Customers?

Good article by Steve Matthews on his Vancouver Law Librarian Blog, called The Law Firm Library - Customers & Consumers: Who are your Law Firm Library's customers?.

Some food for thought: " your customers are not your consumers, and your consumers are not your customers". It is indeed a delicate balance. And when your consumers have demanding customers things are even more interesting....

Now Blogging From Iqaluit

Well, this entry is not about the infamous blog that was shut down after Pacific Penny's employer, Nunavut Tourism, took offence at her journal entries (see my Sept. 22/04 blog posting).

No, this is about a personal blog started by my colleague Gary called senatorhung's pad. He does cover Canadian copyright issues, and a whole lot of other stuff. Hey check out the very interesting "Seismic World Tour" linked from the right column as well. He's worked everywhere! Well, there is still time for Antarctica. 8-)

Congratulations on the blog, Gary!

Cheers,
Connie

In Honour of the April Fool

I couldn't resist writing and sending this out to our firm today. Got a few people good, too, with people asking me for maps!--

Apologies for the short notice! We will be reorganizing part of the Library this weekend. While we will try to keep materials as available as possible, things will be in somewhat of a disarray. We will try to have them back in order for Monday morning or, at latest, Tuesday.

Some of the changes we are making:

All topical case law reporters will be moved over one aisle to make way for more textbooks.
Provincial case law reporters will be moved into the new section beside the English
Reporters.
Indexes (or, "Indices", if you prefer) for all case law reporters will be moved to one
Location making it easier to do case law research from one spot.

Foreign textbooks will be separated and moved toward the end of the collection.
Oversize textbooks will be removed from the collection, and put into a separate section beside the Reference collection.
Orders and notices from the Canadian Government will be moved closer to the statutes.
Legislation will be put into a more logical sequence, with
Statutes being interfiled with their corresponding regulations.

Thanks to everyone who responded to our recent survey--these changes are a result of what you have asked to see!

Queen's Law Life - articling student blog

From a law firm librarian's perspective, the articling student blog Queen's Law Life is interesting. It gives an inside view of what an articling student experiences. I was especially interested in the March 8th posting listing all the loot received by students on Career Day (my firm gave out the Pez dispenser, which I understand had a good "coolness" factor to it).

Connie's Top Ten Ways to Find a Law Library Job (for students & new librarians)

This afternoon I attended one of the "teas" held at the Faculty of Information Studies (FIS) at University of Toronto. The focus of this tea was alumni contact with students, and I was playing for the alumni team. 8-)

It put me in mind of some things a library student or someone just finishing a library degree might do to network and hopefully bag a good starter position. Here is my "top ten" suggestions, in no particular order:

• Join associations related to your area of interest. Some have student or new member rates. This will open up some further opportunities for you (see below). For law, Canadian students should join the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD) and local association if there is one, such as Vancouver Association of Law Libraries (VALL) or Toronto Association of Law Libraries (TALL). Read their e-mails and newsletters about the latest changes and trends in your industry. Take advantage of member directories when targetting resumes. Attend social and educational events.



• Write an article. You might rework a course paper or ask a newsletter editor for an assignment. This will get your name known among association members.



• Join a committee. If, as a student, you can't become a full committee member, they will still likely love to take you on as a volunteer. This will help put you more in the centre of the industry, and make you better known at least among committee members and the association executive. Not too shabby for contacts.



• Read and post to listservs. Read the lists for job openings and changes to the industry. Also, you might be able to put your educated opinion in now and then. People will remember someone who has said something particularly intelligent or helped infuse some tasteful levity into an otherwise dry discussion. Take care not to dominate the conversation when others want to speak, or to make off-colour comments.



• Attend conferences in your area of interest. You may be able to volunteer to obtain free admission, and some associations even provide some funds for attendance at conferences for students or worthy members.



• Contact a library or librarian and ask for a "behind the scenes" library tour or informational interview. Cold-calling is difficult, but librarians are usually open to networking and assisting colleagues. You might say something like: "This is Mary Smith. I am a library student at FIS and am interested in law librarianship. I am wondering if you would be willing for me to meet you and have a tour of your library?" Don't be put off if you get turned down--for every one librarian who turns you down, there will be others who would be pleased to meet you. A phone call works better in this case since many people distrust e-mail with spam being so prevalent.



• Apply for positions, even if you don't have the exact qualifications. If you don't get an interview, invite the employer to pass your resume along to other organizations that may be interested in you.



• Watch the job "domino effect" to anticipate where jobs will be coming open. That is, watch who fills a position since their last job will come open, which then will be filled by someone who may have come from somewhere....you might be able to time your resume to be in the right place at the right time.



• Attend events that involve alumni. Mingle and get their wisdom. When you finish school, you will be a member of the alumni association yourself.



• Some work is better than no work, especially if you don't currently have experience specific to your field. Accepting a part-time or contract position is a great idea. This will give you a feel for the industry, whether it is really what you want to do. As well, these positions sometimes turn into permanent full-time work, especially if you impress your employer.

You can mix and match these approaches to what suits you. Some people are more comfortable cold-calling, and others are more comfortable writing and sending e-mail. The more you do, the more contacts you will gain and the better you will become at networking. And it may not seem like it when you are first starting out, but this can actually be fun!

Cheers,
Connie

ConnieBlog@sympatico.ca

Brownstone Publishing sold back in August 2004

This is a bit late, but perhaps will help others: I came across an invoice from the mystery vendor "Vendome Group" www.vendomegrp.com . They appear to have purchased all the real estate and leasing titles from Brownstone's back in August 2004. I found this brief note about it.

Education products appear to still be published by Brownstone's as a subsidiary of Vendome.

HCPro purchased Brownstone's health titles in October according to this notice.

Good of them to tell their customers! Vendome and Brownstone's can be contacted at 1-800-519-3692. Remnants of Brownstone websites still exist on the web if you google their name.

Happy Birthday Little Blog!

Well, I missed the big day--March 21st I was officially blogging for a year. Thanks to everyone who have given me ideas, comments, and general support. Or just quietly read along as I explore this great big fuzzy legal research world!

To be honest, I am personally impressed I've more or less kept with it for a whole year. And I feel like I am just getting started since there is so much more to learn! So, this little blog should be around for a while yet.


Cheers,
Connie

Factiva now has RSS Beta Feed

Factiva is now testing a new RSS service for subscribers. See the info sheet. Just in time for them to drop many of their legal customers. But I'm not bitter.

If you give it a whirl while you still have a subscription, I'd be interested in hearing how you like it. I haven't tried it out myself yet. Thus far they are "feeding" articles selected by the editors with the view to expand this service in the future.

By the way, according to the backgrounder up to 5% of U.S. internet users actual read RSS feeds daily. That would be quite a lot of people, with lots of room for increase.

Database of Registration Info for Canadian Charities

I thought this to be interesting, both on a personal and professional level: List of Canadian Registered Charities. It is a database that allows you to search for charities by name, city, province, postal code, designation, category and registration number.

Records pulled up have links to annual filings for registered charities, including basic financial info. I thought this might be a good way to research a charity for the purpose of personal giving.

Think about it: you get a knock at the door, someone pleads for money, you politely close the door then run and turn on your computer to check out the charity's annual filing....

Opening at the International Criminal Court Library

They are looking for a Technical Services Librarian at the International Criminal Court in The Hague: position description.

Where Has the Time Gone?

Well, I've been woefully lax about posting. Then again, I'm on vacation until Tuesday. I did actually spend some time one day trying to post, but Blogger was working only intermittently and I finally gave up trying to make my post after a good half hour. Instead I forwarded my cool find for the day (a Globe and Mail article about making audio posts to blogs) to Sabrina Pacifici and she posted it on her page www.beSpacific.com .

Today I've been enjoying my St. Patrick's Day by following the NCAA March Madness (go Gonzaga!).

Also, I'm talking about this blog at the upcoming CALL conference in the "Cool Things" session. So, some of my time has been spent pondering what exactly I will cover during that session. If there is something in particular you want to know about, do let me know.

Cheers,
Connie

Law Weblogs- Blawgs

This pathfinder from the School of Law at the University of Akron was pointed out in yesterday's beSpacific links: Law Weblogs- Blawgs.

UK Media Librarians' Newsletter

I found this index for the publication Deadline from the Association of UK Media Librarians. I notice the December 2004 issue includes an article by Astrid Lange, Toronto Star Librarian, called "Canada dry". Lots of interesting things here.

Seeking Parliamentary Librarian

I noticed this posting for someone to head up the Library of Parliament Library of Parliament. Closing date is March 11, 2005.

Building and Running a Successful Research Business

This book looks interesting: Building and Running a Successful Research Business by Mary Ellen Bates, from CyberAge Books published May 2003.

Guru.com

This looks cool - Guru.com - The world's largest online marketplace for freelance talent. I don't see a category for librarians or researchers--perhaps a place to start for someone wanting to do freelance work?

Another Law Librarian Steps into the Ring....

Law firm communications librarian Michel-Adrien Sheppard has just started up his own blog, tentatively called Library Boy. He is including a mix of postings, both of personal and of professional interest. Some great things here. I see he has picked up on some items I have missed; it never hurts to read more than one blog on a topic!

Best of luck, Michel-Adrien!

C-SPAN: DIGITAL FUTURE - Lawrence Lessig tonight

Okay, I keep running into this everywhere today so if you haven't already seen this I better tell you about it: the C-SPAN: DIGITAL FUTURE series is featuring Lawrence Lessig tonight. He is law professor at Stanford, celebrity-status law blogger, and helped found the Creative Commons. His talk is showing on C-SPAN, but for those of use without access, there appears to be livestreaming available at 6:30 ET. I dunno...I'd really like to watch it but I may need my trip to the gym by that time. Looks like they also have a java audio clip of past talks, so perhaps it will be available later.

Hey, I just noticed Brian Cantwell Smith, dean of the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto, gave the talk on January 31st. Will have to go back and explore some of this later....

World Book Day 2005

Today is World Book Day 2005. As far as I can tell, it is mostly based in the UK and is meant to encourage reading (well, it is better than using those books for holding up tables I suppose...). I had fun sending out one of the postcards to a few friends.

ReadMyDay

ReadMyDay is a web log project for elected and other government officials to encourage them to blog and thereby stay in contact with their constituents. Based in the UK.

Blog coaches & memories of Cafe Utne

Sabrina Pacifici pointed out in today's beSpacific column an article in the Wall St. Journal that happens to mention blogging coaches. She also happened to link to blog coaches Wigley & Associates. I was quite excited to happen upon this. The principal, Griff Wigley, helped Utne Magazine start up Cafe Utne about 10 years ago.

I was one of the original volunteer hosts for Cafe Utne so, in effect, Griff was my "boss" at that time. It was an extensive discussion forum on all subjects behind a passworded area. It was a lot of work since we had to keep up with how to use the software on an advanced level, keep existing discussions going, keep people "playing nice" with each other, and plan new subjects for discussion. I remember the book club especially being a large time-consumer as there was a book to choose and read, proper questions to pose, and the need to keep people interested in the discussion.

It is great to see Griff has leveraged on that experience. I wanted to blog this so I could go back and look at his blog a little more closely later.

Postjudgment and prejudgment interest rates - Ontario

Anyone looking for the interest rates in the Ontario Gazette may have missed them recently. Rather than being indexed under "Courts of Justice Act", they are now simply listed under "Postjudgment and prejudgment interest rates". An example is in the
December 18, 2004 Ontario Gazette.

I think this change is actually clearer (before you had to know the interest rates come out under the Courts of Justice Act); however, if you don't know to look under "P" rather than "C", you could easily miss it!

By the way, the interest rates are also now readily available from the Ministry of the Attorney General website, for anyone who doesn't need to obtain them from the official source: Postjudgment and Prejudgment Interest Rates.

ICLR Law Reports back on Lexis

We had heard the ICLR Law Reports (UK law reports), untimely ripped from the LexisNexis Butterworths womb, had been returned. One of my colleagues had confirmation today from her Lexis Nexis Canada rep that they are indeed being returned to our local LexisNexis as well. Too bad they didn't send a press release to Canadian customers--would have made good news since we were anxious to find out!!

CALL 2003 - Presentations still available

Some people may not realize that the CALL 2003 Program has links to most of the presentations that were made. This was the Canadian Association of Law Libraries conference held in 2003 in Niagara.

Presentations available:

• the two "KF Modified" sessions by Humayun Rashid and Tim Knight
  
• "Business Plan Strategies" by Jane Dysart, Partner, Dysart & Jones Associates
  
• "In vino veritas?: Researching International Environmental Law with a Clear Head in the Hazy Era of Climate Change and Sustainable Development" - Marilyn Raisch's PowerPoint presentation and bibliography
  
• Jerry Dupont's notes from the panel discussion "Managing the Past; or Old Wine: Is It Still Any Good?"
  
• "Copyright Potpourri" - draft for discussion included
  
• Lisa Daulby's presentation from "Uncorking the Past: The Role of the Corporate Archives in Support of the Law Department"
  
• "Genie in a bottle: Intellectual Property Legislation and the Flow of Information" by Dr. Margaret Ann Wilkinson, Professor at the University of Western Ontario
  
• "Securities North and South: Canadian Securities Research in a 'New York State of Mind'" by Louis Mirando and Michael Hoffman
  
• "When I'm 64: Succession Planning Strategies for Law Libraries and Information Organizations" by Vicki Whitmell and Yasmin Khan
  

Passport Office: Introduction to passport on-line form

If you haven't discovered this yet, it is worthwhile if you are a Canadian citizen looking to obtain a new passport: Passport Office: Introduction to passport on-line form. Currently only available for Canadian citizens, 16 years or older and living in Canada.

Apparently this reduces the need to stand in a long line!

Random Thoughts While Sitting at my Computer

I've been rushing around all day, and finally took a moment to look up from my keyboard and out my window. There are all these huge, giant snowflakes flying in all directions. I feel like I am inside a snow globe!! What would it say on my snow globe? Perhaps "Hello from a Toronto Winterland". I am now waving out at all the people in sunnier places. 8-)

Cheers,
Connie

Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

This is way cool: the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online from Library and Archives Canada. It covers biographies from 1000 to 1930.

The advanced search page is great--I tried the Flash search, but HTML is also available if Flash gives you grief. You can search biographies by geography, "identification" (by profession or cultural group), time period and/or gender. Under "Identification", the category "Miscellaneous" appears to be the most interesting (e.g. exorcist, filibuster, free thinker, snake charmer). You can also do a free-text search of all entries.

The bios themselves appear to be quite lengthy with references to other more detailed sources. Each bio has a link at the bottom to the general bibliography for the entire project.

I am usually looking for biographical material for people still alive, so probably won't be referring to this very often; however, it is good to know about "just in case". Also it is an excellent example of a quick-to-search web-based database.

Can I Have Another Steve Matthews Please?

Well, this is my smile for the day! Today's post in the Vancouver Law Librarian Blog by Steve Matthews is entitled Can I Have Another Connie Crosby Please?. Hee hee!

Steve is calling for more "home-grown" Canadian law library blogs. I couldn't agree with Steve more! So many people tell me they read my blog, and yet it would be nice to hear their voices once in a while.

Why aren't you blogging your ideas?

Malcolm Gladwell Talk at U of T

I was fortunate to have a seat for the University of Toronto talk by Malcolm Gladwell last night. It was a packed auditorium!

I wasn't sure what to expect with Gladwell's talk, never having heard him speak before, even on TV or radio. My friends and I were not disappointed: his speaking voice is much the same as the voice used in his writing. As in his books Blink! and The Tipping Point, his story-telling skills are strong. He is very good at giving anecdotal examples to make his point and allowing his audience to apply the underlying argument to their own situations.

Particularly entertaining was the question-and-answer period, with the professor who said she didn't like him initially because he was writing in her field and was so popular, but who changed her mind upon hearing him, and the woman who asked why he didn't cut his hair.

Since the talk was held at the University of Toronto, the audience seemed to be an eclectic mix of the general public and academia ("Oh yeah, I forgot we're here at the University!"). There were the hard-core fans who have read everything he has written, and those who had just heard him on the radio that week and were intrigued. I fall somewhere in the middle, having read his two books and made others read it.

If you happen to have the opportunity to attend one of his talks, do attend. And do read his books!

SurfWax -- News and Articles On Law Librarian

The day just keeps on getting more interesting...this website has gathered articles on various topics, including "law librarian": SurfWax -- News and Articles On Law Librarian. I was interviewed for the Toronto International Film Festival last September by a Florida reporter, and that article is indexed here.

Amazing what you find when you google yourself. Oh yes, and in my spare time I'm a rower and Jungian psychologist. Bet you didn't know that!

Frequently Asked Questions about RSS

I'm doing some background research on using RSS, and found this great resource page: Frequently Asked Questions about RSS. Lots of good info here.

Group Calling for FOI Reform

In a press release that just came out from the Canadian Newspaper Association (CNA), they are calling for more freedom of information. In light of the current investigations into the federal sponsorship scandal, they are calling for increased transparency of government and are pressing for updated FOI laws.

I like this quote from Anne Kothawala, Pres. & CEO of the CNA:
"Peel away the spectacle of testifying Prime Ministers and what's left is a sordid soap opera in which freedom of information law is routinely flaunted with impunity."

Indeed!

Law in a Box

I'm not exactly sure what Law in a Box is. It is a cool law website based out of the UK, possibly from a law school. They were thinking "outside the box" when they created it. That is about all I can tell. I found it during one of my websurfing escapades, and am now blogging it so I can go back and find it again. If you can figure out what it is exactly, do let me know. Thanks!

PLI - The Law Library 2005

Last year I was fortunate to attend the Practicing Law Institute (PLI) programme for law library managers, The Law Library 2004. It was excellent. I recommend this, either in person or the webcast. (I haven't tried out the webcast method yet!). This year's programme looks interesting--

• March 2, 2005 - webcast & programme based in San Francisco:
  
  PLI - The Law Library 2005
  


• March 16, 2005 - programme based in New York City (no webcast):
  
  PLI - The Law Library 2005
  

Ontario Hansard Searching Made Easier

My colleague Vanessa discovered this week that the Ontario Hansard (i.e. Legislative Debates) now has improved searchability--if that is a word--since the last time we used it. Check out the Legislative Debates Search Page (Advanced Search)!

Content goes all the way back to June 1985 (wow!) and allows for searches by keyword, date, type of business, topic, and speaker.

What is really great is the way the resulting documents come up: we are given just the text needed, not the whole Hansard issue. Apparently they have broken the issues apart by topic for better access. It used to be we either had to print out reams of paper or spend hours electronically cutting and pasting the desired sections into a Word document. Now we can just print (or compile a list of the links) quickly as we go along. And, if necessary, the full Hansard issue is still just a click away.

For anyone doing major recent historical research with Ontario legislation, it is no longer necessary to keep Hansards on the shelf...this is a lot faster way to go. (Note the disclaimer, though, that printed version is still the official version).

The Heiress vs the Establishment

I have just finished reading The Heiress vs the Establishment by Constance Backhouse and Nancy L. Backhouse. It is published by UBC Press and The Osgoode Society, known for their law-related histories.

I found it very interesting, not only for the story told, but also for the format. They have taken an infamous autobiography by our heroine, Mrs. Campbell, called Where Angels Fear to Tread, reprinted it, and added on to it. They have added extensive discussion and footnotes. Reading all of the footnotes did slow me down a fair bit; nevertheless, it was worth the extra work.

Mrs. Campbell, whose family was very much a part of the legal establishment in Ontario, took on her uncle and bencher Mr. Hogg over her mother's estate. Few lawyers were willing to help her in court, so she ended up largely representing herself at the Supreme Court of Canada and at the Privy Council in London. Amazingly, she did win her case at the Privy Council. Backhouse & Backhouse go on to tell the story after this.

I found Backhouse & Backhouse had done extensive research, so that we had good background on the myriad of legal characters (counsel, benchers, and judges) as they come and go through the story. I gained a look at some of the lawyers I have heard about, including a number who have lent their names, or at least their work, to the large Toronto law firms we know today.

I usually read fiction, and to me this is the sort of thing authors like Atwood and Ondaatje try to achieve on a fictional level: mixing formats, and moving in and out of non-fiction texts; or like David Foster Wallace and Dave Eggers with story-between-the-lines revealed via extensive footnotes, endnotes, forewords, epilogues and the like.

I think those working in the area of law, especially Ontario, will find this of most interest. Others might not find it worth the work.

Lehman's Zoning Trilogy

I am just renewing our subscription to Lehman's Zoning Trilogy and wondered if others have heard of this resource. I admit not using it often, but our planners like it. This website was created out of the original "Zoning Trilogy", a three-part reference manual. The first part is a zoning dictionary, second includes samples of zoning provisions, and third are sample diagrams.

The website goes beyond that, having a question-and-answer section about zoning (useful for municipalities, for example), and there is a "zoning resources" section, with links to a lot of different websites.

More Faculty Positions Opening Up

Wow! More Library faculty positions, this time part-time instructors at Western: Faculty of Information & Media Studies - Notice of Anticipated Limited-Duties Appointments. These sound like they cover more practical areas: cataloguing, reference, library planning, marketing, database management and the like. They are looking for PhDs, but will also take Masters degrees with professional work experience and university-level teaching. Hmmmm....this I might actually be qualified for....

As someone said to me the other day: sure, why not just add more in to your schedule, Connie! You have lots of time. Shhhhhhure.....

Wild Stuff - Library Faculty positions

Five (count them: 5) faculty positions have opened up at the University of Toronto Faculty of Information Studies: Job description. Specialty is pretty much open. The biggest thing is the PhD requirement. Wild stuff.

It makes me wonder if it is worthwhile doing a PhD part-time (over 6 years) to be ready for the next big openings? But then I would have to think about what my specialty would be. Blogging? Envisioning projects for other people? Opening cans of worms? Writing wordy communiques? Surfing the web for fun and profit? Oh, the list could go on.....

Getting Copies of Ontario Court Filings from Outside Ontario

Something I just learned today, which others might want to know:

if you need copies of documents filed with Ontario Courts, there supposedly isn't a commercial service available for this purpose. A lawyer from outside Ontario would need an agent. That is, an agency file would need to be set up with a local lawyer, and that lawyer or law firm would then request the documents from the court.

I've suspected this was the case, but today was contacted by a librarian in the U.S. who had talked to the courts, gotten the runaround, and then had difficulty in finding a service. I was able to confirm this with our court clerk as well. I don't know if any of the commercial process servers out their would help with this or not...