Check This Out! Episode 13

Well, my podcast debut has hit the 'Net! See Check This Out! Episode 13 in which I talk about last week's federal election and Chinese New Year.

I am very pleased with how it turned out. My goofy laugh is a bit too much so I'll try to turn down the jollity in the future. And I was a bit (!) long. Oh well, a couple of things to work on!

Thanks to Jim Milles for the fabulous opportunity, and picking out the groovy indie music by the All Girl Summer Fun Band, a song called "Canadian Boyfriend".

My next interview will probably be in a couple of weeks.

Cheers,
Connie

Check This Out! - A New Canadian Correspondent

I've been admiring Jim Milles' blog and podcasting work as he has been developing new communication ideas. Back in October I was delighted to be a guest host in the Out of the Jungle blog.

Well, this morning was a thrill--I had my first conversation with Jim over the phone, which he recorded for his podcast Check This Out! He has asked me to be a Canadian correspondent every couple of weeks to talk about news in libraries and culture in Canada. This time around I spoke primarily about the Canadian elections. Hopefully I didn't embarrass myself too much, as I'm no political expert! Heh. Jim usually edits his podcasts over the weekend, so expect it to be posted Monday or Tuesday.

Cheers,
Connie

Dove Lane: Grassroots Knowledge Management

In her KM/gaming blog Dove Lane, Kaye Vivian recaps her presentation from the KM World and Intranets 2005 conference Grassroots KM: Learnings from the Front Line. I didn't get a chance to attend this session, so I appreciate her posting her notes.

I like that this is a discussion of starting KM up informally, from the bottom up. Some great, pithy ideas. My favourite quote:

Scale down your grand ambitions and get specific. Don’t try to boil the ocean.

Bonus tag: KMWorld

Irwin Law is Moving on Friday, January 27, 2006

Irwin Law Inc. is moving from Bay and Adelaide to make way for the upcoming Bay Adelaide Centre. Our new address will be:
Suite 206
14 Duncan Street
Toronto, ON M5H 3G8

The closest major intersection is King and University. The move is taking place Friday, January 27th. Phone and fax numbers will remain the same:

Tel: (416) 862-7690
Toll-free U.S. & Canada: 1-888-314-9014
Fax: (416) 862-9236

The address for book returns will also remain the same:

Irwin Law Inc.
c/o JAG Business Services
1675 Sismet Road
Unit 1
Mississauga, ON L4W 4K8

For the notice with map see the news release.

If you haven't signed up for their email list, you can do so from the bottom of their main webpage (the grey bar).

[Jan. 27/06: I had the map included in this post, but it was causing a problem for the blog, so I removed it. - Connie]

Gung Haggis Fat Choy

Back in December I wrote about an exciting website I stumbled upon called Gung Haggis Fat Choy, in which Todd Wong (or "Toddish McWong") of Vancouver, pulls together Chinese and Scottish culture in a uniquely Canadian way.

Well, Sunday night he ran their big event, the Robbie Burns Chinese New Years party, and there are some spectacular photos now posted on the website.

When I first stumbled on this site, I had no idea that Todd Wong works in the Vancouver Public Library. Well, I realize now I had no idea how big an event this party was either! It looks like a lot of fun and perhaps even a little educational to boot.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Missed Rick Mercer on Election Night?

Rick Mercer was hilarious on election night. If you missed this special edition of the Rick Mercer Report, it is being rebroadcast tomorrow as follows: CBC-TV on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 at 7pm (7:30pm Newfoundland).

Tonight they are showing a special "Best Of" edition of the Mercer Report on at 8pm (8:30pm Newfoundland) with all the best clips of last season, including the classic Pierre Berton's How to Roll a Joint (which I missed the first time around).

For those of you outside the CBC viewing range, there are currently clips from the election night show on the website (top right of the page).

Slaw: New Slawyers Lawford, Lines and Acton

Slaw welcomes new contributors John Lawford, Michael Lines, and Heather Acton. See the announcement: New Slawyers Lawford, Lines and Acton.

CLA Member Bulletin - Federal Election Alert Review of Party Platforms

The Canadian Library Association has put together this handy Review of Party Platforms for anyone still trying to who to vote for.

Election Coverage - Canadian Federal Elections - January 2006

Canadian voters are out to the polls today to vote for a new federal government! Here are some links for your amusement:

• Yahoo! Canada Election 2006 coverage



• Google News coverage



• CBC Canada Votes 2006



• CTV 2006 coverage



• Elections Canada Online

Remember, Canadian bloggers cannot post "rolling" election results tonight as the country exists in 5 (or is it 6?) time zones, and the theory is that results too early from part of the country would affect the voting in the rest of the country. This year, however, voting times have been adjusted across the country to reduce this window of "opportunity".

I wonder what our country will look like tomorrow?

Rob Hyndman 2.0 (or is it 3.0?)

Congratulations to technology law expert Rob Hyndman who has recently launched a new web design for his self-named blog, robhyndman.com. The new site gives lots more information, including a tag cloud (to show you which tags are used the most), some side-bar thoughts (here called "Scribbles"), recent comments listed in the *other* side-bar, and, on a separate page, a list of his media references and comments. Have a look--he is getting some pretty good exposure these days.

On Slaw: The Elusive Search for Historical Canadian Stock Trading Prices

I've been thinking about writing about this on Slaw for some time, the challenge Canadian librarians face (in particular law librarians, but likely others as well) with regard to locating historical trade data for Canadian companies.

See my full post: The Elusive Search for Historical Canadian Stock Trading Prices

LLRX - January 2006 Column: Do-It-Yourself Professional Development

New on Sabrina Pacific's LLRX e-zine is my January column called Do-It-Yourself Professional Development. This is Part I of two parts. Part II, slated for February, is my favourite part of the two since it covers interviews I conducted so (for me) is more interesting.

All my articles to date listed here.

Library Book Rate Safe

I also reported this earlier today on Slaw:

There was a rumour going around recently that the special Canada Post rate for mailing library books which some institutions enjoy would soon be discontinued. TALL President Wendy Reynolds has contacted the Canadian Library Association about it. She has confirmed this was just a rumour, that the book rate is continuing.

Moreover, Canada Post, the Canadian Library Association and l'Association pour la science et les techniques de la documentation (ASTED) launched a new tool for shipping library books with the Library Book Rate in late November 2005. Press release.

If you have any questions regarding the Library Book Rate or the Library Books Shipping Tool, contact the Canadian Library Association at lbst@cla.ca.

Welcome Cherniak Readers!

I am somewhat amused at the number of Cherniak on Politics readers heading over to this blog. I am flattered to be listed as one of Jason's friends on his blog. With the election heating up, everyone's looking to find something to squabble over, so they are heading over here to see what political views I espouse. Unfortunately you won't find a lot in the way of overt political discussion here. But, nevertheless, I hope you find something of interest!

Here, I will give you one little political tidbit: I live in Jack O'Layton Land. Which means I either support the guy who is going to get in anyway, or put in a protest vote. Maybe I'll check out what the Green Party has to say....

Anyway, I should mention Jason is also one of the pundits blogging coverage of the election for CTV.

Don't forget to exercise your right to vote! Advance polls are open tomorrow, Saturday, and Monday noon to 8 pm your local time for your voting convenience. No line-ups!

Think!

In answer to beststelling author Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink!, there is a new book coming out later this month called
Think! by Michael R. LeGault. From the Book Description on Amazon.ca:

This isn't the time to Blink.

It's time to

THINK!

-- before it's too late.

Outraged by the downward spiral of American intellect and culture, Michael R. LeGault offers the flip side of Malcolm Gladwell's bestselling phenomenon, Blink, which theorized that our best decision-making is done on impulse, without factual knowledge or critical analysis. If bestselling books are advising us to not think, LeGault argues, it comes as no surprise that sharp, incisive reasoning has become a lost art in the daily life of Americans. Somewhere along the line, the Age of Reason morphed into the Age of Emotion; this systemic erosion is costing time, money, jobs, and lives in the twenty-first century, leading to less fulfillment and growing dysfunction

Canadian Law Blogs List - Is It Growing?

I was just working with the Canadian Law Blogs List maintained by Steve Matthews on the Vancouver Law Librarian Blog. Is it my imagination, or is this list growing by leaps and bounds? I love the niche practice groups who have come forward as bloggers, and many doing a very professional job of it.

Thanks for keeping this current for us, Steve! Perhaps when you update it, you can somehow mark it on the posting, such as "Last updated on __" or the like?

Cheers,
Connie

Winterlicious Returns to Toronto - Jan. 27 - Feb. 9, 2006

Torontonians like to try out some of our best restaurants during Winterlicious, this year January 27 to February 9. See the Winterlicious home page. Click on "List of Participating Restaurants" at bottom of this page to get to most of the good stuff.

Prix fixee lunches - most $20; prix fixee dinners - most $35. Many of the upscale Toronto restaurants. Reservations taken starting January 12 unless you have Amex which gives you Front of the Line, you lucky devils. 8-)

This is the "big sister" to the summer's Summerlicious event.

Inforumed - The FIS Inforum Blog: Field report from Mexico

University of Toronto Faculty of Information Studies (FIS) student Stanislav Orlov was recently on library tours in Mexico and has shared his experiences in two postings at the FIS blog Inforumed:

Field report from Mexico (December 1, 2005) and
Field report from Mexico 2 (December 4, 2005)

The Well-Organized Enterprise - Search Engine Industry Overview

Here's an excellent recent article giving an overview of enterprise search engines from IT Architect: Well-Organized Enterprise: Google-style searching has become an addiction for many Internet surfers. But does it belong in the enterprise, or are other alternatives more suitable? by Penny Lunt Crosman(January 1, 2006).

Increasing Online Service Usage

From Factiva's InfoPro Alliance newsletter, here are some tips on increasing usage of Factiva, many of which can be applied to increase usage of other online services as well: Skill Builder: How do you achieve over 80% password utilization? Put an InfoPro in Charge!

It is interesting to note we've now been cut off from our Factiva account, and yet I'm still receiving the promotional bumph. Ah well, will glean what I can from it.

Sorry! Can't Talk! I'm Too Busy Reading Your Blog

Jumping around to various colleagues' blogs, seeing what they are doing, I realized this is slowly starting to replace my need to actually talk to them just to chat and see what they are up to. After all, hasn't this given me an intimate look into the details of some of their comings and goings? It's bad enough that email has replaced my need to call people. Gee, my mother hates that I've replaced calling her to some extent with emailing my father.

Oh, where is this leading? I think I need to take care not to give away too many details of my personal life here, or no one will ever invite me to lunch or call me up again! Heh.

U.S. Law Research Resources from Westlaw

I was just checking out TWEN (The Westlaw Education Network) and came across this page of U.S. law research resources which looks helpful.

The Legal Research Basics page has the following:

Interactive Map of the Federal Court System Our interactive Federal Court map allows you to click on a state and see the complete federal judiciary for that state, including organization and judges.

Map of the National Reporter System
Go to the National Reporter System map and see exactly where your state falls in the NRS.

Legal Research Pyramid
The Legal Research Pyramid is an interactive tool to help you research more efficiently

Glossary
The Glossary allows you to view definitions of common legal terms.

Description of the "Primary Research" section:

Primary research is the "law of the land" that is created by case, statutory, and regulatory law.

Finding Case Law
Finding Case Law explains what a case is and how West enhances the case for more efficient and effective research.

Finding Statutes
Statutory Research explains what a statute is, how and where to find statutes, and how to interpret statutes.


American Documents
American Documents includes tips on finding and searching the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and other important American documents.

Citation Research
Citation Research describes KeyCite, the most current, accurate, comprehensive, and easy to use citator service. KeyCite is a Westlaw exclusive.

West's Topic and Key Number System
West's Topic and Key Number System is the premier index and outline of American case law. Key Numbers allow you to move from case to case with similar issues in any West National Reporter.

In additions, there are sections on "Basic Search Strategies", "Secondary Research" and "Topical Research", mostly concerning ways to search Westlaw.

Thomson to Acquire Quantitative Analytics, Inc.

Yesterday Thomson Corporation, owner of Carswell, Westlaw and others, announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Quantitative Analytics, Inc. QAI provides financial database integration and analysis solutions for data such as that which Thomson compiles. See the Thomson press release:
Thomson to Acquire Quantitative Analytics, Inc.

From yesterday's Toronto Star website (from Canadian Press): Thomson buys financial analysis firm

Wall Street Journal's New Law Offerings

The Wall Street Journal has a new Law Blog, part of the slate of its new law offerings. From the blog:

WSJ.com's law blog focuses on law and business, and the business of law. Peter Lattman is the lead writer. Peter joined The Wall Street Journal Online from Forbes Magazine. Before becoming a journalist, Peter worked on Wall Street and as a litigator at a New York law firm. The blog also includes contributions from reporters and editors at The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.

Thus far the blog has a number of postings over the last couple of days, but the focus isn't there yet. No doubt Lattman is just getting his blogging feet wet...

The link is courtesy of Sabrina Pacifici's blog beSpacific . Other WSJ law offerings include a Law Page with links to various resources, and a new column called FLaw on law firm management. The WSJ Law Blog appears to be publicly available; the other content available by subscription. I have only had a look at the Law Blog myself.

CALL/ACBD 2006 - "Cool Things" Session - Call for Presenters

Today Josette McEachern sent out a renewed call for presenters, both live presentations and poster presentations for the "Cool Things I am Doing in my Law Library" session to be held at the upcoming CALL/ACBD conference in May. See her notice posted at: Canadian Association of Law Libraries - 2006 Annual Conference. They are in need of more presenters to make this session fly!

CALL/ACBD members: let's keep this tradition going!

Last year I had a lot of fun putting together both types of presentations about my blog. Anyone who would like tips on putting together a poster presentation, do ask me.

Here are some ideas I posted today to the CALL-L email list which might trigger some great ideas for presentations:

- student / lawyer / professor training
- marketing library services
- team-building ideas for library staff
- library contributions to intranets
- negotiating vendor contracts
- alternatives to the usual library newsletter
- use of RSS feeds
- "cool" knowledge management ideas
- internal use of blogs or wikis

I look forward to seeing what people come up with.

Cheers,
Connie