Wednesday, December 09, 2009

My Nominations for the Clawbies


If you have been reading the Canadian blawgosphere lately, you know it is time for CLawBies nominations!  The CLawBies, or the Canadian Law Blog Awards, are organized by Steve Matthews each year. 

I read a lot of Canadian law blogs, so it is a challenge to narrow it down to just three! After some thought, here are my picks this year:

1. The Stream - from the B.C. Courthouse Libraries - This is a relatively new blog, but is already influencing others. I also hear it mentioned behind closed doors by my law library colleagues. The folks at the B.C. Courthouse Libraries have set the new standard for design and engagement by a law library in Canada. Congratulations to Johanne Blenkin and her team--they are already winners in my books!  While you are on the site, do visit their whole website as it has a clean, fresh design: http://www.courthouselibrary.ca/

2. All About Information - by Dan Michaluk - Dan does a great job of writing consistent quality blog posts. He manages to stay focused while keeping it personable. I know when I am looking for information to update myself on the state of social media and employment law in Canada, this is the first place I head.

3. Jason the Content Librarian - by Jason Eiseman - This is my pick for international law blog.  Jason is the Librarian for Emerging Technologies at Yale Law School Library. I like that he is posting on things relevant to me, does not have a strictly U.S. focus, and on a personal note was one of a group of law librarians including Meg Kribble, Bonnie Shucha (who are both excellent law bloggers in their own right who also deserve votes) and many others who made me feel at home as a speaker at this year's AALL conference.

Like almost everyone else who have blogged their picks, I can't help but mention others who are well deserving and should be included in any "top Canadian law blogs list" - Library Boy by Michel-Adrien Sheppard, Law is Cool by an ever-growing slate of law students, created by the inimitable Omar Ha-RedeyeThoughtful Legal Management by David Bilinsky, Canadian Privacy Law Blog by David Fraser, Michael Geist's blog which has a reach far, far outside the legal community in Canada,  and Halo Secretarial blog by Laurie Mapp who is a legal virtual assistant (or legal VA) and helps me stay on track in my day to day work. And so many others!

I also can't wait to see what Tim Knight at Osgoode Law Library does with the KF Modified Blog which I should talk about with its own blog post soon.

And on the international front, I consistently read Mary Abraham's blog Above and Beyond KM (last year's winner!) because she is always thoughtful, thought provoking, and lively in her writing on knowledge management.

I am delighted to see the new entries from the B.C. Courthouse Libraries and Tim Knight because, frankly, there are not a lot of law librarians blogging in Canada. And our range of organizations, job descriptions, and geographic locations can only give us a widely diverse perspective. I hope more will jump in to provide their thoughts to the biblioblawgosphere!

8 comments:

Mandy Ostick said...

Thanks Connie - it is an honour to be nominated! We've only just begun but have high hopes that the Stream will help meet the need for legal research news and views shared online.

David Bilinsky said...

Thanks Connie for the mention of my blog. Much appreciated.

Laurie said...

Thanks for the mention Connie!

Jason Eiseman said...

Connie, thanks so much. This really means a lot, and definitely is an honor coming from you. It was great to see you at AALL, and I hope it's not too long before we meet up again.

Connie Crosby said...

Hi everyone! You are very welcome. Keep up the great work!! Crossing my fingers you make it in.

Cheers,
Connie

VMaryAbraham said...

Thanks a million, Connie! The best part about the ClawBie process is that it surfaces so many excellent blogs. I look forward to reading your recommendations.

- Mary

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much Connie! You've been a good source of inspiration, and I value your endorsement. Dan.

Omar Ha-Redeye said...

Thanks for the mention. You'll always have the honour of being the first blawger to encourage me to enter the scene, even before law school.