New Jersey Law Librarians Association (NJLLA)
A Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries
“On May 7, Mary Alice Baish of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) gave testimony before the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, Legislative Branch Subcommittee, in support of the fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget request of the U.S. Government Printing Office. She testified on behalf of AALL, the American Library Association, and the Special Libraries Association.” [via ALA District Dispatch] (as summarized here)
For the complete text of Ms. Baish’s testimony click here.
The Cape May County Herald reports that a newly renovated and relocated law library has opened in the Cape May County Courthouse. The new library not only offers its visitors greater access to its books, but also provides Lexis/Nexis access to the public.
We reported last week that the Berkeley County Law Judicial Center in Martinsburg, West Virgina has had to close its doors to the public for the past year because it does not currently have a law librarian. In response to publicity about this situation, the chief justice of the West Virginia Court of Appeals has directed the state court system’s executive director to hire a librarian for this library as soon as possible.
For more on this development, click here.
The Vermont House and Senate have both passed a bill that specifies that only a court order could force the release of library patrons’ records. For more about this legislation, click here.
This New York Times Article discusses JD Supra, a new database that encourages attorneys to post samples of their work for other attorneys to use, no strings attached. The article also goes on to discuss some of the other free resources that are available to attorneys on the Internet.
Eastern West Virginians in need of valuable legal resources and research assistance literally have been locked out of a publicly funded regional law library for more than a year, according to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals’ top librarian.
“Since we are without a librarian at the moment, I am reluctant to leave the library open,” Kaye L. Maerz said Thursday at the library in the Berkeley County Judicial Center in Martinsburg.
For more on this story, Click Here.
In celebration of Law Day, the Superior Court of Cape May County will host a Law Library Expo on May 1st. For more about this program, click here.
In response to a growing number of people who forgo hiring a lawyer when heading into court, the law library at Howard County Circuit Court is providing five hours of free legal assistance each week to litigants who plan to represent themselves.
The Maryland State Law Library awarded a $9,100 grant to Howard to cover the expenses of the three-month pilot project, which began last week.
For more on this story, click here.
Those of you who are planning to take cruises this summer might be interested in this blog post by Mary Flood about just how many of your rights you sign away in the standard cruise contract! The post discusses a presentation that was made to the Southwestern Association of Law Libraries during a five-day legal conference that took place on a Carnival cruise ship.
Tricia Kasting discusses how to prepare a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of law libraries in this article for Law.com.