Law Librarians of New England

Cooks Reports

By Laurel Davis and Heather Pierce

Heather found this gem tucked into one of the LLNE archives boxes. The cleverly titled Cooks’ Reports: Being Reports of Recipes is a cookbook filled with recipes contributed by LLNE and SNELLA members. It was compiled by the Education Committees of both of those chapters and published by Cookbook Publishers in 1983.

It’s easy to imagine some of these items being served at parties on Mad Men. They probably don’t have a huge following in the fresh and local food movement of recent years! One eye-catching recipe that hopefully doesn’t get much play these days is reproduced below:

Invitation to Presentation and Tour of EPA Library in Boston

BLC Government Documents Community of Interest invites you to a presentation and tour of the U.S. EPA Library in Boston

EPA Library Tour

Thursday, April 23, 2015. All librarians are welcome.

For more details, see flyer.

Questions/RSVP to Barbara Morgan, bmorgan@library.umass.edu

We hope you’ll join your colleagues for this interesting event!

Rhode Island UELMA Update

By Anne McDonald and Emilie Benoit, Co-Chairs, Government Relations Committee

Several LLNE members have asked why the Rhode Island UELMA bill (H-5415) was withdrawn so early in the session. Emily Feltren, Director of AALL’s Government Relations Office, informs us that, as with each of the past three introductions (2012, 2013, and 2014), the bill was introduced with Lexis as the official publisher, which is a violation of UELMA as approved by the ULC and ABA. As in 2013 and 2014, the bill was withdrawn on February 26, 2015, after these concerns were raised. Emily further informs us that the RI Uniform Law Commissioners have been working with the sponsor to resolve this and also to determine why the bill keeps getting introduced with Lexis as the official publisher.

When/if we learn of any further developments, including plans for reintroduction, we will let you know.

The LLNE Government Relations Committee is providing this information to you to further its Committee charge to keep you apprised of pending legislation which may be of interest to you as an informed law librarian. We will continue to keep the LLNE membership updated on this bill and any others that impact law libraries and information policy in the New England states.

LLNE Spring Meeting 2015: Mindfulness and Librarians

The University of New Hampshire Law Library and the Association of New Hampshire Law Librarians are pleased to announce that they will be hosting the Spring 2015 Law Librarians of New England (LLNE) conference on April 24, 2015 from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn in downtown Concord, New Hampshire.

The Spring 2015 LLNE Conference, Mindfulness and Librarians: Bridge over Troubled Waters, promotes the integration of mindfulness into the training of lawyers and law students, as a way of increasing well-being, balance, and effectiveness. Mindfulness is the gentle effort of being continuously present with experience. Author Jon Kabat-Zinn’s definition of mindfulness is “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” Over time, bringing a mindful perspective into legal education and law practice may provide great benefits to lawyers and their clients, and ultimately foster a more just, compassionate, and reflective legal system.

Librarians often fail to give ourselves over completely to the moment – the reference interview, the question being asked, teaching classes, the catalog record, etc. Librarians love to multitask. How can we not multitask, given the nature of our jobs, with the information-saturated environments in which we work? We will explore how mindfulness practice will lead us and those we serve to be mindful, increase intellectual and emotional intelligence, expand capacity and resilience, decrease stress and anxiety, cultivate and advance joy and satisfaction in the practice of law leading to enhanced civility, and greater ease at home with family and friends. Our program brings together speakers from various disciplines supporting our consideration of mindfulness in libraries, legal education and practice and dispute resolution.

Speakers and facilitators include attorney and educator Liz Maillett of Still Sense who will be delivering the keynote talk on “Mindfulness and the Troubled Legal World,” Margaret Fletcher, of the Center for Health Promotion at Concord Hospital who will be speaking on the topic of “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction,” Professor and author Deborah Calloway who will be speaking on the topic “Becoming a Joyful Lawyer,” Associate Dean Filippa Anzalone of Boston College Law who will be facilitating an unconference section of the event on the topic of “Mindfulness and Librarianship,” and Professor Sophie Sparrow of UNH Law who will speaking on the topic of “Mindfulness in Legal Education.”

Registration for the event is $55 per person and includes lunch.

Program

LLNE scholarship news

The LLNE Scholarship Committee is inviting applications for the following awards:

LLNE Spring Meeting scholarships are available to support members’ attendance at the fascinating meeting planned for April 24, 2015. Scholarship forms must be submitted by April 10, 2015.
LLNE is accepting scholarship applications for members seeking financial assistance in attending the 2015 AALL annual meeting in Philadelphia. Scholarship application forms must be submitted by Friday, May 1, 2015.
LLNE is now offering scholarships to support its members’ continuing education opportunities. Check the LLNE website for more details.

Also, AALL has reached out to LLNE to encourage members to apply for the Koslov Scholarship, the Continuing Education Scholarship, and the George A. Strait Minority Scholarship.

The Marcia J. Koslov Scholarship provides funding for state, court, and county law librarians to attend conferences, seminars, and other live continuing education opportunities beyond the usual law library-related conferences. The application deadline is April 1, 2015.
AALL also offers a Scholarship for Continuing Education Classes, available for all law librarians (not limited to state, court, and county law librarians) who wish to register for continuing education courses related to their fields. See the application form for details. The application deadline is April 1, 2015.
The George A. Strait Minority Scholarship is offered to degree candidates in law school or library school who belong to minority groups and who intend to have a career in law librarianship.

Rhode Island files UELMA Legislation

By Anne McDonald and Emilie Benoit, Co-Chairs, LLNE Government Relations Committee

H 5415, An Act Relating to State Affairs and Government – Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act, was introduced in the Rhode Island General Assembly House of Representatives on February 12, 2015 by Representative Joy Hearn (D-Dist. 66, Barrington, East Providence) and Representative Michael Marcello (D-Dist. 41, Scituate, Cranston.) It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

The Act, if passed, would be the first in Rhode Island to regulate the official publication of legal material in an electronic format. It designates Lexis Nexis as the official publisher of all Rhode Island legal materials (Constitution, Public Laws, Acts and Resolves, the General Laws) except for those published by state administrative agencies.

This bill is similar to the one that was introduced last year and later withdrawn. Here is a link to the current bill: http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText15/HouseText15/H5415.htm

The LLNE Government Relations Committee is providing this information to you to further its committee charge to keep you apprised of pending legislation which may be of interest to you as an informed law librarian. We will continue to keep the LLNE membership updated on this bill and any others filed in the New England states that impact law libraries and information policy.

Theory into Practice: Looking Forward, Looking Backward

by Nicole Dyszlewski, Roger Williams Univesrity School of Law

When Brian Flaherty started his “Theory Into Practice” posts on the LLNE blog, he asked some of the members of the LLNE Executive Board if there had been any memorable experiences they had to share of turning something they learned at an LLNE meeting (theory) into something they did at their own library (practice). I immediately emailed him that I had something to share.

Back in November, 2010, I attended the Fall LLNE meeting hosted by Northeastern University School of Law Library titled “Improve Your Workplace Health! Inoculate Against Bad Morale.” What made this meeting so memorable is that it focused heavily on bringing positivity to the workplace. The theme of the meeting resonated strongly with me and I have tried to bring some of the lessons learned from that meeting to work every day.

It is not always easy to be positive at work. In fact, sometimes (Mondays? Snowstorms?) it is downright impossible. What I learned from the Fall 2010 meeting is that there are small things we can do to try and increase morale. One of the things I do to boost my own mood is listen to upbeat music. In the registration packet for that meeting we were given a list of upbeat songs (one song on the list was Katrina and the Waves “Walking on Sunshine”!) and while I can’t say that I play “Don’t Worry Be Happy” every day before my reference shift, I can say that I have made an effort to have a few “happy” Pandora stations at my disposal when I am working on a tedious task or just need a burst of sunshine.

Another way I have worked to inoculate myself and my workplace against negativity is by adding a bit of fun to my job. For example, I regularly participate in the Green Bag’s Lunchtime Law Quiz. While the weekly question itself is released at lunchtime on Monday, you usually have a day or two to research and answer the question. While I find legal research to be fun on its own, the Green Bag quiz is a lighthearted way to take a break from serious work and flex my research muscles on something more humorous and less consequential. Not only does it give me an opportunity to discover (or re-discover) some of the resources in my library’s collection, but it gives me an opportunity to discuss possible answers with other librarians who may also be stumped on a question. If you haven’t tried it, you should!

This Spring, the LLNE meeting is being co-hosted by the University of New Hampshire School of Law Library & The Association of New Hampshire Law Librarians. The meeting’s theme is Mindfulness and Librarians. According to the description, “We will explore how practices will lead us, and those we serve, to… decrease stress and anxiety, cultivate and advance joy and satisfaction in the practice of law.” I look forward to attending this meeting and finding new ideas to bring back and put into practice!

Public Librarian Scholarships available for Intro to Legal Research Course

The LLNE Service Committee has made two scholarships available to public librarians interested in taking the Intro to Legal Research course. If you know a public librarian who is interested in learning more about legal research, please direct them to the Service Committee page to apply.

Pacer Pro

By Carli Spina

If you use PACER regularly or teach patrons how to use it, you are probably accustomed to its limited search options and outdated interface. Often, users who expect databases to have more features will be disappointed to discover how difficult PACER can be to navigate. Recently, other services are trying to simplify and streamline the process of finding docket materials. Bloomberg Law, for example, integrates many docket materials into their service with a user-friendly search interface.

More recently, PacerPro has emerged as a tool that focuses exclusively on allowing users to navigate PACER’s materials more easily and efficiently. Currently the service only offers free “basic” accounts which integrate with the user’s existing PACER account.

In order to use PacerPro, users do need to provide PACER credentials and normal PACER fees are incurred using the service, but the actual search experience is entirely contained within the PacerPro interface. From here you can search for cases, follow case dockets, set up notification emails for new filings, and get batch downloads of documents. The search interface (shown below) makes it easy to effectively limit your search in a format that will be familiar to users of other legal databases. It also offers the option to include a client code, which will help firm users to keep track of their matters.

As a user navigates through PacerPro, it also stores both the search history and any cases that the user opts to follow, which decreases the amount of time that is spent redoing searches to find new documents. The option to set up email alerts for new filings further streamlines this process, meaning users won’t even need to sign onto PacerPro in order to find out immediately about new filings. According to the company’s CEO and Founder, Gavin McGrane, PacerPro actually provides access to filings faster than PACER does.

If you are a frequent PACER user, PacerPro is a nice option for a better user experience. Though the site is currently free, there are plans to start offering premium accounts in the near future, so you may want to check it out now. If you still aren’t sure whether you want to create an account, PacerPro also offers a number of video tutorials that demonstrate how the site works and will give you a better idea of whether it is worth using.

Advanced Search Tutorial

SAVE THE DATE: Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries to Celebrate Historic Anniversary, Thursday, March 26th, 12:00pm-1:00pm

Please save the date so you can help our colleagues at the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries celebrate their anniversary! See details below!

Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries to Celebrate Historic Anniversary

The Trial Court Law Libraries will mark the 200th anniversary of the enactment of legislation that established what was to become a system of public law libraries in the Massachusetts. The public is invited to attend the following event to celebrate this milestone.

Reception
The Great Hall
John Adams Courthouse
1 Pemberton Square
Boston, MA 02108

Thursday, March 26, 2015
12:00p.m. – 1:00p.m.

At the reception, speakers will highlight the Law Libraries’ service to the Judiciary, members of the Bar Associations, and the public.

Light refreshments will be served.