H/T The Criv Blog.
The Congressional Research Service has a volume publicly available in Scribd called “The Evolving Congress,” celebrating 100 years of the CRS. Sections include The Members of Congress, The Institutional Congress, and Policymaking Case Studies. Take a look at it here.
By Carli Spina
In the most recent issue of the LLNE News, I wrote about the new social network Ello. Since that article was published, Ello has continued to add some new features to respond to user concerns, such as settings that will make sure that you don’t encounter “not safe for work” content and the ability to block or mute other users. Perhaps even more interesting to LLNE blog readers, Ello also changed its legal status to address concerns that it would ultimately sell user data or allow ads to be placed on the network. In an effort to alleviate these concerns, Ello has converted to a Public Benefit Corporation (“PBC”) under the laws of Delaware. In a letter posted on the site, the founders and investors argue that this will bind them to their stated mission of remaining ad-free. Specifically, the letter states,
“Ello’s PBC’s charter states that Ello shall not for pecuniary gain:
This is an interesting and fairly high profile use of the relatively new (at least in Delaware) Public Benefit Corporation structure to alleviate a specific public relations problem for a company. Under Delaware law, a Public Benefit Corporation is “a for-profit corporation organized under and subject to the requirements of this chapter that is intended to produce a public benefit or public benefits and to operate in a responsible and sustainable manner. To that end, a public benefit corporation shall be managed in a manner that balances the stockholders’ pecuniary interests, the best interests of those materially affected by the corporation’s conduct, and the public benefit or public benefits identified in its certificate of incorporation.”[1] This provision was enacted on August 1, 2013 and on the first day Delaware saw a record 17 businesses file to become PBCs. However, after that initial rush to become a PBC, the incorporation of new PBCs or the conversion of other entities to PBCs slowed and in the end only 55 PBCs existed in Delaware 90 days after the effective date of the provision.[2] It remains to be seen how popular PBCs will become, but with several states offering this kind of corporate structure, it is important to understand the basics of how they differ from other corporate entities.
But, what does converting to a PBC mean for Ello? As a Public Benefit Corporation, Ello will have to state its principles in its certificate of incorporation and at all times balance these principles with stockholder interests when making decisions. This type of organization is specifically intended to benefit organizations that are not nonprofits but nevertheless wish to commit to a purpose beyond pure monetary gain, so it seems like a good fit for Ello, but at the same time, there is not much law clarifying exactly how this balancing should be done and, as some critics have noted, the company could always convert away from PBC status in the future if a sufficient number of shareholders agreed to the plan. Ultimately, for Ello, this conversion will likely have the desired effect of reassuring users to at least some degree that the company will remain true to its stated principles. And, the plan seems to be succeeding in at least one way: the company has already received $5.5 million in venture funding.
[1] Del. Code tit. 8, §362.
[2] Alicia E. Plerhoples, Delaware Public Benefit Corporations 90 Days Out: Who’s Opting in?, 14 U.C. Davis Bus. L.J. 247, 259 (2014).
In the fall of 2013, the LLNE Service Committee decided to organize a book drive in connection with the Fall Meeting at Social Law Library as a service initiative. The book drive was intended to benefit one non-law public library in Massachusetts. The response to the book drive was incredible. Once we understood the potential impact of such a project, the Service Committee decided to replicate the book drive efforts in the other five New England states. For more information about which titles we chose and how we selected them, see the state book lists at http://llne.org/committees/service/.
One year later, the committee is finalizing the collections, choosing recipient libraries, and donating the books. The book drive would not have been possible without the generous assistance and support of LLNE members, libraries, vendors, publishers, authors, editors and the LLNE Executive Board. At the LLNE business meeting in Fall 2014 the members of the Service Committee gave a short presentation about the book drive and thanked all of the contributors and partners. If you missed it, below is a link to our slide deck which includes all of the names of the donors and partners: https://www.haikudeck.com/p/baRL0bH0kI/llne-fall-2014.
The Committee is in the process of developing ideas and planning projects for the coming year. Recognizing a need for a stronger relationship with non-law public librarians in the region, the Service Committee is exploring ways to further enhance those connections and contribute our knowledge and talents. Our goal is to promote the institutions currently working in our communities, to partner with public librarians and to try and find new ways to support the amazing work already being done by libraries and librarians in New England.
As always, we encourage LLNE members who want to volunteer to contact the current members of the Service Committee (http://llne.org/committees/service/#members). We have big plans and always have room for more volunteers!
Finally, the Service Committee co-wrote an article for a forthcoming issue of AALL’s Spectrum and we invite you to read about our project in even more detail.
Important information from Barbara Schneider of the Mass. Trial Court Law Libraries:
“On November 19, 2014 the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries’ website was moved and consolidated with the judiciary website. The new internet address is http://www.mass.gov/lawlib . Access is also available from the ‘Case and Legal Resources’ Tab at http://www.mass.gov/courts/ .
“At this time, if you use the old URLs, you will be redirected to new locations.
“Information previously found on our website will continue to be available after the migration. You will be able to access the catalog of materials held by the law libraries, our Law About. . . pages on various legal topics, the law blog, our popular name index, the court rules, ebooks, and much more.”
Hi everyone! Welcome to the LLNE Blog from the editors, Anna Lawless and Brian Flaherty. We’re looking forward to making the LLNE Blog a place where readers can find out what’s happening with LLNE, it members, and its committees. We also hope it will be a place to come for discussions and general advice and thoughts about law librarianship. If you’d like to contribute to the blog please contact Anna at lawlessa@bu.edu . We’re looking forward to working with all of you!
About the Editors
Anna Lawless is the Collection Development Librarian at the Fineman & Pappas Law Libraries at Boston University. She’s interested in collections and the technical services side of libraries. Brian Flaherty is a Reference Librarian at New England Law Boston. He is interested in teaching and providing reference services to the academic population.
Thank you to everyone who attended the LLNE/ABLL 2014 Fall Meeting! I hope you found the meeting to be useful and enjoyable.
If you were at the meeting, please consider taking 5-10 minutes to complete a survey about your experience. Your answers will help LLNE and ABLL to plan future meetings and other events.
You can access the survey at http://goo.gl/forms/
Best,
Susan Vaughn
The LLNE Scholarship Committee is accepting applications for the LLNE academic scholarship award. Applications for academic scholarships must be received by October 20, 2014. The academic scholarship guidelines, as well as the specific application form, can be found on the LLNE website.
In addition, the LLNE Scholarship Committee is accepting applications for financial assistance to attend the LLNE/ABLL Fall Meeting. Boston College Law Library and the Association of Boston Law Librarians are co-hosting the meeting on October 24, 2014 at the Boston College Connors Center in Dover, Mass. The theme of the meeting is Reinventing the Law Library: Meeting the Challenge. The LLNE scholarship will cover the cost of registration. The scholarship application form and instructions can be found on the LLNE website. Applications must be received by October 20, 2014.
Recipents of LLNE scholarships are asked to contribute a brief article to the LLNE Newsletter to describe how the award proved beneficial to their professional development.
We look forward to seeing our LLNE colleagues at the upcoming Fall meeting.
—Mary Ann Neary, Chair, LLNE Scholarship Committee
Scholarship Committee members: Jenna Fegreus, Melanie Cornell, Mary Ann Neary
Register for the conference online now.
In an environment characterized by dramatic and ongoing change, law librarians are transforming their libraries and services to meet ever-evolving challenges and demands. Please join the Law Librarians of New England and the Association of Boston Law Librarians for a fall meeting exploring the present and future of law libraries, and learn how your colleagues are surviving and thriving, surmounting new challenges and seizing emerging opportunities.
The LLNE Fall 2014 Meeting will be hosted by Boston College Law Library and ABLL at Boston College’s Connors Center in Dover, MA on October 24, 2014. Stay tuned to the LLNE website, as more detailed information on programming is coming soon.
Early on I went to one of the “Deep Dives” – the longer programs towards the beginning of the conference. “Inventing the new classroom.” Now I will admit a certain skepticism going in; at this point I’ve been to about 127 “Flipping the classroom” presentations, and while I try to remain receptive to new ideas, the ideas just don’t seem that new anymore.
I was wrong.
The presenters were fantastic, the way they presented was interactive, fun, and peppered with concrete examples and suggestions (I love going away with material I can implement in upcoming classes). I’m duty bound at this point to write an article for the ALL-SIS newsletter on this, but I wanted to share a few of the ideas that came out of the program:
One of the speakers talked about using Social Media as a teaching tool – playing into my skepticism. “Social media” says I, “I cannot imagine such a thing in the class – and frankly, students don’t want you in their social media teaching research.” But a few folks had some really cool suggestions, that I’m going to try to implement:
OK, so this last one isn’t exactly social media – but it does sound kind of cool, right? There is more to come on this “Deep Dive,” but I wanted to whet the appetites of our abundant readership.
At every annual meeting I’ve ever been to, the programs have been a mixed bag. But reliably, the highlights have always been the roundtables – opportunities to sit with colleagues in a (semi-)formalized setting and discuss issues, learn about innovations others have implemented, and share strategies for solving common problems.
At the Marketing and Outreach RoundTable earlier today I sat with a group discussing specific marketing tools and examples. We talked about Newsletters as outreach tools, and agreed that in order for these to be read there really had to be a hook: The Georgia Bulldogs, for example, run a “LawDogs” contest, where people submit photos of dogs, and the “winning” photo is printed in the newsletter. At SMU they have “Loo Notes,” which is – you guessed it – library news posted in “the ‘loo.” These broadsides contain trivia questions, the answer to which are submitted to the circulation desk and make on eligible for a raffle.
Folks also talked about doing programs for faculty and students on using library resources – those recently acquired, or those whose interfaces have recently changed (like THAT ever happens). Again, we agreed there has to be a hook – usually food – to get folks to attend.
Finally – in terms of faculty – we talked about different ways to be more…present in faculty consciousness – from being present near faculty offices (offering cookies, or just checking printers), to facilitating TWEN access, to showing up at faculty works-in-progress talks, to taking places on faculty committees.
As far as marketing to students, people seemed to be a bit more creative, and successful. Several folks check out materials other than books and computers – for example, frisbees, hula-hoops, sports equipment or umbrellas. Others give things out during orientation – USB drives, lunch bags, even reusable library coffee mugs with the promise (eventually fulfilled) of free coffee during finals time. Someone from Georgia talked about the tremendous success they had with “luncheon learns,” where they would provide pizza for students along with some kind of programming – often, but not always, library related (e.g. “taking care of yourself during finals,” or “what to do BEYOND law school.” ) He reported that they had a startling 60-70 students at these events!
One of the librarians present talked about essentially being the library candy fairy, strolling through the library at various times delivering pieces of candy and good cheer (e.g. “great work – you can do it” or “happy day, from your friends at the desk.”). She said that students reacted as though she were dolling out gold ingots.
Some of the other “extras” offered to students in the name of marketing:
Again, the greatest value of the annual meeting is the opportunity to talk to colleagues doing similar work in different parts of the country. Librarians tend to be very smart folks doing hard work with great humor.
