Help us support UELMA in Massachusetts!

UELMA (Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act) is once again before the Massachusetts Legislature as H. 812, sponsored by Carmine L. Gentile and currently in the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. LLNE member (and head of its Government Relations Committee’s Subcommittee working on the passage of UELMA in Massachusetts) Marnie Warner testified in favor of the legislation on May 2nd. You can read a copy of her testimony on the LLNE website.

We can use your help in two ways:

1) If you are a Massachusetts resident and your representative is on the Joint Judiciary Committee, please contact that person to encourage passage of H. 812. If your representative is not on the committee, please contact the committee chairs. (See Find My Legislator if you are not sure who your representative is.) Below are links to some examples of letters, but it is good to idea to personalize the message so that all messages are not identical. You might also want to link to or consult our LLNE UELMA one-pager.

§ LLAM Sample letter to Committee member
§ AALL Sample One-Pager for Chapters or Individual
§ AALL Sample Letter of Support to Committee Chairs (Individual)
§ Additional AALL UELMA Materials

2) Tell us your stories!

As part of our UELMA advocacy we are looking for stories of how lack of access to digital legal information has affected real people. Please help us by filling out the following survey: http://bit.ly/uelma-survey .

Thank you for caring about these issues and helping us make UELMA a reality in Massachusetts!

New UELMA Bill Filed in MA House

HB43 – An Act relative to the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act has been filed in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

A one page summary of the bill and why we need to pass this legislation is linked to the LLNE webpage and lots of background information, documentation and tips for advocacy can be found on the AALL UELMA Resources page.

Thanks in advance for your support and assistance!

Barbara Morgan, Michelle Pearse, Barbara Schneider, Marnie Warner, Anne McDonald, Joan Shear
LLNE Massachusetts Government Relations Committee
Sub-committee working on the passage of UELMA in Massachusetts

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.

AALL Report on State Online Documents

AALL has published a STATE-BY- STATE REPORT ON AUTHENTICATION OF ONLINE LEGAL RESOURCES. This report found that

A significant number of the state online legal resources are official but none are authenticated or afford ready authentication by standard methods. State online primary legal resources are therefore not sufficiently trustworthy. Citizens and law researchers may reasonably doubt their authority and should approach such resources critically.

There are included individual reports of all the New England States.

Source: WisBlawg