I occasionally like to draw attention to the wealth of information that can be found in law commission reports.

When I help people with research or do a training session, I like to remind them that law reform bodies often deal with important public policy issues that are not on the government agenda but may nevertheless require critical analysis and potential reform. And judges who often need to address difficult or novel legal issues do refer to law reform publications in their judgments [a simple caselaw search in CanLII for the expression “law reform commission” produces close to 1700 . . . [more]

The Spectator, which bills itself as “the oldest continuously published magazine in the English language,” has put online its archives, dating back to its inception in 1828. The Spectator is a relatively small-circulation, conservative-oriented publication in the United Kingdom.

This is not strictly a law-related matter, of course; but general research sources are worth noting and bookmarking for a possible future legal use when they are of this historical depth. And from a brief trial run I can say that it seems that the magazine has done the archiving very well indeed, with text items digitized and also . . . [more]

Last week Steve Matthews highlighted the newley redesigned Best Guide to Canadian Legal Research. Congratulations to Catherine Best for providing a great content to the legal community and providing it in a lovely package. I have been a gushing fan of this site for years.

Every year at the Head Start program in Edmonton, we highlight the Suggested Textbooks portion of the site. With the recent redesign, I hope that we will also discuss the portion of the site called Making Good Choices: Canadian Electronic Research Sources.

I appreciate the time an effort that Catherine has put into . . . [more]

Many Slaw readers will be familiar with the guides and resources made available at Catherine Best‘s LegalResearch.org. Over the past 15 years, Catherine has invested thousands of hours into this project, making it one of the most respected (and fluid) resources for introducing legal research here in Canada. “Best’s Guide to Canadian Legal Research” has helped to introduce an entire generation of researchers to the topic. I would also consider it to be one of our earliest examples of a digital guide published entirely over the web.

So I’m very proud to announce the re-launch of this . . . [more]

The Canadian library and archival communities share a common interest in the impending appointment of a new leader for Library and Archives Canada. Over the past week, the Canadian Association of Law Libraries has collaborated with other national and provincial associations to consider the qualities we believe are necessary for a successful candidate to the position of Librarian and Archivist of Canada.

For more information, and to read the Joint Statement visit this link.

See also:

CAUT’s Efforts to Save Library and Archives Canada
CAUT’s List of Federal Library Closures. . . . [more]

Last month I participated in the CBA Equal Justice Summit, and previously I wrote about its highly effective opening evening simulation.

I found the plenaries and parallel workshops equally stimulating. Indeed, they seemed to diverge in character from traditional conference sessions. The plenaries engaged participants with multimedia, debate, and even theatre. The workshops I attended were interactive, beyond a handful of questions post-presentation, and some drew from the diverse thoughts of panels larger than I often see in conferences.

The pursuit of equal access to justice is manifold, and Summit organizers, presenters, and many participants are active in . . . [more]

Back in March I lamented, along with many others, the announcement that Google Reader is being discontinued. As I wrote, I have been exploring the use of Outlook for RSS. I also said that I dislike it, and my opinion has not changed. My team uses RSS to selectively gather information from specific feeds that we then pass along to others. We have found a replacement for Google Reader and a new method for sharing that Slawyers may be interested in.

Jennifer Merchant, one of the fantastic library team members at the Field Law Libraries, was tasked with . . . [more]

The confusion of the names of cases, what used to be called their “styles of cause”, is distressingly common. There is a recent decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal called by CanLII, Poole v. Lombard General Insurance Company of Canada, 2012 BCCA 434, called by the D.L.R., Danicek v. Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang, 356 D.L.R. (4th) 710. Not one party is common to both reports of the case. CanLII notes the “Related Decisions” as (i) Court of Appeal, Danicek v. Poole, 2012 BCCA 65 (CanLII) – 2012-02-09, and (ii) Supreme Court of British Columbia, . . . [more]

Division 27 of Part 4 of the federal Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act (legislation to implement Budget 2012 measures), which received royal assent on June 29, 2012, will repeal section 13 of the Statutory Instruments Act on April 1, 2014, and remove the requirement to deliver and sell printed copies of the Canada Gazette.

I appreciate the ability to borrow eBooks from my public library with a tap on an app. I am not currently able to make it as easy as that for my law firm library users who wish to review legal texts with mobile devices. Times are changing though and law firms are buying eBooks.

At the Canadian Association of Law Libraries Conference earlier this month, there were plenty of discussions about eBooks. A roundtable discussion that was blogged about, a session that included Bess Reynolds (author of The Challenges of E-books in Law Firm Libraries), and many . . . [more]

When was the last time you got a great deal for less than 25 cents? If you’re looking for excellent value for money, consider the work of law reform agencies.

Law reform publications are a great resource for legal research. Michel-Adrien Sheppard regularly posts updates on Slaw on the work of Canadian and international law reform agencies. Kim Nayyer has also highlighted the value of law reform publications in legal research.

Canadian law reform agencies produce a range of informative, well-researched publications every year. Although some international law reform agencies overseas now charge a fee for hard copy publications, most . . . [more]

One of the big themes running through many of the workshops at this week’s CALL conference in Montreal was the redesign of products, platforms and processes. The conference ended yesterday.

The Monday session entitled “Please Don’t Make Me Think: User Testing a Faceted Search Engine” was about how the Centre d’accès à l’information juridique (CAIJ), Quebec’s Courthouse Library Network, conducts user testing sessions to validate the ergonomic and design aspects of many of its tools, including its new faceted search engine JuriBistro UNIK.

I served as a guinea pig at the session. I volunteered to go up on stage . . . [more]