Parliamentary websites are too often overlooked as sources for legal research. And that’s a shame because the best ones tend to offer access to an amazingly broad range of material.

The new website of the Australian Parliament, launched last week, is a case in point. There is a ton of stuff there. Most interesting, from my researcher point of view, are the research publications written by the Parliamentary Library, the bill digests (summaries) and the committee pages.

The Library of Congress blog, In Custodia Legis, has a description and evaluation of many of the site’s new features. . . . [more]

We are deep in Pilot rollout of Windows 7 and Office 2010 at Field Law. It is fun, interesting, frustrating, and intense.

Fun – I love learning new things, especially technology things. I especially like being in Pilot groups where I can see that my feedback is shaping the way we offer these tools to the rest of the firm.

Interesting – It is interesting to see how ribbons and menus were contemplated by the developers who are likely not the same folks who created Windows originally. New technologies are often, for me, a glimpse of how the current generation . . . [more]

The 2012 Conference in Toronto will mark the 50th annual meeting of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries and provide an occasion to highlight many of the accomplishments of the association and its members over the decades since its creation. One of many accomplishment worthy of note is the Index to Canadian Legal Literature for which CALL provided both the inspiration and the support required to create a Canadian publication that met international indexing standards.

The Proposal for a New Index

In December 1983, The Canadian Law Information Council and The Canadian Association of Law Libraries developed a proposal to . . . [more]

Well, as Simon Chester alerted us it would, CanLII has just now clicked the odometer over as the millionth judgment comes on line. Here’s the graphic evidence (courtesy of Colin Lachance):

Fittingly, perhaps, the millionth judgment was an opinion from the Supreme Court, S.L. v. Commission scolaire des Chênes 2012 SCC 7.

That’s a whole lot of precedent. Use it wisely, Canada. . . . [more]

Getting the word out about copyright compliance is never easy; once a year you can be part of an international trend and plan a copyright education and awareness day with posters, discussions and more. The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has helpful archives from its 2011 Copyright Day.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) lists three “special days”:

1. World Intellectual Property Day. April 26 is a day to highlight creativity and innovation in all of our lives. WIPO has press releases, posters, bookmarks and special publications to help member States celebrate this day. The 2012 theme is: Visionary

The Association of American Publishers announced yesterday that they have successfully taken two websites offline that were freely distributing copyrighted e-books. One of these sites, library.nu, was said to contain more than 400,000 protected digital works.

PaidContent.org has a post up describing how publishers are banding together to fight against book piracy, similar to the battles the RIA has fought over the past decade. The piece also correctly notes how this takedown was conducted without any new legislative powers, such as those in the failed US SOPA bill.

But perhaps the best read of the bunch (at least for . . . [more]

Daniel Poulin just told me that Canlii will, this week, pass a momentous event – the millionth case will be added to Canlii.

We tend to take Canlii for granted – but it really has been a remarkably successful project, which should be supported by all Canadian lawyers, and cheered by Slaw readers. Public access is vital.

Now – a small challenge for those readers. What will the millionth case be?

A Newfoundland and Labrador trial decision? Or something from the Québec Commission de reconnaissance des associations d’artistes et des associations de producteurs? Which has the wonderful acronym, qccraaap. . . . [more]

The favourite musical in my household has to be The Music Man. It might be because of the catchy lyrics, it may be because of the mental image of Robert Preston (from the 1967 film adaptation) prancing around in a band uniform, it could be because my husband played the trombone and my children self-identify as band geeks. It is possibly sustained by my colleague Dino occasionally addressing me as “Marian, Madame Librarian” with his Robert Preston impression. It could even be my fond memory that the University of Alberta Library Catalogue was named “Marian” in the early 90s. . . . [more]

The Department of Justice’s Terminology Standardization Directorate has published the latest in the National Program for the Integration of Both Official Languages in the Administration of Justice (POLAJ) glossaries. The “Family Law Glossary (Common Law) Fascicle 3” [PDF] replaces the two earlier glossaries (Fascicles 1 & 2) respecting family law. (Gotta love that word “fascicle.”).

The idea is to assist those working in an area to make effective use of the fact that at many levels Canada has a bijural and bilingual legal system. Terms used in one system may not easily (or at all) correspond to terms . . . [more]

Many readers will already know that Toronto is hosting the annual conference and general meeting of CALL/ACBD in May. This gathering is a high point in the association’s calendar, and this year is even more special, as we are marking the start of our 50^th anniversary.

The program is relevant to a wide audience – no matter your level of experience or expertise, you should find something to pique your interest. The exhibit hall will offer opportunities to learn about new developments in legal information, and the social program will give you a chance to meet new colleagues, catch . . . [more]

A Broad and Ambitious Justice Review

BC Premier Christy Clark along with her newly-titled Minister of Justice and Attorney General Shirley Bond announced a broad-ranging review of the BC justice system last week. In conrast to many previous reviews in other jurisdictions, this review is not lacking in ambition or scope. The review includes a Green Paper on Modernizing British Columbia’s Justice System and an internal audit review of the province’s justice system. It also includes a review of BC’s criminal charge assessment process, a Legal Aid Services review and a new plan to post justice system data on . . . [more]