Today's Law.com discusses the increase in the US judiciary in referring to Blogs within their rulings.

I hadn’t noticed a great piece on the UVic Law School Library’s efforts to make legal information available in the North and to provide legal resources to students and lawyers from Nunavut. It’s a fascinating mélange of traditional, electronic and culture-specific materials, delivered under difficult circumstances.

The article entitled Providing Library Services to Canada’s First Arctic Law School by Emily Yearwood-Lee, talks about how a law librarian, Serena Ableson set up a law library dedicated to the needs of Nunavut.

There is also a piece by Ms. Ableson in the International Journal Of Legal Information The Official Journal Of The . . . [more]

As everyone will likely know by now, there’s been a military coup in Thailand, apparently successful, from what early reports say; and martial law has been declared. The military has reportedly taken control of the major media outlets. The CBC has good coverage.

I thought it might be interesting to see what Thai bloggers (those who blog in English) have to say. I’ve found one called 2Bangkok that already has a fair bit on the coup; and another, Law and Life in Bangkok, that hasn’t got around to posting about it yet. There will, of course, be others, so . . . [more]

Occasionally I leave the idyllic confines of the law library/faculty and go to meetings in the main campus library. In one recent meeting, about strategic planning (not my favourite subject) I was waxing on about web 2.0 and what it will mean for the future of university libraries. For my folly, I was asked to give a (hopefully) short presentation on this to an upcoming management meeting. I have some readings and of course SLAW is a good example of social software, but I thought I need something that covered the whole area. Fortunately, a recent issue of Library Technology . . . [more]

It’s something of a stretch from postage stamps to the main business of Slaw, and I’m not sure I’m going to even try it with these old ligaments. But I found the government announcement interesting enough to share, nonetheless:

Canada Post today announced the introduction of a new non-denominated stamp that will retain its value forever. The PERMANENT™ stamp will be accepted at the basic domestic Lettermail rate and replaces next year’s 52¢ domestic rate definitive stamps. The PERMANENT stamp will eliminate the need to purchase 1¢ stamps after a rate increase, doing away with the need for Canadians to

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OUP has a new commercial database that will be of interest to SLAWers, International Law in Domestic Courts (ILDIC):
“International Law in Domestic Courts (ILDC) brings you the most important international law issues being decided in domestic courts around the world today. With legal experts in the field reporting on cases from over sixty-five countries, this online service highlights the full range of jurisprudence around the globe in a format that makes it easy to pinpoint specific legal issues and to compare how these issues have been dealt with in different jurisdictions. A vital resource for both lawyers in practice . . . [more]

Le présent billet est très clairement inspiré par celui de Dominic Jaar, posté hier soir, et s’intitulant “Records, Documents or Data” faisant état des différences de perception et de définition entre des concepts voisins. J’aimerai aussi faire état de «drôleries» très canadiennes ou plutôt presqu’incontournables dès que l’on doit user de différents palliers de gouvernements avec des compétences qui se superposent; le tout, pour ne rien arranger, avec 9 provinces de common law et une de droit civil.

Parmi les incongruïtés qu’il est possible de déceler, il en est une que je «traque» depuis bientôt quinze ans et . . . [more]

I don’t know if I’m the only Slaw reader who has to rattle around the Canadian or British Government sites to find what I’m looking for. It seems as if the new Conservative government was simply concerned to do a top level rebranding, but not to re-examine how the site actually worked.

Two developments today, one at Westminster and the other in Delhi.

The announcement in Delhi this morning that the new national portal will be based on open standards and multiple entry points.

For Canadian users who may not be fully familiar with the allocation of powers between the . . . [more]

Coming from a family where almost every man in my life (my Dad, three brothers, and my son) is red/green colour challenged, it’s been something that I consider in almost everything I do. I won’t regale you with stories of disastrous wardrobe choices, fondue fork confusions, farming challenges (Is it still green?), non-option careers (no pilots, electricians, police officers or firefighters in my family) or tales from school (Why did you colour your Mom’s hair green?) but believe me, I have a few stories to tell!

Naturally, colour interpretation has always been of personal interest to me. But I’ll make . . . [more]

Next week is Banned Books Week and there’s an interesting entry page which Google has mounted.

Each year, the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom receives hundreds of reports on books and other materials that were “challenged” (their removal from school or library shelves was requested). The ALA estimates the number represents only about a quarter of the actual challenges. “Most Challenged” titles include the popular “Harry Potter” series of fantasy books for children by J.K. Rowling. The series drew complaints from parents and others who believe the books promote witchcraft to children.

The challenges reported

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As I was preparing a presentation I will be giving at Marcus Evans’ Document Retention and E-Discovery: Best Practices for Canadian Corporations conference in Toronto on October 19th regarding the understanding and management of E-docs and records, I realised that these three concepts are confused by everyone, even the Legislator. Here is a list of the confusing definitions you will find in different statutes from Canada, Ontario and Quebec. If you know of any other interesting ones, I would love to know! . . . [more]

Corn today.