We learned recently via Michael Lines’ post “Harvard Adopts an Open Access Mandate for Faculty Publications” that that Faculty of Arts and Sciences has adopted an open access mandate. I thought it might be interesting for our readers to see the actual wording of the mandate.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available his

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries/L’Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit (CALL/ACBD) sent out a reminder today that members of CALL/ACBD have until 31 March 2008 to nominate a person or organization to receive the Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing.

Although it would be extremely presumptuous of me to suggest that readers of SLAW who are also members of CALL/ACBD think of SLAW as a possible recipient (in light of the high calibre of past recipients of this award – listed here if you scroll down the page), it would be an honour to just be . . . [more]

Just received from Patrick McNeill, ((VP, Sales, LexisNexis Canada Inc., Reed Elsevier)).

Attached is an announcement released today from LexisNexis Canada regarding enhancements to our case law collection in light of the Canada Law Book takedown March 31, 2008.

It’s a long statement, a letter from Gary Rodrigues, and an Appendix of Contents . . . [more]

Dennis Kennedy has done his 2008 column for LLRX on legal tech. There aren’t a lot of surprises in “Eight Legal Technology Trends for 2008 – Good Times, Bad Times or Hard Times in Legal Tech?” with the exception, perhaps, of his view that e-discovery has failed to conquer; but there are a lot of wise words. Here are the subheads:

1. Smart Ways to Work Together – Collaboration Tools.
2. Dancing with a Recession.
3. Opening Audio and Video Channels.
4. Going Mobile.
5. The Death Throes for Email?
6. Security Begins to Matter . . . Really.
7. Lawyers Win Round 1 in

How many of us have spent late nights here?….. 

 The Toronto Star is reporting today that the University of Toronto’s Robarts Library will be receiving a new $75 million upgrade for the first time in 35 years. The Ontario government is also expected to announce today a $15 million grant to go towards this project. The revitalization and expansion plan includes:

• a new wing with over 1,000 new study spaces
• improvement of over 1,000 existing study spaces
• adding over 1,000 more study spaces to the existing building
• outdoor ampitheatre-style seating
• the removal of some of the upper concrete walls to

Over on his Law Firm Web Strategy blog Steve Matthews announced that JD Supra has been launched. I had a preview of this service back in September, so I had a fresh look am pleased to see the further development of this new service.

JD Supra allows for law firms, law schools and other legal organizations and individuals to share documents. Having a name behind the documents lends credibility to them, while the contributors get to be known for having expertise in their respective areas. This is combined with a profile that will drive traffic back to their websites. A . . . [more]

Yesterday’s federal budget contained a series of security and justice measures:

• $400 million to encourage provinces and territories to recruit 2,500 new front-line police officers – this amount is non-recurrent. In other words, once the funds have been spent, provinces will have to find the cash to pay for new officers hired with the federal funds
• $122 million over two years to help overhaul the federal corrections system. A report in December 2007 called for a modernization of the service, cracking down on narcotics in prisons as well as improving rehabilitation services
• $32 million over two years for the new

From Lo-Fi Librarian, and apropos of the discussion about the future of CLB, QL, etc., a note that BAILII has started a collection of secondary legal materials. It includes currently journals here and here, and the full text of two law books for anyone to read free of charge. . . . [more]

Log this one into the cool picture category… This photo from the Flickr account of Jason Kurylo shows UBC’s ASRS (Automated Storage and Retrieval System), which allows millions of extra books to be stored in half the space of a traditional shelving.

In unison now… Oooooh, Aaaaaah! :) . . . [more]

The National Centre for First Nations Governance has announced the publication of “The Jurisdiction of Inherent Right Aboriginal Governments” [PDF] by Osgoode Hall Law School Scholar Kent McNeil. From the press release:

The inherent right of the Aboriginal peoples to govern themselves has become a generally accepted aspect of Canadian constitutional law.

But what is the scope of the governmental authority, or jurisdiction, that can be exercised by inherent right Aboriginal governments? And how does the jurisdiction of Aboriginal governments interact with the jurisdiction of other governments in Canada, especially the federal and provincial governments?

This important research

A 2.5 million dollar grant is being given to a group of 8 academic researchers by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Announced today, the grant is to be spent over seven years in the study of how and why average citizens are being watched by public and private organizations. The study is being titled “The New Transparency: Surveillance and Social Sorting.” Part of the study will be to look at the flow of surveillance information that is now possible with computer use.

From the Queen’s University press release:

The new project will examine

A national workplace survey reports that more than seven in ten American white collar workers feel inundated with information at their workplace, while more than two in five feel that they are headed for an information “breaking point.”

Sponsored by our friends in Dayton, OH, the news release states:

Eighty percent of legal professionals feel overloaded with information, and 70 percent say they spend a lot of time sifting through irrelevant information. Nearly half say that research takes up so much of their time that they occasionally omit billing clients for this work.

Other survey findings that demonstrate challenges for . . . [more]