Slaw readers know that Osgoode Hall Law School is currently recruiting new librarians (three positions advertised, more later next year). When we do have some new full-time staff on board one of the things I’d like to look seriously at is setting up exchanges with law firm librarians. The idea would be to promote knowledge and understanding of the way in which our respective users undertake research. I think it would be especially useful for academic librarians to have insight into the way in which lawyers use firm libraries, and the kind of information they seek – useful in that . . . [more]

In its bid to compete in a Web 2.0 world, Yahoo! continues its spending spree. Over the weekend they purchased de.licio.us according to this del.icio.us blog post. Yahoo! recently also acquired my favourite photo host flickr. Thanks to Michael Casey for this tip from his blog LibraryCrunch.

[Is it my imagination, or has del.icio.us suddenly crashed? I can’t seem to get access right now. Probably from all of us gossip mongers trying to get onto the site!] . . . [more]

What to do with core legal texts? One English charity has a good idea

Legal Profession and Publishing Industry Launch International Law Book Facility

The International Law Book Facility, a unique charitable and publishing industry initiative, has been launched by the Rt. Hon. Lord Justice John Thomas, Judge of the Court of Appeal and ILBF Trustee.

With the support of Book Aid International, this important new initiative has a simple goal: to provide printed core legal texts to legal professional bodies, pro bono groups and law schools involved in access to justice in common law jurisdictions of Africa, Asia and . . . [more]

Legal Blogs that is.
Google Directory ranks websites in particular topics by the number of hits they receive. Google Directory – Society Law Legal Information Weblogs
Our category may be rather small, but among the top twenty legal blogs, we made the top twenty – just, we came in at 19.
But we are the only non-American site in the top twenty.
That and ten cents of hope will keep us on the Infobahn . . . [more]

Thanks to Larry Lessig for pointing out a great report from the Brennan Center on how web-based collaboration is being challenged by the misapplication of old print approaches to copyright. See Brennan Center on Fair Use.
As the Report’s Press Release states:

Misinterpretation of ‘Fair Use’ Stifles Free Expression
Artists, Writers and Bloggers Targeted for Using Copyrighted Material
New York, NY — Today, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law released a new report, “Will Fair Use Survive?” which documents the increasing number of artists, writers, bloggers and others who are unjustly targeted for using copyrighted or

Online Rights Canada (ORC) is a grassroots organization that promotes the public’s interest in technology and information policy. We believe that Canadians should have a voice in copyright law, access to information, freedom from censorship, and other issues that we face in the digital world.
Online Rights Canada [Via beSpacific.]

To help in the understanding of the current gun control debate following Prime Minister Paul Martin’s proposed ban of handguns in Canada, Michel-Adrien Sheppard has put together an extensive list of gun control resources , both Canadian and international, at his blog Library Boy. . . . [more]

1. VLLB: Canadian law blogs list
2. Opinions politiques
3. Le monde politique et judiciaire
4. La pub et le droit
5. Culture Libre.ca
6. C’est une Blog?
7. CaDerange
8. FP Infomart Mobile
9. Wikipedia: concept map
10. Wikipedia: topic map
11. Grokker: search for Chaoulli
12. NY Times: Snared in the Web of a Wikipedia Liar
13. Medworth.org.uk: Reliability of Wikipedia
14. Wired: Wikipedia Faces Growing Pains
15. The 1911 Edition Encyclopedia
16. Le Réseau juridique: Foire aux questions juridiques
17. Canadian Industrial Designs Database
18. University of Michigan: Government Gazettes Online
19. Carnegie Mellon: unofficial Canadiana
20. Carnegie Mellon: Stewart Clayman
21. Library and Archives Canada: Canadian Information By Subject: 34 Law
22. AdmiraltyLaw.com
23. Joe Magnet: Constitutional Law of

Could I get some Slaw help? I’ve created a list of Canadian Law Blogs over on the VLLB, and I’d like to expand it as much as possible.

If you know of anyone else, feel free to leave a comment here on this post, and I’ll add it in. Any leads will be very much appreciated. :-) . . . [more]

First out of the starting blocks for providing Canadian news service to the PDA is CanWest Global with its FP Infomart Mobile service. It is available for certain PDAs and cell phones. I had a demo earlier this week from my CanWest rep and was impressed. . . . [more]

Because it’s Friday, I thought I’d pass on a nifty expression I found in today’s Globe and Mail business section. “Fat finger flub” means a mistake with a keyboard, and fits perfectly my style when I’m hurrying.

Also seems topical to those of us east of the banana belt, given how annoying it is to try to do things with gloves on. Now a “mitten mistake” would be something of a different order… . . . [more]

For some time I have wanted to take concept or topic mapping, into the computing sphere of legal research. Topic or concept mapping essentially means mapping our ideas and knowledge in a visual format, a boon for the visual learners out there. The tool I have been looking at is Grokker. Utilizing the free preview of Grokker I have run a search that illustrates how it works.

If you select the chaoulli search that I have linked to below, you will be taken to the Grokker search page. Once you have followed the link, select: Zoomable Map on the left . . . [more]