Please see:

All Federal Courts Now Accepting Electronic Filing

Cross-posted at Law Library Blog.

Public Sector Digital Communication Management Best Practices: The Critical Role of Email

Cross-posted on Law Library Blog.

The Goettingen Journal of International Law (GoJIL), founded in 2007, is currently seeking submissions for its 5^th International Law Essay Competition. GoJIL is an e-journal of legal scholarship focusing on International Law. It is the first student-run German International Law journal published exclusively in English. The journal is available online and free of charge. If you win, your article will be published online and accessible.

To participate in the GoJIL International Student Essay Competition 2012, follow the following guidelines:

• Topic: “The Interplay of International and National Law”
• Max. 3000 words
• Microsoft Word format
• Footnotes, rather than endnotes

The deadline is 15 August 2012.

For further details see the GoJIL website: www.gojil.eu

“Link Rot” and Legal Resources on the Web: A 2012 Analysis by the Chesapeake Digital Preservation Group

Some highlights:

Data Show Link Rot in 38 Percent of Online Publications within Five Years

• In 2012, 218 out of 579 URLs in the sample no longer provide access to the content that was originally selected, captured, and archived by the Chesapeake Group. In other words, link rot has increased to 37.7 percent within five years.
• In 2008, the sample was analyzed for the first time as part of an evaluation of the archiving program, and link rot was found to be present in 48, or 8.3 percent, of the 579 URLs comprising the sample. At the time, a total of 1,266 web-based titles had been captured and archived. A random sample of 579 titles from the archive was generated for the analysis, ensuring results at a 95 percent confidence level and confidence interval of +/- 3.
• One year later, in 2009, the sample was analyzed a second time. Link rot was found to be present in 83 out of the original sample of 579 URLs. Within two years of capture, 14.3 percent of the archived titles had disappeared from their original URLs.
• By the third year, in 2010, the prevalence of link rot had increased to 160 out of 579 URLs, to a whopping 27.9 percent. Link rot continued to increase in 2011, but by a slower margin, reaching 30.4 percent by the fourth year. The new 2012 data show an increase of 7.3 percent compared to 2011, to 37.7 percent, more in line with our findings of annual increases from 2008 and 2009.

Cross-posted on Law Library Blog.

Other DoJ FOIA-related resources are also available online.

Cross-posted at Law Library Blog.

The Gender Wage Gap (17 April 2012)

See also here.

In brief:

Women’s median earnings are lower than men’s in nearly all occupations, whether they work in occupations predominantly done by women, occupations predominantly done by men, or occupations with a more even mix of men and women. During 2011, median weekly earnings for female full-time workers were $684, compared with $832 per week for men, a gender wage ratio of 82.2 percent. Added to the gender wage gap within occupations is the gender wage gap between occupations. Male-dominated occupations tend to pay more than female-dominated occupations at similar skill levels, particularly at higher levels of educational attainment. Tackling occupational segregation is an important part of tackling the gender wage gap.

Cross-posted at Law Library Blog.

Federal Depository Library Program: Issues for Congress

Here is the (March 29, 2012) report’s summary:

Summary
Congress established the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) to provide free public access to federal government information. The program’s origins date to 1813; the current structure of the program was established in 1962 and is overseen by the Government Printing Office (GPO). Access to government information is provided through a network of depository libraries across the United States. In the past half-century, information creation, distribution, retention, and preservation has expanded from a tangible, paper-based process to include digital processes managed largely through computerized information technologies.

The transition to digital information raises a number of issues of possible interest to Congress. This report discusses those possible concerns as they affect FDLP. These issues, which are in some cases interrelated, may not only affect FDLP, but also extend beyond the program to a variety of contexts related to the management of government information in tangible and digital forms. Issues include the following: maintenance and availability of the FDLP tangible collection; retention and preservation of digital information; access to FDLP resources; authenticity and accuracy of digital material; robustness of the FDLP Electronic Collection; and the costs of FDLP and other government information distribution initiatives.

The emergence of a predominantly digital FDLP may call the capacity of the statutory authorities GPO exercises into question. Whereas GPO is the central point of distribution for tangible, printed FDLP materials, its responsibilities are more diverse, and may be less explicitly specified, regarding its distribution of digital information. In some instances, GPO carries out activities to distribute digital information that are similar to its actions regarding printed materials. In other instances, GPO provides access to digital content that it does not produce or control. The agency has archiving and permanent retention authorities for tangible materials, but those authorities do not envision digital creation and distribution of government publications. Digital distribution authorities provide for online access to publications, but are silent on GPO’s retention and preservation responsibilities for digital information. These concerns may be addressed in their own right, or in the context of user demand for FDLP information, for which there is no uniform  metric.

A number of efforts related to FDLP have been initiated by GPO and groups representing a number of libraries that participate in FDLP. These have included certain regional library activities; studies of the program by a private organization; proposals by a consortium of FDLP libraries to advance the consolidation, digitization, and cataloging of tangible collections; and a study of FDLP coordinated by GPO.

Cross-posted at Law Library Blog.

For details, please see here.

The Rise of E-Reading

See here for a summary of the report’s findings, including but not limited to the following:

• A fifth of American adults have read an e-book in the past year and the number of e-book readers grew after a major increase in ownership of e-book reading devices and tablet computers during the holiday gift-giving season.

• The average reader of e-books says she has read 24 books (the mean number) in the past 12 months, compared with an average of 15 books by a non-e-book consumer.

• 30% of those who read e-content say they now spend more time reading, and owners of tablets and e-book readers particularly stand out as reading more now.

• The prevalence of e-book reading is markedly growing, but printed books still dominate the world of book readers.

• E-book reading happens across an array of devices, including smartphones.

• In a head-to-head competition, people prefer e-books to printed books when they want speedy access and portability, but print wins out when people are reading to children and sharing books with others.

• The availability of e-content is an issue to some.

• The majority of book readers prefer to buy rather than borrow.

• Those who own e-book reading devices stand out from other book readers and there are sometimes differences among device owners in their reading habits.

• Device owners read more often.

• Device owners are more likely to buy books.

Hat tip to ResourceShelf.com.

First, brief. 

A document submitted to the court by a party to the litigation to persuade the court to accept a legal proposition advanced by that party.  Briefs include a statement of jurisdiction, a summary of the case (2), history of the proceedings, statement of facts, a summary of the legal issues presented, summary of argument, argument, the relief requested, conclusion, and table of authorities. . . . An amicus brief is a brief submitted to the court by a non-party to the litigation. . . .

Next, citation and citation manual

A reference that unambiguously identifies the location of a specific opinion, statute, rule, law review article, or other type of legal publication. . . . Appropriate citation consists of the name or title of the source . . . Citation guidebooks dictate proper form.  Citations use standard formats to for identifying authority to lead the legal researcher to the source material quickly and accurately.  Citation format generally applies to all types of legal writing.  Also called cite.  See also citation manual, parallel citation, medium-neutral citation.

citation manual

A manual or guidebook that prescribes the standard form of citation to be used in citing authorities in legal writing.  Various citation manuals exist: probably the most widely used manual is A Uniform System of Citation (the Blue Book). . . .

So now, turning to the so-called bluebook, let us take a look at how it says briefs should be cited:

Rule 10.8.3 (p. 106):

In general, all court filings follow the same general form.  The full name of the document, as it appears on the filing, must come first, . . . followed by a pinpoint citation, if any.  . . .

. . .

Always include the docket number, whether parenthetically (when there is a reported citation) or as the citation (when there is no reported citation):

> Brief of Petitioner-Appellant at 48, United States v. Al-Marri, No. 03-3674 (7th Cir. Nov. 12, 2003).

. . .