Third Annual AALL Bloggers Get-Together

It's time to mark your calendars for the AALL's Third Annual Bloggers Get Together!

Time: 5-6 p.m. (We have a space at 4 p.m. if you would like to come early!)
Date: Sunday, July 13th
Place: The Green Dragon on 9th in SE Portland. Wireless is available.
Just ask for the Bloggers!
http://pdxgreendragon.com/
Guest Speaker: Jack Bogdanski

Jack Bogdanski is a favorite local blogger: lawyer, citizen, rabble-rouser, and Professor at Lewis and Clark.
Jack's Blog: http://bojack.org/

Come share your ideas and meet the other law librarian bloggers! Open to all bloggers and potential bloggers.

RSVP: Last year we had over 35 participants so we are anticipating a good crowd this year. For a headcount, please RSVP Barbara Fullerton by Tuesday, July 1st to bfullerton@10kwizard.com.

Special Thanks to Laura Orr, Law Librarian at Washington County Law Library, for helping in organizing this event! Directions will be available soon!
If you need additional information, please feel free to contact me via email or 800-365-4608, ext. 4576.

Barbara Fullerton
DALL Blogger

http://dallnet.blogspot.com/

bfullerton@10kwizard.com

Digital materials: restoring natural learning?

Trent Batson of Campus Technology posted an interesting article last week entitled Paper-Based Materials Distorted Ways of Learning that argues that digital materials, as they disrupt previous models of teaching and learning, are actually restoring older, more organic ways of learning, including the original concept of the Socratic method:

Why did we develop a default learning model and beliefs so contrary to current reality? We had adapted to what we could do over the whole time that we had only analog materials to work with. A student writing a paper on paper had a hard time showing that paper to the rest of the class, so, over time the natural collaborative learning style popularly known as Socratic became distorted by the limitations of analog materials. Collaboration was no longer the norm. Humans had lost something.

There's a lot of food for thought and fodder for debate (including ye olde laptops-in-classrooms debate) in the article, as well as some questions for educators to ask themselves to help evaluate whether analog or digital methods are more appropriate and effective at achieving the goals they have for their students.

National Do Not Call Registry Update

Dear OOTJ folks,

I received an e-mail from an old friend alerting a long list of people that cell phones were about to be assaulted with telemarketer calls, but that you could register with the Do Not Call Registry. The e-mail ended with a recommendation that you send it along to all the people you know, which does make me wonder when I see such things. Well, I took a look at the website, and find that, while you can register cell phones, regulations already prohibit telemarketers from using auto-dialers on cell phones. That pretty much means you won't be getting calls on cell phone from telemarketers. Here are the details. From the FAQs on the National Do Not Call Registry Website (https://www.donotcall.gov/)

10. Can I register my cell phone on the National Do Not Call Registry?

Yes, you may place your personal cell phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry. The registry has accepted cell phone numbers since it opened for registrations in June 2003. There is no deadline to register a home or cell phone number on the Registry.

You may have received an email telling you that your cell phone is about to be assaulted by telemarketing calls as a result of a new cell phone number database; however, that is not the case. FCC regulations prohibit telemarketers from using automated dialers to call cell phone numbers. Automated dialers are standard in the industry, so most telemarketers don’t call consumers on their cell phones without their consent.

AND on the front page, they have a notice that phone numbers will no longer expire from the list. Once registered, they stay registered until the phone owner removes them. The website states:

Your registration will not expire. Telephone numbers placed on the National Do Not Call Registry will remain on it permanently due to the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007, which became law in February 2008. Read more about it at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/04/dncfyi.shtm .

So, if you get an e-mail warning that you're about to be inundated by telemarketers on your cell phone, don't panic. You can register, but it probably isn't necessary.

She’s Baaaack!

She’s Baaaack! Just when you thought it was safe!

Hello to OOTJ faithful and all my co-bloggers. It’s been about 3 months since I stopped posting here, and I plan to start popping in again from time to time.

I had surgery in February to remove the damaged disks between 3 levels of vertebrae in my neck. The surgeon went on to insert spacers to re-open the space between the bones, and offer a matrix for bone to grow in. He attached a plate to hold all the bones in place, and sent me home.

I am beginning to have more energy than I’ve had for many years. I still have to wait for the bones to fuse, and have some discomfort if I don’t watch my posture or sleep crooked. I have been told I am very lucky to have had a really good outcome with this surgery. I am home, still and going through physical therapy to build up my strength. I am very grateful to Suffolk, where I work, and to all my co-workers and family for being very supportive. I am also grateful to all my friends in law librarianship who have been supportive both as I felt worse and worse over the years, but also while I took time out to get my problem fixed and to heal. I am so fortunate in so many ways!

Memorial Day, 2008 – Remembering and Honoring in a Time of War

I like to post Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day notes. I am part of the generation that protested, fought in and generally went through hell with the Viet Nam war. I have some pretty strong feelings about:

Government officials who start wars with insufficient investigation and thought;

those who serve in the military, (including my older brother);

those who protest unjust and ill-conceived wars, (including myself and my husband); and

who must welcome home our brothers, sons, friends who felt that honor required them to serve. (all of us!)

Here are links to a couple essays that I felt did some justice to the complex issues and ethics of this mish-mash.

Yvonne Abraham’s Boston Globe column, Steadfast, Yet Broken http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/05/25/steadfast_yet_broken/

Veteran George Masters’ essay in the Globe Magazine, Missing in America:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2008/05/25/missing_in_america/

The image is from http://www.troopsribbon.com/

New Dean at Pace Law School

I am pleased to share the news that Pace Law School has a new dean, the first dean to rise through the ranks of our faculty. The press release is reproduced below. The happy announcement came during our commencement ceremony yesterday morning. The day was lovely, and we were extremely fortunate that the rain held off until shortly after the ceremony ended. Another highlight of the event was a very moving address by our honorary degree recipient, Judge Theodore T. Jones, the newest member of the New York Court of Appeals. Judge Jones exhorted our new graduates to take seriously the legal profession's commitment to pro bono service, and discussed one pro bono case he took on where his client was acquitted despite all the odds being against him.

"Michelle Simon Named Dean of Pace Law School

We are proud to announce that Michelle S. Simon has been appointed dean of the school, effective May 18, 2008. She has served as interim dean since June 4, 2007 when she succeeded Stephen J. Friedman, who became president of Pace University.
Dean Simon has been a member of the Pace law faculty since 1985 and full professor since 2003. She is an expert in criminal law, civil procedure, and legal writing, all of which she teaches, and in which she has authored or co-authored 17 articles and book chapters on topics ranging from instructions to juries in criminal cases, guilty-plea negotiations, sex offenses, legal issues in AIDS, search and seizure procedures, and the legal autonomy of cities in urban planning.
Her extensive administrative experience at Pace Law School includes service as associate dean of academic affairs from 2001 to 2006 and work on 16 committees, including one on academic standards and another conducting a self-study, both of which she chaired. Until her new appointment, she directed the school’s programs in judicial studies and legal writing. She also has served for 10 years on the board of education of the Eastchester Union Free School district in Westchester County , which she now chairs.
Simon is a recipient of two top awards from Pace Law School, the Richard L. Ottinger Award for Teaching Excellence, 2000-2001, and the President’s Award for Excellence, 2003-2004.
A cum laude anthropology major at the State University of New York at Albany, she earned her JD, also cum laude, from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1981, having served for two years on the law review, the last one as the senior lead articles editor. After law school she clerked for Judge A. Simon Chrein, a United States Magistrate for the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and practiced for four years in the areas of products liability litigation and insurance defense as an associate at Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker in New York City."

Practice-Ready Graduates

Here is an article from the New York Lawyer about revamping of law school curricula to produce practice-ready attorneys. There is a list of schools that are revamping their curricula to provide more hands-on training, and a discussion of some of the changes that are being made: "more courses on regulatory law, new clinics, ethics courses, and classes designed to give students more practical writing, negotiating, and research skills." I was interested to learn that a group of ten schools that have already begun to revise their course offerings plan to issue a report on curriculum reform next year, and to read that some schools are giving more emphasis to their joint-degree programs. Although at some firms hiring partners and recruiting directors welcome the changes to law school curricula, at other firms, the traditional training of summer clerks and new associates is still the norm. As one partner said, "'Regardless of what they have learned in law school, we'll assume that there's still a lot to be done and a lot of learning to take place after they [join] us.'" And a number of attorneys would like new associates to hone their research and writing skills, perhaps through clinics or other courses.

On-going project

I have been experimenting with social software for my AALL presentation "Using Worldcat.org to Promote the Public Access Law Library." Feel free to send me comments. Click on "On-going Project" to get to my home page. I have posted a rough draft of my paper, too.

Mildred Loving Dies

Mildred Loving, who challenged Virginia's ban on interracial marriage, a hateful vestige of segregation, in the landmark case Loving v. Virginia, has died. The link to the story in the New York Lawyer is here. Loving and her husband, Richard, who died in 1975, "changed history in 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their right to marry. The ruling struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages in at least 17 states." Chief Justice Earl Warren handed down the unanimous decision of the Court, declaring that "restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause." For more information about the case, go to The Right to Marry section of the Exploring Constitutional Law website, which is maintained by Professor Douglas Linder of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School. The site also explores issues relating to gay marriage.

New UB Law CSO blog

Lisa Patterson, Associate Dean for Career Services at University at Buffalo Law School, has lifted the corner of the veil on her excellent new blog, Our Noble Profession. Filled with both practical advice on job searching for law students and personal insight and commentary, this is a blog to watch. Betsy McKenzie, get well and hurry back--you have a kindred spirit to meet!

Big News from Drexel Law School

Drexel University Law School has been renamed The Earle Mack School of Law to honor Earle Mack, a philanthropist who has given the school $15,000,000. A matching amount will be contributed by Drexel and other donors. Drexel's good news is reported in the Philadelphia Business Journal. This is quite an achievement for a school that is only two years old.