Monthly archives: July, 2015

Book-starved Utah boy begs postman for junk mail to read: How to respond?

David Rothman shares a recent story about a boy whose quest to read in spite of even minimal resources was captured and shared around the world, resulting in a flood of free books, thanks to the mail carrier who took the time to listen, and the initiative to help. At the heart of this example of action is David’s continuous work promoting a national digital library endowment and well-stocked national digital library systems.

Subjects: Uncategorized

Library Research Guides: Best Practices

Many librarians have a set of research guides that they are responsible for keeping up to date, but finding time to devote to this important task can be extremely difficult. As libraries migrate to LibGuides 2.0, many are using this opportunity to study their users’ preferences, implement new policies, and completely refresh their research guide collection. If your library is going through this process, or you are simply planning on using the (relatively) calm summer months to update your research guides, here are ten best practice tips to keep in mind – by Kara Dunn, D`Angelo Law Library.

Subjects: Legal Research Training, Libraries & Librarians, Library Marketing, Library Software & Technology, Mobile Technology, News Resources, Online Legal Research Services, Reference Resources, Reference Services, Search Strategies

Cut and Paste Opinions: A Turing Test for Judicial Decision-Making

Ken Strutin argues that cut-and-paste is a laudable method for reducing transcription errors in copying citations and quotations. However, he identifies that a problem arises when it is used to lift verbatim sections of a party’s arguments into a case decision. Stipulations and proposed orders from counsel for both parties might be enviable and practicable, but judgment and fact-finding are solely in the province of the court. This has been a long standing issue that has spanned technologies from shears and paste-pot to typewriters and computers, and which might culminate in a Turing Test for case law.

Subjects: Case Management, Court Resources, Courts & Technology, KM, Legal Profession

Human Resources Management Meets Big Data in Devising Systems to Identify Star Employees

Alan Rothman provides much needed insight and perspective regarding the role of employee performance and productivity metrics, big data, and identifying future leaders within an organization. Although HR professionals and software applications have been engaged to deliver results that yield this knowledge, both are lacking in effectively leveraging and delivering processes to drive future success.

Subjects: Big Data, Communication Skills, Management