University of San Diego Law Prof Shaun Martin comments in the news on the Prosecution’s efforts to obtain meaningful testimony in the Francisco Javier Arellano Félix case:  "They may feel they have a strong case against Arellano Félix, but what’s happening with these other players tends to suggest a somewhat desperate effort to get these people to testify against Arellano Félix,” Professor Martin said.  [Onell R. Soto, Complex Case on Cartel in the Works, Signonsandiego (Sept. 18, 2006)] [See CrimProf Blog]

"Starting today, you can go to Google Book Search and download full copies of out-of-copyright books to read at your own pace. You’re free to choose from a diverse collection of public domain titles — from well-known classics to obscure gems" … So Download the classics! Available at http://books.google.com/.

A post from 025.431: The Dewey Blog points to several innovations in print collection visual presentation — the Dewey Cloud from U Adelaide Library is particularly interesting and available at http://library.adelaide.edu.au/local/dev/deweycloud.html. 

"This page provides a visual presentation of the Library’s print collection. Dewey Classification headings are ranked according to the number of items under each heading. Ranking is indicated by a larger or smaller size : the larger the text, the greater the number of items. Moving the cursor over a category will reveal the Dewey number and number of items in the category. Clicking on a category will link to the Library Catalogue to browse that category."

Once upon a time, little raised numerals indicating specific Thomson West Headnote case treatment were sprinkled throughout Shepard’s …  Today, that linkage between citator and digest is gone the way of the Edsel: 

Law Dawg Blawg blogs — "LexisNexis has announced that, as of September 1, 2006, it no longer provides coverage of West headnotes for most case law in Shepard’s Citations…" [See "New Enhancements" section of the current LexisNexis Info Pro for Legal Information Professionals]. 

"This announcement comes one year after a September 2005 LexisNexis news release stating that "LexisNexis will continue to provide headnote analysis for West’s reporters."

No worries, says Lexis — "We are confident that the impact of our decision to discontinue this headnote analysis will be minimal, as our market research and tracking indicates that usage of these features on our online system has been extremely low."

The Sept. 15th issue of the Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP) is available on the LRC’s web site.  Go to http://www.sandiego.edu/lrc/faculty/ .  Click on "Current Index to Legal Periodicals" in the left-hand frame, then enter the user name for your e-mail account (the portion before the @sandiego.edu) and your password.  Click on the link for Sept. 15, 2006. 

Coffee >> Partnership >> USD >> Starbucks:  A USD News Release announces the nascent partnering of USD & Starbucks: "Starbucks has selected the University of San Diego as one of four universities to launch a pilot program aimed at improving corporate support of college students both socially and academically…" [Editorial note:  Initial indications are good that this partnership doesn’t imply provision of free Starbucks coffee in the LRC]

In 1968, Public Law 90-498 was enacted, and later amended by Public Law 100-402, to establish September 15 to October 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month, with the proviso that “the people of the United States, especially the educational community, … observe such week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.”

Continue reading →

The Chronicle of Higher Ed’s Wired Campus Blog links to a debate organized by The Wall Street Journal between the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, and Encyclopaedia Britannica editor in chief Dale Hoiberg:  "Will Wikipedia Mean the End of Traditional Encyclopedias? 

Banned Books Week (Sept. 23rd – 30th) is fast approaching.  For more information on Banned Books Week (September 23rd-30th), visit the American Library Association page at http://www.ala.org/bbooks.   This year Google book search has joined booksellers and the American Library Association in promoting intellectual freedom and access to banned books.  The Google book search site is available at http://books.google.com/googlebooks/banned/.

The Sept. 8th issue of the Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP) is available on the LRC’s web site. Go to http://www.sandiego.edu/lrc/faculty/.  Click on "Current Index to Legal Periodicals" in the left-hand frame, then enter the user name for your e-mail account (the portion before the @sandiego.edu) and your password.  Click on the link for Sept. 8, 2006.  When you are finished reading or printing, simply click on the cancel (X) button on the upper right corner of your screen.