New International Labour Organization Research Repository

The International Labour Organization, an agency of the United Nations, has launched a new research repository that is intended as a one-stop-shop for the organization's many research publications:

The online collection has some 20,000 publications, including flagship reports, major publications, research studies, journal articles from the International Labour Review and International Journal of Labour Research, working papers, training materials, guides, manuals and briefs.

Update on Artificial Intelligence Applications in CanLII

In the most recent update about its activities and projects, CanLII summarizes some of its AI-related initiatives.

CanLII, the Canadian Legal Information Institute,  is a portal funded by Canada’s provincial and territorial law societies to make legal information content (court judgments, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations, commentary) available to Canadians free of charge.

Among the new developments:

• AI-generated subject classification of decisions on CanLII has been expanded from Saskatchewan and Ontario to all Canadian jurisdictions, except for Quebec
• The CanLII Citation Network is a recently completed project utilizing artificial intelligence/machine learning and designed to refine  the search engine. CanLII explains that the algorithm is much better at returning highly authoritative documents for broad conceptual queries
• CatLII is an AI-based program designed to generate summaries for cases on CanLII

Improved Government and Legislative Libraries Online Publications Portal (GALLOP)

GALLOP, the Government and Legislative Libraries Online Publications Portal, was launched in 2013 by the Association of Parliamentary Libraries in Canada.

It is a portal providing access to often hard-to-find federal and provincial government publications.

The Association has launched a beta version of an improved GALLOP Portal. 

The beta Portal will have more up-to-date content, more filtering options, and for the first time, include records from Nunavut in addition to the ten other Provinces and Territories already included. 

Here is an overall overview of GALLOP's content.

The designers are looking for feedback.

Annual Statutes of Alberta Added to CanLII

The CanLII website (Canadian Legal Information Institute) has been rapidly expanding its digital collections of Canadian legislation.

Today, it announced that it has added the annual statutes for the Province of Alberta from 1906 to today:

"This latest digitization project builds on similar initiatives on CanLII.org to increase access to important troves of legal history and decision-making. The Saskatchewan annual statutes dating to 1978 were scanned and added to CanLII last year with funding from the Saskatchewan Law Foundation. Last year we also added the New Brunswick annual statutes back to 2000 with funding from the New Brunswick Law Foundation, with more coming. These joined the Federal annual statutes to 2001 and Quebec annual statutes to 1996, which were added in 2016 with funding from CAIJ."

"Annual statutes – laws as passed by Canada’s parliamentary bodies – are an important addition to CanLII’s primary law collections. Without access to these documents, it can be difficult to navigate legislation over time."

CanLII is a portal funded by Canada’s provincial and territorial law societies to make legal information content (court judgments, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations, commentary) available to Canadians free of charge.

US Government Information Portal FDsys Officially Retires December 14

The U.S. government has been testing govinfo.gov, a government information portal that is intended to replace the Federal Digital System (FDsys) that contains official versions of Congressional, Presidential, judicial and federal agency materials.

The government has now announced that FDsys will retire on December 14, 2018:

"govinfo, launched in beta in February 2016, offers many enhancements to the way the public accesses more than one million documents from all three branches of the United States Federal Government. Highlights include a modern, mobile-friendly design; links to related documents of interest; curated feature articles with links to famous documents such as the 9/11 Commission Report, the Warren Commission Report, and the Starr Report; quick and easy social sharing; the ability to browse collections A–Z and by category; sortable search filters; RSS notifications feeds; a search engine that makes search results more relevant than ever; shorter URLs; and more. When the FDsys website is retired, existing links will redirect to govinfo. govinfo had more than 424 million retrievals in fiscal year 2018."

Sixth Annual Government Information Day Conference in Toronto

The Ontario Government Libraries Council is organizing the sixth annual Government Information Day on November 30, 2018. The event will take place at the OISE  Library of the University of Toronto,

The program includes sessions on:

• Investigating the Persistence of Federal Government Publications in Former Depository Libraries
• Web Archiving
• An Update on GALLOP Portal (Association of Parliamentary Libraries in Canada)
• Librarianship in the Digital Age: Challenges, Threats and Opportunities
• FOI Inside Out: Librarians working in FOI
• Scholars Portal Grey Literature Project
• Linked Parliamentary Data Project
• Digitization of At-Risk Government Publications
• Is a 50% Reduction of Government Doc's Space Possible? - The Curation Weeding Dance
• Government Information in Canada (the book)

CanLII Adds 8000 Cases from the Canadian Criminal Cases Reports

CanLII, the freely accessible website of the Canadian Legal Information Institute, has added 8,000 cases from the caselaw reporter Canadian Criminal Cases.

The earliest case dates back to 1898.

"A word about our approach: to strategically build CanLII’s caselaw databases we reviewed our content to identify which reporters are most cited. First came the Supreme Court Reports (SCR), followed by the Dominion Law Reports (DLR), and then the Canadian Criminal Cases. We already added the cases from the SCRs, and we completed a similar project to add the cited cases from the DLRs in 2016."

"Similarly to the DLR project, we published the documents using our innovative PDF format, powered by Lexum technology. This allows for the documents to be uploaded at a low cost while maintaining virtually all the same functionalities as HTML (...)
"This is a big step towards making the law that matters to Canadian legal researchers available. It will better integrate key cases into the research process on CanLII with digital features such as linked citations and full text searching thanks to Lexum’s publishing technology."

Launch of Foundations of the Common Law 1215-1914

The free online collection known as Foundations of the Common Law 1215-1914 was launched klast week on CommonLII.org, the Commonwealth Legal Information Institute.

It describes itself as "the most comprehensive historical legal resource for the first 800 years of the whole common law world"and is a joint undertaking of 10 free access international Legal Information Institutes such as CanLII (Canadian Legal Information institute), AustLII (Australasia) and BaiLII (Britain and Ireland).

Right now, it includes mostly reported cases and legislation and it will be adding secondary materials.

US Government Publishing Office Digitizes Entire Collection of Federal Register

The Government Publishing Office (GPO), the official publisher of the U.S. government, has completed the digitization of all issues of the Federal Register going back to the initial issue in 1936.

The Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents. It is analogous to the Canada Gazette.

The material is available on the Govinfo information portal which contains official versions of US Congressional, Presidential, judicial and federal agency materials.

New Govinfo US Information Portal Out of Beta

This is a follow-up to the Library Boy post of February 15, 2016 entitled U.S. Launches Beta Version of Govinfo Portal.

The U.S. government has been testing govinfo.gov, a government information portal that is intended to replace the Federal Digital System (FDsys) that contains official versions of Congressional, Presidential, judicial and federal agency materials.

A press release published yesterday explains that govinfo is now out of beta:

"We're excited to share that govinfo is now out of beta! While the predecessor site, FDsys, will remain available during this phase, we are one step closer to its retirement (planned for late 2018)."

"At this time, users and stakeholders should now begin updating links and processes to reference govinfo instead of FDsys. Learn more about the transition from FDsys to govinfo including a handy chart on finding certain FDsys resources where they've been migrated on govinfo."

Law Library of Congress Interview With Adrienne Keys, Specialist in Legislative Information Systems Management

In Custodia Legis, the blog of the Law Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., has posted an interview this week with Adrienne Keys, specialist in legislative information systems management within the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress:

"How would you describe your job to other people?
As a specialist in legislative information systems management, I do a little bit of a lot of different things for Congress.gov, including testing the system to ensure the accuracy of legislative and congressional data, and making sure that new and existing site features are working correctly. I am currently preparing to give a demonstration of the site to a group of congressional staff as part of a pre-conference event. I am also frequently on the front line answering questions about the site from users – which reminds me very much of my previous jobs in public affairs and congressional services. One aspect of my role that I particularly enjoy is publishing tips on Congress.gov search – and other site – functions. New tips are posted on Congress.gov’s homepage almost every week, with links to help pages with detailed information and images that provide additional guidance."

Congress.gov is the free official website for U.S. federal legislative information.

The Law Library of Congress is the world’s largest law library, with a collection of over 2.65 million volumes from all ages of history and virtually every jurisdiction in the world.  

2017 Annotated Quebec Civil Code Available for Free on CAIJ Quebec Legal Info Portal

The 20th edition (2017) of the Code civil du Québec annoté by Jean-Louis Baudouin & Yvon Renaud is now available on the website of the CAIJ.

CAIJ is the Centre d'accès à l'information juridique, the network of courthouse law libraries associated with the Québec Bar Association.

The annotated Civil Code includes:

• links to caselaw and commentary on each section 
• links to section-by-section explanations produced in 1993 by the Quebec Ministry of Justice as the new Code was making its way through the National Assembly
• links to parliamentary debates
• concordances for the Civil Code of Lower Canada (1866) and the Quebec Civil Code (1980)
• links to research questions about the Code answered by CAIJ library professionals

This material will be added to a collection that already includes full-text commentary and textbooks including:

• the Développements récents (annual reviews of areas of law)
• the Collection de droit (Bar School materials)
• proceedings of the annual Quebec Bar Association congresses
• a growing number of other treatises from publisher Wilson & Lafleur
• legal analysis and commentary from dozens of major law firms
• numerous annotated acts, both federal and Quebec
• case law
• and a list of thousands of legal questions with their corresponding answers classified by legal topic.

All for free!

Complete Collection of Alter Ego Treatises Now Available on CAIJ Quebec Legal Info Portal

All of the books in the Alter Ego series by Montreal-based publisher Wilson & Lafleur are now available on the website of the CAIJ, the Centre d'accès à l'information juridique (the network of courthouse law libraries associated with the Québec Bar Association).

This includes the following works:

• Chartes des droits de la personne (Alter Ego 2016)
• Code de procédure civile du Québec (Alter Ego 2016)
• Code du travail du Québec (Alter Ego 2014)
• Loi sur la faillite et l'insolvabilité (Alter Ego 2010)
• Loi sur les accidents du travail et les maladies professionnelles (Alter Ego 2014)
• Loi sur les normes du travail (Alter Ego 2016)

This material will be added to a collection that already includes full-text commentary and textbooks including:

• the Développements récents (annual reviews of areas of law)
• the Collection de droit (Bar School materials)
• proceedings of the annual Quebec Bar Association congresses
• a growing number of other treatises from publisher Wilson & Lafleur
• legal analysis and commentary from dozens of major law firms
• numerous annotated acts, both federal and Quebec
• case law
• and a list of thousands of legal questions with their corresponding answers classified by legal topic.

All for free!

Survey on GALLOP Government and Legislative Libraries Online Publications Portal

GALLOP, the Government and Legislative Libraries Online Publications Portal, was launched in 2013 by the Association of Parliamentary Libraries in Canada.

It is a portal providing access to often hard-to-find federal and provincial government publications.

The Association is asking users to fill out a survey about their experience with the Portal.

U.S. Launches Beta Version of Govinfo Portal

The Government Publishing Office (GPO), the official publisher of the U.S. government, has launched a beta version of govinfo.gov, a government information portal that will eventually replace the Federal Digital System (FDsys).

FDsys offers authentic, digitally signed PDF documents from dozens of different collections of U.S. Federal Government information (Congressional, Presidential, judicial and federal agency materials).

All information currently available on FDsys can be found on govinfo.

According to the GPO:

"govinfo is a redesign of the FDsys public website, with a focus on implementing feedback from users and improving overall search and access to FDsys content. The redesigned, mobile-friendly website incorporates state-of-the-art innovative technologies and includes several new features for an overall enhanced user experience."

"The key new features include:

• a new modern look and feel,
• the capability to link related content,
• two new ways to browse content: alphabetically and by category,
• a new open-source search engine,
• enhancements to the search filters, and
• more options for sharing pages and content on social media."

FDsys and govinfo will run in parallel during a testing and design phase. When everything is working OK, FDsys will be sunset and replaced by govinfo.

Enhancements to MetaLib Federated Search Tool for U.S. Federal Government Information

This is an update to the Library Boy post of October 18, 2010 entitled MetaLib Federated Search Tool for U.S. Federal Government Information.

The Metalib search tool, which allows users to simultaneously search through multiple collections of United States government, legislative, technical and scientific information, recently announced a number of enhancements:

• in Advanced search, it is possible to search for freedom-of-information (FOI) requests
• there are a number of new databases that have been added: in addition to those pertaining to FOI, there are new Department of Energy collections, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Historical Maps and Charts and access to library catalogues of agencies such as the U.S. Fire Administration Library

Canadian Association of Law Libraries Launches Instructional Materials Bank

The Legal Research & Writing Special Interest Group of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is creating a repository of materials to be used by law librarians in their instructional activities.

The Instructional Materials Bank will serve as a portal to share teaching ideas.

CALL members can submit materials such as:

• promotional emails/flyers;
• presentations;
• lecture notes;
• syllabi/outlines;
• tutorials;
• videos;
• hands-on exercises; or
• assignments/exams.

This is a new initiative and materials will be made available shortly.

Academic law librarians should submit their materials to George Tsiakos (tsiakos AT allard.ubc.ca) and private firm, corporate, government, prison, courthouse and law society librarians should send their materials to Kim Clarke (kim.clarke AT ucalgary.ca).

 The Legal Research & Writing Special Interest Group has a listserv for sharing information.

Canadian Resources Added to Law Library of Congress Indigenous Law Portal

Earlier this month, the Law Library of Congress in Washington announced that it has added Canadian aboriginal law resources to its Indigenous Law Portal:

"This new segment of the portal expands our coverage for the first time beyond the United States."

"The Canadian portion of the Indigenous Law Portal is divided into three regions: Eastern, Western, and Northern Canada. These regions closely follow the recently updated K Class – Law Classification. In addition to the regions, you can browse the legal information by province or alphabetically."

Tim Knight, Associate Librarian and Head of Technical Services at the Osgoode Hall Law School Library in Toronto, provided some background on the Indigenous Law Portal in a post published on Slaw.ca in August 2014.

The Law Library of Congress is the world’s largest law library, with a collection of over 2.65 million volumes from all ages of history and virtually every jurisdiction in the world.

[Source: Slaw.ca]

US National Center for State Courts Report on Trends in State Courts 2015

The National Center for State Courts based in the state of Virginia has just published a report on Trends in State Courts 2015.

Trends in State Courts is an annual publication dedicated to making courts aware of key trends in court operations and society.

Many of the articles cover issues related to technology such as developing an online benchbook, using online portals to help self-represented litigants, and archiving court records via the cloud.

Lots of Enhancements to U.S. Congress.gov Legislative Information Portal

Congress.gov, the official website for U.S. federal legislative information, was officially launched in late 2013.

It is produced by the Library of Congress (LOC) using data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the Government Publishing Office, Congressional Budget Office, and the LOC's Congressional Research Service.

In a very short time, there have been many additions of new content, as well as enhancements to search and browse functionality. In Custodia Legis, the blog of the Law Library of Congress described the most recent changes in a post a few days ago.