The
Sept./Oct. Spectrum
2003 contained a review by Amy
Hale-Janeke of a program on
safety and security given at the AALL
Annual Meeting this past summer. One
speaker pointed out technology can increase
risk as well as alleviate it. The mentally
unstable person with a knife, gun, or
bomb comes immediately to mind as threat
to physical safety of persons and property,
but the hacker or over-zealous law enforcement
officer may be a security threat to
information or personal privacy. Policies,
like those of Seattle Public Library
mentioned in the article, may certainly
be needed in public libraries, but if
you are not in a public library, are
they needed in yours? If so, do you
have any you wish to share with those
of us who may be forming policies? How
are policies enforced? What problems
have you faced enforcing them? What
equipment, software, or personnel are
you using?
The
AALL
Career Development Task Force
will be holding an online discussion
on this topic November 10-23, 2003.
This discussion should be interesting.
You are invited to join in. To do so,
just click on this link to subscribe.
If that is a problem contact Pam
Deemer.
The
good news is that the discussion is
just for two weeks, beginning November
10, but after that the subscribers will
be purged; you will not be subscribing
to a permanent online discussion forum
that will fill your mailbox with mail
for ever and ever.
Join
in, and hear what your colleagues will
be talking about over for those two
weeks.
The
Modest Means Task Force of the Litigation
Section of the ABA has prepared a Handbook
on Limited Scope Legal Assistance (also
called "unbundled" and "discrete
task" legal services), and a comprehensive
appendix, which includes practice forms,
recent rule changes, and a collection
of ethics opinions. The handbook and appendix
are available online
through the website of the ABA.
The
Task Force produced the handbook and appendix
to help lawyers provide more and better
forms of limited scope legal assistance
to those, who without this help, likely
would receive no assistance at all, and
to encourage judicial and bar leaders,
court administrators, legal service program
directors and others to revise rules and
develop programs that support these essential
forms of legal representation. The handbook
and appendix respond to the serious pro
se litigation problems that most state
courts are facing. The target audience
of the handbook includes both private
lawyers in solo and small firm practices
and public lawyers in legal services and
other public interest practices.
Anyone
interested in more information or a hard
copy should contact the Task Force Reporter,
Professor
Michael Millemann, University
of Maryland School of Law, 500 West Baltimore
St., Baltimore, MD. 21201 (410-706-2739
or 8340).
The
2003-2004 Membership Directory goes to
print today! It will be bound next Tuesday
or Wednesday and we expect it to be mailed
to members by Friday, October 31. You
should receive your copy by early to mid-November
(depending on the efficiency of the US
Postal service).
I
am sad to report the death of Richard
L. Beer, former AALL Treasurer
(1983-1986), president of Ohio
Regional Association of Law Libraries
(1977-1978), and chair of AALL’s
Membership, Nominations, and Publications
committees. In addition to being a 1998
recipient of the Marian
Gould Gallagher Distinguished Service
Award, he also received the State,
Court & County Law Libraries SIS Bethany
J. Ochal Award for Distinguished Service
to the Profession in 1994. He will be
missed.
