FBI Hate Crimes Report

The Federal Bureau of Investigation released its latest annual report on hate crimes in the United States yesterday. Hate Crime Statistics 2005 and a brief summary are available on the FBI web site. The report breaks down hate crimes by category of crime, such as assaults and property crimes, and by jurisdiction, type of victim and type of location. It analyses offenses by bias motivation, including racial, religious, sexual-orientation, ethnicity/nationality and disability. Compiled from information about the 8,380 offenses reported by police agencies across the country last year, the report is an important source for anyone interested in criminal law or public policy.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

21st Century Library Workshop: Paper Writing

Plan Ahead! Nearly 2 weeks until our next workshop so this is really advance notice.

Paper Writing: Are you still searching for a topic for a paper this semester? If you already have chosen a topic, would you like some help gathering resources? If so, please attend the library's upcoming workshop exploring databases we have available both in the law school and via Axinn, the university's main library. There are many high quality resources available to you which you may not know about!! This workshop will introduce you to many of them, as well as touch upon the many "law and"-type resources available through Lexis and Westlaw.

When: Tues., Oct. 31^st – 11:10 to 12 noon; and
Thurs., Nov. 2^nd – 5:10 to 6:00 pm

Where: Lower Level Computer Lab. All law students are welcome.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Legal Momentum: Advancing Women's Rights

Originally founded as the National Organization for Women Legal Defense and Education Fund, Legal Momentum "advances the rights of women and girls by using the power of the law and creating innovative public policy". Information on numerous topics can be found on their website, including: Reproductive rights, Violence against women, Immigrant women, Employment rights, and many more.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Fall 2006 Law Library Survey

In order to assess and improve library services, we request your input on various library features and services at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=504292668391. The survey will take between 5-10 minutes to complete. The survey will run from today (October 16th) through midnight on Friday, October 27th. We hope that your responses will help us better respond to your library needs.

The names of those who participate will be entered into a raffle for an iPod shuffle.

The winner will be announced on Wednesday, November 1st at 9 a.m. on this blog.

Please note: We are using an online survey instrument called Survey Monkey, and you do need to enter your name at the end in order to be entered into the raffle. When presented with the survey results, we will see all of the names in just one long listing, which will be printed and cut up for the raffle. In other words, we will not link your name with your responses. There is a mechanism to make the correlation, though, and I do want to disclose that up-front. We have no interest in nor will we use that mechanism, but for those of you concerned about absolute anonymity, there is a paper option at the circulation desk. Please read and follow the instructions.

Also note, you may not enter more than once. Those who submit names more than once will be automatically disqualified from the drawing. Only current Hofstra law students are eligible for the raffle.

Summaries of various survey questions or suggestions will be posted on the blog throughout the week of October 30th, along with any library responses.

Thank you in advance for your participation!

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

My Favorite Connectors

As you know, I am a fan of Google. (In fact, imho, if they can pay over a billion for YouTube, they could send some cans of tuna my way for promoting them).

As great as Google is, Lexis and Westlaw has it beat with respect to the sophistication of search connectors. On Lexis and Westlaw, I can search for documents with words in the same sentence - for example, tuna /s can - which will retrieve both "can of tuna" and "tuna fish can" . I can also search for words within the same paragraph - for example, tuna /p brand - which will retrieve discussions of various brands of tuna, as long as the two words are in the same paragraph.

I hope Google gets my hint. Time for a snack.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

The Federal Budget Process

Are you researching aspects of the Federal budget, or the budget-making process? If so, then the Budget Process, Columbia University'’s excellent library and online resources site covering all aspects of the Federal budget, will greatly assist you. From links to introductory material about how the basic process works, to sources related to the budget calendar, as well as news and commentary, and even the U.S. National Debt Clock, it's all here.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Project Posner

How many sitting federal judges have written several thousand opinions and found time to write more than 30 books on topics as diverse as the Economics of Justice, Sex and Reason, Law and Literature, and the Workload of the Supreme Court? Judge Richard Posner of the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the most prolific judges in America, has done all of this and more. Now there is Project Posner, a web site devoted exclusively to Judge Posner’s opinions, with links to his biography, information about his books, articles and activities from his personal site, and his blog. Created by Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu, one of Judge Posner’s former law clerks, the site is a free keyword searchable repository of Posner opinions, including a statistical breakdown of the cases by cited literary figures, scholars, and even animals--an enjoyable way to become acquainted with the famous judge.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

21st Century Library: Introduction to Tax Law Research Online

Next Week: Introduction to Tax Law Research Online: Whether you plan to specialize in tax law or not, as some point you will need to address an issue regarding taxation. Come find out the easiest way to do tax research online in the third of the Library's 21st Century Library workshop series. Also, if you are taking any Tax classes, this workshop is for you.

When: Mon., Oct. 16th - 5:10 to 6pm; and
Tues., Oct. 17th - 11:10 to 12 noon

All 21st Century Library workshops are held in the lower level computer lab and all law students are welcome.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Health News Review

Health News Review is a website that reviews news stories about medical treatments, tests and procedures. A team of reviewers from the fields of medicine, journalism, health services research and public health rate the stories for quality. They look for accuracy, balance and completeness. The mission of this organization is to help people understand their choices and have the information they need to make decisions regarding their health.

New stories appear on the home page of the site. A keyword search can also be done to bring up articles on a particular subject.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Google Puts Lid on New Products

is the title of an article in Friday's Los Angeles Times.
In this article Google guy Sergey Brin states that instead of constantly pushing new products, the company is going to focus on improving and better integrating what they already had. From the article:

the campaign started this summer when Google executives realized that myriad product releases were confusing their users. "It's worse than that," said Brin, Google's president of technology. "It's that I was getting lost in the sheer volume of the products that we were releasing."

..Google admitted this year that its internal audits discovered that the company had been spending too much time on new services to the detriment of its core search engine.

Pretty candid, and quite a departure from the Google game plan of the past few years.
I am optimistic that this bodes well for those of us interested in the future of websearch!

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat