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From time to time, this blog will highlight initiatives, ideas, or activities coming from members, committees or special interest groups (SIGs).

Today: An Update About Web Tracking Tools, by Katie Thomas, Resource and Reference Librarian, Stikeman Elliott LLP (Toronto).

The CALL Knowledge Management SIG had a session on November 30^th that looked at Web Tracking Tools.

There are a lot of website tracking tools out there so it helps to have a guide to get you started.

I based my presentation on the AALL Cool Tools (access only for attendees of American Association of Law Libraries 2021 conference) session where eight trackers were evaluated.

In our session I asked the participants to write down sites they would like to track and they were all different. So, there is a need!

First, what criteria should be used for evaluating?

It depends. Every workplace is different and different things needs to be monitored. However, there are three that stand out.

1.  Ease of Use

• You don’t want to spend time setting things up and you want to understand WHAT you are setting up

2.  Price

• A lot of the tools are free and you can continue to have them free forever or, you can pay.
• Prices vary depending on functionality.

3.  Collaboration

• This allows you to work with colleagues tracking the same website. Say, if someone is on vacation.
  

What to Track?

Any number of things to track. Depends what you want to track! Here’s some that are popular:

1. Prices (book, software, flights, stocks)
   Are they increasing / decreasing
2. Text tracking
   Articles, preprints, legislation, case law, newspapers
3. Competitors
   When does a competitor post commentary on a specific case
4. Archiving
   Like Wayback, but you can customize for the websites you want
   

Features?

What do you want your tracker to do? Here are the popular features:

• Bulk adding of urls into the tracker
• Captcha bypass (or I am fed up counting fire hydrants)
• Password protected pages
• Proxy support, don’t want tracker to get blocked
• Tracking multiple elements on one page (there might be pricing data and text you want to capture changes to on the same page)
• Notification. Or would you prefer Slack, Discord, mobile
  N.B.: Be careful of “quick” and “instant” – understand what these mean (does quick mean within an hour or 5 minutes)
• Data export and reports

CALL's Committee to Promote Research is looking for a new co-chair.

This is a great opportunity to expand your leadership skills and give back. New or experienced members are welcome to apply.

Contact Leslie.taylor AT queensu.ca or christine.brown AT ualberta.ca for more.

And since we are on the topic of research, the Committee invites members of CALL to apply for the CALL Research Grant. The application deadline is February 28, 2022.

The Research Grant was established in 1996 to provide members with financial assistance to carry out research in areas of interest to members and to the association.

Please refer to our Committee page for a copy of the application form and to view our collection of past research projects.

Le comité pour promouvoir la recherche de l'ACBD cherche quelqu'un qui voudrait servir comme co-président.e

Il s'agit d'une excellente occasion pour développer vos habiletés en leadership et contribuer à la profession. Que vous soyez nouveau membre ou non de l'association, nous vous invitons à soumettre votre nom.

Contactez Leslie.taylor @ queensu.ca ou christine.brown @ ualberta.ca pour de plus amples renseignements.

Et comme nous parlons justement de recherche, le comité invite les membres de l'association à présenter une demande pour obtenir une bourse de recherche de l'ACBD. La date d'échéance est le 28 février 2022.

La bourse de recherche de l’ACBD a été créée en 1996 afin d’offrir de l’aide financière aux membres pour effectuer des recherches sur des questions présentant un intérêt pour eux et pour l’Association.

Consultez la page du comité pour plus de détails et pour trouver le formulaire de demande de bourse (en anglais seulement).

 

 

We all have a few tricks up our sleeve when it comes to performing legal research. We sometimes share them with clients. And sometimes, we like to use those tricks to hunt down seemingly impossible to find material and wow them. Because nothing is “impossible” for law librarians.

The CALL blog has started a new regular series of research tips and tricks.

Please share your favourite or coolest strategies with Michel-Adrien Sheppard to have them published on the CALL blog.

Nous avons tous nos trucs favoris quand il s'agit de faire de la recherche juridique. Parfois, nous les partageons avec nos clients. Et parfois, nous aimons les épater en utilisant ces trucs et astuces pour mettre la main sur des informations apparemment impossibles à trouver. Car rien n’est « impossible » pour des bibliothécaires de droit.

Le blogue de l'ACBD a lancé une nouvelle série sur les trucs et astuces de recherche.

SVP partagez vos stratégies les plus intéressantes ou les plus « cool » avec Michel-Adrien Sheppard afin de les faire publier sur le blogue de CALL/ACBD.

Today: Finding Ministerial Orders by Susannah Tredwell, Manager of Library Services, DLA Piper (Canada) LLP in Vancouver (originally published November 24, 2021 on SlawTips.ca)

Ministerial Orders refer to orders “created under the authority granted to a minister under a statute or regulation that are made by a Minister” as opposed to Orders in Council which are issued by the Governor General of Canada or the Lieutenant Governor of a province. 

For that reason it’s generally harder to find Ministerial Orders than Orders in Council, although this depends greatly on the province. Some provinces, such as British Columbia, make all their Ministerial Orders available in one place. For other jurisdictions you may have to look specifically at the Ministry’s website to find the order (e.g. Transport Canada provides its orders here: https://tc.canada.ca/en/ministerial-orders-interim-orders-directives-directions-response-letters.) 

One thing to keep in mind is that, depending on the jurisdiction, the same number may be used for multiple Ministerial Orders. Drew Yewchuk gives an example in a blog post: “there is an M.O. 20/2020 from the Minister of Environment and Parks and an M.O. 20/2020 from the Minister of Justice.”

(And just to confuse the matter further, both Ministerial Orders and Orders in Council may also be regulations which involves another numbering system.)

From time to time, this blog will highlight initiatives, ideas, or activities coming from members, committees or special interest groups (SIGs).

Today: An update from the Private Law Libraries Special Interest Group, by Marnie Bailey, Manager, Knowledge Services, Fasken.

The Private Law Libraries Special Interest Group (PLL-SIG) has had two meetings in the last couple months, focusing on plans for 2022.

We have determined that quarterly meetings work best for members to stay connected with each other, and will have two in person meetings in 2022, and two online discussions. One of the in person meetings will be at the CALL conference, and one will be later in the year.

The PLL-SIG has also created a space on CALL’s Basecamp; current members of the PLL-SIG will receive an email shortly; if you are not a current member of the PLL-SIG, please contact CALL Head Office if you would like to be added to it.

Our Basecamp will host meeting minutes, working documents, discussions and more, and is a repository for all PLL-SIG members to use to work on projects and share ideas.

The PLL-SIG also has a Slack channel, with archived content of previous meetings.

If you have any questions about the PLL-SIG, please contact Marnie Bailey, chair, or attend one of our upcoming meetings.

You don’t need to be a member to attend, and you don’t have to work in a private law library either!

Whether you used to work in one or are just curious about how private law libraries work, ‘guests’ are always welcome!

Marnie.

Le texte français suit.

CALL's Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization Committee would like to draw your attention to the upcoming webinar organized by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL).

CARL Inclusion Perspectives Webinar Series: Third Panel Featuring Indigenous Library Colleagues

Date and Time: November 24, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3cSLLridTSyR8AwYKFpt2A

Please note that this event is open to all (not just CARL institutions) and will be recorded and posted to the CARL YouTube account afterwards.

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries’ (CARL) Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Working Group is pleased to announce the third in a series of planned webinars on inclusion perspectives, which will feature a panel of Indigenous library colleagues discussing their perspectives on the state of Canadian librarianship and how we can affect change.

This 1.5 hour moderated panel discussion will focus on progress on EDI initiatives to date and goals to strive for in the future. This will be a collaborative future-forward conversation, so please bring your own questions and/or proposed solutions.

In addition to being subject to the CARL Code of Conduct, CARL asks all participants, panelists and organizers to be respectful of what is being shared and in how they ask questions.

In the interest of accessibility, simultaneous translation and captions will be available throughout the session. Additional accommodation requests can also be emailed to Julie Morin, Program Officer at CARL (julie.morin@carl-abrc.ca).

Le comité de la diversité, de l'inclusion et de la décolonisation de l'ACBD aimerait attirer votre attention sur un webinaire qui sera offert bientôt par l'Association des bibliothèques de recherche du Canada (ABRC).

Série de webinaires sur les perspectives d’inclusion de l’ABRC : Troisième panel mettant en vedette des collègues autochtones du secteur des bibliothèques

Date et heure : 24 novembre de 13 h à 14 h 30 HE

Inscription: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3cSLLridTSyR8AwYKFpt2A 

Veuillez noter que cet événement est ouvert à tous (pas seulement aux institutions membres de l’ABRC) et sera enregistré et affiché sur le compte YouTube de l’ABRC par la suite. 

Le Groupe de travail sur l’équité, la diversité et l’inclusion de l’Association des bibliothèques de recherche du Canada (ABRC) a le plaisir d’annoncer le troisième d’une série de webinaires sur les perspectives d’inclusion, mettant en vedette des collègues autochtones du secteur des bibliothèques qui discuteront de leurs perspectives sur l’état actuel de la bibliothéconomie au Canada et sur les manières de susciter le changement.

Ce panel d’une durée d’une heure et demie traitera des progrès quant aux initiatives actuelles d’équité, de diversité et d’inclusion et aux objectifs pour entrevoir l’avenir. La séance se veut un échange collaboratif tourné vers les solutions; n’hésitez pas à préparer vos questions et à proposer vos solutions.

En plus d’être soumis au Code de conduite de l’ABRC, l’ABRC demande aux membres de l’auditoire, panélistes et membres du comité organisateur de faire preuve de respect de ce qui est partagé et de la façon de poser des questions.

Aux fins d’accessibilité, une traduction simultanée et des sous-titres seront disponibles tout au long de la session. Pour toute demande d’accommodement supplémentaire, veuillez écrire à Julie Morin, agente de programme de l’ABRC (julie.morin@carl-abrc.ca).

From time to time, this blog will highlight initiatives, ideas, or activities coming from members, committees or special interest groups (SIGs).

Today: Adapting the SALI Taxonomy to the Canadian Legal Environment, by Michael McAlpine , Manager, Information, Research & Knowledge at Siskinds (London, Ontario)

On September 28^th, the Knowledge Management Special Interest Group of CALL met to discuss and learn about the Legal Matter Specification Standard developed by the SALI Alliance.

The SALI Alliance (Standards Advancement for the Legal Industry) is a non-profit organization open to all stakeholders in the legal community. Members include law firms, companies, legal service providers, legal industry associations and academic institutions. Founding sponsors are the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) and the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA).

Guest speaker Jim Hannigan spoke about the history of the taxonomy and the current uses of it in the legal industry. Michael McAlpine then discussed the work done by the SALI Canadian Working Group to adapt the taxonomy to the Canadian legal environment. There was a general discussion about the uses of the taxonomy and efforts to implement it in law firms.

First released in 2019, the SALI taxonomy was developed in order to provide a standard method for describing legal matters and associated documents. Version 2.0 was released at the end of 2020 and represented a significant expansion of the code set. Organizations and individuals around the globe continue to contribute to its development and growth.

The SALI taxonomy is extensible and can work in conjunction with other standards (eg, NAICS, UTBMS codes). SALI is an open, free and party neutral that can be used by law firms, vendors and others in the legal industry to ensure matters and documents are described consistently. SALI has been endorsed by several large law firms and by vendors such as Fastcase, NetDocuments and Reynen Court.

Some of the core attributes of the current standard are:

• Area of Law: Each matter can be assigned a primary and secondary area of law. Primary areas include topics such as Corporate Law, Constitutional and Human Rights, Personal and Family Law, and Food and Drug Law. Secondary areas are more specific and include topics such as Corporate Governance, Accident Benefits Law, and Labour Law.
• Service: The Services attribute is a central feature of the taxonomy. Examples of services are Transaction, Advisory, or Dispute. Services provide more detail to a matter description than just relying solely on Area of Law.
• Player Role: The Role attribute is what makes SALI party neutral. Roles include Appellant, Respondent, Acquiror or Acquiree.
  

Other attributes that can be used to describe a matter or client include Industry, Legal Entity, Location, or Trial Type.

The KM SIG will next meet on November 30^th to discuss website monitoring applications. If you would like an invitation, please contact Michael McAlpine.

From time to time, this blog will highlight initiatives, ideas, or activities coming from members, committees or special interest groups (SIGs).

Today: Scanning in Courthouse & Law Society Libraries, by Jenny Thornhill (MSc, MLIS, MSL), Law Librarian, Law Society of Newfoundland & Labrador

The pandemic has forced many libraries, my own included, to examine their service models and  be creative in order to continue to provide services despite the lockdowns and other restrictions.

The Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador Law Library (St. John’s, NL) is no different – back in 2020, we closed our doors to in-person services to our members and the public. We continued to offer what we call our remote services (contactless pickup, research and reference in texts and databases, and text scanning, including table of content scans).

Prior to the pandemic the public were permitted to access the print resources only and on-site only, so for the duration of the pandemic they have not been permitted to access the Law Library.

As things have improved, we have opened up to allow in-person access by appointment for our members only (excluding 3 lockdowns). However, we have remained closed to the public in order to comply with government guidelines for the number of persons in indoor spaces.

We traditionally get very few members of the public who actually need to access our legal resources. We find that the majority are in need of legal advice so we refer them to the Public Legal Information Association of Newfoundland & Labrador (PLIAN).

As part of our plan for the pandemic, we knew that limiting public access would be somewhat challenging, but we identified alternatives that would be accessible to the public, such as our online resources, to which staff could direct the public.

We already had a section on our website https://lsnl.ca/law-library/links-for-self-represented-litigants/ for SLR’s that had been reviewed by lawyers and approved as appropriate for the public to get answers and aid. This tool and PLIAN have been key resources for Library staff to provide reference services to the public.

Only twice during the pandemic did we get contacted by non-members who felt they really needed to have access to the library resources on-site. 

The most recent of these was a member of the public who needed access to a specific text that only we carried in the city. This was a problem as we do not lend our resources to the public, we remain closed to on-site public access due to the current 4^th wave, and we have never provided scanning on behalf of the public (they could come in and make copies for a fee, but we did not copy on their behalf and provide it to them via email).

This situation was resolved by referring her to the Interlibrary Loans department of her local library, but it left me wondering whether other libraries offered a text scanning service via e-mail to the public either as a result of the pandemic or had traditionally offered this service.

I send out a call through the CALL-L listserv and, as I have come to find with this great group, we got a lot of prompt responses.

The chart below is a summary of the results. I found that the majority of libraries who offered a scan service to the public had already been doing so prior to the pandemic, except for Alberta Law Libraries who had allowed the public to access this service during the lockdowns, but no longer.

This helped cement my decision that we would continue to keep our scan service available to our members only.

My thanks again to everyone who responded to this and my other questions over the last year and a half.

Courthouse/Law Libraries – Scanning for the public Summary of Responses

Library Location	Do you offer a scan service from your texts?	If so, do you allow the public to access it during covid?	For the public, do you charge or is it free because of covid?
Hastings & Prince Edward Law Association	We do offer a scan service, but only to the lawyers, Crowns, Judiciary.	No	N/A
Yukon Public Law Library	yes	Yes (pre-existing service)	No charge (cost covered by LSNL)
Nova Scotia Barristers Society	We do offer a scan service, but only to membership.	No	N/A
Welland County Law Association	scan service of textbooks to our membership at no charge	No	N/A
Law Society of P.E.I. Library	Yes	Yes (pre-existing service)	No charge (before or now)
Courthouse Libraries BC	Scanning from a text though, we would consider document delivery – do for members and public	Yes (pre-existing service)	No charge – was a charged service prior to pandemic, charges will resume shortly
Alberta Law Libraries - Calgary	scan for a fee for members of the law society	Public were offered during lockdown – now required to come in and scan	Free during lockdown – now onsite access only
Frontenac Law Association	Free for members	Not open to public	N/A
Law Society of NB	Scan service for members (10%); document delivery	No	N/A
Wellington Law Library	Free for members	Not open to public	N/A
Supreme Court of Canada Law Library	Free for staff	No	N/A

          

Le français suit plus bas.

We all have a few tricks up our sleeve when it comes to performing legal research. We sometimes share them with clients. And sometimes, we like to use those tricks to hunt down seemingly impossible to find material and wow them. Because nothing is “impossible” for law librarians.

The CALL blog has started a new regular series of research tips and tricks.

Please share your favourite or coolest strategies with Michel-Adrien Sheppard to have them published on the CALL blog.

Nous avons tous nos trucs favoris quand il s'agit de faire de la recherche juridique. Parfois, nous les partageons avec nos clients. Et parfois, nous aimons les épater en utilisant ces trucs et astuces pour mettre la main sur des informations apparemment impossibles à trouver. Car rien n’est « impossible » pour des bibliothécaires de droit.

Le blogue de l'ACBD a lancé une nouvelle série sur les trucs et astuces de recherche.

SVP partagez vos stratégies les plus intéressantes ou les plus « cool » avec Michel-Adrien Sheppard afin de les faire publier sur le blogue de CALL/ACBD.

Today: Finding Legislative Concordances (by M-A Sheppard).

Legislative concordances help you compare legislation on the same subject from different jurisdictions.

For example, a concordance might indicate the Manitoba equivalent to Ontario's Family Law Act, section by section.

There are a number of sources to assist you in finding concordances.

Here are two.

Westlaw

From the Westlaw Statutes and Regulations page, there is a link to Legislative Concordances.

There, you will find concordances on a number of topics, such as family or insurance law:

Simply browse to the topic you are researching and you fill find a table listing the equivalent sections in different provincial acts. Here is the list for changing a person's name in family legislation:

Lexis Advance Quicklaw

There is a link to the Tables of Concordance on the Lexis Advance Quicklaw home page.

On the Tables of Concordance page, you will find a number of topics:

Aujourd'hui: Comment trouver des concordances législatives (par M-A Sheppard).

Les concordances législatives vous aident à comparer les lois de différents territoires ou provinces sur le même sujet.

Par exemple, une concordance en droit de la famille vous permet de trouver le texte équivalent dans la loi manitobaine des articles de la Loi sur le droit de la famille de l'Ontario (Family Law Act).

Vous avez plusieurs sources de concordances à votre disposition.

En voici deux.

Westlaw

Vous trouverez un lien aux Concordances législatives sur la page Lois et règlements de Westlaw.

Vous y trouverez de concordances sur plusieurs sujets, comme le droit de la famille ou le droit des assurances:

Parcourez la liste pour trouver un tableau où vous verrez les numéros des articles équivalents dans différentes lois provinciales. Par exemple, voici les articles pour le changement de nom d'une personne:

Lexis Advance Quicklaw

Il y a un lien aux Tableaux comparatifs sur la page d'accueil de Lexis Advance Quicklaw.

Sur la page d'accueil des Tableaux comparatifs, vous trouverez plusieurs domaines de droit:

September 30 has been a significant date in Canada since 2013, when Phyllis Webstad from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation shared her story of attending St. Joseph’s Residential School in Williams Lake, BC, for the first time in 1973.

As a youngster, she proudly wore her shiny new orange shirt, only to have it taken from her by the school. Since then, Orange Shirt Day has been a national movement in Canada where people across the country wear orange in honour of Phyllis and other residential school survivors, so that we both recognize and raise awareness of the history and legacies of the Canadian residential school system.

This year’s Orange Shirt Day, September 30, 2021, is also the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.

As part of its mandate, the Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonization Committee (DIDC) of CALL/ACBD is committed to fostering awareness and acumen in respect of issues of diversity, inclusion, and decolonization within all sectors of law librarianship and related professions.

Truth and Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples is a national movement that is not only limited to one day, but is an ongoing effort so that Indigenous Peoples and their rights are recognized, understood and respected by all.

In this spirit, the DIDC, as part of CALL/ACBD, would like to highlight a couple of upcoming opportunities available to all of us to bring together our colleagues in order to honour survivors, their families and communities, and to sadly remember those who didn’t make it home:

• On Thursday, September 30, the University of Windsor Law Library will be hosting WAAYDANAA | Now is the Time. The event will be held virtually and is free. Registration is required.
• Nadine Hoffman, in coordination with the Academic SIG and the DIDC, is planning a related event on strategies for aspects of Indigenous research to help us better understand legal research in relation to Indigenous Peoples. Stay tuned – format and details to come!

Hello.

This is reprinted from the September 2021 issue of In Session, the CALL member bulletin:

There is a great opportunity to join the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR) editorial board as our Advertising Manager.

The CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries.

We are looking for someone to volunteer to help us solicit advertisements for upcoming issues, coordinate invoicing with our accounting department, and to answer advertiser's questions. Each year the members of the editorial board are also responsible for selecting the Feature Article Award and Student Article Award winners.

Anyone who is familiar with, or who wants to develop relationships with, the various legal publishers would be in a good position to join us.

The time commitment is approximately five hours per issue and there will be three issues per year starting in 2022. We will provide you with an orientation and training period.

If you’re interested in joining CLLR, please contact Susan Barker (Acting Editor) at susan.barker AT utoronto.ca.