by Shay ElbaumPosted on Posted in Posts — No Comments ↓

This third installment of “Welcome to my Desk” (thanks to Rachel and Deborah for the first two!) doesn’t have any cats in it (I’m sad about it too), but it does have yet another Yeti microphone. Here’s where I’ve been sitting, and occasionally standing and squatting, for the past few months.

First: the home office. It’s not quite a separate room – an unattainable luxury with Bay Area housing prices – but I only sit here when at work and I don’t work anywhere else, which has effectively mitigated the sense of being at work all the time. I retrieved the monitor and keyboard from my actual at-work desk after a couple of weeks of hunching over my laptop; the footrest and webcam are more recent additions that are really helping with the home-office neck-pain blues.

 

 

On the ubiquitous IKEA cart (RÅSKOG), I keep the ubiquitous Yeti mic plus pop filter; I’ve done a lot of instructional video recordings this pandemic and am very glad to have it. Also some Vitamin D, books for an article I’m working on, and all the other miscellany that ends up on IKEA carts.

 

 

This picture has two things I thought I’d probably never use but kept anyway, so I feel completely vindicated in my pack-rat tendencies. The little vlex/Casemaker robot is a USB hub, conference swag from the 2018 AALL Annual Meeting. With my mouse, keyboard, webcam, and microphone all connecting via USB, it’s been essential. The port on its left arm is broken, though, in case anyone from vlex or Casemaker is reading this and wants to send me a replacement…. The fancy-looking mousepad came in the mail from my law school a year or so ago (I think I must have sent them some money?), I didn’t need it but it looked too nice to throw away, and now it’s doing an excellent job keeping my mouse from scratching up my desk. The book is a relic of the pre-webcam days (i.e. last week), raising the camera on my laptop to a slightly more flattering height. But it’s a good book too!

A little lower-tech on this side of the desk, but we’ve got headphones, a Bluetooth speaker (it makes Zoom very angry when connected, alas), and the Whale Stapler. I rarely have to staple anything, but it’s always exciting when I do. I do use a lot of post-its; I follow the Getting Things Done productivity method (very loosely), and the in-box on the left is often carpeted with post-its used to capture items as they pop into my head or my email. If you zoom in, you can probably also see what I’ve been doing today (pink notepad) and notes for a current project (the other pile), although good luck deciphering it. The ceramic jug was made by a friend and its contents come from a tree in another friend’s yard, and it’s great to feel connected to them while I stare out the window – I mean, stare diligently at the monitor.

The last item I want to mention, hiding in their tin just behind the monitor, are book darts. Maybe everyone else already uses these, but I only discovered them about a year ago, and I have to spread the word. They slide onto a page to mark the page or passage, and unlike sticky page flags, they are aesthetically pleasing and a delight to use. (Featured book: Full Catastrophe Living, by Jon Kabat-Zinn.)

 

 

 

To close, this is a screw that fell out of my chair when I moved it to take these photos. I’ve examined every inch of the chair and cannot figure out where it came from. If the chair collapses and I break a limb, know that it was in service of the CS-SIS.

 

by Rachel EvansPosted on Posted in COVID19

Misty staring intensely at cataloging statistics (which we actually label “CatStats”).

In the second installment of our “Welcome to My Desk” posts (major thanks to Deborah Ginsburg for diving in with the first!) I wanted to share the variety of spaces I’ve worked from home in, as well as the space I’m gradually returning to a few days a week in the library. Like Deborah, my last full day in the office before COVID-19 closure was March 13th. Since March 16th when I first set up my initial “home office” space, it has perpetually included a kid, several cats, a mac book pro laptop, and a Yeti USB microphone. I’m sensing a theme here…

The types of glitches that happen in many areas of my home due to hotspotting internet.

But unlike Deborah, I couldn’t stay set up in a single area of my house (not even for 1 of my 148 day teleworking spree). With a 5 year old who won’t stay put, a husband who likes to listen to music on the home stereo, and a horrible internet connection, I’ve had to be flexible and literally roam my home for privacy and a cellular signal during certain hours of the work-from-home-day. Starting last week, August 10th to be precise, many of us returned to work at the University of Georgia. With a teleworking agreement in place I am still moving between the two worlds. I need to keep my home office tech either at home or bring small parts of it to and from home and the actual office every other day. This has proven to require another level of flexibility!

Here’s a tour of the spectrum of “desks” I’ve had for the past 5 months and counting, essential tech I need for each spot, and the pros or cons of each set-up:

1. The Bedroom – 11 AM to 6PM *strongest internet connection & lowest lighting*

LEGO desk figure my son made me of one of our cats.

This is my actual home office space. Pre-pandemic I had purchased an L-shaped corner desk for my bedroom. I primarily used it as a small art and music desk. The first things I brought home, not knowing how long this would last, were my Yeti mic, my favorite desk ornament “Mr. Cat”, a laptop stand, steno pads, pens and pencils, and my thesaurus. Several weeks later I ended up retrieving an extra monitor (formerly my second monitor from work), mouse, mouse pad, keyboard, and my external hard drive. My desk already had a couple power strips below and two nearby wall outlets, as well as a ring lamp that had USB ports for charging other devices (like my phone). Now I’ve accumulated more books, binders, and other items I’ve brought home from the library. I’ve been slowly returning these each time I’ve been back in the library over the last two weeks. I have also accumulated a surprising amount of new custom desk ornaments made from legos!

I live WAY out in the country, and internet access is not so great. We had recently ditched satellite internet that cost more per month than it worked for us and expanded our dataplan with Verizon to hot spot internet from out phones (yes, this is unfortunately the best quality internet available in my area). With this in mind, the bedroom desk turned out to be the most solid internet connection throughout my home. It also has the lowest lighting since most of the afternoon I can stay in the space with the curtains closed and the lights dim. Sometimes I get 3 bars LTE in this spot!! The downsides of this spot are that it is still the bedroom, connected to our main bathroom and of course our bed. If I am working quietly with no meetings, I can sometimes pull off working in this area in the morning – but who doesn’t have zoom meetings before 11 AM? So this location is best between the hours of 11 AM and 6 PM, with random ranges of unavailability in between.

From left to right: laptop, computer stand, thesaurus, external hard drive, desk light with USB charger, external monitor, external keyboard, a cat, small books from the office (like Bluebook), Yeti USB microphone, computer mouse and mouse pad, cat koozie for can/cat coffee mug, pencils/pens holder, librarian action figure, steno pads, notebooks from the office.

2. The Studio – 7 AM to 10 AM *kid & cat free zone*

Zooming into Istanbul for a live streamed international poster presentation with Anne Burnett.

There have been times early in the morning where I have had zoom meetings or had to give a live presentation virtually before my husband and son are awake. Not wanting to be responsible in any way for waking my son up earlier than anyone is ready for, I head out to our separate studio space. This is actually a garage that was completely re-finished. My husband and I keep much of our media collection out in the studio, along with our largest musical instruments, as well as art materials (dark room enlarger, photographic chemicals, canvases, etc.). This is the only completely kid-free and cat-free zone in our home, and is really well insulated sound-wise since it used to be a garage. The door that closes this room off is a thick exterior door.

8 AM zoom screen sharing with my supervisor to work on Sierra.

The downsides of the studio are the internet connection and power outlets. I only have 1 bar out there which makes for lagging video and audio, and frequent dropped zoom calls. There are also very few wall outlets, and most of them are already spoken for with large gear plugged in that would be a hassle to move. However, in a pinch, this space offers privacy early morning if I have a meeting that would otherwise wake my family up. For this space, I only take my laptop, phone, and ear-buds – the bare minimum.

3. The Living Room Couch – 9 AM to 4 PM *2nd best internet connection & a window*

One of my earlier work from home photos, about 8 AM in April. Not pictured: third cat above my head.

The couch in our living room is right beside a window with a rose bush, looking out into our back yard. This spot has the 2nd best internet. With the window open and my phone positioned just right on the windowsill it has a solid 2 bars. This spot is super great in the morning before others are awake, assuming I do not have a zoom meeting. The windowsill doubles as a great place for writing utensils and my coffee cup. The coffee table is great for spreading out notes from meetings and looking over anything printed and visual that I need to for organizing the items themselves and my thoughts. It isn’t always a clean table space though – this is also the main location my son builds things (legos, tinker toys, mangatiles, play doh – you name it, it is on the table and sometimes in mass). At this “desk” I’ve quickly learned that looks can be deceiving with comfortable sitting areas.

View of this spot from zoom (with yet another cat).

At first I loved the couch, but I wasn’t used to sitting on it with a laptop for hours at a time. It is slouch-city! And ultimately too much time in this location is a literal pain in the neck. Up side? It is also cat-city. We have four cats, and if a cat in your lap or on top of your head is needed for stress relief, this is the place to be. Another down side though, as the most open area of our home it is the most likely place to be interrupted. I tend to only bring the laptop, my phone, and a notebook or two most of the time. If I’m on kid-duty and working, I’ll bring out my better headphones so I can focus more on what I need to do than whatever my son is watching on the TV. This area is harder to use the later it gets in the day, as my son gets increasingly restless and my husband starts dinner.

4. The Dining Room Table – 11 AM to 1 PM *best zoom background*

View from zoom.

How many meetings happen during the lunch hour (and are purposely scheduled that way!)? The answer is far too many… I am bad enough about eating late lunches anyway, but sometimes there is no better option than eating during faculty meetings between 12 and 1. I don’t use this location much, but at least once a week since March I’ve had to use this “desk”. The dining room connects to the bedroom so this spot doesn’t work well before 11 AM when others may be sleeping or still getting ready.

View of the “desk”.

What else is happening…

 

 

 

 

 

 

The internet connection is terrible here, but the table is large so there is plenty of space free from toy-creations and dried play-doh to spread out papers for taking notes and still eat at a reasonable time of day. The best part about this room is that we also have our book shelves lining the walls. This makes it my favorite spot for having a nice non-virtual background. For this desk I take my laptop with stand (to put notebooks or a plate of food underneath), phone, Yeti microphone, and headphones.

5. The Kitchen Counter – Anytime *best for multi-tasking*

Checking emails while brewing coffee.

By multi-tasking I mean working, being in a meeting (preferably one I am primarily listening to and not leading or speaking often), and being a mom. This is the space with a decent enough internet connection – mostly 2 bars. I can start work tasks (like uploading items to our repository or uploading a video tutorial), listen to or take part in a meeting, prepare food for my son, watch him in the living room, or even wash dishes. I don’t end up working in this area for very long, and like the dining room, it happens only a couple times a week. But when I do, I need my laptop, phone, and earbuds. In a pinch I can manage with just earbuds and my phone. I’ve got zoom, skype, and go to meeting apps all installed on my phone at this point so whatever the virtual platform I can quickly connect. If I really need to be more hands-on with my son or something around the house like in the kitchen, I just triple check that I’m muted and my camera is off since this usually means my phone is in my back pocket.

6. The Actual Office – *best for live streamed video presentations & working with the ILS*

Me in the office over the summer, meeting with my supervisor Wendy Moore who was working at home – fear not, she brought MANY file folders home with her.

For the majority of my teleworking experience this past spring and summer, I went into the office as briefly as possible one morning a week (usually Fridays). This was only for the most essential things I couldn’t do from home, like change our library catalog’s physical backup tape, and to download, edit, and upload batches of records for the catalog. We use iii’s Sierra and I’ve found that even tasks that look like they are available in Sierra Web do not always work the same way, or the option is greyed out. It also requires VPN which my bad internet loves to kick me off of, making it too time-consuming or frustrating from home to be efficient. As the summer progressed, I started doing more presentations for virtual conferences. I quickly found that going into the office to present was well worth it to ensure I wouldn’t completely glitch out or drop the video conference entirely while I was mid-sentence as a speaker or panelist. I did this when presenting for CALICon and AALL for example – more on that below.

Changing the backup tape.

Now that the semester has begun for fall, I’m on a three days a week in the office schedule, and two days at home. The things I came across immediately that I would need in the office and at home were a web cam/microphone, and headphones. There have already been days that I ended up forgetting headphones to take into the office. And let’s not forget things to write with (because I did!) – in March I took home almost all my pens and pencils. Returning to work regularly I realized there was nothing to write with! I still need my external monitor at home, and most of my work is on my laptop. So for now my actual office desk in the library is minus my normally 2nd monitor, but I’ve been taking my laptop with me each time. This keeps me from using too many USB drives (and forgetting or losing those) or having to email or Slack myself any items I might need two or more days in a row when I’m alternating between work and home. The single thing I’ve missed the most was probably my barcode scanner. I know it isn’t necessary, but it is one of the things I really missed having at my desk. I’ve also missed having a land-line telephone. I didn’t think I would ever say that! Though working from home using my phone as a hotspot for internet has prevented me from making regular telephone calls AND working on a computer. For my cell phone, it is one or the other. Calling into a meeting or just making a regular phone call with a coworker saves data, but I cannot do anything else while I am on the phone. Just yesterday our systems team did some improvised old school conference calls from our respective offices. I LOVED this! Bonus that there was no delay in hearing my colleagues muffled voice through the walls like I’ve experience on zoom meetings when we are in our offices.

The entire spring and summer I made it until July before using a virtual background. This was actually out of necessity – I just couldn’t get it to work with my ancient Mac Book. It is a 2011 running Yosemite. For presenting live at virtual AALL I was able to get from our Law School IT department a super sweet USB webcam. It is widescreen and has a nice auto-focus feature. I now use this with my PC for zooming when I am in the real office building. Because my PC is newer, I can use virtual backgrounds with no issue in the office with this set-up! Even without a green screen behind me, it worked perfectly. I discovered though that my best headphones (which rise up above my head) are NOT virtual background friendly, and instead use earbuds for calls I need virtual backgrounds for.

by Jimmy PakPosted on Posted in Posts

Lexis recently upgraded its Lexis Advance legal research platform by tweaking the visual interface and by adding a few substantive tools to its platform. Lexis+ acts more like a quality of life update rather than a revolutionary overhaul, which is a welcome improvement to its current user base but so overwhelming to alienate fans of the older platform.

(For fans of dark mode, Lexis+ has updated their landing page to be sleeker.)

Lexis+ will be a phased and optional roll out for law firms later this fall. Law students automatically receive access to the platform beginning this month. Since Lexis+ will be the first interface for incoming 1Ls, legal research instructors should make some contingencies for somehow still using Lexis Advance as it may be very possible that law students could work with recalcitrant law firms refusing to make the switch.

One new addition to the landing page is the quick tabs on the left, which allow you to quickly access the practical guidance and brief analysis sections. Practical guidance results are also included in the search results if you select the “legal research” option

(New sidebar dock for quick access to the Legal Research, Practical Guidance, and Brief Analysis tools.)

Another feature is the “missing” and “must include” term search in the results list. By clicking the “must include” term, it re-runs your search to require that specific term in the results. This tool was somewhat useful, as it helps visualize key terms in the context of your search results.

(‘Missing’ and ‘Must Include’ features.)

One great feature (for law schools) is the new graphical display, which visualizes how operators and terms affect your search. This is a great way to demonstrate Boolean searches for legal research classes. The tool can also visualize Boolean search issues, for example, typos will be easier to spot given the document counts. You can also hover your cursor to view specific sequences in the Boolean search.

(Lexis+ graphical search query display.)

Lexis is also introducing Shepard’s at Risk, which appears to work just like Westlaw’s Overruling Risk indicator. One difference is that the At Risk cases pop up within the case itself, allowing you to quickly determine whether the At Risk symbol effects the reasoning for your case, which is a simple but effective quality of life improvement over its competitor.

(Shepard’s At Risk.)

Lexis+ also released their Brief Analyzer, playing catch up to other major legal research databases like Bloomberg and Westlaw. One unique aspect of Lexis+ Brief Analyzer is pulling in similar briefs based on the analysis, a valuable resource for smaller firms without expansive brief banks and newer attorneys looking for sample language and arguments.

To test its capability, I used a redacted motion for summary judgment. There were a few hiccups likely due to the optical character recognition (OCR) and the formatting of my PDF. However, the organization of the case recommendations was clean, and the case recommendations were extensive but not overwhelming.

(Lexis+ Brief Analyzer’s dashboard.)

(Recommendations appear next to the sections in your brief.)

Overall, the visual tweaks, search tool enhancements, and results visualization have elevated Lexis+ to finally match its competitors’ offerings. While Lexis+ has narrowed the gap, only time will tell whether these improvements can convince users to make the switch. The underlying theme of this update however is to make the improvements demanded by its user base, but not so revolutionary to alienate new users. I enjoyed my experience with the new platform and look forward to what the future holds for legal research.

by Deborah GinsbergPosted on Posted in COVID19, Posts

Getting Started on my Desk

On March 12, the local schools closed.  On March 13, I went to the office for a meeting, packed some things, and went home. I’ve been WFH ever since.

The first thing I did when I got home was to arrange my desk for work.  Before it had been used for storing important papers that I would look at someday very soon.  Those are now in a box.  I will look at them very soon.

My desk is in my room, which I know isn’t “best practice.”  If you can, set up your workspace in a separate room.  But I only have so many rooms and my other choices were in my basement, which doesn’t have windows.  Windows are important – they tell me what time of day it is.

There are also two children and 2 cats.  This is important.

When setting up my desk, I had to consider several issues:

  1. How could I best fit my computer and at least one extra monitor?  I use two monitors at work, so keeping that system was vital.
  2. How could I maintain at least a half-way decent posture?
  3. Is my internet fast enough?
  4. Do I have enough outlet space?
  5. Can I see at least one window?
  6. Can I see the cats?

My current set up addresses most of these issues.  The internet could be faster.

On March 13, I grabbed what I thought would be most important: The Yeti microphone, the Yeti stand, some cables, my Lexis mugs (you know which ones), and my good tea.  I did not grab my mouse and my keyboard.  I immediately regretted that.  One of my colleagues was able to rescue them before Chicago-Kent shut down.  I’m so glad she did – the laptop keyboard was not sustainable for avoiding pain in my shoulders and hands.

After I came home, I asked my son for one of his many monitors.  He tried to give me an old 20″ but that didn’t work. Sorry kid, one of your three 27″ monitors was going to be mine for a while.  You’d survive with a 20″ for your 3rd monitor.  Once I cleared my desk, set up the monitor, and placed the Yeti, I was ready to record many, many training videos. Not to mention all of my other work.

Over the next few months, I had to make a few adjustments.  The original chair was killing my back, so I got the kind of chair that my kid uses for gaming.  I wanted to try to make a green screen work, which meant I had to move my desk in front of a wall.  I’ve moved this desk at least 3 times.

(more…)

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by Rachel EvansPosted on Posted in AALL Annual, Conferences, Data

Several CS-SIS members (myself included!) took part in the TS-SIS sponsored session “Data, Stats, Go: Navigating the Intersections of Cataloging, E-Resource, and Web Analytics Reporting” for AALL’s 2020 annual conference live stream programming last week. In case you missed it, or had issues with the live stream, attendees can now watch the recording on-demand by visiting: https://cdmcd.co/Wv977d

Select “handouts” to access the slides PDF as well as a 2-page handout at the end of the file, and choose “on-demand recording” to watch the video. The content of this session included a wide range of examples showing the types of data we are all collecting for our institutions, and organization represented included both law firm and academic libraries. Several platforms were shared about, and their data types compared including repositories, integrated library systems, websites, ticketing, and more.

We broke down our data-driven discussion into three major parts:

  1. The Landscape (WHERE you pull your data from, and analytics versus statistic)
  2. The [Pain] Points (WHAT you are gathering, with an emphasis on process vs. technology pain points)
  3. The Life of the Story (WHY you are reporting, WHO you share it with, and HOW you visualize it)

The live session featured interactive polling for each section of the presentation, and an “ugly origami” exercise where participants were asked to write on and fold a single sheet of paper to create a symbol of their statistics (…the catch was not knowing exactly what you were doing in advance)! We had fun literally visualizing how ugly our stats truly are when we don’t think about what, why, and how we collect our data in advance. We shared our favorite tools for leveling up stats visualization, and encouraged attendees to think more critically and creatively about their library’s data.

Whether you watched the session live, plan to re-watch it later, or only have time to read this blog post, we encourage you to use this set of questions as a guide for using your data to tell more meaningful and powerful stories about your users, services, and resources:

  • What stories to you need to tell using data?
  • What systems can you get that data from?
  • Does the data actually represent what you think it does?
  • What tools could you use, if any, to visualize or report it?
  • What impact or result do you want your data to have?
  • How could you improve the usefulness of your data moving forward?
    • What data do you wish you had tracked?
    • What data do you track that you no longer need?
    • Do you need changes to your procedures?
  • What unintended issues could your changes introduce to other data tracked?

Thank you to everyone who attended. Now, data, stats, go…!

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by artiebernsPosted on Posted in Posts

In March, I wrote a post for this blog on how to use Zoom. Since Covid-19 still has us all stuck at home, why not learn more about Zoom?  In this blog post, I will show you how to use Zoom’s polling feature.

 

Before the meeting.

First, sign into the Zoom website—not the client.*

Next, you need to check your account settings to make sure polls are enabled. Go to the settings page

Then scroll down to polling and, if it’s not on, turn it on.

With polling enabled, we can then create a meeting, here I have already created a meeting called “Learning about polls.”

Next, click into that meeting’s page—I’ll click on the blue text “Learning about polls.”

Once you are on the new meeting page, scroll to the bottom and you will see a box that informs you “You have not created any poll yet.” Adjacent to this message hit the add button.

This launches the “Add a Poll” dialog box.

Here we can create the poll questions. From this box, you will enter a title for your poll, choose whether participants will answer the poll anonymously (i.e. the system will not collect the participant’s answers), and enter poll questions. This poll contains two questions. One question is set to a single choice and the other to multiple choice. Once you’re done entering questions, hit save. You can create multiple polls for use within a single meeting.

In preparation for my meeting, I created three polls using the various settings available in the Zoom poll creation tool. Next up, we’ll use these polls within a zoom meeting.

During the Meeting

To help with this meeting I enlisted the aid of several law librarians.** The purpose of the meeting was to take some trivial polls and to get some photos to use in this blog post; we accomplished all of our goals.***

As soon as everyone logged in to the zoom, I launched the polls by selecting them from the polling button which appears when you hover over the Zoom window.

Then after everyone responded to each poll, I shared the results.  The second question on the first poll is a multiple-choice so participants were able to select as many answers as they wanted. Also note, as host, I could not respond to the polls.

   

After the Meeting

Zoom allows you to later download poll results. Here’s how:

Log into your zoom account, then go to Reports and select Meeting.

Next select Poll Report and adjust the date range to show the meeting for which you want the poll reports.

After that, check the box for your meeting and hit Generate. Doing so will bring you to the Report Queue from which you can download your poll results.

Zoom gives poll results in a CSV file format. Here is a peek at my poll results after I adjusted the width of the columns. We can tell the results between the first poll and the second. Although all meeting attendees had identified themselves in some way, my poll results unexpectedly list many attendees as Guest. The second poll remained completely anonymous.

___________________

* Thanks to Nicole Dyszlewski for pointing this out.
** Thanks to Mandy Lee, Mike Muehe, Rachel Weiss, and again Nicole Dyszlewski.
*** Thanks to Mandy Lee for the screenshots.

 

by Mari CheneyPosted on Posted in Posts

Guest post by Amanda Watson, Director of the O’Quinn Law Library and Assistant Professor of Law.

On June 3 and June 5, CS-SIS organized two talks on Controlled Digital Lending (CDL). The first focused on technology and the second on copyright. I hosted both panels and want to thank the panelists and all the librarians who participated and asked great questions.

The technology panel was: Chris Freeland, Director of Open Libraries, Internet Archive, and Leah Prescott, Associate Director for Digital Initiatives and Special Collections, Georgetown Law Library.

The nuts and bolts of CDL were described as having a way to properly scan and process materials as well as safely store and lend electronic materials. For both processes, it was clear that there are multiple levels of monetary and labor obligations. On the ends of the spectrum, a library could use something like Open Libraries (http://openlibraries.online/) and pay for a solution like the Gold Package which takes much of the labor process off of individual libraries but requires a payment premium. Or, a library could use existing technologies (like Google Drive or OneDrive) to put together a low-cost alternative. However, the panelists noted that the amount of labor and planning for a low-cost alternative is high.

Libraries can join Open Libraries without paying any funds, and use the system without digitizing their shared collections. However, they will have to pledge their physical copies to the system, meaning discontinuing their print use and understanding that their copy will be used as part of the larger system, perhaps meaning it will not be usable by their patrons if patrons from other institutions are already using the copy.

It was widely agreed that the largest problem with CDL is the amount of time for lending. Law books often need very discreet checkout periods, and most systems don’t allow something very brief. Someone noted that Google Drive will limit use to one day while most limit use to two weeks. Many expressed hopes that major library ILS systems will develop these systems within the frameworks we’ve all already invest in.

The copyright panel was: Kyle K. Courtney, Program Manager and Copyright Advisor, Harvard Library Office for Scholarly Communication; David Hansen, Associate University Librarian for Research, Collections & Scholarly Communication, Lead Copyright & Information Policy Officer, Duke University Libraries; and Michelle M. Wu, Associate Dean for Library Services & Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Library.

The panel described the basic elements of CDL for copyright purposes: 1) the item must be owned 2) there must be an equal own to loan ratio and 3) the system must be controlled by some DRM/comply with Fair Use.

One topic of discussion was the physical holding of the book. The panelists reported that you can physically hold, but remove materials from circulation or destroy materials if there is not space to store them. Panelists agreed anyone destroying materials should ideally keep some record of ownership and destruction. There was a brief discussion of keeping physical materials in circulation, but it was noted as difficult to enforce and not an ideal system.

An equal own to loan ratio means you must attempt to use the digital copy the way you would’ve used the physical copy. You can only loan as many copies as you physically own. It was also discussed that you should keep the digital copy in the same state as the physical — meaning you shouldn’t loan chapters or portions of a volume but should divide the contents the way they are physically divided.

Finally, controlling the loan with DRM and honoring Fair Use means you must put a system in place to honor the Fair Use of the material. Some questions were posed about how perfect this system has to be. The panelists agreed that the library burden is to set up a system, but that we all understand some violations may happen and that not all violations can be avoided.

The panelists agreed that working with University Counsel is a good idea to make sure your institution is on board with your system and plans.

Because of the great interest in these conversations, CS-SIS is planning two follow-up discussions in early August, one on the low-cost alternative CDL and one on DRM. These will be announced more fully in AALL’s My Communities in July.

Recordings of both panels are available on our AALL Community page!

by Jimmy PakPosted on Posted in Posts

CALICon 2020 was full of change to meet the new virtual learning reality. The third day included presentations by clinical professors highlighting the difficulties with clinical education for law students stuck at home. As states combat another spike in infections, it is likely that some aspects of remote lawyering will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Dionne Gonder-Stanley, Clinical Professor from North Carolina Central University School of Law, addressed virtual presentation lawyering skills, like maintaining proper court attire, camera, and body positioning, observing courtroom decorum, and the tech required for virtual lawyering. Professor Gonder-Stanley also noted that the equipment required to run a virtual clinic was a computer with a webcam, microphone, a stable internet connection, and Zoom. Clients would only require a phone to dial into the Zoom meeting.

One way to improve virtual professionalism is by improving hardware beyond internal webcams and minimum laptop requirements. Nothing says unprofessional as a slow internet connection, grainy picture quality, and audio that sounds like it’s coming from an underwater cave. A faster CPU, more RAM, an HD webcam, and a headset with a directional microphone can all drastically improve the presentation quality. Zoom Virtual Backgrounds also require slightly higher computing requirements and add to the professionalism of remote lawyering by eliminating visual distractions in the background. System requirements differ if you generate a virtual background with or without a green screen available. For more information about the system requirements, check out Zoom Backgrounds.

(External webcams allow for higher quality video, with integrated microphone, and allows for varying viewing angles for a more professional presentation.)

Given the advances in wireless technology, wireless headphones allow free range of movement from longer distances, offer increased battery life, and are less conspicuous, all of which are essential for animated litigators. If combined with an external webcam and podium, presentations can look more like oral arguments in a courtroom, all without leaving the home. Optimized tech would also allow law students to give oral arguments without the appearance of reading from a prepared statement while staring off into their laptop, adding to their professional decorum. While one concern for law schools will be the income inequality of their law students, law schools should make some effort to provide optimized equipment to students in the clinical and pro bono programs, through either a loan or subsidized tech program.

Another great takeaway from the clinical efforts at UNT Dallas College of Law was the virtual justice program, allowing for presentations to a large group of patrons with general legal advice.  Zoom allowed students to set up client meetings and mimic the pre-pandemic clinical setting of allowing clients to move from table to table. Another model program was a daylong virtual expungement clinic, allowing students to prepare beforehand and advise clients in a virtual setting.

One key aspect of managing online clinics are the client management systems that allow for remote work. Client management systems offer cloud computing and storage, with some systems even allowing document sharing with non-attorneys. For example, Clio, a cloud-based client management system, allows document sharing with clients and other third parties. Clinical instruction on client management systems familiarizes law students with the nuances of working in a modern law firm environment. However, given the security and privacy risks involved with cloud data and file-sharing of confidential files, this software should be taught before students step foot into the real world of legal practice.

(Clio’s dashboard allows you to share documents with third parties.)

Despite all this, the main hurdle of the pivot to virtual legal clinics was maintaining community engagement. Law schools have traditionally held offices either in the community or on campus to physically connect students to their clients. Since the pandemic hit, this connection has been relegated to online Zoom meetings, telephone conferences, emails, and the good old United States Postal Service for document delivery. While CALICon presented the lack of community engagement as an obstacle, the presenters viewed the lack of physical interaction as a boon for access to justice. For example, UNT Dallas held general legal advice Zoom sessions, which could reach more members of the community than hosting the same meeting in a physical space.

If you would like to check out any of the CALICon sessions on clinics and engagement, you can view this session as well as other sessions on their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXhGTA7aA9s.

 

by Rachel EvansPosted on Posted in Conferences

It feels like CALICon 2020 was eons ago in our suspended animation existence that is the new norm for those of us still teleworking past the 3 months mark. Yet the words from Friday June 5th’s keynote address delivered by Caitlin “Cat” Moon have continued ringing in my ears:

“TECH is easy, PEOPLE are hard.” – Cat Moon

I had been following Cat on Twitter for many months leading up to CALICon’s announcement that she would be one of the two keynotes for their virtual conference. So I was elated to learn she would give a closing address in early June. In a previous CALICon re-cap CS-SIS blog post another avid tweeter and AALL member Brian Huffman shared an excellent brief summary of Cat’s talk. In addition to highlighting her sentiments that this was the crisis we needed, he noted her emphasis on “EQ. Cat recommended a human-centered design for our model going forward. Along with empathy, we need curiosity and radical collaboration to grow.” It is the “human-centered” part that is so important.

Sadly that is more often than not the key element that is missing from our designs, be they interfaces patrons use in libraries, systems that professionals and clients use in legal practice, or workflows we use ourselves in academic institutions, government offices or private firms. Part of Cat’s talk not surprisingly focused on design (duh, she is the Director of Innovation Design for the PoLI at Vanderbilt), and how COVID has been the impetus for re-designs we sorely needed. From shifting course structures to implementing patron-driven holds, this excellent slide highlights how “the people” is a factor missing from many of our designs which should be user-centered.

EQ is a big part of staying user-focused when we design. Also known as emotional quotient or more popularly emotional intelligence, EQ was co-developed by another John Mayer (the psychologist, not the CALI tech guru). Check out his sweet archive.org-captured html-based EQ website. In short, your EQ is a measure of individual capability for recognizing your own emotions and others, to discern between them, to label them appropriately, and to use this emotional data to guide thinking and behavior. In an ideal world, good EQ would allow you to adapt more easily and quickly to environments and the people in them, and ultimately achieve your goals.

Awareness of and programming around emotional intelligence has continued to increase at tech-driven conferences. I remember very vividly the summaries my colleague Information Technology Librarian Jason Tubinis shared from the last two ABA Techshows, and being intrigued that many were centered around more soft skill topics (like “EQ over IQ: Building Emotional Intelligence…“). I expected to hear all about Blockchain or the latest and greatest AI – but emotional intelligence at a tech conference?! He comments that “I think it’s a credit to the Techshow that they do a really good job of keeping attorneys informed about about the latest and greatest technology, but also bringing awareness to new developments in how to be better in practice/work generally“. And there is good reason this is growing in popularity; if sci-fi has taught us anything it is that machine learning can’t compare to the human touch. The ABA Techshow gets it and Jason gets it. Not long before COVID closure he recommended to me the excellent title Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In.

Cat gets it too; she recommended in her keynote the book Focus: Use Different Ways of Seeing the World for Success and Influence. Authored by Heidi Grant Halvorson and E. Tory Higgins (psychologists from Columbia University’s Motivation Science Center, part of the Business School), it really highlights the importance of balance when it comes to motivation for succeeding in anything. This reminded me of the balancing aspects of the Swedish Lagome and Danish Hygge ways of living. What originally brought me to these philosophies was the book The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know About Raising Confident, Capable Kids. To my wonderful surprise Focus also includes an chapter on parenting. For me that chapter clearly outlined how certain techniques can be used to motivate people of all ages, even if the examples were related to children.

We experience it everyday in our positions where our roles of understanding and implementing the technology for our libraries and law schools is small beans compared to the far more essential and trickier task of translating complex systems and unpacking the jargon for coworkers and patrons. Translation is the hardest piece of the puzzle. Early on the book illustrates that pessimism is actually a very healthy trait expressed by individuals who are prevention motivated. More optimistic individuals (at least externally) are usually promotion motivated. I tend to fall on the “promotion” motivated end of the spectrum most of the time. As I try to find and embrace my inner pessimist, and learn more empathy for my “prevention” motivated colleagues, I encourage you to revisit Cat’s keynote on CALI’s YouTube. Her words of advice, and her book recommendation, were highly practical and on point for those of us who continue to redesign our services and resources all while being propelled into an increasingly unknown Fall 2020.

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by darla.jacksonPosted on Posted in Posts

As a member of the ABA TECHSHOW 2021 Planning Board, I have previously communicated to several AALL Communities regarding  the TECHSHOW 2021 Call for Proposals.

TECHSHOW 2021 is scheduled for March 10-13, 2021 in Chicago. However, as with most conferences scheduled within the next year, the ABA is working to make plans that will also allow for a virtual conference, if necessary. If you have a suggestion for a topic you (and others) would like to hear, or if you are interested in being a presenter, please fill out the form here. If you have more than one topic idea, please submit as many times as you  desire! While the deadline for proposals was originally set for midnight (Central Time) Friday, June 12, 2020, in recognition of the priority of other concerns at this time, the TECHSHOW Board will continue to accept proposals past the original deadline.

In addition to submitting a proposal, feel free to contact me regarding your submission so that I might be better able to represent your ideas to other members of the TECHSHOW Board. I will be serving as the Track Leader for the Next 20 Track, but also be advocating for ideas for sessions for other tracks. Also, please remember submitting a proposal does not guarantee a speaking slot.

Regards,

Darla Jackson, CS-SIS Chair