October Issue of the Washington E-Bulletin

The October issue of the Washington E-Bulletin is now available on AALLNET. Here is the Table of Contents:

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

• AALL Launches Legislative Action Center

STAY INFORMED/GET INVOLVED: News and Action Alerts

• New Advocacy One-Pagers on AALLNET
• Final Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act Released
• New Collection on FDsys: Federal Court Opinions
• Sen. Akaka Introduces Bill to Update 1974 Privacy Act
• Ten Year Anniversary of the USA PATRIOT Act, and “Secret Law”
• National Archive’s Electronic Records Archives Lacks Full-Text Search
• Whistleblower Protection Bill Advances in Senate

OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY: Chapter News

• AALL Introduces Chapter Government Relations Listserv

FREE TIME WELL SPENT: Further Reading and Resources for the Info Policy Junkie

• Videos from Cameras in the Courts Pilot Project Now Available
•  “Gold Mouse” Awards for Congressional Websites
• Increases in Constituent Communications Shifts Office Resources

Volunteer Your Library for the PACER: Access and Education Program

AALL is working in collaboration with the Government Printing Office’s Federal Depository Library Program and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to promote a collaborative program to expand access to and use of PACER. The Law Library for San Bernardino County and the Law Library of Congress participated in the initial testing of the program, which requires librarians to develop training materials for individual or group instruction. The program is open to federal depository libraries, public libraries, and public law libraries. Participating libraries are exempt from the first $50 of quarterly usage charges.

At the Depository Library Council Meeting and Conference in Arlington, Virginia this month, George Carter, Head of Reference & Public Services at  Law Library for San Bernardino County, shared the training materials and FAQs he developed for library staff. Carter used the new PACER training site, which features cases filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York in 2007, to help his staff learn how to effectively search PACER.

To volunteer your law library for this new program, or to find out more information, please see the PACER: Access and Education Program page on the FDLP Desktop.

Final Version of the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA) Now Available

The Uniform Law Commission (also known as the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws) recently released the final version of the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA).

The prefatory note and comments accompanying the uniform act explain each section, including what state’s requirements are to ensure that, when legal material is published only in an electronic format, the material is designated as official and is authenticated, preserved and made permanently available to the public.

AALL is now working to enact UELMA. Stay tuned to learn how you can advocate for UELMA in your state.

AALL Launches New Legislative Action Center

AALL is pleased to announce the launch of a new Legislative Action Center. Our new Action Center allows you to easily send messages to your Members of Congress, look up information about your elected representatives, and share our alerts with friends and colleagues.

Please use our Action Center to respond to our current alert on GPO funding. The alert allows you to send targeted messages to your Senators and House Representative and personalize your emails with stories and experiences related to FDsys and the Federal Depository Library Program. Your personal experiences and reasons why funding cuts would hurt your lawmakers’ constituents will be the hook that catches their attention. Thank you for taking action!