Out of the Jungle

Academic Women Suffer When They Have More Than 2 Children

2009-07-10T18:31:00.004-04:00

The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 10, 2009, has a poignant article in the Workplace section, B16-19 (in print) titled, "Is Having More than 2 Children an Unspoken Taboo?" by Robin Wilson. Interviewing women in many different academic fields (but not librarians), Wilson finds

...a very small number of academic women with three, four, or more children. In academe, where having even one child can slow down success, trying to manage multiple kids can be a career-stopper.

Women with many children are seen by their peers and supervisors as less than serious about their work in a profession that often expects nothing short of complete devotion. Even administrators who consider themselves supportive of female professors with children may question the wisdom of those with more than one or two. (snip)

Managing both a career and several children can be a challenge for any professional woman. In academe the prospect seems particularly perilous. True, an academic career can be flexible -- at least after tenure. But the dozen or so arduous years spent earning an PH.D. and building a career makes academe one of the less friendly professions for women with children, say researchers who study the issue. (snip)

In a 2006-7 study of 8.400 graduate students on nine University of California campuses, only 29 percent of the women and 46 percent of the men said they considered research universities to be family-friendly places for tenure-tack professors to work.

Meanwhile, a national study of about 5,000 professors in chemistry and English, completed by researchers at Pennsylvania State University in 2002, found that female professors had an average of only .66 kids each. The average American woman by comparison, has about two children.

Yet another study, conducted by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and the university of Utah, found that academic women were 27 percent less likely than doctors and 17 percent less likely than lawyers to have babies. It also found that male professors fathered fewer children than their male counterparts in those other professions. (snip)

Academic women, meanwhile, are well aware of the harm that having children can do to their professional lives. In the national study of English and chemistry professors, 26 percent of women — double the proportion of men — said they had fewer children than they would have liked in order to achieve academic success. "The cultural line in academe is that one child is acceptable, maybe two, but three are not," says Marc Goulden, a Berkeley researcher who has completed several studies on academic women and children.

Julianna Baggott knows full well that the third child is often considered the third rail of academe. That's why, when she is asked how it feels to be a professor with five children, she has one word: "subversive." Ms. Baggott's husband stays home to watch the kids, but that hasn't made her feel any more comfortable about her large brood. She displays no photos of her children in her office in Florida State University's English department, and she never tells colleagues that she can't make a meeting because of the children, who range in age from 14 to 2. "I just say, 'I'm sorry, I have a conflict,'" she says.

"Academia assumes that a woman, once she has kids, is not going to be able to maintain her career at the same level," says Ms. Baggott, an associate professor. She just earned tenure and has written 14 books, including six for children. "I'm a workaholic," she says during a cellphone interview between stops on a West Coast tour for one of her latest books, The Prince of Fenway Park (HarperCollins, 2009).

Some women say it is academe's focus on the mind, not the body, that makes being a pregnant professor — or one with kids — so unusual and unwelcome.

"In academia, the mind/body split is operative," says Nicole Cooley, an associate professor of English at the City University of New York's Queens College and a contributor to Mama Ph.D.: Women Write About Motherhood and Academic Life (Rutgers University Press, 2008). "Academia's grounding in the clerical tradition means that a lot of your identity is your intellectual work, and you don't sully yourself with domestic arrangements and bodily things."

Andrea O'Reilly directs the Association for Research on Mothering at York University, in Canada, where she is an associate professor of women's studies. The idea that mind and body don't mix in academe is more than theoretical, says Ms. O'Reilly, who has interviewed 60 academic women with children. "Academia is a very competitive environment. You're supposed to be this cutthroat go-getter, and your work is your life. You're not supposed to be encumbered."

Women with several children say colleagues and supervisors alike are not shy about sharing their scorn over the women's über-fertility. Two years ago, when April Hill, an associate professor of biology at the University of Richmond, had her third child at age 38, one administrator remarked, "Aren't you a bit old for that?"

Elisabeth R. Gruner, an associate professor of English at Richmond who contributed an essay to Mama Ph.D., says: "There is a distaste that you'd want to spend a lot of time with little kids — an idea that you may not be very smart."

Saranna R. Thornton, who heads the economics department at Hampden-Sydney College, was at a picnic with faculty and staff members nine years ago when she shared the good news that she was expecting her fourth child. A senior administrator looked at her and asked, "Don't you know what causes that?" Ms. Thornton even got quizzical looks from close friends and colleagues, who asked her why she was having another child. (The short answer, for Ms. Thornton and several other women who spoke to The Chronicle: They simply really enjoy children, sometimes much to their own surprise.)

Georgia Frank, an associate professor of religion at Colgate University, says she senses an attitude from some in academe that anyone who has more than two children has surpassed an invisible quota. "There is something greedy about going for just one more," says Ms. Frank, whose own children are 15, 12, and 7.

There is a lot more to this article, including some fascinating pointers on how the successful women have made it work. On the other hand there is one heartbreaking story of a young woman who had to throw her career away on the verge of tenure when she accidentally became pregnant with her sixth child -- she knew she could not balance that and manage the career as well. The women interviewed often acknowledge the stress of balancing work and home, as well as the joys of their children. One woman, who chairs the English department while nurturing her three children, aged 10 - 17, does not want to give her young women students the misimpression that, "You can do this, no problem." She suffers from three autoimmune diseases, and has had marital problems at times. She is quoted in the article: "I don't want to send the message to young women that there aren't costs and there aren't risks." But I think they also want to convey hope, along with their warnings. It's a very poignant article, and one that should make women angry.

Time to put our money where our mouth is!

2009-07-09T15:56:00.003-04:00

Lt. Dan Choi, was dismissed from the Army...

"After 10 years of service to our country - including leading combat patrols, rebuilding schools and translating Arabic in Iraq for 15 months - the Federal Recognition Board issued its recommendation on Tuesday that I be discharged from the Army for 'moral and professional dereliction' under the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy," he wrote.

According to a Washington Post story dated July 2, 2009, while Dan is conducting an online petition gathering signatures for President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to ask them for reinstatement and abolishment of the "Dont Ask - Don't Tell" policy that was adopted under President Bill Clinton,

groups such as the Center for Military Readiness say assertions that the policy hurts national security are bogus, and more than 1,100 retired flag and general officers for the military have lobbied Mr. Obama and Congress to stop any attempts at allowing gays to serve openly.

On Monday, Mr. Obama addressed 300 gays and lesbians at the White House, saying he understands their frustration with the lag in fulfilling gay rights campaign promises.

Evan Low, the Campbell, Calif., vice mayor, was in attendance Monday. He said he had been worried Mr. Obama was "backpedaling" on his promises, but welcomed Mr. Gates' remarks on "don't ask, don't tell."

{snip) The Pentagon signaled it was aiming for a temporary fix to"don't ask, don't tell" before President Obama fulfills his promise to repeal the policy, as an Arabic translator was dismissed from the Army Wednesday for being openly gay.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department earned praise from gay rights groups for avoiding the pursuit of a transgender discrimination case.

Lt. Dan Choi, an Arabic translator who has been the public face for advocates who want to see "don't ask, don't tell" overturned, was recommended to be discharged Wednesday under the policy banning gays fromserving openly in the military. It must be approved by the Army before it is final.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters this week the Pentagon is looking for a "more humane way to apply the law until the law gets changed."

Also Wednesday, the Justice Department did not appeal a ruling upholding a transgender discrimination lawsuit against the Library of Congress.

Diane Schroer, an Army Special Forces veteran of 25 years, had been awarded the maximum allowed compensation by a D.C. district court after suing for discrimination because the Library of Congress had rescinded a job offerafter she revealed she would be undergoing a sex-change operation. An official had told her she wasn't a "good fit" after learning about the pending surgery.

Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said the solicitor general decided not to appeal the district court's ruling based on the facts and legal arguments.

If you want to sign Dan Choi's petition, GO HERE.

Preserving Guatanamo's Records

2009-07-08T12:43:00.007-04:00

A dedicated law professor, librarian, and attorney are working together to create the Guatanamo Bay Detention Center archive, which will be a "repository of the records and first-person accounts of hundreds of defense lawyers who have worked on detainee cases." The story is reported in the July 10 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. The individuals involved are Mark P. Denbeaux, a professor at Seton Hall University School of Law and director of its Center for Policy and Research, which put out an important series of reports on Guatanamo; Michael Nash, director of New York University's Tamiment Library, known for its collections on labor, politics, and public policy; and Jonathan Hafetz, who is a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project and an adjunct professor at Seton Hall. Both Denbeaux and Hafetz have represented Guatanamo detainees. The archive will be housed at Seton Hall and at the Tamiment Library, according to a recent press release. The project is the brain child of Denbeaux, who marched at Selma in 1965 and now regrets the "'million details' that went unrecorded." He wants to make sure the same thing does not happen with Guatanamo. Because all of the detainees will probably not have public trials, "the archive may turn out to be one of the few public sources of information about what really happened at Guatanamo."

As a librarian interested in the preservation of digital information, I was interested to learn that the Guatanamo archive is likely to be "one of the first collections to make its debut under a digital-archiving project called Web-at-Risk: Preserving Our National's Cultural Heritage," which is fully described here. The Chronicle article describes librarians' role in digital preservation projects, and concludes that good institutional partners are a must if a large-scale project like the Guatanamo archive is to be done successfully.

Boston Public Library and Google Books Project

2009-07-07T14:43:00.005-04:00

presents

Expanding Access to Books:
Implications of the Google Books Settlement Agreement

We'd like to invite you to the Boston Public Library for an informative panel about Google's efforts to make books more accessible, and explore what the Google Books settlement agreement means for the academic, library, and business communities.

Speakers:
Daniel Clancy, Engineering Director, Google Books
John Palfrey, Henry N. Ess III Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources, Harvard Law School
Ann Wolpert, Director of Libraries, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Hal Abelson, Class of 1922 Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Moderated by Maura Marx, Executive Director, Open Knowledge Commons,

What:
Google Book Search is an ambitious project to digitize the world's books. Six years, many million works, and two U.S. lawsuits later, the project is now set to change dramatically. Google has reached a settlement agreement with authors and publishers that, if approved by the court, will have sweeping implications for writers, readers, scholars, librarians, and the public at large.

Join Boston Public Library and our panel of speakers for an explanation and discussion of the settlement. In addition to engaging with one another to dig deeply into the agreement's impact, the panel will have an open Q&A with attendees.

Where:
Boston Public Library
Rabb Lectcure Hall
700 Boylston Street, Copley Square
Boston, MA 02116

When:
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
6:00 pm

Click here to RSVP. Seating is first come, first served, and not guaranteed so please arrive early!

Michael R. Colford
Regional Administrator
Boston Regional Library System
700 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
617.859.2389 (voice)
617.424.8617 (fax)
mcolford@bpl.org

I don't know how self-serving this will be, but it sounds interesting. John Palfrey has been a good critic of the Project. and, considering the population of Boston, it could be a very combative discussion. We'll see if any tea gets dumped into the harbor this time.

A Ghost Story for Librarians

2009-07-07T11:23:00.005-04:00

My husband, also a librarian and a voracious reader, recently introduced me to M.R. James, a Victorian writer known for his elegant ghost stories. His work, in my husband's words, is "not big on fright, but remains treasured for its rich evocation of atmosphere. Even now, in the short story 'The Tractate Middoth,' one feels a chill of recognition with the disappearing book, the musty smell, the difficult patron. ... [L]ibrarians are not uncommon fixtures in stories of the supernatural. Perhaps the most famous literary representative of our profession was Mr. Jonathan Harker, who made the ill-advised career move to organize the library of Count Dracula." I hope you'll enjoy this story as much as I did.

Book Reviews--We Need More of Them

2009-07-06T21:43:00.002-04:00

Sanford Levinson has a wonderful article in the May 2009 Texas Law Review, "The Vanishing Book Review in Student-Edited Law Reviews and Potential Responses." What he does not mention in his excellent article is how much a librarian like myself relies upon book reviews for collection development and reference. A good review compares a book to others in the field and points out its strengths and weaknesses. The New York Law Journal's book reviews have helped me develop reference skills. I would like more reviews of practice books, something Levinson does not mention. I don't like relying on publishers' blurbs. Law reviews from the 1950s and 1960s evaluated practice books. Those articles are so valuable. I have used them to help me weed collections. I need reviews on current publications.

Distraction and Attention

2009-07-03T10:58:00.012-04:00

I am still catching up on my reading after being on vacation. Last night, I read an article in the May 25 issue of New York magazine by Sam Anderson entitled "In Defense of Distraction." Anderson launches the article with a discussion of multitasking and its effects on attention. As a teacher, I have questioned students' claims that they can multitask without any ill effects on their academic performance, and so I was interested to get Anderson's take on the larger issue.

Many commentators have pointed to an attention "crisis" which is "chewing its hyperactive way through the very foundations of Western civilization. Google is making us stupid, multitasking is draining our souls, and the 'dumbest generation' is leading us into a 'dark age' of bookless 'power browsing.'" Anderson calls this alarmism "silly," pointing out that critics have always complained about new technology and that we can't put the toothpaste into the tube--"our jobs depend on connectivity." For Anderson, the question is how we as a society can adapt to the flood of information and distractions to which we are exposed every day. Anderson consulted one of the world's experts on multitasking, David Meyer, of the University of Michigan's Brain, Cognition, and Action Laboratory. Meyer did not offer any words of encouragement; in fact, he is extremely pessimistic. "He sees our distraction as a full-blown epidemic--a cognitive plague that has the potential to wipe out an entire generation of focused and productive thought." His own life has been "negatively affected by the new world order of multitasking and distraction." Meyer and other researchers have proven that multitasking is a "myth. When you think you're doing two things at once, you're almost always just switching rapidly between them, leaking a little mental efficiency with every switch." The brain "processes different kinds of information on a variety of separate 'channels' ... each of which can process only one stream of information at a time." Meyer concedes that multitasking can work efficiently when "multiple simple tasks operate on entirely separate channels," which is a fairly rare occurrence. The more common scenario is constant distractions--some self-imposed--each of which costs us about twenty-five minutes of productivity.

Anderson also interviewed Winifred Gallagher, a behavioral science writer and cancer survivor, who wrote Rapt, a recent book about the "power of attention." Gallagher believes that attention is "'not just a latent abiity, it was something you could marshal and use as a tool.'" The best tool for marshalling attention is meditation, which can "make your attention less 'sticky,' able to notice images flashing by in such quick succession that regular brains would miss them." Because attention is a finite resource, "our moment-by-moment choice of attentional targets determines ... the shape of our lives." We have to make choices about how we spend our attention, which is not easy to do in a world full of distractions. Some have called for the use of "neuro-enhancers," while others have joined the "grassroots Internet movement known as 'lifehacking,'" which "seeks to help you allocate your attention efficiently." Some of the techniques seem pretty obvious to me, while others are rather ingenious; some are very low tech, and others are very cutting edge.

Anderson finally concludes that "focus is a paradox--it has distraction built into it. The two are symbiotic ... We need both. In their extreme forms, focus and attention may even circle back around and bleed into one other." The article ends on a hopeful note: "As we become more skilled at the 21st-century task Meyer calls 'flitting,' the wiring of the brain will inevitably change to deal more efficiently with more information. ... [T]he human brain might be changing faster today than it has since the prehistoric discovery of tools. Research suggests we're already picking up new skills: better peripheral vision, the abiity to sift information rapidly. ... Kids growing up now might have an associative genius we don't--a sense of the way ten projects all dovetail into something totally new." Anderson's article is a fascinating and entertaining read.

New Delhi High Court Decriminalizes Gay Sexuality

2009-07-03T08:28:00.002-04:00

The New York Times reported yesterday that New Delhi's High Court overturned a colonial law from 1861 criminalizing homosexual behavior. Before that time, Indian law did not apparently address same sex behavior.

“The inclusiveness that Indian society traditionally displayed, literally in every aspect of life, is manifest in recognizing a role in society for everyone,” judges of the Delhi High Court wrote in a 105-page decision, India’s first to directly address rights for gay men and lesbians. “Those perceived by the majority as ‘deviants’ or ‘different’ are not on that score excluded or ostracized,” the decision said.

Homosexuality has been illegal in India since 1861, when British rulers codified a law prohibiting “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal.” The law, known as Section 377 of India’s penal code, has long been viewed as an archaic holdover from colonialism by its detractors. (snip)

Britain legalized homosexuality in England and Wales in 1967, but many of its former colonies, including Singapore, Zimbabwe and Malaysia, still retain strict laws against same-sex relations.

India’s society is generally unwelcoming of homosexuality except in the most cosmopolitan circles. It is not uncommon for gay men and women to marry heterosexuals and have families, while carrying on secret relationships with members of the same sex.

In their decision, Chief Justice A. P. Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar declared Section 377, as it pertains to consensual sex among people above the age of 18, in violation of important parts of India’s Constitution. “Consensual sex amongst adults is legal, which includes even gay sex and sex among the same sexes,” they said.

The old law violates Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees all people “equality before the law;” Article 15, which prohibits discrimination “on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth;” and Article 21, which guarantees “protection of life and personal liberty,” the judges said.

Acceptance of homosexuality has thawed somewhat in recent years in some urban areas. Gay pride parades in Indian cities last weekend attracted thousands of marchers, and several recent Bollywood movies, like “Dostana,” have included gay themes and characters, often played by Bollywood’s biggest heterosexual stars.

Still, the decision was condemned from many corners in India. “This is wrong,” said Maulana Abdul Khaliq Madrasi, a vice chancellor of Dar ul-Uloom, the main university for Islamic education in India. The decision to bring Western culture to India, he said, will “corrupt Indian boys and girls.”

The High Court’s decision should be overturned, said Murli Manohar Joshi, the leader of the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. “The High Court cannot decide all things,” he said.

The ruling comes after a decade-long, broad-based campaign organized by gay rights advocates, authors, celebrities, lawyers and AIDS awareness groups from around the world. India has one of the world’s largest populations of people with AIDS, and Section 377 was viewed by many advocates as a hurdle to education about safer sex.

Now that the High Court has ruled against Section 377, some say the next step is a change in the way that society views gay people.

“The real problem is still the stigma attached,” especially outside big cities, said Ritu Dalmia, one of India’s best-known chefs, who lives with her girlfriend in New Delhi.

Change particularly needs to happen in rural India, she said in an e-mail message Thursday afternoon. “I have met women who were forced to sleep with men so that they could be ‘cured’ of homosexuality,” she said.

“Today is a historical moment where at least some tiny steps have been taken, but there is still a very, very long road ahead,” she said.

Rare New Copy of the Declaration of Independence

2009-07-03T08:24:00.002-04:00

Just in time for Independence Day, British researchers say they have found and verified a rare original copy of the American Declaration of Independence. It appears to be from the first printing, the Dunlap printing, which may only have numbered 200 or so, to be distributed to the leaders of the time for reading to the public. The Associated Press note is pretty short, but you can read it here. Happy Fourth!

The High Cost of Debt

2009-07-02T22:05:00.004-04:00

I found Betsy's blog post earlier today on the new rules for student loans to be particularly timely given an article in the New York Times about one would-be lawyer in New York State who has been barred from practicing law because of an unusually large amount of student debt and penalties--over $400,000. The subject of the article, Robert Bowman, has had a string of bad luck, to say the least. He was in foster care as a child, survived a devastating accident after which he spent nearly six years in rehabilitation, and then had another accident while swimming. Nonetheless, he graduated from college and law school and earned an LL.M. He passed the New York State bar exam on the fourth try, and the Character and Fitness Committee, which "interviewed Mr. Bowman, studied his history and the debt he had amassed, and called his persistence remarkable," ultimately "recommended his approval." Despite this positive recommendation, "a group of five state appellate judges decided this spring that his student loans were too big and his efforts to repay them too meager for him to be a lawyer."

The Times points out that "New York's courts have overlooked misconduct like lawyers' solicitation of minors for sex, efforts to deceive judges and possession of cocaine," offenses that "have led merely to temporary suspensions from practice." The article quotes Professor Deborah L. Rhode, an expert on legal ethics. According to Professor Rhode, "'It usually takes a pretty significant record of some underlying misconduct to keep you out permanently' ... Excluding someone for having too much debt was odd, she said; the hard questions about loans usually involve applicants who have used bankruptcy to try to escape loans, she said, and Mr. Bowman has not." Unfortunately, Mr. Bowman has never repaid any of his debt, which seems to be the sticking point for the judges who denied him entry to the bar. He vows to fight to become a lawyer, however, and is planning a lawsuit against his lender. Mr. Bowman's situation is troubling given the number of law students who are graduating today having amassed large amounts of debt.

New Student Loan Rules as of July 1!

2009-07-02T19:01:00.004-04:00

As of July 1, students with loans have new and better rates for repayment. And students who need to get loans have better deals and rates. Visit Studentaid.ed.gov to see lots of helpful information.

Repayment plans includes several plans:

1. A standard plan where you pay back in 10 years, which can reduce the amount of interest you pay;

2. An extended plan where you can take up to 25 years to repay in smaller monthly payments (but you must meet certain qualifying standards);

3. Graduated payments where your payments start small, but get bigger as you *hopefully* earn more money after being in the workforce for a longer time;

4. Income-based repayment. This is the big change that became available July 1.

a) If you are a government employee, or work for a not-for-profit employer, you can pay off your loan with income-based payments, after 10 years or 120 payments based on your income;

b) If you make less than certain amounts, depending on the size of your family, and meet other qualifying tests, you may qualify for income-based repayment regardless of the type of employment you have, under the 25 year plan. After 25 years of reduced payments, the remainder of your loan is considered as taxable income.

The types of loans eligible:

Any Stafford, Grad PLUS or Consolidation loan made under either the Direct Loan or FFEL program is eligible for repayment under IBR, EXCEPT loans that are currently in default, parent PLUS Loans, or consolidation loans that repaid a parent PLUS Loan. The loans can be new or old, and for any type of education (undergraduate, graduate, professional, job training).

Consolodating your loans will get you greatly reduced interest rates now, too! Be sure to check out the new reduced interest rates both for new loans and for existing loans. They are the lowest they have ever been! For pre-existing loans not in default, interest rates can be as low as 1.88%! There are lots of other helpful information at the website so go and visit and explore.

LEND-A-HAND: Lexis-Nexis Provides More Support to Laid Off Attorneys

2009-06-30T14:22:00.003-04:00

Lexis-Nexis is supporting the battered legal community through another program, Lend-a-Hand, which is designed to help lawyers laid off from large law firms market themselves. See the Lend-a-Hand page here: http://www.lexisnexis.com/lendahand

In the recent economic crisis, law firm managers nationwide are currently faced with making difficult decisions and downsizing is one of the most popular outcomes we are seeing during this economic downturn. Attorneys, particularly at large law firms, have borne the brunt of the recent wave of law firm layoffs and in an effort to support these attorneys and give back to the legal market Lexis-Nexis has developed the "Lend a Hand" program. Lexis-Nexis launched the Lend-a-Hand program today for all U.S.-based attorneys who recently worked for a law firm with more than 50 attorneys and are currently unemployed. The program offers free marketing services, networking opportunities, and employment resources.

Lend-a-Hand Program benefits include:
A free six-month profile on Lawyers.com and Martindale.com.
Free access to Martindale-Hubbell Connected, an online professional network where attorneys can connect, network, communicate and collaborate with trusted and authenticated colleagues.
Free access to the Martindale-Hubbell Career Center, where attorneys can find legal jobs in local areas.

This information is provided by the folks at Lexis-Nexis. But I want to applaud them for doing the right thing. They are supporting the legal community in its time of need. They can't help every segment, but they are making some rational decisions about the segments that have been the hardest hit by the changes in the economy. Hooray for a big vendor who has been acting with some real compassion and morality. Good for them for giving back!

A New Role for the Bookstore

2009-06-29T10:19:00.004-04:00

Today's Boston Globe has an article about the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont, which looks like a classic bookstore, but has taken a big step into the future. Northshire has installed an Espresso Book Machine, dubbed "Lurch" by the staff, which prints books on demand for customers while they wait. The Globe article is accompanied by a short video that shows the machine in action, and this will be of particular interest to librarians.

Northshire is "the first independent bookstore in the United States to install the clattering book machine. If Northshire can make money printing books downloaded from massive online catalogs, it will show how small brick-and-mortar bookshops might be able to match the overwhelming variety of products offered by ... giant online retailer[s]." The producer of the machine, On Demand Books, has contracted with several major publishers to make their titles available through the Espresso Machine; in addition, the "machines can also access thousands of titles that are in the public domain and available on the Internet." According to the On Demand website, the Espresso machine has been installed in several libraries and in a number of college and university bookstores. "It could streamline the traditional book supply chain, with much less need for space in warehouses, inventory on hand, shipping expenses, or management of returns." Although the impact on libraries is not discussed in the article, several spring to mind immediately. The machine could obviate the need for interlibrary loans, and could vastly expand the resources available to a library's community without the need for more shelf space.

Back from France

2009-06-26T11:57:00.008-04:00

While Betsy was in China and Jim was holding down the fort at OOTJ, I was attending my daughter's college graduation and vacationing in France (two and a half weeks) as well as several days in Germany. The weather was mostly clear, but surprisingly cold for this time of year. This was our first time back in France in thirty years, and I was struck by how much more diverse the population seems to be. Before our departure, I had spent a lot of time working on my rusty French with the Rosetta Stone program, and found that I got more from the lessons than I thought I had--speaking and listening were fairly easy, and this enhanced my experience. After spending time in Paris, we headed to Alsace-Lorraine and over to Germany. Some highlights: the Code of Hammurabi at the Louvre Museum (and seeing the renovations made to the Museum itself, which seem to work very well); attending a concert at Sainte-Chappelle, an exquisite jewel box known for its walls of stained glass, which literally took my breath away when I walked in (the interior is shown above, but the picture doesn't do it justice); riding a cable car in Germany and walking in the Black Forest; hiking in the Vosges Mountains in France and coming upon the ruins of a twelfth-century castle perched high on a mountain top; visiting stunning Gothic cathedrals in Metz, Nancy, Strasbourg, and Freiburg; eating Quiche Lorraine in Lorraine; attending a ballet performance at the Paris Opera and luxuriating in the over-the-top interior design; walking in Paris and remembering all over again how beautiful it is; strolling in the fabulous formal gardens at the chateau of Vaux le Vicomte. I returned to work early last week with the performance appraisal process in full swing and demanding a good deal of my attention. Now that that is somewhat under control, I should be able to blog more regularly.

Online Law School Grad Passes the Bar

2009-06-26T11:52:00.002-04:00

The National Law Journal is reporting that Ross E. Mitchell, a graduate of the Concord Law School has passed the Massachusetts bar. I was interested to see that he has also passed the notoriously difficult California bar exam. As is reported below, Mitchell sued successfully to be allowed to sit for the Massachusetts bar exam.

Yeah, That's the Ticket!: Online Law School Grad Who Sued to Take Bar Gets His License

By Sheri Qualters | The National Law Journal

BOSTON — An online law school graduate who sued the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts for the opportunity to take that state's bar examination is now a newly minted Massachusetts lawyer.

The Boston Herald first reported that Ross E. Mitchell is the first Massachusetts lawyer with an exclusively online legal education. Mitchell was sworn in on June 22 and has 90 days to register with the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers, according to the court.

Mitchell, a Newton, Mass.-based independent computer consultant, said he views his legal credentials as "another tool in his consulting arsenal."

"I don't plan to hang out a shingle per se," Mitchell said. "What I see myself doing is pretty much making myself available to take on interesting projects you need to be lawyer to do."

Last November, Mitchell won his case against the state's Board of Bar Examiners, which denied his bid to bypass a requirement that U.S.-trained applicants be graduates of an American Bar Association-accredited law school. Mitchell v. Board of Bar Examiners, No. SJC-10157 (Mass.). The court allowed Mitchell to sit for the bar because the ABA is mulling changes to its accreditation standards.

Last September, the ABA launched a comprehensive review of its standards for the approval of law schools. Currently, ABA-approved schools can only allow graduates to take up to 12 credit hours of classes online.

Mitchell, who was a pro se litigant in his Supreme Judicial Court case, graduated from Concord Law School. Mitchell has also passed the California general bar examination and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, and he was admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit.

In the spring of 2008, Mitchell was also one of four Concord Law graduates sworn in to the U.S. Supreme Court's bar.

Update on Westlaw Standalone Printer Removals

2009-06-18T13:23:00.002-04:00

After I posted yesterday about Westlaw removing standalone printers from the Puerto Rico law schools, I received an e-mail from Southern New England School of Law. This is a standalone law school which is not yet fully accredited by the A.B.A. They were told in March that Westlaw would be removing their standalone printers. When the associate director there asked why, the academic rep had no explanation and could only say that West was "redeploying resources." Again, it looks as though Westlaw is picking at the low hanging fruit when redeploying resources. They seem more comfortable on the mainland grabbing resources from the unaccredited law schools. Hardly the high road.

E-textbooks Experiences

2009-06-18T13:13:00.003-04:00

The Chronicle of Higher Education for June 12, 2009 carries this interesting story in the Information Technology Section (http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i39/39a01801.htm Link), in print at p. A18. “6 Lessons One Campus Learned About E-Textbooks” discusses the experiences of Northwest Missouri State University in offering electronic textbooks widely on campus last year.

They began with a pilot program offering students a Sony Reader (which company was more responsive to their phone calls than the Amazon Kindle folks). The first experiments were sobering, though, because the klunky interface made the early adopters request print again. Happily, a newer version works better.

All four major textbook publishers for the undergraduate market wanted to participate. They see this as the future, and felt they must adapt or die. Book publishers of all types are apparently rushing into the digital book market for the same reason. Amazon just announced its new Kindle will be specially designed to handle textbooks, and according to the Chronicle article, six colleges will be testing it in the fall of 2009. (link for Wall Street Journal article discussing Amazon Kindle for textbooks. Participating schools are Case Western Reserve, Pace, Princeton, Reed, Darden School at the University of Virginia, and Arizona State. I think I recall Marie Newman blogging bemusedly about reading about Pace's participation.)

The article is worth reading in full, but here is a summarization of the six lessons derived from the Northwest Missouri State experience.

1. Judge e-books by their covers
That is, by their interface and hardware. Customer satisfaction rests heavily on the design of the device and its software. How easily can the user flip pages, locate text, highlight material, enlarge tables? Does it handle color? Can it work on laptops or is it designated for a certain reader machine? How heavy is it? How long does it take to learn to use?

2. Learning curves ahead
Students and faculty alike will benefit from scheduling time to explain how to make the best use of the new device. Students had to adapt previous note-taking techniques, and often commented that it took them time to find wonderful new features on their e-books.

3. Professors are eager students
Northwest Missouri State was surprised at the number of professors who clamored to be included in their experiment. They were afraid they would have trouble roping in a handful, but were inundated with petitions from entire departments.

4. Long live batteries
The students’ most frequent technical difficulty was battery life. Laptops’ batteries frequently die after one and a half hours, which does not take a student through a full day of classes. Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle batteries last significantly longer, though. And most law schools today, have easy-to-reach outlets in classrooms.

5. Subjects are not equally e-friendly
Math-heavy subjects are difficult in digital formats because the tables and formulas are difficult to read without easy enlargement. Tables are usually pop-up affairs that cannot be enlarged, and this makes digital versions very hard to read. Also, the Kindle and Sony Reader do not handle color. In fields like anatomy, geography or many science textbooks, grayscale does not adequately translate the information that was originally in color. This objection is probably not applicable to most law fields.

6. Environmental impact matters
E-textbooks save trees. I frankly don’t know how the complex analysis would go for all the heavy metals and plastics that go into a digital reader or laptop, but the mere re-usability of the hardware over the life of multiple textbooks probably outweighs other quibbles about lifetime environmental impact.

An interesting article and analysis. I still have not heard from Gordon Russell at Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law in Tennessee about whether their Kindle textbook program has even gotten off the ground. Has any other law school experimented with school-wide or recent class-wide digital textbooks? The last experiment I knew of was 10 or more years ago, and is quite outdated. Prof. Carter Bishop here at Suffolk had his students use his textbook in a CD-ROM version. It could be highlighted, and marginal notes could be made. But I think it was a bust from the students’ point of view. At that point, they wanted the book in print, not as a disk to run on their computer and laptop.

Why is Westlaw treating the Puerto Rican Law Schools differently?

2009-06-17T13:39:00.003-04:00

The only law schools that have received letters from Westlaw cancelling entirely the Westlaw standalone printer program are the schools in Puerto Rico. As far as OOTJ can tell, no other United States law school has received any letter cancelling their standalone printer program. Out of all the schools to least well afford such a slap to their student expense accounts, the Puerto Rican law schools would be near the top of anybody's list. If this decision were being made on the basis of need, why not talk about cancelling at the ivies? The decision smacks of outright discrimination. How ugly.

Sign the petition to improve Pacer!

2009-06-17T13:35:00.002-04:00

Sign the petition to improve Pacer and make it available free! Link here.

Back from Beijing, Blithered

2009-06-16T14:54:00.003-04:00

Well, I have finally stumbled back from the post-conference tour around China, and am in the office at last. Thank you, Jim, both for minding the blog, and for posting for me while I was in China. The great firewall of China would have stymied my attempts to blog and Twitter about the China-U.S. conference, but for e-mail and friendship!

I failed to mention on those reports that the conference managed to provide simultaneous translation services for the speakers in every workshop session. That was a truly astonishing accomplishment. There were student volunteers in tiny cubicles in the back of each presentation hall. They worked in relay teams, taking over seamlessly from each other to provide continuous translations as the speakers rattled along. Some speakers were aware of the problems of simultaneous translations, and spoke in measured tones. But many speakers, under time pressure because they had been promised 20 minutes but cut back to 10 or 15, spoke quickly. The translators rose to all challenges, and (as far as I can tell), managed to keep up and translate the speeches in adequate style.

The original roster of speakers was expanded in the last days before the conference by adding a number of extra Chinese speakers to nearly every program. This was probably done for political reasons, either for show, or morale purposes. The program still came out well, and I think we learned a lot on both sides. The primary goal of the conference was, after all, to jumpstart a Chinese law library association, and to begin a series of these conferences. Both aims seem to have been achieved, though time will have to bear this out.

I have a huge stack of business cards from Chinese and American colleagues from the conference. But the last one I received was the most surprising. Weeks after the conference ended, and after the post-conference tour was over, I was standing in line at the Beijing airport to get on the plane to the U.S. And the Chinese-appearing woman in front of me had a Westlaw roller bag, just like mine! She turned out to be Yan Hong, Insurance and Reference Librarian from the University of Connecticut Law Library. She had, like me, been at the CUSCLL conference, and had stayed after. She has family and friends in China, and visited them with her son. They were coming back on the same flight as my daughter and I were taking. We even sat on the same row in the airplane. What a world of coincidences!

Has the time for listservs passed?

2009-06-01T08:51:00.002-04:00

Greg Lambert asks (as reported by Joe Hodnick) on the Law Librarian Blog: "Is it time to retire listservs"?

Not yet, according to Greg Lambert, library and records manager for King & Spalding LLP in Houston and blogger at one of my newest favorite blogs, 3 Geeks and a Law Blog. See Lambert's Where Do Listservs Fit in a Social Media World? AALL Spectrum, June 2009. The networking tool of the 1990s is inefficient but remain easy to use, convenient and useful. "As long as we have e-mail, we’ll have listservs" writes Lambert. "That said, their heyday has come and gone. Social media tools and Web 2.0 resources are becoming the communication tools of choice and will eventually push listservs to the background." Lambert proceeds with a discussion of his two favorite social networking alternatives to listservs: Twitter and Nings. Of the two, Nings gets my thumbs up. [JH]

I raised a similar question on the lawprof listserv a couple of weeks ago in response to an AALS initiative to create new member-only listservs for the various sections. I asked whether listservs are really relevant anymore when I get most of my important law-related discussion from blogs. Most of the professors responding, however, said they relied heavily on listservs.

I don't think Twitter will ever catch on among law professors; the vast majority of them still sneer at Twitter. The reason why, I think, was well explained by one of my JD/PhD colleagues on the law faculty here. Scholars--especially those who have gone through rigorous PhD training, like most new law faculty entering the profession today, have had perfectionism drilled into them. They are literally incapable of committing to online words ideas that have not been fully worked out, rigorously analyzed, exhaustively cited, and tested at a series of faculty workshops. Spontaneity is not a value to them.

Of course, there are a few law professors currently on Twitter, and will no doubt be more, but I don't think Twitter will ever be a significant medium for communication among law professors. As for communication between law professors and those outside the academy: few law profs have any interest in communicating with non-academics. The reasons for this are left as an exercise for the reader.

China-US Conference wrap-up

2009-06-01T08:25:00.000-04:00

[Posted for Betsy McKenzie by Jim Milles.]

Last night, the first China-US Conference on Legal Information and Law Libraries came to a close. An agreement was signed to continue holding these conferences every two years, alternately in China and the United States. There was a final plenary session titled “Lessons Learned and Future Directions: A General Discussion of What has Been Learned Throughout the Conference and What Are the Next Steps in Collaboration Between Chinese and American Law Librarians.” Dr. Jiang Bo, Secretary General of the China Education Association for International Exchange, and Prof. Janis Johnston of University of Illinois summed up. There was a Conference Statement of Principles, which included establishing a standing body, the China-U.S. Institute on Legal Information and Law Libraries.

There is every intention that this conference be a first step in an ongoing process that will continue to bear fruit.

More News from the US China Conference

2009-05-30T17:08:00.000-04:00

[Posted for Betsy McKenzie by Jim Milles.]

On the first day of the conference, a half-day, the visiting Americans sat with some of the Chinese librarians. The bulk of the Chinese librarians did not arrive until the next day, Friday. But on that first day, we had a welcoming address from Dr. Jiang Bo, Secretary General of the China Education Association for International Exchange. In that speech, Dr. Bo essentially told the attending librarians how the Chinese librarians could go about setting up their library association. It is apparent that the government is strongly in favor of such a library organization, and desires librarians to begin the work of building a cooperative profession in China.

On the second day of the conference, many more Chinese librarians came. This is a three day national holiday, the first time it’s been celebrated nation-wide. So the librarians and their families are sacrificing a good deal to attend the conference. I sat in an afternoon session in which Chinese librarians and one American librarian, Virginia Wise, participated in a series of reports on librarianship, issues, and comparisons between China, and the U.S.

One of the most interesting reports was an older librarian who told how he had visited Berkeley in the 1980's and seen open shelving. He had brought that concept back to China, where they still practiced closed shelving. At that time, library users had to look up the book they desired in the catalog, order it from the librarians, and wait for delivery. This gentleman fought hard to implement open shelving in his Chinese university, where he encountered great resistance. People argued that books would be lost or stolen or even thrown from windows. He replied that it would be better for that to happen and the books to at least be read once than sit on the shelves forever, never used! He eventually carried the day and Chinese libraries today have open shelves. Now the fight is to improve customer service. We heard a wonderful Service Manifesto that included the translated phrase urging warm hearted careness for the users.

China is engaged in reforming legal education. Since 1978, when there were only 9 law schools in the country, there have grown to be 630 schools that teach law at some level. Law is taught as an undergraduate major, as a master’s level course, at the PhD level and at the post-doctoral level. In total, there are about 500,000 students in China studying law at some level. But there is deep dissatisfaction with the preparation of these students for the demands real world practice, as litigators, legislators, judges, and prosecutors. Speakers questioned whether undergraduate law students had adequate time to achieve true professional level training before graduation. Other speakers desired more practical training. The type and rules for what amounts to the bar exam recently changed. There is evidently a very low passage rate.

As the law schools grapple with sweeping changes in education, the law libraries also confront change. Many deans and other speakers or questioners at the programs commented on the inadequate nature of the law libraries at their schools. They referred to a lack of adequate books and a lack of adequate service. Several times deans asked that American law schools seeking partners for collaboration look beyond the Beijing schools. Conference organizers are preparing a list of participants with e-mail addresses so that contacts can be made and kept up beyond the time of this meeting. People are exchanging business cards like mad, as well. There is a real hunger for collaboration and a dissatisfaction with the status quo.

Blogging from the Miracle Conference

2009-05-28T13:15:00.000-04:00

[posted by Jim Milles for Betsy McKenzie]

The China-US Conference on Legal Information and Law Libraries here in Beijing, opening today, is a miracle conference. First, the mere fact of it is a miracle. That librarians from the U.S. and China, (in fact, there are librarians here from other countries, too!), should put together a jointly planned conference, and gain support from China’s central education ministry for it is quite amazing. With the blessing of the ministry, not only most of China’s law schools’ librarians, but also their deans are attending! And many western librarians are attending – not only directors, but also reference and cataloging librarians. This is a wonderful development.

It took three years to plan the conference. Huge amounts of work by lots of people, in China, and around the U.S. went into this project. Frank Liu and Janice Johnston are the co-chairs for the U.S. side of the conference planning. Frank was working on the plans from the very inception, and Janice was on board after the first planning meeting. Janice’s work went to the key portion of fund raising. She spearheaded efforts that raised support from various publishers and vendors in the amount of about $34,000, which is astonishing in the recent economy. Another miracle!

We heard tonight about the team of translators who worked tirelessly to translate the brief biographies of the speakers and moderators, and the speakers’ handouts and papers into Chinese. This was accomplished under extreme time pressure as the speakers had to put together their notes and hand them in before the translation team could begin to work. There will be a book produced with everything both in English and in Chinese, and word is that it will look great.

And then, as time for the conference grew closer, there has been the growing threat of the swine flu pandemic. Many of us participants watched the news with trepidation, worrying that the Chinese government would shut down the conference in fear of inviting so many North Americans into their country right now. But the conference is on! We all had our temperatures taken on arrival, and filled out health cards certifying that we are healthy and haven’t been exposed to swine flu.

Registration today took off after the announced time... It was scheduled officially for 9 AM to noon, but actually occurred this afternoon. I think many of the folks running registration are student volunteers, so this probably explains the timing – after classes are over, I am guessing. These students, I believe, are the same who are providing the simultaneous translation services later. We were introduced to them at the banquet tonight for the planning committee members from both sides of the ocean.

The Americans are not worrying about irregular registration, largely because Frank Liu, the official godfather of the conference, says he’ll make everything right. And he will, as we all know. The conference has largely come about because Frank has made everything right. He has had huge amounts of help from lots and lots of people in China and the U.S., as well as AALL’s support, but I do believe that this conference is taking place because of the passion and vision of Frank Liu and Robert Hu. Without them, this would certainly not be happening. (Note: On Friday, May 28, we heard more about the counterparts in China, Dr. Zhang Baosheng of the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) and Dr. Jiang Bo, Secretary General of the China Education Association for International Exchange. These two men, representing the university and the government interests, pushed hard to help bring the conference to fruition, and without their leadership and vision, here in China, there would not have been any success)

So, on the eve of this truly historic conference, we wait to see the next miracle unfold. We are very excited to meet our Chinese counterparts, and learn more about Chinese law schools and law libraries. From the Chinese perspective, this conference is another piece of celebrating the 30th anniversary of the entente between the U.S. and China, when Nixon came to China and the two countries established diplomatic relations.

I look forward to being able to blog and perhaps Twitter throughout this miracle conference! Right now, it is as if we are at the theater, and the curtain is just rising. The orchestra is playing the very opening notes, as the audience is rustling into quiet anticipation. The actual workshop sessions begin tomorrow afternoon. This should be the first of a series of China-US Conferences, held every two years. We are at the very beginning now.

AALL2Go

2009-05-22T13:26:00.002-04:00

I am waiting to see exactly how AALL2Go will work. It sounds like it might be a very nice thing for those whose travel budgets have been slashed. I had hoped it might include simultaneous access to AALL programming, but it actually sounds like it's more of a way to get the recordings quickly, maybe as MP3 files (for a fee, which is only fair). The most recent AALL Newsletter says:

AALL2go Coming to a Computer Near You

AALL2go
AALL's new online learning center, AALL2go, is under development and on its way. The new site will feature valuable downloadable educational content 24/7, offering you ultimate flexibility and freedom to get professional education on your schedule. Features of the learning center include:

* Online access to the AALL Annual Meeting program recordings, as well as archived Webinars, audio recordings, and video recordings, along with accompanying program handouts
* Advanced search capabilities so you can focus on key areas of interest and find materials where and when you need them
* Online profiles so you can track your individual continuing education progress

AALL2go will be available in early July with the 2009 AALL Annual Meeting program handouts. Be the first in line to take advantage of this new benefit; pre-order your downloadable Annual Meeting program recordings today.