KCLL Klues: Washington State Legal Research

This episode of KCLL’s SideBar was to include an interview with a local attorney about his music, including a bit about copyright laws. That portion of the podcast may be published later. Included in this shortened version of KCLL’s SideBar is “At the Reference Desk”, from the Seattle University Law School librarians. In this segment they discuss copyright law as it applies to music and to other works. Craig, in his “Reel Verdict” segment, discusses a musical copyright case along with a review of the movie, “Almost Famous.” His take on movie supporting cast members is particularly telling.

Listen to Episode 29
Links for Episode 29

The American Bar Association has created a weekly blog that features excerpts from books, ariticles and interviews byABA authors.  Sign up here to receive their blog.  The King County Law Library receives almost all of the new books published by the ABA.  If you find an excerpt that intrigues you, you can check out the book from our library.  (Note:  the title of the blog is not the title of the book.  The title(s) can be found in the text of the blog.)

110 district and municipal courts in Washington state are participating in a “Debt Reduction Program” through the month of May.  This special service is to help the citizens regain their driving licenses and reduce debt owed to collection agencies for unpaid fines and fees.  Check the courts website for details and a list of participating courts.

At long last, the first two volumes of the new edition of the Real Property Deskbook has been published!   The last update to this set was 2001.  Vol. 1 covers parties to real estate transactions and basics of real estate transactions.  Vol. 2 covers leasing,  financing and remedies.  The set is accompanied by a CD-ROM with forms and has its own index.  Volumes 3 and 4 are expected later this summer.  Volumes 5-7 will be published sometime in 2010.  The Law Library has one copy of the deskbook available for checkout and as well as the CD-ROMs.  Copies of this new edition are available from the Washington State Bar Association for $315.00 ($350.00 after April 30).

Helping a patron research the concept of “positive law” prompted me to post here a pair of links to documents discussing the Positive Law Codification project being conducted by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel and a brief but very informative review of US Code concepts.  I found both of these among the excellent collection of Federal legislative research materials posted on the web site of the Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C. (LLSDC).  Many thanks to Richard McKinney, the staff at the Office of the Law Revision Council and the LLSDC.

The Puget Sound Business Journal has a recent article about the financial woes that our libraries are dealing with in this time of increased use but struggling government budgets. The article links to a survey done by the Washington Secretary of State’s Office which details the hardships that many of the libraries will be facing.

The niffty countdown clock on the lead page of the US Department of State’s passport web site warns that new US travel requirements take affect in 38 days.  If you’re planning to travel aboard, it’s very important to review the information at this site and confirm that you have the appropriate documents ready.  Included at this site are discussions of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and the differences between a standard US passport and the US passport card.

The Law Librarians’ Society of Washington DC is a premier source for legislative history researchers. Rick McKinney, Editor of  LLSDC’s Legislative Source Book posted today about the Legislative Source Book site, “Selected Congressional Research Service Reports on Congress and Its Procedures” The site has been expanded so that it lists 250 CRS reports alphabetically by title and links each one to its location on OpenCRS.

“The few reports that are not on OpenCRS.com are marked with an asterisk before the title and are generally linked to a previously scanned report that was downloaded to the LLSDC site.” If you are looking for information on how Congress works this is a great resource!

KCLL’s own Department of Redundancy Department found this amusing bit of legislative double-speak while helping a patron research a question about public drunkenness: 66.44.175: Violations of law.  We suspect it was written to ensure that anyone violating the administrative regulations corresponding to Chapter 66.44 could also be prosecuted under the statute as well but it certainly makes for a confusing read.

The ABA has posted their top 3 ‘Peeps in Law’ entries. They ask you to “weigh in on your favorite. The winner gets bragging rights and our peepternal gratitude.”

Take a look. My favorite isn’t winning, as I love the Minnesota U.S. Senate Trial Peeps!