The European commission's online public databases

In the context of its role in providing the day-to-day administration of the European Union, the European Commission is responsible both for stimulating the development of interactive electronic information services in Europe and for providing public online databases of information on the Union's activities. Following a brief survey of the background to the Commission's activities, this article outlines the Union's current telecommunications policy and the ongoing transition towards closer integration of the various telecommunications networks in Europe. It then describes the various practical arrangements for obtaining access to the Commission's online services, presents two of its programmes, which are intended to stimulate the professional use of electronic information services, and lists the various databases that it provides for public access.     

Checking Up on Court Citation Standards: How Neutral Citation Improves Public Access to Case Law

A small number of appellate courts require neutral citation, a legal citation format that frees citation to judicial decisions from adherence to particular formats or vendors. As law libraries increasingly rid their print collections of case law reporters, a gap appears in public access to the law, as many courts still require citation to print-based formats from particular commercial publishers. With widespread availability of case law in electronic formats through commercial databases and government Web sites, law librarians must continue to urge courts to consider adopting neutral citation principles to ensure greater accessibility to court opinions. This article retraces the history and quirks of neutral citation and aims to ground the arguments for more widespread adoption of neutral citation in the increasing concern over public access to the law.     

Democracy through access to legal information for newly democratizing nations: The Kenyan perspective and lessons from the American experience

The rule of law is essential for a country's development process, providing one of the ingredients for stability in newly democratizing countries that eventually promotes strong judicial systems. Likely factors contributing to weaknesses in the judicial systems include the absence of functional legal information systems, especially the availability of judicial decisions, as well as the inability of the populace generally to access legal material and legal information. Taking Kenya as an example and using the US judicial process as a foil, this paper examines the proposition that the availability of judicial decisions in case reporters enhances democracy by increasing judicial transparency and contributing to some predictability in the law, thus enhancing the rule of law. The paper also emphasizes the crucial role that information technology and the Internet could have in advancing access to legal information.     

Open government

Access to government information in electronic form is essential to the realization of a civil society, democratization, and a rule of law. Freedom of information issues are centrally important in countries around the world, and the Internet's World Wide Web offers the potential to provide freedom of information at low cost. Achieving a sound information policy to promote open government requires constant vigilance by those who care about the goal. The greatest threat is state sponsored monopoly. State sponsored monopolies are inimical to open government and rule of law because they open the possibility of censorship, because they raise prices and increase cost, and because they deprive the public of new technology developments. Agencies should never seek to restrict redissemination or to prescribe prices at which information may be distributed to redisseminated. Copyright law may be interpreted to exclude the possibility of copyright in basic public information. Finally, the proposed database protection treaty now pending before the World Intellectual Property Organization should be opposed, unless drafters add a compulsory license provision to mandate multiple sources and channels for public information locked up by intellectual property and database rights.     

Bringing the Law to the Library: The Importance of Librarian Mediation in Access to Justice Services

Library access to justice programs and services help people who need legal information and who cannot afford an attorney. Librarian mediation is a critical component in the provision of access to justice services. However, the value of library mediation, or assistance with using library resources, is often unrecognized, particularly where members of the public are trying to access electronic legal information sources, online legal forms, and other law technologies. This article will explore the role of librarians in providing access to justice services from the perspective of the work of Richard Susskind, which emphasizes technological approaches to providing legal services. While there is a place for technology in access to justice services, there is also a valuable role that librarians play in contributing to access to justice.     

A call for IGO policies on public access to information

There is much discussion in research literature regarding the information produced by inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) and what publications are available for use in libraries. At the same time, there is little discussion of the information policies of IGOs regarding access to IGO information. In fact, the freedom of information debate, with few exceptions, has not been extended to include IGOs. Although IGOs are made up of governmental bodies, the role of the IGO seems to be that of facilitator for state policy formation. This role fails to recognize that IGOs produce information of their own accord and make decisions which affect peoples in the member states. This article surveys the issue of access to IGO information and discusses how national debates can be extended to the IGO level. It shows both explicit and implicit information policies with case studies from the environmental information field: the European Union's (EU) directive on environmental information, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Three issues emerge: these are varying levels of access to IGO information, varying levels of IGO information policy, and a relative paucity of research on the subject. The principles of accountability, transparency, and public involvement are being made explicit more frequently in the documents of IGOs. However, a continuing gap between explicit and implicit policies must be bridged.     

图书馆著作权作品获取权的限制与保障

认为赋予图书馆著作权作品获取权是基于对公众知情权、文化教育和表达自由等权利的保障,因此,图书馆的获取权有坚实的法理基础。数字环境中,图书馆的获取权受到技术保护措施的限制。只有法律设置规避技术措施的例外条款,同时采取因应之策,才有利于著作权法合理设计图书馆的权利,有效保障图书馆的获取权。
     

The influence of the PSI directive on open government data: An overview of recent developments

This paper looks at the role of the European Directive on re-use of public sector information in the current trend towards opening up government data. After discussing the PSI directive, it gives an overview of current policies and practices with regard to open government data in the Member States. It is argued that the success of the open government data movement in some Member States can be related to the confusion or ignorance about the relationship between traditional freedom of information legislation and the re-use of public sector data. If future information policies decide to follow this trend, they should always ensure that existing rights on freedom of information are not harmed.     

中美原始法律文献公开获取比较研究

原始法律文献是最重要的法律信息,实现原始法律文献的公开获取对于保障公民基本权利具有重要意义。美国在原始法律文献公开获取的制度保障和实践操作方面已形成一套较完善的体系,相比较而言,我国原始法律文献公开获取面临着信息公开制度基础薄弱、缺乏权威汇编机构、公共获取不够便捷等诸多问题,应当制定有效政策确立各级机构的信息公开义务,建立全国统一的法律信息公开标准,并充分发挥图书馆的法律知识传播作用。     

Library Policy and Legislation: a European Perspective

Why, in the last 5 years, have at least three European organizations — the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the European Commission — devoted so many studies, investigations and, finally, policy documents to library policy and legislation? The answer is in the enlarged scope for library and information work and in the new emerging factors that are permeating its policy and planning. These factors are: convergence, globalization and participation.The author examines the four areas in which library and information planners are called to focus their policies — freedom of expression and free access to information, libraries within national information policies, libraries and the knowledge industries, and the protection of library heritage — and how these areas are covered by policy documents, in particular by the recently issued Council of Europe/EBLIDA Guidelines on library legislation and policy in Europe.     

Preserving Electronic Government Information

Abstract

Over the last ten years the Government Printing Office has made a massive shift from print to electronic media as the preferred distribution medium for government documents. Federal agencies over the same period have created large numbers of electronic records that require long-term preservation under the law. This article examines how the National Archives and the Government Printing Office are responding to the technical, financial, legal, and political challenges of providing permanent public access to electronic government information. NARA efforts to collect, appraise, and preserve records following the mandates of the courts in the wake of the PROFS litigation in Armstrong v. Executive Office of the President are discussed. The work of the GPO to develop an electronic archive and develop electronic partnerships with depository libraries and federal agencies is also examined.     

Collections on the Web: some access and navigation issues

Many libraries are currently experiencing a transition from printed to electronic collections. This transition has led to changes in collection development practices as well as in the roles of information professionals who facilitate access to information. Roles of librarians in both public and technical/access services are converging. There is a demand for a new breed of librarians who understand the entire electronic information scenario: procurement, organization, access and public services. All these come into play when making decisions and choices for meeting users’ information needs. Libraries are addressing such issues as ownership versus access, consortial access to electronic resources, licensing and authentication, surrogate versus full-text electronic resources, and integration of free Web content into collections. Librarians are challenged to embrace new ways of optimizing access to electronic resources and to explore ways to fit new technologies and innovations into traditional library structures and practices.     

Electronic Information:

The creation of electronic collections is changing the nature of libraries. Until recently an electronic collection meant providing an on-line public access catalog and a few CD-ROMs. Now the technologies exist to network CD-ROMs, load databases on Integrated Library Systems and access a number of commercial databases across the Internet for a fixed fee. With this responsibility comes a need to understand electronic information and options for its access. This article deals with three electronic information formats: CD-ROM, tape loads, and on-line hosts; reviews some of the hardware platforms used for accessing information in these formats; and, discusses some of the issues involved in interconnecting computer systems to increase access to electronic collections.     

A first class knowledge service: developing the National electronic Library for Health

With the introduction of clinical governance and the move towards evidence-based practice, there is a growing need to provide health professionals and patients, and the public, with high quality information. Developments in the health service have added weight and urgency to this need. The National electronic Library for Health (NeLH) has a key role to play in providing health professionals with a core knowledge base of accredited and evaluated information. The Pilot NeLH was launched in November and this article outlines the progress and achievements made during this time. The NeLH is based around a central website featuring core resources and links to commissioned specialist collections. Over 70 information resources, including bibliographic databases and full text publications, are accessible via the NeLH, which aims to act as a one-stop shop to support evidence-based decision-making. Much work has been undertaken on national procurement and licensing, particularly in partnership with National Health Service (NHS) libraries. Partnerships as a whole are crucial to ensure true seamless access for health professionals. Key partners include NHS libraries, NHS Direct Online and the electronic Library for Social Care. A short glossary is included for those readers less familiar with current health service developments in the UK.     

Authentication of Online State Primary Legal Resources as a Social Justice Issue: The Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act and How It Can Benefit Pro Se Litigants

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) has advocated for years for the adoption of standards to authenticate online state primary legal material. AALL's advocacy led to the enactment of the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA), which, for the first time, provides a framework for and guidance about how state governments can ensure that their official electronic legal information is authenticated, preserved, and permanently accessible to the public. This article provides a brief history of the development of UELMA as context for the argument that the adoption of standards related to the authentication of electronic state legal resources can be considered a social justice issue, particularly for pro se litigants. This article argues that states should adopt UELMA to ensure that these vulnerable users of legal information have access to authentic and trustworthy electronic versions of the laws that govern them.     

Web Mirror Sites

SUMMARY

Libraries can play a key role in ensuring permanent access to primary legal information, both domestic and international. Web mirror sites present a particularly efficient and cost-effective way to collect, disseminate, preserve, and ensure accessibility to information far into the future. Through partnerships with the issuing governments and organizations, databases of official information can be loaded on a local server, updated directly from the issuing site, and captured at regular intervals to get a snapshot of the status of legal instruments as of a certain date. The result is similar to adding the various editions of a print book. The Cornell Law Library has recently made freely available two Web mirror sites for researchers and the public. These are the ILO (International Labour Organization) and the ICJ (International Court of Justice) mirror sites. The Law Library is archiving these sites every six months, thereby providing access to previous versions of a treaty article, or other information that was superseded, or amended. The many additional advantages of creating these partnerships with domestic and international institutions are discussed, as well as the process used to create the mirror sites, and maintaining them. The article ends with a proposal for collaboration among libraries to create the research library of the future. The preservation of digital law is a critical issue because information is disappearing. Libraries have a role to play because it is part of their fundamental mission to preserve information for future researchers.     

数据库特殊权利保护制度对欧盟的影响

欧盟1996年的《关于数据库法律保护的指令》已实施10余年,但并未如预期那样促进欧洲数据库产业快速发展,文章在对欧盟各成员国执行《关于数据库法律保护的指令》的情况进行介绍的基础上,详细揭示了它对欧洲数据库产业的影响。     

浅议司法警察参与检察工作

人民检察院司法警察是中华人民共和国人民警。;警种之一,依法参与检察活动。人民检察院司法警察的任务是通过行使职权,维护社会主义法制,维护检察工作秩序,保护公民的人身安全、人身自由和合法财产,保护,厶＼共财产;预防、制止妨碍检察活动的违法犯罪行为,行使的职责是其它部门无法替代的,司法警察与检察官行使的职责也不同,所以司法警察保障检察2r-作的顺利开展起到积极的作用。     

Selection of data from the mass of information

In carrying out prior art searching, the European Patent Office (EPO) is obliged to take into account all information available in the public domain up to the date of filing of a patent application. In order to do this effectively, it is necessary to have rapid, selective, and comprehensive access to all information relevant to a topic being searched. In recent years, the method of searching in the EPO has been moving from a predominantly paper-based approach to one relying on handling information in electronic format. For such a change to be possible, it is necessary to have electronic access to all relevant information as either primary or secondary data. The means of searching electronic data is the Epoque system. The progress toward development of a uniform approach to the handling of patent and non-patent data in both character-coded and facsimile format is described.     

Compliance with freedom of information legislation by public bodies in South Africa

In South Africa, freedom of information (FOI) is entrenched in section 32 of the Constitution, which guarantees every citizen the right of access to any information held by the state or by any other person that is to be used for the protection or exercise of any right. The Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) is the law that gives effect to section 32 of the Constitution. Regardless of a remarkable trend towards the adoption of FOI laws, international trends have shown this does not automatically translate into fulfilment of people's right to information. This study utilised mixed method research through the explanatory sequential design to assess compliance with FOI legislation by public bodies in South Africa, with a view to develop a model for implementation of FOI. The study first conducted a quantitative study by analysing the reports of the South African Human Rights Commission from the reporting years 2006/07 to 2016/07 to assess compliance with sections 14, 15, 16, 17 and 32 of the PAIA. Thereafter, a qualitative study through interviews with purposively chosen participants was conducted to substantiate the findings of a quantitative study. Key results suggest that over the years, there were problems in the implementation of the FOI legislation in South Africa and its use was limited. Where implementation has taken place, it has been partial and inconsistent. The responsibility for the implementation of FOI legislation in most public bodies is assigned to legal departments that do not have knowledge of what records are created, and where and how they are kept. With regard to compliance, in terms of the degree of comparison, the situation was better in national departments, worse in provincial departments and worst in municipalities. The study recommends the establishment of an information governance unit to implement FOI in public bodies. Failure to assign responsibility to a relevant unit would perpetuate the non-compliance with FOI legislation by public bodies in South Africa. A model for the implementation of PAIA within a public body is suggested.