Dumpling in a Hanky

I think that (thanks to the Scottish Legal Newsletter ) I may have found the training course I've been looking for! " An introduction to law in contemporary Scotland " from the Open University looks like it'll cover the basics well enough...it might not go into the further depth I'd like, but it's a pretty good start! This course looks at law making in contemporary Scotland and introduces you to some specific areas of Scots law including the law relating to employment and to children. It considers the role of both the Scottish Parliament and Courts in law making. The course will be of particular interest to anyone who wants an overview of how the legal system in Scotland operates and will provide an excellent beginning to students who want to understand how modern Scotland works.

Gadget Lab muses on what would improve the next version of the Kindle, as the original version's been out for a year. Have to say, it's never struck me as the most attractive of toys: definitely looks like it's escaped from a 1960 "visualisation" of the future...

Looking at the report here from The Register , it looks like the Kindle (and other e-readers) might not be selling as well as the hype may have previously suggested. I dunno if that makes the Luddite in me happy, or the techie geek in me sad...regardless, I'd like to at least have a shot of one to see what I'm missing :D

I was asked to email this out to members of the SLLG last week, and thought it was interesting enough to share: The Advocates Library’s exhibition highlighting the link between the Scottish printing trade and the practice of law in Scotland will be on show in Parliament Hall, Edinburgh , from 11 August until 27 September 2008, Monday to Friday, 9am until 4.30pm.  With the kind permission of the Lord President, the exhibition will be open to the public and will form part of the Scottish Courts programme of events in Parliament House for Doors Open Day, 27 th September 2008.  Examples from the library’s unique 18 th century collections of printed Session Papers will be displayed in addition to other items from the Library’s extensive collections.  Session Papers are documents used in the presentation of cases in the Court of Session, Scotland ’s supreme civil court.  The papers often include non-legal documentary exhibits such as drawings, plans and maps....

Well, apparently, according to the recent Times article. The only problem is, Alex Wade doesn't seem to have bothered actually doing any proper research. They've decided that only staff at law firms are likely to blog, or have any knowledge of the law, thereby ruling out advocates / barristers, academic law professionals, support staff / librarians, students.... There are lots of law blogs out there, by all sorts of people working in the law, all it takes to find them is a few minutes! I randomly selected one of the blawgs listed in the article, and a quick look at some of Geeklawyers blawgroll lists the following: Bar Council Blogs Batgirl was a librarian Binary Law CharonQC Conflict of Laws Corporate Blawg Current Awareness Family Law Free Movement Head of Legal Human Law Impact IPKat Law Outsider Lawclanger Legal Beagle Legal Spy lo-fi librarian Martin George Open Content Lawyer Pink Tape PJH Law Publawyer Pupillage and How to Get It Ruthieslaw ...

From some of its headlines in the last week, you'd be forgiven for thinking the answer is "yes"! First up was this delightful individual , who they (and other news sites) decided to label as a "librarian" of child pornography images. The original source of the word librarian seems to come from the quote at the bottom of the page: Det Chief Supt Mark Braithwaite, from Cleveland Police, said Thompson had been "a critical piece of this network". "He was the librarian/warehouseman for a myriad of images that were distributed to like-minded individuals both in this country and elsewhere." Also, a second quote from a different source in a Reuters UK report: "He was a senior administrator for a pedophile website and was effectively a librarian for the storing and distribution of indecent images of children," Detective Sergeant Rebecca Driscoll said outside court. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but what he was doing (as stated...

Bill Bell, David Finkelstein & Alistair McCleery: "Books and Society" Tue 19/08/2008 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM As Scotland celebrates 500 years of printing, editors David Finkelstein, Bill Bell and Alistair McCleery reveal the remarkable contribution to publishing and literary culture made by Scotland over the last 120 years - a period covering momentous change in writing, publishing technology, bookselling, readership and, of course, book festivals." As mentioned previously here , I went on a Scottish Law Librarians Group organised trip to an Event at the Book Festival. Despite it being all about books, it was actually reasonably difficult for the Committee to find an event at a time that would hopefully allow people to attend, and on a topic that was relevant to our jobs! The closest we could come was one on a Scottish-specific topic, in this case, the history of the Scottish publishing industry over the last few hundred years. This turned out to be a really ...

Noriko Ambe's work is fab - I love intricate things like this! They make the books look like topographical maps, or some sort of clockwork item! From Swiss Miss

As I waffled about back in March , it was recently shown that pacemakers could be hacked. At that point, they weren't sure what exactly could be done to the pacemakers, but now...they know. Some academics have managed to turn off pacemakers by remote control ... Definitely not conducive to good heart health!

Sarah Hammond, an MA student, is researching the world of UK library blogging, and is trying to compile a comprehensive list of UK public library blogs. She's going to post the results on Delicious, with the username Public_biblioglogosphere , and has kindly agreed to allow me to add the results of her work into the overall UK library bloggers wiki. She's also doing her dissertation on the UK biblioblogosphere, and has set up a survey for UK public librarians to fill in here , if they're feeling  nice. It should only take 10 minutes, and will give you an inner glow of happiness for being so lovely :D

After some checks by someone who's much more technical than me, it appears the invite for the survey was for a BT telephone directory. Glad of that - the less I have to do with Phorm the better (although as a Virgin Media customer, I wonder if that decision's always going to be mine to make)

I participate in various online surveys, getting pennies, or prize draw entries in return. Last night, I got sent the following invite - hands up who thinks it's in some way linked to BTs Phorm experiment? Hi Jennie, We have a new survey available for you to take. You will also be asked if you would like to take part in an ongoing program run by BT in which you will be asked to take part in online activities. You will need to provide your e-mail address and register on the website so that you can be sent the details of how to take part. In exchange for taking part you will be entered into weekly prize draws. If you complete the survey but do not register to take part in the rest of the online program you will be rewarded 25p if you register to take part in BT's online activities you will receive £1.00. You will also be redirected straight to a BT site at the end of the survey. Please be assured that your e-mail address will only be used to contact you about this study. Or maybe...