Cleveland Law Library Weblog

SEC Is Migrating from Static "EDGAR" System to Interactive "IDEA" Database

According to an SEC Press Release, by the end of this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission hopes to migrate its information on public companies and mutual funds from the EDGAR system to an entirely new database called IDEA. IDEA stands for Interactive Data Electronic Applications. The acronym means what it says, and in contrast to EDGAR's form-based system of 10K's, 10Q's and other online documents, IDEA will allow users to search a database of data on all companies, collate information, and create reports and analyses like never before. To make its conversion even easier, the SEC is even toying with requiring public companies and funds to submit their data filings using interactive data. The SEC has not indicated when it will discontinue access to EDGAR. Some of the features that will be available in the new SEC database have already been provided (for a subscription fee) by vendors such as 10-K Wizard, Edgar Online, Inc. and Global Securities Inc. (now owned by Thomson), which provides LIVEDGAR.

Ohio County Law Library Legislation is Pending

Last Thurday, Ohio Senator David Goodman introduced legislation related to Ohio's county law libraries as SB 345. The full text of the proposed bill can be located at the Ohio Legislative Service Commission's web site. Please read the text of this bill carefully as the joint product of four (4) interest groups consisting of the Ohio Judicial Conference, the Ohio State Bar Association, the County Commissioners Association of Ohio and a coalition of county law library association boards and bar associations. In a nutshell, the legislation would create a 5 member County Law Library Resources Boards in each county.  Each CLLRB would begin its authority 1/1/10 and provide services to municipal corporations, townships, county agencies and courts within the county. The first CLLRB meetings would be within 15 days after 7/1/09. Each CLLRB would employ a Librarian and other staff as determined by the Board, and all of them would be unclassified civil service county employees. The CLLRB could not charge for access, but it could charge for services. Special local CLLRB funds would be established for fines and penalties, county appropriations, and gifts, and no excesses could be declared and transferred to the county general fund. The CLLRB would go through the regular county budget process, and once its budget is approved, it would receive 50% of its yearly funds right away and the remaining 50% by July 15th of each year. The current County Law Library Association boards would serve as advisory councils to the CLLRBs for 2 years from 1/1/09-12/31/10.  After that, each CLLRB could still have a more loose advisory council.  All CLLRBs could contract with other CLLRBs (or create multi-county CLLRBs), a state-wide consortium that would be created, private entities, and public agencies. The bill also gives each CLLRB approval authority over the purchase of legal research/reference materials and the equipment to support them. The state-wide consortium would not start until 1/1/11, after which it would begin to catalog each library's resources, make grants to CLLRBs, negotiate contracts CLLRBs could use, make recommendations, give consulation, etc. A Task Force on county law libraries would also be reinstated to help implement the changes and monitor proper expenditures.

Ohio Bar Results Are Out

The Ohio Supreme Court has just released the February 2008 bar exam results. Overall, the pass rate was 65.5%, but the rate for first-timers was 83%. The list of all of the successful candidates can be found at the Supreme Court's website and is searchable by last name, resident city, county, state or law school. The Court will administer the oath to all of these individuals at 2:00 p.m. on May 12th. Click here to read the Court's Press Release.

Law Library Titles Now Searchable Through State Library of Ohio Website

Thanks to a brand new innovation launched yesterday called WorldCat Local, all of the titles that the Cleveland Law Library owns are now searchable at the State Library of Ohio's website. As the State Library's Press Release indicates, the State Library of Ohio is the first state library in the country to implement a Google-like search box that allows users to search its holdings, the collections of the OhioLINK academic libraries, or the international holdings contained in WorldCat. WorldCat is ordinarily only available on a subscription basis, but the State Library has made its holdings available for everyone to search.

Upgrades Planned for OSBA Casemaker Product

For those of you who are members of the Ohio State Bar Association, you can expect enhancements to Casemaker in the near future. OSBA President Robert Ware has announced that a search technology company called Collexis Holding Company has acquired Lawriter LLC, which created Casemaker. Ware notes that Collexis is planning to invest millions of dollars upgrading Casemaker, offering more features, and adding more than 3 million new documents. Currently, Casemaker provides access to codes and other materials from the 50 states and the federal system. Collexis has several existing partners, including the North and South Carolina Bar Associations, and 3 state trial lawyers associations. When the new Casemaker product is launched, the OSBA plans to offer training on its new features and functionality.

Fastcase Launches Beta Version of Public Library of Law

Fastcase has launched a beta or trial version of The Public Library of Law.  The PLoL claims to be the biggest free law library in the world with access to cases from the United States Supreme Court and the federal Courts of Appeals, cases from all 50 states back to 1997, federal and state codes, regulations, constitutions, and court rules. The site also provides access to fee-based forms and form packages from U.S. Legal Forms that cover an uncontested divorce, incorporating a business, creating a landlord-tenant lease, filing for bankruptcy and more. Most of the forms can be downloaded in Word, and there is a good sampling of forms from Ohio that are available for purchase.

OJur and ALR Now Exclusively on Westlaw

This year,  Ohio Jurisprudence and the American Law Reports (ALR's) are only going to be available on Westlaw. Traditional template searching to gain access to these products on Lexis will no longer work. Westlaw will also be the only place to find the legal encyclopedias from Texas, Florida, California, New York and Michigan.

Ohio County Law Libraries are in the News

Shane Hoover of the The Canton Repository issued a story last week highlighting the issues facing Ohio's county law libraries. Hoover interviewed Stark County Law Library Director Kendel Croston about the county funding cuts law libraries are suffering this year and the proposed plans that are being considered following issuance of a Task Force report. The new plan calls for creating local county law library boards as well as a state-wide consortium to facilitate resource sharing among the local agencies. Any changes which are enacted will affect the Cleveland Law Library, which fully participated in Task Force activities. The article also summarizes the main points of each interest group's opinions and concerns about the current situation and the reform proposal.

New Law Library Podcast on The Index to Ohio Legal Periodicals

If you have not already heard, our Law Library created its 2nd podcast this week about a brand new product we created called The Index to Ohio Legal Periodicals. After a year's worth of sweat equity, we recently launched the Index in August. Our Index currently covers 20 Ohio journals and is searchable as a pdf file on the Internet. We are constantly updating the Index with new issues, and we have plans to expand our journal coverage. There is a free sample/demo at the following link, DEMO Link, and listeners will receive the password near the end of our broadcast. Our Index is available for free to members of the Cleveland Law Library (through the Members' Only page on our website), all county law libraries in Ohio and the Ohio Supreme Court Law Library. Other interested parties can purchase a year's subscription to the Index for $150.00. Please contact the Cleveland Law Library Director for further information.

Check Your Own FBI File

The Moritz Legal Information Blog has posted information on how to quickly check whether the FBI has a "file" on you, and, if so, how to order a copy. The place to go is called Getmyfbifile.com, where you can get help drafting the letters you need to request your "file." This same site can also apparently help you order your "file" from other agencies such as the CIA, DIA, NSA, the Secret Service, and the Army Criminal Investigative Command. Getmyfbifile.com has a companion site called getgrandpasfbifile.com for help in obtaining government files for people who are deceased.