The website Librarianship.ca has published an overview of the 2024 federal budget that was tabled earlier this week in the House of Commons. The post presents highlights of interest to the Canadian library and information management community in areas such as: artificial intelligence arts and culture institutions cybersecurity digital economy DEI government information and more ..read more

The website of the International Federation of Library Associations recently published an interview with Andrea Cecchetto, the new chair of the Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA). The CFLA is a Canada-wide federation of provincial and territorial as well as sectoral associations, including the Canadian Association of Law Libraries. In the interview Cecchetto addresses many topics, including the Federation's recently adopted strategic plan: "Our new strategic plan also focuses strongly on advocacy. When we were developing this plan last year, we reached out to mem ..read more

CALL member Annette Demers, Reference Librarian at the University of Windsor Law School, has written an article that will be of interest to many of us, "Artificial Intelligence AI for Legal Applications: Resources and Updates". It originally appeared on Slaw.ca on February 13, 2024. It is republished here with permission of the author, with minor edits. It’s been fun pulling together regulations and standards for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in legal applications over the past few months! CALL/ACBD AI Working Group Last fall, I proposed a working group (WG) through the Canadian As ..read more

CALL member Annette Demers, Reference Librarian at the University of Windsor Law School, has written an article that will be of interest to many of us, "Artificial Intelligence AI for Legal Applications: Resources and Updates". It originally appeared on Slaw.ca on February 13, 2024. It is republished here with permission of the author, with minor edits. It’s been fun pulling together regulations and standards for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in legal applications over the past few months! CALL/ACBD AI Working Group Last fall, I proposed a working group (WG) through the Canadian As ..read more

Le texte français suit. The winners of the 2023 Canadian Law Blog Awards (known as the Clawbies) were announced on New Year's Eve. The Clawbies exist to reward the best and most innovative Canadian blogs, podcasts, videos, legal newsletters, and other forms of online commentary.  The Canadian Law Libraries Review, the journal of our association, was selected as one of the best newsletters! In their synopsis, the organizers of the competition highlighted some of the significant features of the publication and our work as legal information professionals: "…voice of the Canadian As ..read more

Le texte français suit. The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD) is accepting nominations for the 2024 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing. CALL/ACBD has long had an annual award for excellent legal publishing. Some years ago, we renamed the award we present after Queens University Professor Hugh Lawford (1933-2009) to recognize his contributions to legal publishing in Canada.  As a group of legal information specialists, our work depends on being able to access and share high-quality legal knowledge. We value innovation and this award is open to legal conte ..read more

Le texte français suit. CALL/ACBD is pleased to share the results of the 2023 CALL-TALL Salary Survey. This is a joint salary survey report from the Toronto Association of Law Libraries (TALL) and the Canadian Association of Law Libraries / L'Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit (CALL/ACBD). The purpose is to determine benchmark employment remuneration received by members. This survey reports data collected in February/March 2023. The previous survey was conducted in 2018. This analysis is based on 204 survey responses. Respondents were able to skip questions, which results in dif ..read more

On October 25, the Private Law Library and Academic Law Library Special Interest Groups jointly held a session about AI and the student experience. Gathering to learn more about what students are learning and using in the school and firm environments, the groups had a lively conversation and left with a better understanding of how we can support students as they start seeing more AI resources during their school and articling careers. We had 3 academic speakers sharing their perspectives, which ranged from "not touching on it at all" in lower-year legal research and writing classes to using th ..read more

Le texte français suit. The Membership Development Committee (MDC) is excited to be back in the full swing of things, with an excellent group of volunteers and plans in the works for membership events to come later this season. In the immediate, however, the return of fall means the return of school visits on behalf of the Association. As it has been a few years since we have had the opportunity to visit many of the professional and technical programs across Canada, the MDC is working on updating and expanding our list of contacts at the various school programs. We would like to encourage our ..read more

Le texte français suit. As you all know, 2024 is another election year for our association and a Nominations Committee has been struck to solicit expressions of interest, or the names of members who are willing to stand for election to the Executive Board. The members of the Nominations Committee are Daniel Boyer, Vicki Jay Leung, Allyssa McFadyen, Carolyn Petrie, and George Tsiakos (Chair). Our sincerest thanks to these CALL/ACBD members for taking time to serve on this important committee. In 2024, there will be one position open for election: Second Vice-President. If yo ..read more