Library Notes from Broadway

In This Issue:

  Wadaya Mean It Isn't Online?

HeinOnline: It's What's Online

Ask Libby

Noteworthy Terms

Library Policies

Library Hours

People mistakenly “know” many things which are simply not supported by facts: a bowling ball falls to earth faster than a grape does, the levees are well-built and secure protection against flooding, and torture is illegal. Perhaps because the internet is so pervasive, they also believe that everything is available online. For several reasons, this is not the case.
This belief is not new; it has been around since nearly the beginning of the internet. In 1999, Penny Hazelton, the Law Librarian at the University of Washington School of Law, conducted a study of her own library’s collection. Initially, she assumed that perhaps 40% of her print collection was available on Westlaw and Lexis. Once she had conducted the study, she discovered that only 13% of her collection was really duplicated online. After allowing for multiple copies of print titles, only 7.8% of the collection was actually duplicated online.

Instead of asking why something is not available online, you should ask why something would be available online. How many of you would be willing to spend a day in front of a scanner, scanning pages of an entire book, and then post those images online at your own website? Instead of scanning, how many would type the entire book, and make a Word or WordPerfect document? What if you thought that you could only make three or four dollars for all that effort? Do you have the legal right to even scan the book, such as copyright ownership or a license from the copyright owner?

In NEW YORK TIMES CO. V. TASINI, 533 U.S. 483 (2001) , freelance writers who had sold articles to newspapers and a magazine objected when those publishers included their work in online databases, without their consent. The Supreme Court held that the Copyright Act did not allow the publishers to use the freelancers work a second time in an online database. Thus, rather than pay freelancers again to use their articles in an online database, many publishers simply remove the work from “online editions” of their publications.

As you may know, the writers’ guilds are now on strike, over similar issues. Since so many TV shows and movies end up online, the writers want a cut of those profits. Time will tell how the networks and studios respond.

The Pareto principle may be observed in the library world: 80% of a library's patrons use only 20% of the collection. Thus, even if a title is valuable and acclaimed by scholars, it may not get much use by patrons. If that is true, then why would a publisher take the economic risk of digitizing works that are not popularly used? Assuming that a publisher considers digitizing a work, and has the legal right to do so, how would they sell it? What is the market for an 1821 treatise on maritime contracts, translated from French into English?

Acquisitions budgets, the amount of money that a library has to spend on books, serials, databases, etc., are generally static. However, publishers often raise the prices of serials by about 10% every year. Thus, a library does not have the budget to subscribe to a large number of obscure databases. Even if something is available somewhere, your library may not be able to provide it in an online medium.Online availability of information is very helpful and convenient for students and other researchers. However, it is not the norm. Books and microfiche will continue to occupy places of importance in law libraries. Students should realize that research today often means using paper or microfiche resources, just like research of fifty years ago.

The HeinOnline database, which can be accessed via a link on the Library webpage, is what students really want, even if they don’t yet realize that fact. Why is this, and how was the database built?

Over the last 80 years, William S. Hein & Co., Inc. established itself as a leading preservation publisher by producing long out-of-print legal research materials in reprint and microfilm/fiche format, and also became the world's largest distributor of legal periodicals. In the early 1990s they began a move into digital print technology, anticipating a need for digital images. As the Internet grew, Hein was in a clear position to stake a claim in the online market. The millions of pages saved in digital format, as well as the microfilm/fiche images that could be converted into digital format, meant that Hein could now deliver content that researchers wanted.

HeinOnline is unique in that a searcher can “page through” a book, or jump to a specific page, or look through the table of contents. Hein optically scanned real books, rather than simply digitizing the content of the books. Thus, you can search an online publication much as you would a paper product. One can also search content via a search engine.

HeinOnline offers many popular titles: Code of Federal Regulations, English Reports, European Center for Minority Issues, Federal Register Library, Foreign & International Law Resources Database, Law Journal Library, Legal Classics, Philip C. Jessup Library, Session Laws, Treaties and Agreements Library, U.S. Attorney General Opinions, U.S. Federal Legislative History Library, U.S. Presidential Library, U.S. Statutes at Large, the U.S. Supreme Court Library, ALI Collection (includes Model Penal Code and the Restatements), and U.S. Congressional Documents Collection (includes the Congressional Record).

We have an IP address subscription, which means that it is available within the buildings of Law Library and College of Law, but not from your homes.

Dear Barry,
The short answer is: No. Here is the city ordinance:

Sec. 54-154.1. Obstruction of catch basins or other elements of the drainage system at construction or demolition sites.
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in the behavior as hereinafter defined of obstruction of catch basins or other elements of the drainage system at construction or demolition sites.
(b) "Obstruction of catch basins or other elements of the drainage system at construction or demolition sites" is the dumping of trash, debris, greases, oils, and other environmentally sensitive liquids such as but not limited to cooking oil and fats, motor oil, antifreeze, solvents, truck and automotive fluids, paint, paint thinners, and gasoline into catch basins, storm drains, drainage culverts, drainage ditches, gutters, lines, canals or any body of water, or allowing the entry of the enumerated materials into the drainage system through negligence or violation of the requirements of a governmental permit or license at adjoining, or within 75 feet of a construction or demolition site.
((d) Whoever violates this section shall be fined not more than $5,000.00 or shall be imprisoned for a period of not more than six months, or both; provided that a second conviction of aviolation of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not less than $2,500.00 and a third or subsequent conviction of a violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine of $5,000.00.
(Ord. No. 21,323, § 1, 11-6-03)

Dear Libby,
Is it true that bars are closed on Election Day?
—–Confused Voter

Dear Confused.
Not really. However, the Mayor, in his discretion, may close bars on election days. Please see this city ordinance:

Sec. 10-186. Closure of bars under certain circumstances.

Do you consider yourself an avid court-watcher? Test yourself. Why are these Supreme Court cases special?

1. HOLMES v. SOUTH CAROLINA, 547 U. S. ____ (2006).

2. MARTIN v. FRANKLIN CAPITAL CORPORATION, 546 U. S. ____ (2005) .

(see below for answers)

2:“A civil case commenced in state court may, as a general matter, be removed by the defendant to federal district court, if the case could have been brought there originally.” Chief Justice Roberts’ first sentence.