Year archives: 2015

Bitcoin Derivatives – Independent Study Report

Financial analyst Ryan Davis describes the landscape of exchanges based in and outside of the U.S. that have begun to offer trading in bitcoin derivatives. TeraExchange completed the first bitcoin derivative trade on a regulated exchange in the U.S. on October 8, 2014 with its Bitcoin Non-Deliverable Forward (NDF) contracts. More recently, LedgerX has submitted applications to become the first regulated bitcoin options exchange in the U.S. Additionally, some exchanges are based outside of the U.S. but may have significant customer bases in the U.S. Bitcoin derivatives offered on these exchanges include futures, forwards, and options.

Subjects: Government Resources, Legal Technology

The Support from Standardized Tests: High School Graduates Unprepared to be College Freshmen

In Part 4 of a 5 Part series, Librarian and Educator Lorette Weldon focuses on a core issue related to STEM education – high school students are not guaranteed success in college when they have completed college-preparatory courses. Weldon outlines the curriculum requirements that substantiate a progression to higher education.

Subjects: Education

Unpacking and overcoming edutainment in library instruction

Within our field, and more widely, there is a way of thinking that equates effective teaching with effective entertaining. This way of thinking can be referred to as a “discourse of edutainment.” It underpins some of the publications and conversations that encourage librarians to make their teaching more entertaining, for example by playing improv games or adding humour. In this article, Sarah Polkinghorne examines the edutainment discourse in three ways. First, she identifies and analyses it. Next, she connect it to larger concerns, such as creating significant learning experiences and wrestling with public speaking fear. To conclude she describe several concepts from the performing arts that could better support librarians working to teach in ways that are as engaging, significant, and enjoyable as possible.

Subjects: Libraries & Librarians, Library Marketing, Library Software & Technology, Program Planning

Googles A/B Testing Method is Being Applied to Improve Government Operations

Alan Rothman discusses and documents a method of testing used in the private sector that also has significant in public sector applications – the process called “A/B testing.” Users are shown two nearly identical versions of something with one of them containing some slight variation. They are then asked to choose which one they prefer between the two. Rothman references how Google makes extensive use of this testing and design methodology, and also provides insight into how the federal government is implementing the tactics and strategies of this testing to provide more agile and actionable citizen and business related services.

Subjects: KM, The Tao of Law Librarianship

A Matter of Trust: Why the Time is Right to Adopt the Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act (UELMA) in Florida

In this article, Law Librarian Patricia Morgan brings our attention to a group of prominently related issues on electronic legal research whose application are critical for attorneys, librarians and courts. In an era where cost-cutting has become increasingly important, there already exists an untapped resource related to legal research. More and more resources exist online (some exclusively). It has been a long time since the introduction of the Internet, but it is finally going to prove instrumental in reducing the cost of legal research. It is time to come to terms with the fact that most legal material should be readily available electronically and that there must be a way to verify that the material is authentic. As Morgan queries and answers – Uniform Law, Anyone?

Subjects: Government Resources, Legal Education, Legal Research, Legal Technology, LEXIS, Online Legal Research Services, Westlaw

Unprepared Colleges and Universities Need A Self-Evaluation (Part 3 of 5: The Beginning of Information Illiteracy)

In Part 3 of a 5 Part series, Librarian and Educator Lorette Weldon focuses on a challenging issue – data, placement tests and student records should provide school administrators with the history of courses students have taken and what credit they received. Yet despite this information, every year there between 16% and 40% of entering freshmen are unprepared for college level courses.

Subjects: Education

The Next Librarian of Congress – What to do about the Internet Archive and Google Books scanning project?

David Rothman offers his insights and perspective on the work and challenges that await the next Librarian of Congress. He calls for an individual who is not only steeped in the requisite expertise of research, technology, learning, teaching and freedom of information, but in following with a cause he has long championed he states “we need someone with “a love of reading—including the e-book variety.”

Subjects: Archives, E-Books, Internet Trends, KM, Leadership, Libraries & Librarians, Library Marketing, Library Software & Technology, Management, Technology Trends

Animal Rights on the Road to Personhood

Ken Strutin’s paper addresses a seminal issue that has been an integral part of the personal and collective ethic of diverse peoples around the world. As Strutin states, when life is classified biologically, it is also defined legally. Thus is formed the tension between the natural and juridical worlds. Whether animal rights can ever fall within the ambit of personhood will depend as much on the findings of cognitive science as on the evolution of legal remedies. Indeed, the foundations for nonhuman personhood are being laid in a growing body of litigation and scholarship at the borderlands of science and civil justice.

Subjects: Animals and the Law, Ethics, Human Rights, Legal Ethics, Legal Research