PLL events from October

October is always a busy month in law libraries. Unfortunately, the PLL SIS didn’t make it any less so, offering two hard-to-resist events to members.

On October 28th, several members of LLSDC had a special treat: a guided tour of the Folger Shakespeare Library. The library’s Head of Reference, Georgianna Ziegler, gave us a tour of the library’s beautiful reading room and gave a history of the Folger, which was founded by Henry and Emily Folger and completed in 1932. After the reading room, Ms. Ziegler brought out several rare pieces from the collection, including a First Folio of Shakespeare’s work that was owned (and drawn on by a child) in the 1700s, part of a contract that Shakespeare signed regarding his Stratford house and a rare book of woodcuts showing scenes of England in the 1600s. 

On October 23^rd the PLL and ALL SISs teamed up to sponsor a presentation by Andrea Garvey, Administrator DC Office of Documents and Administrative Issuances. Catherine Dunn and Georgetown University’s Law Library hosted the event which was well attended by our membership. Ms. Garvey’s fast-paced discussion brought us up to speed with DC’s progress in posting the DCMR and the DC Register online.

To date, the rules, regs, and mayor’s orders have been digitized and current versions have been posted online. Ms. Garvey explained that Westlaw and Lexis have both been notified of the changes to the regulations so that both vendors might update their versions of the code. The foregoing progress marks the end of “Phase One” of DC’s digitization project. Phase Two will involve finalizing substantive updates. Phase Three will consist of a variety of objectives including the adoption of best practices for Administrative Codes, adding information that is subject to frequent change (i.e. fees, judgments, civil infractions), and the adoption of rules copyrighted by private entities (i.e. building codes).

To access the DCMR and DC Register, go to http://www.dcregs.net/ .