[{"id":3241524,"description":"A revised first edition of the Canadian Open Access Legal (COAL) Citation Guide/Guide canadien de la référence juridique en accès libre (RJAL) is now available.  The guide’s editors have incorporated reader feedback and corrections into a revised edition. Some of the changes include moving the general rules to their own section and revising rules on citing regularly updated books, regulations, administrative decisions, and generative AI for greater clarity and increased consistency across the guide. Additions to the guide include guidance on creating a bibliography/table of authorities and on citing reports, dissertations, municipal by-laws, court materials, First Nations, Métis, and Inuit - Crown Treaties, amongst other sources. A more detailed list is in the guide’s introduction. Since the publication of the guide in June 2024, the editors have led multiple online training sessions and conference workshops. We are now working on training materials that reflect the revised edition. The francophone editors continue to work on the French version of the guide, with the aim to publish it in 2026. Once the French version is published, we will be able to better focus our efforts to have the courts, tribunals, and the government adopt the guide and to add the guide to citation management tools. Reaction to the guide has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, the guide was a recipient of a Clawbie for Best Legal Papers, Reports, or eBooks of 2024 and the CALL/ACBD Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing . The guide’s editors remain committed to feedback and encourage users to get in touch at coal.rjal@ubc.ca","source":"Canadian Association of Law Libraries / L'Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit CALL/ACBD Blog","pubDate":"Mon, 26 Oct 2026 07:55:55 +0100","url":"https://www.callacbd.ca/CALL-Blog/13521958","titre":"Revised First Edition of the Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide Now Available"},{"pubDate":"Mon, 26 Oct 2026 07:55:50 +0100","url":"https://www.callacbd.ca/CALL-Blog/13205129","titre":"Parting Words from Outgoing CALL President / Message de départ du président sortant de l'ACBD","id":3241484,"description":"You can read outgoing CALL President  George Tsiakos'  last  From the President's Desk column on our website. In it, George outlines some of the CALL Board's many recent accomplishments: \"One of the Board highlights of the past year has been supporting the organization of the first in-person annual conference in four years (...) With so many members expressing their eagerness to come together in person once again, I am thrilled that we are able to provide this opportunity (...)\" \"Another Board accomplishment I am particularly proud of is the initiation of a strategic planning process. This process aims to develop a new plan that will guide the Executive Board's work over the coming years. By engaging in this activity, we are ensuring that the Association remains responsive to the needs of our community. We are currently in the final drafting stages and will soon unveil a comprehensive plan that outlines our goals and objectives for the future.\" \"With the help of National Office, we have also been working hard on developing an online member’s chat forum, which will be released to members in the coming weeks. This forum will provide a virtual space for members to connect, share resources, and engage with one another outside of our in-person events. We recognize that our members have diverse interests and needs, and we want to provide a platform that fosters meaningful interactions and connections.\" Sur note site web, vous pouvez trouver le dernier Mot du prési dent du président sortant de l'ACBD , George Tsiakos. George y décrit quelques-unes des réalisations récentes du conseil d'administration de l'association: \"Un des éléments les plus positifs que je retiens de la dernière année est le soutien apporté à l’organisation du premier congrès annuel en présentiel depuis quatre ans (...) Les membres étaient nombreux à exprimer un grand enthousiasme à l’idée de se retrouver en personne, et je suis ravi que nous soyons en mesure de leur offrir cette occasion (...)\" \"Une autre réalisation du conseil dont je suis particulièrement fier est le lancement d’un processus de planification stratégique. Cette démarche vise à élaborer un nouveau plan qui orientera les travaux du conseil exécutif au cours des prochaines années. Elle permet aussi de nous assurer que l’association tient compte des besoins de notre communauté. Nous sommes aux dernières étapes de la rédaction de l’ébauche et nous dévoilerons bientôt un plan complet qui définira nos buts et nos objectifs pour l’avenir.\" \"Gr'ce à l’aide du bureau national, nous avons également travaillé très fort à l’élaboration d’un forum de discussion en ligne pour les membres, qui sera mis à la disposition de ceux-ci au cours des prochaines semaines. Ce forum constituera un espace virtuel où les membres pourront rester en contact, partager des ressources et échanger entre eux en dehors de nos événements en personne. Nous sommes conscients que nos membres ont des intérêts et des besoins divers, et nous voulons leur offrir une plateforme qui favorise des interactions et des liens","source":"Canadian Association of Law Libraries / L'Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit CALL/ACBD Blog"},{"source":"Canadian Association of Law Libraries / L'Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit CALL/ACBD Blog","id":3241462,"description":"Hannah Steeves, the Instruction & Reference Librarian at the Sir James Dunn Law Library, Dalhousie University (Halifax), recently wrote an article on \"Using Vinyl & Spotify to Understand Legal Information Online\" . It originally appeared on Slaw.ca on February 15, 2022 . Most legal research is done online through a combination of open and subscription databases. Legal information is available at our fingertips through Justice Laws, LEGISinfo, CanLII, Westlaw, Lexis, ProView, SOQUIJ, [insert your preferred database here], and the list goes on. The availability of electronic resources has radically changed—and will continue to change—the way legal professionals conduct research. However, despite my enthusiasm for the improved accessibility and retrievability, I think the lack of engagement that new legal researchers have with print resources creates comprehension issues. The disconnect between a source’s print and electronic formats reduces their understanding of the process used to create the document. Understanding this process helps us understand the organization of information and makes a researcher more efficient. New legal researchers are often introduced directly to the electronic version of a source without fully understanding how it came to be. For example, a student might learn about legislation and be shown how to trace a legislative history using Justice Laws without ever interacting with the print, bound statutes. They are missing the benefits of seeing the tangible organization of annual, revised, and consolidated statutes. Another example is having a student use ProView without ever flipping through a physical binder and understanding how loose-leaf releases work. Although they know each source is unique, they all present approximately the same online. Unfortunately, limited class time and COVID-19 have made it nearly impossible to get students into the library to conduct research with print sources. I try to grab print copies of case reporters, volumes of statutes, and loose-leafs to show students in person or on Zoom, but the effect is not the same as engaging with the print source directly. Instead, when I meet with students, I often see ~18 tabs open in their browsers with sites ranging from course materials, Google, CanLII, and their preferred subscription platform. They ask me, “ Why does this have to be so complicated?” And they’re right! It does seem complicated, at first glance. If we had created these resources using our modern digital environment, they would be organized differently. Print established the rules, and the digital versions have been bound by them. When I try to explain why the digital versions might seem unnecessarily complex, but that understanding how to use the print sources will improve their navigation of the digital versions, I use the following analogy. First, assuming Spotify is the most common music app, I ask students whether they’re more likely to download/stream full albums or singles. Once they’ve answered, I explain that the point of this question is to determine that they understand that a single song is situated within an album—the album is a collection of songs. Next, I ask if they know why artists produce albums. This one takes a bit of waiting, and in a classroom setting a music aficionado may bring up the concept album (and rightly so!), but usually there’s someone who knows that the standard album is a result of the time limitations set by vinyl, specifically the 33 rpm LP record . (Or maybe they Google it as I’m waiting for an answer—who am I to judge?) With a brief explanation, it becomes clear that vinyl restricted artists to around 44 minutes of playing time, and this explains the standard album format still used today. The next step is to connect the persistence of the album through various eras of music. The album has survived the evolution of music distribution. Historically, it started with vinyl, but remained through transitions between audio cassette, the CD, through to","pubDate":"Mon, 26 Oct 2026 07:55:48 +0100","url":"https://www.callacbd.ca/CALL-Blog/12614092","titre":"Using Vinyl & Spotify to Understand Legal Information Online"},{"source":"Canadian Association of Law Libraries / L'Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit CALL/ACBD Blog","description":"From time to time, this blog will highlight initiatives, ideas, or activities coming from members, committees or special interest groups (SIGs). Today: Adapting the SALI Taxonomy to the Canadian Legal Environment , b y Michael McAlpine , Manager, Information, Research & Knowledge at Siskinds (London, Ontario) On September 28 th , the Knowledge Management Special Interest Group of CALL met to discuss and learn about the Legal Matter Specification Standard developed by the SALI Alliance . The SALI Alliance (Standards Advancement for the Legal Industry) is a non-profit organization open to all stakeholders in the legal community. Members include law firms, companies, legal service providers, legal industry associations and academic institutions. Founding sponsors are the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) and the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA). Guest speaker Jim Hannigan spoke about the history of the taxonomy and the current uses of it in the legal industry. Michael McAlpine then discussed the work done by the SALI Canadian Working Group to adapt the taxonomy to the Canadian legal environment . There was a general discussion about the uses of the taxonomy and efforts to implement it in law firms. First released in 2019, the SALI taxonomy was developed in order to provide a standard method for describing legal matters and associated documents. Version 2.0 was released at the end of 2020 and represented a significant expansion of the code set. Organizations and individuals around the globe continue to contribute to its development and growth. The SALI taxonomy is extensible and can work in conjunction with other standards (eg, NAICS, UTBMS codes). SALI is an open, free and party neutral that can be used by law firms, vendors and others in the legal industry to ensure matters and documents are described consistently. SALI has been endorsed by several large law firms and by vendors such as Fastcase, NetDocuments and Reynen Court. Some of the core attributes of the current standard are: Area of Law: Each matter can be assigned a primary and secondary area of law. Primary areas include topics such as Corporate Law, Constitutional and Human Rights, Personal and Family Law, and Food and Drug Law. Secondary areas are more specific and include topics such as Corporate Governance, Accident Benefits Law, and Labour Law. Service: The Services attribute is a central feature of the taxonomy. Examples of services are Transaction, Advisory, or Dispute. Services provide more detail to a matter description than just relying solely on Area of Law. Player Role: The Role attribute is what makes SALI party neutral. Roles include Appellant, Respondent, Acquiror or Acquiree. Other attributes that can be used to describe a matter or client include Industry, Legal Entity, Location, or Trial Type. The KM SIG will next meet on November 30 th to discuss website monitoring applications. If you would like an invitation, please contact Michael","id":3241454,"titre":"Adapting the SALI Legal Taxonomy to the Canadian Environment","url":"https://www.callacbd.ca/CALL-Blog/12098999","pubDate":"Mon, 26 Oct 2026 07:55:47 +0100"},{"description":"By: Susannah Tredwell , Manager of Library Services at DLA Piper (Canada) LLP and James Bachmann , Instructional Librarian, Law Library, University of British Columbia Since 1988, when CALL/ACBD’s Copyright Committee was first set up, CALL/ACBD has advocated for its members' interests in the area of copyright. While the primary focus of CALL/ACBD’s copyright advocacy over the last few years has been on Crown copyright and primary law, CALL/ACBD has also made submissions about such areas as fair dealing and licencing. CALL/ACBD sees this work as not only supporting the needs of its members but also as serving the interests of access to justice as a whole. Continuing this work, on January 18, 2022 CALL/ACBD, along with Library Futures Institute, will act as an intervener in the Supreme Court of Canada case Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, et al. v. Entertainment Software Association, et al.   Kim Nayyer, CALL/ACBD’s President, and Robert Janes of JFK Law   will be representing CALL/ACBD and Library Futures. This case addresses the question of how the concepts of “communication to the public by telecommunication” and “making available on demand” as used in the Copyright Act should be understood. The outcome of this case has the potential to significantly impact various library activities, including controlled digital lending and possibly even the simple use of hyperlinks, particularly in light of the limited scope of current library and education exceptions in the Copyright Act . CALL/ACBD's submitted that the court refrain from broadly construing the terms “making available” and “Communication to the Public by Telecommunication” and that s. 2.4(1.1) of the act (\"Communication to the public by telecommunication\")   does not need to be understood as creating a new right.   You can find CALL/ACBD’s intervener's factum at https://www.scc-csc.ca/WebDocuments-DocumentsWeb/39418/FM050_Intervener_Canadian-Association-Law-Libraries-et-al.pdf . The other factums in this case are available at https://www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/info/af-ma-eng.aspx?cas=39418 .  CALL/ACBD has acted as an intervener at the Supreme Court of Canada on two other occasions. In Keatley Surveying Ltd. v. Teranet Inc. , which looked at Crown copyright, CALL/ACBD submitted   that “s. 12 Crown copyright does not extend to primary sources of law”. In York University v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency  (\"Access Copyright\"), CALL/ACBD submitted   that the SCC “should resist the temptation to modify or clarify the existing fair dealing test” stating that the existing test “is a flexible multifactorial test that allows libraries (and other institutions) to tailor access and appropriate copying policies that consider all relevant circumstances.” CALL/ACBD also made submissions to the 2018 review of the Copyright Act , R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42: one general submission   and