Five years ago, the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA) was signed into Illinois law. Our state was the 11th one to enact this uniform law; at this point it has been enacted in 21 states (Texas, most recently) plus the District of Columbia.
Starting in 2016, the official online versions of Illinois Supreme and Appellate Court opinions have been affixed with a digital signature. These signatures are administered by the Reporter of Decisions and certify that the opinion is a true copy of the official opinion.
Continue reading UELMA Update: An Interview with Jacob Jost, Illinois Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions →
The CALL Executive Board approved a resolution of thanks that I was pleased to deliver to the Illinois Library Association (ILA) at its annual meeting in Springfield on October 15th.
The well-attended Members’ Meeting was held at 11:30 a.m., and I was there in plenty of time to surprise Kip Kolkmeier, the ILA Legislative Consultant who did more than anyone else to gain passage of the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA) in Illinois. Continue reading Giving Thanks for Kip Kolkmeier’s Efforts to Pass UELMA in Illinois →
By Kevin McClure, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
kmcclure@kentlaw.iit.edu
Law librarians across Illinois had much to celebrate on August 26 when Gov. Quinn signed the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act into law, making Illinois the eleventh state to enact the measure (Pennsylvania subsequently became the twelfth).
The long road to these victories began with a pair of landmark AALL reports, the State-by-State Report on Permanent Public Access to Electronic Government Information published in 2003, and the State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources in 2007. These reports identified the problems UELMA was written to address: lax attention to authentication, preservation, and permanent public access for the growing volume of official legal materials being posted online by state governments, leaving legal professionals and the public in doubt as to the trustworthiness of these online documents. Continue reading UELMA Signed Into Law in Illinois! →
In Illinois, a version of the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (“UELMA”) is currently working its way through the 98th General Assembly (as Senate Bill 1941), but UELMA isn’t the only pending Illinois legislation that could affect the production and dissemination of government-produced legal information in electronic formats.
In February, Illinois Senator Pat McGuire introduced Senate Bill 3288, which, if enacted, would make two key changes to the Illinois General Assembly Operations Act (25 ILCS 10/10, hereinafter “The Act”). Continue reading IL Legislative Update: Senate Bill 3288 →
Endorsed by the AALL Executive Board, November 1, 2013
WHEREAS, the American Association of Law Libraries believes that permanent public access to official, authentic legal information is critical to the legal system of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the American Association of Law Libraries holds that information published on government websites must be trustworthy and reliable; and Continue reading Resolution on the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act →
Congratulations to CALL member Keith Ann Stiverson on her election to the AALL Executive Board!
Keith serves as the Director of the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law Library and has been very active in both CALL and AALL over the years. She recently served on the Task Force on the Federal Depository Library Program and the Government Policy Advisory Group, and as AALL observer to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (now Uniform Law Commission) Drafting Committee on the Uniform Electric Legal Material Act. We are all so grateful for Keith’s efforts to help get UELMA passed.
Keith’s term as AALL President will conclude with the 2016 AALL Annual Meeting right here in Chicago. Congratulations, Keith!
Newsletter of the Chicago Association of Law Libraries
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