SUNY Buffalo Law Links - August 2016

The Charles B. Sears Law Library receives an award

Dave Voisinet (retired former director of the Appellate Division Fourth Department Law Library in Rochester), Beth Adelman (Director, Charles B. Sears Law Library, University at Buffalo), Jeannine Lee (retired former director of the New York State Supreme Court Library in Buffalo), Andrew Kloc (Senior Law Librarian, Appellate Division Fourth Department Law Library in Rochester).

Dave Voisinet (retired former director of the Appellate Division Fourth Department Law Library in Rochester), Beth Adelman (Director, Charles B. Sears Law Library, University at Buffalo), Jeannine Lee (retired former director of the New York State Supreme Court Library in Buffalo), Andrew Kloc (Senior Law Librarian, Appellate Division Fourth Department Law Library in Rochester)

UB’s Charles B. Sears Law Library and their partners, the Appellate Division Law Library and the State Supreme Court Law Library, in Buffalo, has won a Notable New York Documents award from the New York Library Association’s Government Information Roundtable (NYLA/GIRT). The award is in recognition for their NYCRR Digital Archive.

“The NYLA/GIRT Notable New York Documents awards honor outstanding information products by state and local government units in New York,” said Rosemary LaSala, vice president and program chair of GIRT.  “These awards recognize the commitment of government agencies to making information available to the public.”

NYLA/GIRT will co-sponsor a program on the NYCRR Digital Archive at this year’s Annual NYLA Conference in Saratoga Springs being held Thursday, November 3.  Speakers will include Elizabeth Adelman, Director of the Charles B. Sears Law Library, University at Buffalo; Jeannine Lee, retired former director of the NY State Supreme Court Law Library); Betsy Vipperman; and Andrew Kloc, Senior Law Librarian at the Appellate Division 4th Department Law Library.

The NYCRR Digital Archive is an open access database that contains replaced pages (or "takeouts") of the New York Codes, Rules, and Regulations of the State of New York for the years 1945 through 2001. The dates covered in this database represent the online debut of New York’s regulatory history material covering this time period.  This free resource allows researchers, librarians, and practitioners to more easily determine previous versions of New York’s codes, rules, and regulations, a task performed in print that is currently quite difficult and time-consuming.

Beginning in late 2012, approximately one million pages have been electronically scanned and converted to searchable PDFs.  Portions of the scanned pages contain New York State’s copyrighted material and are included with the permission of the Secretary of State. As a service to the New York legal community and the legal community at large, this project was collaboratively funded and staffed by all three institutions.