Legal Glossaries And Dictionaries

With all the financial, legal and political mischief that is occurring in the news I thought that this might be a good time to provide resources to legal terms and expressions.

These are on-line glossaries and dictionaries that can help make sense of some of the legal concepts that will be introduced in the coming year. For those of you of a tactile nature and have access to PCC's Shatford Library the following items are on the shelves:

• Black's Law Dictionary REF 340.03 B 1-3 1999 This is also available on-line if you have access to Westlaw.
• A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage REF 340.03 G 1 1995
• Real Life Dictionary of the Law REF 340.03 H 2
  

For our non-library students readers the format is: the name of the book, the type of material, in this case it is a reference (REF) book that cannot be removed from the library, the Dewey Decimal Number and general location in the library.

Many libraries will have at least one or all of these dictionaries in their reference stacks but the Dewey number or Library of Congress number may be different. When in doubt ask at the Reference desk.

Glossaries of Legal Words, Terms and Expressions

• Lawyer's.com Glossary - You can select the most frequently used terms or enter your word or phrase in the search box. Very handy when you need to know what Fraud in the factum means.
• Nolo's Law Glossary - What does lex loci mean? What is the exact meaning of the McNaghten Rule? A good resource for accessible meanings to legal terms.
  

Law Dictionaries

• Dictionary at Law.com - You can search a term, a definition or choose your favorite legal letter of the alphabet to find your legal meaning or concept.
• Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law at Google Book Search - This is a limited preview version of the dictionary but the section that is available maybe all that you need to locate the legal term of your choice.
• Duhaime.org - If you need to research Canadian legal terminology this dictionary is maintained by Barrister and Solicitor Lloyd Duhaime. Not only can you search by letter or by the newest additions you can also check out Canadian legal history and Canadian laws.

So when you need to know what habeas corpus really means (provided you don't watch CSI or Law and Order) I hope you will access these legal resources.

On-Line Language Translation Websites

You are all alone at the desk. You have snuggled up with a book and there is a word in another language. You can't guess at the meaning and you don't feel like browsing through the stacks.

There is help for the linguistically needy. There are free translation websites that will help you translate a word, a paragraph or an entire website.

There are a few cautions before you embrace you new translation tools. These are machines based translations, not human. They will do a good job but language is far more that matching word for word translations. There are concepts and meanings that may not exactly fit from one language to another.

I have used these on-line applications to converse with a friend in France. His English is a lot better than my French, which does not exist. Sometimes I need to explain a concept and I want to sent a letter to him in both English and French to make sure he understands.

He sends me newsletters in French that I have to translate into English. I get the general concept and meaning but there are conceptual errors that can be funny or insulting.

I've used this on the job when I couldn't find an staff interpreter. I always inform the recipient that I am using a translation program. So, let's start our run to the tower with Babel Fish.


Altavista Babelfish now known as Yahoo Babel Fish is an oldie but a goodie. Bablefish will translate a passage or an entire website. Babel Fish can translate certain forms of Chinese as well as the Roman languages.


Reverso will not only translate a passage but if you are skilled in the 2nd language you can add the proper punctuation marks if necessary. There is also a dictionary and if you are a student of languages and need to know how to conjugate a verb this could be of great help.


Google Translate - yes they do have a translation application. You can type in a search term in English and then select the language to find the equivalent term in another language with search results. It will also allow you to enter more than 150 characters of text and it will translate web pages for you. What will blow you away is the number of languages it can translate.

I hope these language tools will be a help to you inside and outside of the library. Just remember they are not a replacement for human interpreters or translators. But they might help out in a pinch if you have a patron that needs written assistance in another language.

Nampa Public Library Removes Joy of Sex

On Friday June 3, 2008 The Library Board of the Nampa Public Library voted to remove two visual sex dictionaries, The New Joy of Sex and The Joy of Gay Sex of the shelves. As originally reported in the Idaho Statesman they also voted to restrict access to minors any material that has graphic sexual representation.

Patrons 18 years of age or older would have to request the materials which are now located in the Library Director's office.

This is not the first time that the library has had to contend with sexually explicit books. The First Amendment Center has an article from June 2006 where the library decided to physically move 60 books with sexual topics to the highest shelf to prevent youngsters from viewing the content.

Not everyone thinks that this is a bad idea. An editorial in the Idaho Examiner considers the books the equivalent of pornography, supports the mayor who appointed the Library Board members who voted to remove and thinks that there should be restrictions on the type of books that libraries and school personnel can select for public and educational viewing. The conservative online publication World Net Daily also supported the removal of the books.

The American Library Association has quite a bit of information concerning censorship, patron rights, and respecting access to information.

• The Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Q & A is your starting point to understand what is Intellectual freedom, what to do when a challenge comes to your desk and effective responses.
  
• Censorship and Challenges gives you a list of other resources to draw upon when a material is targeted for censorship.
• Intellectual Freedom Issues contains yet another listing of the types of censorship and other methods used to suppress and prevent the flow of information.