Librarians\u27 Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence and Its Potential Impact on the Profession

The subject of artificial intelligence (AI) is being discussed everywhere in the media. Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates regularly sound the alarm about AI as an existential threat to humankind. Open a newspaper, turn on the television, or log on to the internet, and you will find a plethora of information and opinions on AI and its potential impact on human endeavors. In addition to being a hot topic in the media, the scholarly literature in medicine and law is replete with AI research. It acknowledges AI as a transformative, if not disruptive, game changer. AI is being used today in the practice of law—in areas of contract review, billing, and jury selection. In the field of medicine, AI’s ability to crunch massive datasets has allowed it to surpass humans in diagnostic capabilities. Educators in law and medicine have also acknowledged that AI is changing the way professionals are trained, and it will ultimately reduce the number of lawyers and doctors needed in the workforce of the future. That said, the topic of AI is not everywhere—it’s not in the library literature. Oddly, for a profession that has done more than its share of coping with disruptive technologies over the years, we librarians are not in any meaningful way discussing AI as compared to those in other professions. We have not developed any substantial research on this topic nor have our library schools acknowledged the possibility of reducing admissions. Capability for machine learning, natural language processing, and massive computing power are the three aspects of AI that impact the professions of law and medicine. These will likewise impact the profession of librarianship. We were curious: Why is there a paucity of discussion about AI in our professional literature? In order to understand this, we surveyed our colleagues on their perception of AI, specifically as it relates to the future, the potential impact on our work, and the numbers in the workforce

The Unfinished Business of US Drug Safety Regulation

Posted with permission from FDLI ; Food and Drug Law Journal Various proposals have been advanced in response to recent problems with the safety of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs. Many call for incremental change, such as new safety oversight bodies or minor expansions of FDA's existing powers. "Fixing" FDA may not fix the problem, without related reform of the broader legal framework in which FDA operates. Key reform challenges include promoting clinical compliance with important safety warnings while preserving needed flexibility for physicians to adapt drug use to the individual patient; developing a clearer distinction between pre- and postapproval safety regulation; and devising mechanisms for funding investments in safety improvements. Until these fundamental problems are addressed, the United States will face ongoing problems with drug safety and patients will be denied the full measure of safety and therapeutic benefit that today's technologies could support. This article proposes a new direction to address these problems in the context of an insurance-based framework for promoting drug safety

Beware, Migrating Spouses, Texas Lacks a Quasi-Community Property Statute: It Could Be a Long Cold Winter

This article briefly outlines the community property and common law property systems and gives a brief history of wills. Next follows a discussion of built-in protections provided spouses in the community and common law property systems. Third, this article addresses how a spouse migrating to Texas from a common law state can be effectively left without support when her property-acquiring spouse devises property the couple acquired during marriage to a third party. Fourth, this article contends that quasi-community property principles should be employed in probate contexts to provide widowed migrating, non-acquiring spouses equitable property distributions similar to the way they apply in cases of divorce in Texas and in accordance with the jurisdictions of California, Idaho, Washington, and Louisiana. Finally, this article argues the Texas Legislature should amend the Texas Probate Code and suggests proposed legislation to correct the present inequity

The Law of Genetic Privacy: Applications, Implications, and Limitations

Recent advances in technology have significantly improved the accuracy of genetic testing and analysis, and substantially reduced its cost, resulting in a dramatic increase in the amount of genetic information generated, analysed, shared, and stored by diverse individuals and entities. Given the diversity of actors and their interests, coupled with the wide variety of ways genetic data are held, it has been difficult to develop broadly applicable legal principles for genetic privacy. This article examines the current landscape of genetic privacy to identify the roles that the law does or should play, with a focus on federal statutes and regulations, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). After considering the many contexts in which issues of genetic privacy arise, the article concludes that few, if any, applicable legal doctrines or enactments provide adequate protection or meaningful control to individuals over disclosures that may affect them. The article describes why it may be time to shift attention from attempting to control access to genetic information to considering the more challenging question of how these data can be used and under what conditions, explicitly addressing trade-offs between individual and social goods in numerous applications

Volume 32, Number 2, June 2012 OLAC Newsletter

Digitized June 2012 issue of the OLAC Newsletter

Volume 32, Number 1, March 2012 OLAC Newsletter

Digitized March 2012 issue of the OLAC Newsletter

Volume 32, Number 3, September 2012 OLAC Newsletter

Digitized September 2012 issue of the OLAC Newsletter