With the proliferation of news websites, blogs, and other sources of online information, you may find yourself wondering, “how can I keep track of all of this information?”  You could try bookmarking websites on your computer, or try online bookmarking via del.icio.us or some other site, along with using an RSS feed reader to keep track of updates and changes to your favorite blogs and websites.  But what about creating your own customizable start page?

While Yahoo and Google offer customizable start pages, Netvibes and Pageflakes specialize in providing free customizable start pages that offer even more features.  Customizable start pages typically allow users to select “modules,” small customizable windows that a user can add to his or her start page.  Modules can be easily added, deleted, and dragged around the start page, and can be set-up to display updates from various RSS feeds, to display incoming e-mail messages, to show local weather, to allow access to online bookmarks, and even to act as mini-browser windows, displaying text from various websites, among other uses.  Start pages function as “virtual dashboards,” giving users easy access to all of their favorite online information sources and tools, all in one convenient location. 

Sarah Palmer, a frequent contributor to Site-tation, has moved over to ABA Publishing and is now the Library Relations contact for the ABA Package Plan.  Sarah will be working to keep law school and law firm librarians up to date on ABA publications. A Librarian Relations e-newsletter is in the works and anyone interested in learning more about the ABA Package Plan (look for link in page footer) or receiving information about new ABA publications can contact Sarah at packageplan@abanet.org.

Sarah will be attending the AALL Conference in July as well as speaking at Internet Librarian in October.  She will also be using all of her LTRC experience as she assists her mother in purchasing a new computer. 

LTRC welcomes our new research specialist, Stephen Stine. Stephen joins the LTRC from the University of Michigan, where he recently earned graduate degrees in law and information science.  Stephen gained experience working in the university’s law library and Student Legal Services office, as well as through working on school information technology projects, which will inform his assistance of ABA members with legal technology issues.  Stephen has a list of interests which includes law librarianship, legal technology, intellectual property law, and economics.