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Mid-America Association of Law Libraries: A History of Growth
The Mid-America Association of Law Libraries originated in St. Louis, Missouri, early in 1973. In its earliest stage, it was an informal lunch group,consisting of Gerry Bosler, Mary Dahm, Eileen Searls, Betty Ellington, Elizabeth Mason, Patti Rodi (Monk), and Jean Ashman. Jean Ashman was elected President; Roger Jacobs was chosen Vice President; and Marcia Koslov was elected Secretary/Treasurer.
The first annual meeting, pursuant to the constitution, took place on June 7, 1974, in scenic Jefferson City, Missouri. After Jean Ashman retired, Roger Jacobs assumed the presidency, and D.A. Divilbiss was elected Vice President/President Elect.
The next annual meeting of MAALL was held on January 31, 1975, at the newly constructed St.Louis University Law Library. After Marcia Koslov moved to Wisconsin, Gerry Bosler was elected Secretary/Treasurer.
Roger Jacobs presented the petition for chapter status of MAALL to the Executive Board of AALL in June 1975. The petition was received favorably, and MAALL became a chapter of AALL at that time. During 1975, MAALL held meetings in January, June, and November.
On October 23, 1976, D.A. Divilbiss became MAALL President during the annual meeting in the picturesque Missouri Supreme Court Building in Jefferson City. Charley Dyer was elected Secretary/Treasurer, and Bob Kelley was elected Vice President/President Elect. The educational program centered around the legislative and administrative history of Missouri, the Missouri Register, and the Code of State Regulations.
For the fourth annual meeting held on October 21-22, 1977, MAALL traveled outside Missouri to the Southern Illinois University School of Law, where Roger Jacobs and Elizabeth Slusser Kelly greeted the registrants. The general theme of the educational segment was administrative law. The majority of the discussions were prepared by members of MAALL.
The fifth annual meeting of MAALL took place on October 13-14, 1978 in the Lakeside Center for the Study of Youth Development, in Boys Town, Nebraska. President D.A. Divilbiss welcomed forty law librarians to a professional program on new and traditional information systems, chaired by Carol Boast. Roger Jacobs flew from Washington, D.C. to discuss the information resources of the Supreme Court. Elizabeth Slusser Kelly was elected Vice-President/President Elect. Julia O'Neil was elected secretary, and Catherine Koenig was elected Treasurer.
On October 11-12, 1979, fifty librarians attended the sixth annual meeting of MAALL in the stately Mayfair Hotel of the Gateway City, St. Louis. Library management was the general theme of the panels, keynoted by Albert Brecht. The social highlight was to return to the Whittemore House of Washington University, where the MAALL constitution had been approved in 1973.
The seventh annual meeting of MAALL was conducted from September 12-13, 1980 within the friendly confines of the University of Iowa Law School, with a side trip to the quaint Amana Colonies. The program committee was chaired by Ann Puckett with the assistance of Kathie Belgum and James H. Gritton. Honored guest at the banquet was Dr. Redmond A. Burke from the Department of Library Science at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The final order of business was the passing of the presidential gavel to Elizabeth Slusser Kelly, under whose administration the currently published MAALL Newsletter, volume l, number l was distributed in October, 1980.
The eighth annual meeting of MAALL took place in the "Sunshine State" of Kansas at the Washburn University Law School on September 11 and 12, 1981. It was preceded by a seminar on Dialog on September 10. Richard Boss, consultant on library systems, gave the registrants up-to-date advice on the technology of microcomputers, telefacsimile machines, and electronic mail. Eileen Searls, Susan Csaky, and Bob Knecht led a panel discussion on conservation of library media. Mark Linneman, who had been serving as MAALL Treasurer, flew to a library directorship in Melbourne, Australia, after transferring the fund and records to Sharon Pickett, the new Treasurer.
The ninth annual meeting of Mid-America Association of Law Libraries drew a large attendance to the newly constructed Hiram H. Lesar Law Building of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. The star attraction was the law library, which featured all the latest technology of the information age as well as a rare book room to preserve the bibliographic treasures of the past. MAALL members presented an educational panel on administration and management of law libraries. At the conclusion of the meeting, Carol Boast assumed the presidency, and Eileen Searls became President Elect. Joan Ahrens became Secretary, and Sharon Pickett continued as Treasurer.
The tenth annual meeting of MAALL was held at Marriott's Tan-Tar-A Resort at the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri on November 10-12, 1983. Despite the lovely setting, the meetings were well attended, with a focus on legal database services and information technology. For the first time,MAALL invited vendors to exhibit at the annual meeting, which proved to be a popular decision. Jim Hoover and Roger Jacobs spoke at the meeting. MAALL Union List agents met through the coordination of Marilyn Nicely.
On October 11-13, 1984, the eleventh annual meeting of MAALL was held at the University of Illinois, in Champaign-Urbana. Unfortunately, Carol Boast's new position as Head of the University of Illinois Agriculture Library caused her, in accordance with MAALL by-laws prohibiting anyone not officially connected with a law library from holding an office in the association, to resign the MAALL presidency as of August 21, 1984. Thus, Eileen Searls conducted the business meeting in Champaign. Many prominent speakers were featured from within and outside the Association, including AALL President Jacqui Jurkins, Jerry Dupont, and Sally Wiant. "Management" at many levels was discussed. Eileen Searls became President, and Katherine Belgum became Vice President/President Elect shortly prior to the meeting. Sharon O'Donoghue became Treasurer, and Avis Forsman became Secretary.
The twelfth annual meeting was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma on October 24-26, 1985. The theme of the meeting was "Managing Resources and Environment". The meeting proper was preceded by a pre-conference program on teaching computer-assisted legal research, sponsored by Mead Data Central. Laura Gasaway, AALL Vice President/President Elect, spoke at the opening luncheon as well as the first afternoon session. Another highlight was the presentation by University of Tulsa psychologists Robert T. Hogan and Eric T. Nelson on managing stress and its effects.
The Clarion Hotel in St. Louis was the site of the thirteenth annual meeting of MAALL on October 30 through November 1, 1986. This year's program focused on business reference sources for the law librarian. Kathie Belgum became President at this meeting; Peter Schanck became Vice President/President Elect; and James Milles was elected Secretary. Sharon O'Donoghue had to step down as Treasurer when she joined Mead Data Central, and Hal Brown,who had been appointed acting Treasurer, was elected to that position.
The fourteenth annual meeting took the members of MAALL to the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City. At the opening luncheon, Judge Deanell R. Tacha of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, spoke on constitutional law in the courts. The subject of that year's program was laser disc technology with exhibits by several laser disc and CD-ROM vendors being featured.
MAALL held its fifteenth annual meeting in Iowa City, Iowa, home of Kathie Belgum, on October 20-22, 1988. The meeting included a wide spectrum of programs within the MAALL acronym: Management, Acquisition, Automation, and Law for Law librarians. Highlighting the program were surveys of current developments in law by five knowledgeable and articulate professors on the University of Iowa College of Law faculty. Peter Schanck became the new president at the meeting; Sally Wise was elected Vice President/President Elect; Laurel Wendt became the new Secretary; and Peggy McDermott was elected Treasurer, while Kathie Belgum continued on the Executive Board as immediate past president.
The sixteenth annual meeting constituted a radical departure for MAALL. It joined together with five other AALL chapters (Chicago, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio Regional, and Wisconsin)covering 15 states to hold a super-regional meeting in Chicago on October 26-28, 1989. The meeting, called the Midwest Regional Conference of Law Librarians, included a large array of programs and several well known outside speakers such as Dean Herbert White of the University of Indiana Library Science School. MAALL members John Edwards and Lori Hunt served as co-chairs of the very busy and successful Program Committee.
With the seventeenth annual meeting, MAALL went to the home of its President, Peter Schanck. The meeting was held in Lawrence, Kansas on October 11-13, 1990. The theme of the meeting was "Libraries And Change: The Decade Ahead". Bill James the author of The Baseball Abstracts and The Baseball Book 1990 was the luncheon speaker. Sally Wise became President at this meeting. Lori Hunt (Weiss) was elected Vice President/President elect; Angie Lange was elected Secretary; and Cheryl Rae Nyberg was elected Treasurer. Peter Schanck continued on the Executive Board as Past President.
The eighteenth annual meeting was held in Columbia, Missouri on October 10-12, 1991 at the University of Missouri-Columbia's recently completed law school building. The theme was "Law Libraries: Designs For the Future". The opening luncheon speaker was the Honorable Edward Robertson, Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court. Law librarians, law faculty, library design specialists, and others were speakers. No elections were held that year. However, it was decided to stagger the election years of the Treasurer and Secretary.
From October 22-24, 1992, the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln, Nebraska was the location for the nineteenth annual meeting. The theme was "1992: A Year Of Discovery". A variety of programs were offered including a pre-conference workshop on library collection preservation and a MALSLC sponsored support staff workshop on effective interpersonal communication. The opening luncheon featured "Marlene Snyder as Clara Colby: A Chautauqua Style Presentation of a Prominent Nebraska Suffragist of the Late 1800's". Lori Weiss became President; Anne Fessenden was elected Vice President/President elect; Cheryl Nyberg remained as Treasurer; and Jo Ann Humphreys was elected Secretary.
MAALL celebrated its 20th anniversary in Little Rock, Arkansas from October 12-16, 1993 with the theme of "MAALL: Twenty Years of Working Together". Justice David Newbern of the Arkansas Supreme Court was the speaker at the opening luncheon. The MALSLC staff workshop was on imaging technology, and joint sessions on legal research featuring Bob Berring were held with the Arkansas Bar Association. Ann Fessenden became President; Lynn Foster was elected Vice President/President Elect; Sharon Kern was elected as Treasurer; and Jo Ann Humphreys remained as Secretary.
Iowa's capital was the site for MAALL's twenty-first annual meeting from October 13 to 15,1994. Justice Marsha Ternus of the Iowa Supreme Court welcomed attendees to Des Moines with her talk at the opening luncheon. The initial program session on "The Coming Revolution in Legal Citation Form" set the stage for interesting programs throughout the conference, including several Internet sessions and the MALSLC workshop on copyright. Friday evening included a tour of the Bridges of Madison County made famous by Robert Waller's book. Although Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep were not seen due to filming at another location in the county, several MAALL members were interviewed for a syndicated TV program about the covered bridges. Lynn Foster became President; John Edwards became Vice President/President Elect;Sharon Kern remained as Treasurer; and Jo Ann Humphreys was re-elected as Secretary.
The 22nd annual meeting was held in Topeka, Kansas and hosted by Washburn University Law Library. Arthur Benson, the plaintiff's trial attorney for Jenkins v. Missouri was the speaker at the opening luncheon. Linda Brown Thompson and Cheryl Brown Henderson, plaintiffs in the historic Brown v. Board of Education, spoke on the legacy of this trial. One of the high points of he meeting was the opportunity to attend the Treasures of the Czars exhibit. Program topics included time management, collection analysis, government documents, Internet, using the Net in reference work, doing more with less, and a librarian's survival guide to computer and technology demands. John Edwards became President; Judy Morgan was elected Vice President/President-Elect; Jack Montgomery was elected as Treasurer; and Jo Ann Humphreys remained as Secretary.
For the 23rd annual meeting, MAALL members traveled to Carbondale, Illinois to the campus of Southern Illinois University. The theme of the October 24-26, 1996 meeting was "The Millennium: Assessing, Advancing, Leading Libraries (MAALL). Jeanne Hurley Simon, Chair of the U.S. National Commission of Libraries and Information Science , served as the keynote speaker at the opening luncheon. Program sessions provided discussions of Cyberlaw, designing the new library, the Internet, Web sites, Web pages, computer personnel, CD-ROMs, integration of various formats, GPO access, interns and externs, and "managing your boss". Discussions often continued into the evening's hospitality suite at the Holiday Inn. Memorable social events included a magician at the opening reception and a "buffalo trio" with bluegrass music on Friday night. (Buffalo was not available so beef was cooked on open coals with vegetarians enjoying lasagna.) Judy Morgan became President; James E.Duggan was elected Vice-President/President Elect; Marilyn Nicely was elected Secretary; Jack Montgomery continued as Treasurer. Kay Andrus accepted a plaque in memory of Evelyn Gardner in recognition of her service to MAALL. Members also took special note of the passing of Secretary Jo Ann Humphreys, who died a few days before the meeting began. As a permanent tribute to Jo Ann, the travel grant for the Newsletter editor was named the Jo Ann Humphreys Award.
The 24th annual meeting was held October 16-18, 1997 at the newly opened Embassy Suites, Omaha, Nebraska, and was hosted by an enthusiastic local arrangements committee consisting of members from Creighton University Law Library, The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals Branch Library, Legal Information Services, and the law firms of Baird, Holm, McEachen, Pederson, Hamann & Strasheim; Kutak Rock; and McGrath, North, Mullin & Katz. Kay Andrus, Creighton University Law Library, was Local Arrangements Chair. Setting the theme of the meeting, :Online in Omaha," was keynote speaker Bob Wolfson, Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League, Plains State Region, who spoke on "Censorship, Hate Speech, and the Internet." Other popular programs were presented on a variety of "electronic age" topics such as reference & the internet, computer security, choosing web search engines, and cataloging the net. Social events included a Thursday evening reception and tour held at the historic Kutak Rock Law Firm, as well as a fascinating Friday tour of the Lied Jungle and banquet at the Tree Tops Restaurant. The Saturday programs were held at Creighton University Law School. James E. Duggan became President, Mary Kay Jung was elected Vice-President/President-Elect, Marilyn Nicely continued as Secretary, and Janet McKinney was elected Treasurer.
For its 25th Annual Meeting, MAALL joined forces with the Chicago, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin Associations for LibraryFest Midwest: Law Libraries and Change in the Information Age, held in Milwaukee October 8-10, 1998. Local arrangements, ably handled by the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin, included an Opening Reception at the Reinhard, Boerner, Van Deuren, Norris & Reisenbach Law Library. The Minnesota Association of Law Libraries was responsible for the program with a big boost from MAALL which developed six of the fourteen programs, including sessions on attorney training, citator services, paraprofessional development and the Internet. Both keynote speakers provided food for thought with their remarks on changes in their lives and the law. Opening Keynote Speaker, Janine Geske, discussed leaving the Wisconsin Supreme Court half-way through her term in order to rejoin the faculty of the Marquette University Law School and become more involved in pro bono work. Closing Keynote Speaker, Stephan W. Stove, Administrative Director of the Supreme Court of Ohio, spoke on his involvement with the First National Conference on Public Trust & Confidence in the Justice System and its possible impact on the judicial system and our lives. At the MAALL Business Meeting, Mary Kay Jung became President; Glen-Peter Ahlers was elected Vice-President/President-Elect; Crata Castleberry was elected Secretary and Janet McKinney continued as Treasurer.
MAALL helds its 26h Annual Meeting in Kansas City, Missouri. The meeting was held October 14-16, 1999, at the Wyndham Gardens Hotel on the Plaza. The theme of "Bridging the Centuries" included such topics as "Training the Internet Trainer," a "Y2K Update: Litigation and Legislation," and "Public Relations: Without Bells and Whistles." One of the presenters of this program was Linda Roser, who is with the Jackson County Law Library, winner of the AALL Marketing Award for best campaign in 1999 for its "Share Good Books" program. Attendees were treated to a delightful opening speaker, Charles W. Gusewelle, a reporter fot the Kansas City Star. The opening reception was Thursday evening at the new Jazz/Negro League Baseball Museum. Tours included a trip to the Linda Hall Library, the largest privately-supported library for science in the United States. The reception Friday evening gave everyone the opportunity to tour the newly-opened Charles Evans Whittaker U.S. Courthouse and library. The library, which is located on the 10th floor, provided a panoramic view of Kansas City. Glen-Peter Ahlers, Sr. became President. Mary Ann Nelson became the newly-elected Vice President/President-elect, and Sally Crowley became the newly-elected Treasurer. Crata Castleberry continues as Secretary.
The 27th Annual Meeting was held October 12-14 in Fayetteville, Arkansas and was hosted by the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville Law Library staff. The keynote speaker was Pamela Q. L. Andre, Director of the National Agricultural Library, who spoke about the library and several of its current projects. Ther were programs both Thursday and Friday including: Agricultrual Law, Technologies of Freedom, Presidential Libraries, Internet Filtering, Management of Personnel During Interesting Times, Indian Law, and Fundraising in Public Academic Law Libraries. Saturday the entire session was devoted to a preesentation by Lolly Gassaway on Copyright Update for Librarians and was held at the University of Arkansas-Fayettevill. Thursday evening was held at the Tyson retreat. Friday afternoon was a tour of Loislaw headquarters. At the MAALL business meeting Mary Ann Nelson became president, Tranne Pearce was elected Vice-President/President Elect, Dorie Bertram was elected Secretary and Sally Crowley continued as Treasurer.
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