Catherine Sanders Reach, Associate Director
American Bar Association
Legal Technology Resource Center

Joint CALL and SLA-IL Business Meeting
January 13, 2005

The Digital Library: We've Come a Long Way, Baby?

Program Description:
In Summer of 2002, 300 law librarians participated in a survey to inform a larger study on the feasibility and viability of the digital library. They identified many concerns and barriers to realizing a truly digital environment, one almost devoid of print materials. Many of the problems that were identified then still plague librarians today. Cataloging online resources, training needs, cost recovery and collection development for online resources, password management, and access versus ownership are just a few of the impediments mentioned. We will look at how to deal with some of these problems, why the digital library is the future, and identify challenges that demand that libraries work together to transition into the future while preserving the past.

Speaker Biography:
Catherine Sanders Reach (MLIS) is the Associate Director of the American Bar Association's Legal Technology Resource Center. She has a masters degree in library and information studies from the University of Alabama. The Legal Technology Resource Center provides substantive information on the latest technology developments affecting the practice of law. There she has focused on technology and the information seeking behaviors of lawyers. Professional activities include articles published in Law Technology News and GPSolo Magazine, and her continuing research on the digital library most recently appeared in the AALL Law Library Journal. Her presentations on the use of technology in law firms include the Iowa State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association, the ABA Legal Techshow and the Bar Leadership Institute.