Chicago Association of Law Libraries'
Community Service Committee
2006 Winner of the Spirit of Law Librarianship Award

 The award committee is pleased to announce that Chicago Association of Law Libraries' Community Service Committee (CALL-CSC) is this year's recipient of the Spirit of Law Librarianship Award for outstanding accomplishments in keeping its members active in support of a wide variety of local and national charities.  Over the past few years CALL-CSC has involved CALL members in activities in support of the Chicago Area Food Depository, Books for Women in Prison Project, Chicago Public Schools Homeless Education Program, Friends of Chicago Parks, United States Air Force (letters to injured soldiers), Soldiers' Angels, Greenhouse Women's Shelter, and WTTW (Chicago Public Television), to name more than a few. 

The CALL Board, in its letter in support of the nomination of the CSC writes that, "The goal of the Community Service Committee is to help a broad spectrum of organizations.  The committee's approach is expansive, with the belief that if kindness is spread as broadly as possible, like wildflowers spread their seed, it will root somewhere."  From all accounts, the CSC has met its goal and has spread much kindness around Chicago and the nation and has inspired many CALL members to continue in deeper involvement with various charities around the area. 

The CALL executive board specifically nominated the Community Service Committees of 2005 and 2006, chaired by Julie Pabarja and Holly Lakatos, respectively.  They and members of the committees will be honored at a reception at this year's annual meeting of AALL to be held this year in St Louis.

The CALL Community Service Committee joins a distinguished group of award recipients that includes:

* Kristin Cheney, Seattle University, for her work founding and operating Seniors With Pets in Washington state.

*  Kimberli Morris, Program Manager for Library and Information ( Baghdad) of the International Human Rights Law Institute at the College of Law, DePaul University, for her work with law schools in Iraq as they strive to rebuild their legal education system.

  *  Professor Joan Howland of the University of Minnesota School of Law for her work with Native American law students and lawyers.

  *  Frosty Owen of Hunton & Williams for his work with public school libraries.

  *  Catherine Lemann, of the Law Library of Louisiana for her work with AIDSLaw of Louisiana

  *  SCALL Inner City Youth Program Committee, for its work offering inner-city youth the chance to learn new skills and meet new challenges by training, mentoring and hiring them to intern in law libraries and law firms.

  *  Marvin Anderson, Minnesota State Law Librarian, for his work with the "Everybody Wins" reading program at the Benjamin E. Mays Magnet School in St. Paul, Minnesota;

  * David Gunn, Law Librarian at the Hunton & Williams law firm in Washington D.C., for his work with Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic;

  * Professor Mickie A. Voges of IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law for her work with the ExTEND program;

  * Professor Frank Liu of Dusquene University School of Law for his work facilitating cross-cultural and academic exchanges with the academic community in China;

  * The late Jessie L. Matthews, of Rutgers University School of Law, for her work with the Patient Learning Resource Center at the Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia;

  * deanna harragarra waters, for her work with the Native American Rights Fund libraries; and, 

  * Professor Wes Daniels of the University of Miami School of Law for his work with the homeless.

 This award is given to a law librarian, or group of librarians, who have used their position and skills as a law librarian to make a meaningful contribution to a social cause, or used their professional training in service of others in some significant way. The award was established by Roy Mersky and Richard Leiter, in lieu of royalties from their book, The Spirit of Law Librarianship.  The publisher of the first edition of the book, Fred B. Rotham & Co. (now William S. Hein & Co., Inc.) also participated in the founding of this award.  Alert Publications, Inc., the publisher of the second edition, now participates in the continuance of the award.   Mr. Mersky is the Harry M. Reasoner Regents Chair in Law and Director of Research for the Jamail Center for Legal Research at the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas at Austin.  Mr. Leiter is the Director of the Schmid Library and Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law.