Minutes

• Meeting is called to order by 07-08 President Jennifer Dabbs.
• New Officer Introductions:  J. Dabbs, President; Amy Hale-Janeke, Vice-President/President Elect; Gigi Roth, Secretary; Etheldra Scoggin, Treasurer* 

• J. Dabbs had earlier in the week posted the meeting minutes from the July meeting for review and requests a motion to approve the minutes without reading them allowed.  T. Gambrell motions to approve. It is seconded and passes.
• Treasurer's Report: Sent by E. Scoggins to J. Dabbs to be read. Balance was at $4990.04. Leftover apportionment from AALL is $1033.64- E. Scoggins is looking to see if this balance is able to be returned to the general fund.
• Membership Renewals Update:  The 2006-2007 year we had 60 members. As of October 12th, we had approximately 50 who had renewed.
• Nominating and Membership Committee Volunteers: J. Dabbs asked for volunteers to work on either committee or both.  Nominating really only begins in the Spring and will approach members to appear on the slate for next year- VP, Treasurer (2yr term) and Secretary. Membership will work year round developing ways to recruit members from the area- professional law librarians and, importantly, law library students. Please contact J. Dabbs for more details.
• SEALL and AALL Annual Meetings Follow Up:
  •  SEALL:  There was an intellectual property program that stood out to M. Childs. The speaker was very good        and there was also a musician there who performed a little ditty as a clever conclusion to the program. A. Hale-Janeke and M. Childs were going to look at their programs and such to see who was the presenter and have his name on the radar as a future speaker.
  • AALL: Not too much was said about AALL. Everyone seemed to enjoy the programs that they attended.
• Volunteer Day at the Louisiana State Museum:
  • A. Hale-Janeke was invited to explain this project she was involved in for AALL and had mentioned previously at the July meeting. It was set up as a volunteer program for AALL. The museum had a large backlog of items that needed to be inventoried, cataloged, records transfer and cross reference. Amy described all the interesting things she was able to see and handle such as instruments, documents from as early as the 1700s, sorting Red Cross cards from the storm, etc. The NOALL meeting was used as a platform to determine interest for a volunteer day. It would have to happen during the work week, but there are no fees and the application process to work will be handled by the museum. There is a maximum of ten volunteers at a time because of work stations and space.
  • A. Hale- Janeke mentioned that if anyone knew or wanted to advertise something like this as an independent study for a library student, that would be very much welcomed. Tara Lombardi- a student at LSU- mentioned that they do indeed have 120 hours of field experience that has to be done in various areas of librarianship. This could count for some of those hours for students. She is going to contact Beth  Paskoff  regarding the program and how to advertise this to the students.
• SWALL Announcement: It is the 50th anniversary of SWALL and this year it will take place on a cruise to Mexico. There are no details at this time regarding programming in the materials sent to J. Dabbs. She will keep members informed of the details when she receives them. A. Hale-Janeke warned everyone that because of the venue, it may not be as easy to have the costs covered by your department.
• Additional/Old/New Business:
  • A. Hale- Janeke mentioned a program that she participates in with SWALL. It is a half-day workshop geared to non-law library professionals on how to locate information regarding law. She mentioned a man who works with the Wildlife and Fisheries Department who is responsible for locating government documents on a regular basis. Public Librarians, Special Librarians, the library students that may not be focused specifically on law librarianship. It would be mostly state specific. The LISP committee of AALL is who originated this program. They would be shown how to use internet resources, treatises, how the court system works (more of a refresher from when most last learned it in junior high.) There was much enthusiasm and several members were eager to go back and speak with their powers that be about hosting a program like this.
  • Holiday Party:  G. Roth brought up the holiday party to get feedback from those in attendance before the planning takes place. A. Hale- Janeke had begun to think about this as well and suggested perhaps she plan a holiday tea. This was a welcomed idea to many as there are several holiday luncheons already- it would be a nice change. A few venues were suggested, Ritz- Carlton or Windsor Court for a tea. G. Roth was going to speak with Adelaide to see about costs. A. H-J was going to get information and begin negotiations.
  • J. Dabbs asked for ideas for the Spring Program, perhaps a speaker on the history of Louisiana Law. Other ideas were: selling your library to directors and new lawyer library skills. The latter was a theme everyone seemed very curious about from the academic end to the firm and court end. We found that there is a lot all of us can learn by discussing how we each train and how our libraries are used. It was interesting to hear about the role of the Westlaw and Lexis trainers as well at the various libraries. It was concluded that this was very much an important topic for all of us and are eager to discuss it further to ensure we are providing the best training and service to the new lawyers- and some of the old ones. A very positive discussion.
• Adjournment
• Next meeting will be held at Jones Walker, date to be announced.
• Attendees:
  • Jennifer Dabbs, Phelps
  • Gigi Roth, Phelps
  • Brent Hightower, Adams and Reese
  • Amy Hale-Janeke, Fifth Circuit
  • Miriam Childs- Law Library of LA
  • Amy Schwarzenbach, Loyola- Career Services
  • Jennifer  Creevy, Law Library of LA
  • Tara Lombardi, Law Library of LA
  • Tina Gambrell, Jones Walker
  • Elizabeth Moore, Loyola
  • Anne Middleton, US Court of Appeals
  •  Vicenc Feliu , LSU
  • Charlene Cain, LSU