The American Association of Law Libraries: A Century of Leadership, 1906-2006

AALL Centennial FAQs

Prepared by Frank G. Houdek
October 2005

 A print-friendly version of this document is available at Frank G. Houdek, Frequently Asked Questions about AALL's First Hundred Years, [2006-06], 98 Law Libr. J. 157 (2006).

Readers are invited to submit AALL Centennial or history questions they would like to see answered on this FAQ page to Frank Houdek.

QUESTION: If AALL is celebrating its one-hundredth anniversary in 2006, why is the Annual Meeting in St. Louis the ninety-ninth meeting?

AALL was formed on July 2, 1906 at Narragansett Pier, R.I., during the annual conference of the American Library Association. This is considered AALL's first Annual Meeting. AALL has met annually in the 99 years since 1906, with the exception of a two-year hiatus during World War II (1943 and 1944). Thus, the St. Louis gathering in 2006 will be the 99th Annual Meeting rather than the 101st.

QUESTION: When and where was AALL's first Annual Meeting?

While no formal proceedings were ever published, the first Annual Meeting of the Association took place on July 2, 1906, at the Hotel Mathewson in Narragansett Pier, R.I. A handful of law librarians from around the country had come together during the annual conference of the American Library Association in response to a letter earlier in the spring from A.J. Small, law librarian of the Iowa State Library. The informal gathering culminated in the formation of AALL. That its founders considered this AALL's first annual meeting is clear from the publication in Law Library Journal of the proceedings of the 1907 meeting in Asheville, N.C., which was there designated as the “Second Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries” (1 Law Libr. J. 1 (1908)).

QUESTION: Why didn't AALL meet in 1943 and 1944?

The obvious answer is World War II. More specifically, in spring 1943, President Bernita J. Long reported to the members:

The Executive Committee of the Association met in Chicago on March 20 and 21[, 1943]. The Committee was faced with the problem of how best to continue the business of the Association during the war emergency. As you know, the Director of Defense Transportation has recommended that all meetings of groups whose activities are not closely related to the war effort be deferred. Because of this recommendation and the sense of uncertainty in regard to future developments, it was the opinion of the Committee that it would be inadvisable to plan for an annual meeting of the Association in 1943. [Announcement by President Long, 36 Law Libr. J. 2, 2 (1943).]

Two years later, in 1945 when the Association finally resumed Annual Meetings, President William S. Johnston reported:

It delights your President to be able to make this report to you in person, in annual session assembled, after an intermission of three years due to war conditions.
. . .
We have obtained permission from the Office of Defense Transportation to hold this meeting in Rochester, New York, limited to 50 members. [Report of the President, 38 Law Libr. J. 66, 66, 67 (1945).]

According to the list published in Law Library Journal, 44 individuals attended the 1945 Annual Meeting in Rochester. [Attendance Register, 38th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries, 38 Law Libr. J. 158 (1945).]

QUESTION: When and how was Law Library Journal created?

One of the first committees created by President A.J. Small after the formation of AALL in 1906 was a Committee on Indexing Legal Periodicals. In 1907, at the 2nd Annual Meeting in Asheville, N.C., the committee recommended, among other things, that

the Association undertake the publication of a quarterly journal, to be published on the first of January, April, July and October, to contain one article of interest to law librarians, reviews and notices of new legal publications, wants and exchange lists, and quarterly index to current legal periodical literature . . . ; the funds for publishing this quarterly to be secured from advertisements and subscriptions, the subscription price to members $3 per year, and to non-members $4 . . . . [Report of Committee on Indexing Legal Periodicals, 1 Law Libr. J. 20, 22 (1908).

The first issue of the Index to Legal Periodicals and Law Library Journal (published under one cover) was exhibited to the membership during the 3rd Annual Meeting, held on the shores of Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota, June 1908. Although dated January 1908, the first issue was actually published in December 1908.

QUESTION: Who is A.J. Small?

Arthur James Small (1869–1937), law and legislative reference librarian, Iowa State Library, was AALL's first president, serving two consecutive terms, 1906–1908. This was appropriate since it was Small who, in spring 1906, issued a call to other state librarians, suggesting that they get together at the upcoming meeting of the American Library Association “to consider the advisability of a separate organization of law librarians.” Twenty-four librarians responded positively to his letter and, a few months later, on July 2, 1906, AALL was formed during the annual ALA conference held at Narragansett Pier, R.I. Small remained an active AALL member until his death, “participating in every annual meeting for thirty-one years with the exception of two years,” and characterized “in later years . . . as the distinguished elder statesman of the American Association of Law Libraries . . . .” [Memorial to A.J. Small, 30 Law Libr. J. 527, 527, 528 (1937).]

QUESTION: What is the Roalfe Plan?

Also known as the AALL Expansion Plan, the Roalfe Plan began with a long letter written on September 11, 1930 by William R. Roalfe, then the librarian of the University of Southern California Law Library, to AALL President Rosamond Parma. The letter, which was later published in the Law Library Journal [24 Law Libr. J 60 (1931), called for a total reorganization and expansion of the operations and services of the Association. Specific suggestions included establishing full-time staff at a permanent headquarters, enlarging the Law Library Journal, seeking financial assistance from a foundation, and publishing a bulletin with lists of current legal literature. Considering its significance, one commentator has written:

Much of today's AALL organizational structure is a direct result of this plan. The plan would make [Roalfe] the dominant figure in Association history for the next thirty years. While much of what was proposed in the letter has come to pass, it was a long time in coming. Even today, the letter raises issues central to current discussions on the role of the Association. [Michael G. Chiorazzi, William R. Roalfe: Builder of Libraries, Scholar, Association Animal, in Law Librarianship: Historical Perspectives 215, 228 (Laura N. Gasaway & Michael G. Chiorazzi eds., AALL Publications Series, No. 52, 1996).]

QUESTION: Who is William R. Roalfe?

Although best known for authoring and promoting the AALL Expansion Plan—also known as the Roalfe Plan—in 1930, the impact of William R. Roalfe (1896–1979) on law librarianship went much further. After serving as law librarian at his alma mater, the University of Southern California, from 1927 to 1930, he went on to build outstanding collections and staffs as the director of two of the nation's premier law schools, Duke University (1931–46) and Northwestern University (1946–64). While doing so, he also served as AALL president (1935–36); helped found the first regional association of law librarians, the North Carolina Law Librarians, in 1937—this group, eventually renamed the Southeastern Association of Law Libraries in 1954, became AALL's first chapter in 1940; authored The Libraries of the Legal Profession (1954), a landmark study of law libraries written under the auspices of the American Bar Association, the 5th and 6th editions of How to Find the Law (1957, 1965), and the first biography of John Henry Wigmore; and was one of the founders and the first president (1959–61) of the International Association of Law Libraries.

QUESTION: When and how were AALL's chapters first developed?

By the late 1930s, local and regional informal groupings of law librarians had begun to appear. Whether such groups should be allowed or encouraged to affiliate with AALL was debated at the national level, with some concerned that to do so would detract from the centralized focus of the national organization. Eventually, however, the view supporting affiliation prevailed and in 1939 the constitution was amended to allow for the creation and governance of chapters. The Carolinas Chapter (later reformed as the Southeastern Association of Law Libraries) was approved by the membership as the first AALL chapter in 1940. Approval followed for the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C. (1942), the Chicago Association of Law Libraries (1947), the Law Librarians of New England (1948), the Law Library Association of Greater New York (1949), and the Southern California Association of Law Libraries (1953). The Association currently has a total of thirty-one chapters.

QUESTION: When and how were special interest sections first developed?

Seventy years after the formation of AALL, on June 23, 1976, bylaws were adopted at the Annual Meeting in Boston that provided for the creation of special interest sections (SISs). This was the culmination of discussions begun several years earlier concerning the significant growth in the number of AALL members and the consequent inability of all members to serve on the committees of their choice, at the time the primary operational entities of the Association. SISs were designed to allow all members to participate in groups that addressed the areas of law librarianship in which they were interested, whether subject matter (e.g., automation, technical services), type of library (e.g., private libraries), or both. They were seen as vehicles for fostering exchanges of ideas and information through educational programs, newsletters and other publications, and special projects. In December 1976, the Executive Board approved the first seven special interest sections: Contemporary Social Problems (now Social Responsibilities); Law Library Service to Institutional Residents (now a part of Social Responsibilities); Government Documents; Private Law Libraries; Automation and Scientific Development (now Computing Services); OCLC Law Libraries (now Online Bibliographic Services); and State, Court, and County Law Libraries.The Association currently has a total of thirteen special interest sections.

QUESTION: What was AALL's “Golden Jubilee?”

On June 25–28, 1956, AALL celebrated its 50th anniversary at the Annual Meeting in Philadelphia which President Carroll G. Moreland termed the “Golden Jubilee Meeting.” During the Golden Jubilee Banquet, held in the Ball Room of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, a silver tray was presented to Gilson Glasier, the Association's only active charter member, in recognition of the services performed by that founding group which he represented. The anniversary was also marked by a special Golden Jubilee issue of the Law Library Journal, under the editorship of Dillard S. Gardner, which contained many articles describing the history and development of AALL since its founding in 1906. [49 Law Libr. J. 81–237 (1956)]

QUESTION: Why is AALL's Distinguished Service Award named in honor of Marian G. Gallagher?

The first-ever AALL Distinguished Service Award was presented at the Closing Banquet of the 1984 Annual Meeting in San Diego: to Marian Gould Gallagher, past president of AALL (1954–55) and Professor of Law and Law Librarian Emeritus, University of Washington (1944–81). This was fitting. Gallagher was an accomplished law library leader and innovator—she initiated both the Current Index to Legal Periodicals and the AALL Newsletter (which eventually became AALL Spectrum). She was a legendary law library educator—the law librarianship program at the University of Washington which she directed for thirty-seven years had a remarkable impact on the profession, producing numerous law library and AALL leaders. She frequently represented law librarians to those outside the profession—she was an active member of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and served on the President's National Advisory Committee on Libraries in 1967–68, as well as other presidential committees and commissions under three presidents. Lastly, she was witty, charming, and charismatic—so full of fun and humor that Penny Hazelton, her successor at the University of Washington, wrote of her:

[Listing her professional accomplishments provides] a very incomplete picture of the real Marian Gallagher. You miss what I think she regarded as the most important part: her natural inclination to find the humor in most everything. Marian was fun at work or play. She enjoyed life and made the best out of it. Marian was a rabid Husky football fan, loved to play golf, drink, and play poker. [Penny A. Hazelton, Memorial: Marian Gould Gallagher, 82 Law Libr. J. 399, 399–400 (1990)]

To further honor the contributions and character of Marian Gallagher, on March 10, 1990, the AALL Executive Board redesignated the Association's highest award with the name of its first recipient; henceforth it would be known as the Marian G. Gallagher Award for Distinguished Service.

QUESTION: Why is AALL's Bibliographical Award named in honor of Joseph L. Andrews?

AALL's Bibliographical Award was established in 1967 to honor Joseph L. Andrews, a man whom his former director at the Library of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York called “easily the finest reference librarian I have ever known.” [Arthur A. Charpentier, In Memory of Joseph L. Andrews, 58 Law Libr. J. 451, 452 (1965).] Andrews was reference librarian for the Association of the Bar for thirty-five years (1930–65). As an award for “a scholar, librarian or bibliographer whose contribution, either in a single work or as the product of a career, is particularly noteworthy and of value to law librarians and to the legal profession,” it was appropriately named for a man who was a “self-taught scholar and in love with bibliography all his life.” [Thomas H. Reynolds, Proceedings, Second Business Session, 70th AALL Annual Meeting, 70 Law Libr. J. 453, 453 (1977).] Indeed, Anthony Grech, first recipient of the award, noted that Andrews believed that compiling bibliographies “was an art, not a technique. He believed that bibliographies should be compiled at their source, not through questionnaires or letters.” [Proceedings of the Sixtieth Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries Held at Colorado Springs, Colorado, June 25–29, 1967, 60 Law Libr. J. 333, 346 (1967) (remarks of Anthony P. Grech).] Among Andrews's works were The Law in the United States of America: A Selective Bibliographical Guide (1965) and Bibliography on the Law and Uses of International Rivers (1960).

QUESTION: When did CONELL become a part of AALL's Annual Meeting?

The Conference of Newer Law Librarians (CONELL) was established by the Education Committee in 1970 as a way of welcoming newer members into the Association, introducing them to AALL's leaders, and facilitating their acculturation into the group. [Report of 1969–70 Education Committee, 63 Law Libr. J. 405 (1970).] In reporting on the first Conference, held at American University in Washington, D.C., founding director Peyton R. Neal noted that the more than one hundred attendees “went away with a much greater knowledge of their association and [its] activities and programs.” [Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries Held at Washington, D.C., June 27–July 2, 1970, 63 Law Lib. J. 432, 441 (1970)]. As originally conceived, CONELL was open to anyone with less than six years experience as a law librarian. In 1975, logistical constraints caused eligibility to be limited to those attending either their first or second Annual Meeting. Responsibility for planning CONELL rested with a separate committee from 1970–71 to 1993–94; in 1994–95, this responsibility was transferred to a newly created standing committee on mentoring and retention (now known as the Mentoring Committee), the result of a recommendation from a Task Force on Recruitment, Mentoring and Placement.

 

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