AALL takes a leadership role in shaping the future of the law library profession by promoting the value of law librarians and by supporting our members in a variety of ways. Membership in AALL allows law librarians to connect with their colleagues across the nation and build their leadership skills. By joining special interest sections, serving on committees, and attending the Annual Meeting and Conference, AALL members meet new people, build relationships, and share ideas and skills. This year members served on more than 35 committees, playing integral roles to make law librarians leaders in legal information, research, and technology.
A New AALLNET on the Horizon
This year, AALL worked closely with SYSCOM, Inc., the vendor selected in mid-2009 by the AALLNET Strategic Planning Special Committee’s mid-2009 to design the new AALLNET. The new website will include features members need, such as personalized content, more accurate search results, web 2.0 tools, and a content management system that will allow members with varying technical skills to manage their content with ease.
SYSCOM met with AALL staff in mid-September to begin the discovery process, which was followed by work on the wireframes and overall graphic design. Headquarters staff also spent a great deal of time planning for the integration of the Association's new content management system, the site migration, and the website's taxonomy, which will be used to help improve searching capabilities. The redesign also required an upgrade of AALL’s association management software, consolidation of the network, and establishment of web hosting platforms.
The first phase of the project included updating and migrating all of the site's administrative and Headquarters content. Next the social networking software provided by Higher Logic will be integrated into the new site. This software will provide members and entities with the ability to create blogs and wikis, share calendars and documents within a group, post events, and create learning opportunities and forums, among other benefits.
During phase two, slated for fall 2010, staff will focus on the migration of special interest section and other AALL entity content. The new AALLNET, anticipated to go live in early 2011, will increase the value of AALL membership by connecting members with each other and the many benefits offered by the Association.
AALL Executive Board Approves New Awards
During the November meeting, the Executive Board approved procedures for implementing new Association awards to recognize member contributions to AALL and the profession. The new awards include:
- AALL Hall of Fame to recognize members nearing the end of their careers who have made exemplary contributions to the profession and in service to the Association
- Emerging Leader Award to recognize newer members who have already made significant contributions to the profession and the Association
- Volunteer Service Award to recognize the contributions of AALL's "unsung heroes"
- AALL Distinguished Lectureship to provide an opportunity for members with a unique perspective on the history, practice, or philosophy of law librarianship to share their knowledge and expertise
- Innovations in Technology Award to recognize members, SISs, chapters, or law libraries for their innovative use of technology in the development and creation of an application or resources for law librarians or legal professionals
Results of AALL Economic Outlook Follow-up Survey
In mid-March 2009, AALL conducted a survey of law library directors to understand how the current economic crisis was affecting the profession. The survey was intended to help determine how widespread law library staffs had been affected by layoffs, furloughs, reduction of benefits, and/or budget cuts. Six months later, in mid-September 2009, AALL conducted a follow-up survey to see how economic conditions have changed (or not changed) for law libraries. Nearly 430 members responded for a 33 percent response rate.
Overall, the
survey results indicated that the economic situation for law libraries was less severe in September than in April. Staff reductions, hiring freezes, and budget cuts slowed. However, the number of law libraries that instituted furloughs increased, and law libraries continued to see more staff and budget cuts than growth.
Professional Legal Management Week Held October 5-9
Professional Legal Management Week (PLMW) provides a forum for recognizing those in legal management for what they do and the roles they play in the success of their organizations. AALL is one of 11 associations that co-sponsored the 2009 event with the
Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) and encouraged members to plan and promote events for the week. ALA also published the third edition of Professional Legal Management Week Magazine, which included an article by AALL members
Monice M. Kaczorowski and
Holly Pinto. A webinar held the week of October 5 also featured AALL member
Sarah Mauldin as a panelist.
AALL Appears in ALA's Legal Management
AALL partnered with the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) to print two ads in the October and November/December issues of its monthly journal,
Legal Management. The ads promote the value of law librarians to legal administrators and feature Megan Butman, research librarian at the Chicago law firm DLA Piper. Linda Will's article
"Synergizing Relationships" also appears in the October issue of Legal Management.
Take the Lead: 2009 AALL Leadership Academy
AALL’s second
Leadership Academy took place October 16-17. By attending this program, new law librarians in the early stages of their careers learned how to get out in front in the profession. The academy develops and trains law librarians for leadership roles by equipping them with the strategies and techniques needed to achieve success and professional excellence.
The program featured speaker Dr. Barbara Mackoff, leadership educator and widely-acclaimed expert in understanding the way leaders think. Her presentations involved each participant in identifying the foundations of his or her unique potential and learning to respond to the challenges of change.
AALL selected 35 members to attend the 2009 AALL Leadership Academy:
Stacey Bowers, Elizabeth Bradsher, Kathleen Brown, Gina Catalano, Elizabeth Christian, Suzanne Corriell, Deborah Darin, Kelly Fanning, Elizabeth Farrell, Amy Flick, Alyssa Folse, Melissa Fung, Thomas Gaylord, Filiberto Govea, Phillip Gragg, Janet Hedin, Todd Ito, Tina Jagerson, Meg Kribble, Kristine Lloyd, Kurt Meyer, Steven Miller, Sarah Lin Morris, Janet Peros, Elizabeth Reppe, Holly Riccio, Josepha Roberts, Galeen Roe, Nancy Scibelli, Wanita Scroggs, Kama Siegel, Kerry Skinner, Luz Verguizas, and David Zopfi-Jordan.
AALL Thinks Strategically
AALL members, with the
Executive Board Strategic Directions Committee, crafted a new Strategic Directions plan for 2010-2013. To collect member input, the Strategic Directions Committee created
Strategically Thinking, an AALL blog for members to share, brainstorm, and collaborate.
President Catherine Lemann shared the first draft of the new Strategic Directions with members in February; the Executive Board adopted
AALL's 2010-2013 Strategic Directions at its board meeting held in Chicago April 9-10. The Strategic Directions will serve as AALL's compass as we initiate programs and services on behalf of the law librarian profession during the next three years. They will also provide us flexibility to grow as an organization, while placing primary focus on our members.
Hoffman Appointed as General Editor for Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
Marci Hoffman
, associate director and international and foreign law librarian at University of California Berkeley, was appointed general editor for
AALL's Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals.
Hoffman replaces Thomas H. Reynolds who will retire as general editor on December 31. Reynolds, international and foreign law librarian emeritus at the University of California Berkeley, has served as the
Index general editor for the past 25 years.
Hoffman received her MLIS from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989. She worked as assistant librarian for Farella, Braun + Martel in San Francisco until 1991, when she became an assistant librarian at Boalt Hall and ran Boalt Express.
She served as the foreign, comparative, and international law librarian at the University of Minnesota Law Library from 1993 to 1999 and was the international and foreign law librarian at Georgetown University Law Library until 2003 when she returned to Boalt as the international and foreign law librarian. In 2006, she was appointed associate director of the law library.
In her current position, Hoffman teaches an international and foreign legal research seminar. She has done extensive work with the American Society of International Law and the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library, and is an expert on international and foreign legal research. She has written a number of articles on legal research and teaching, and in 2003 she developed an international law web portal called Electronic Information System for International Law (
www.eisil.org).
Hoffman is also the co-author of two books, Hoffman & Rumsey,
International and Foreign Legal Research: A Coursebook (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2008) and Hoffman & Berring,
International Legal Research in a Nutshell (Thomson/West, 2008).
New AALL Lapel Pins Recognize 20 and 40 Years of Membership
To recognize and thank members for their long-term commitment to the Association, AALL Headquarters mailed lapel pins to those who have been members for 20 or more years and those who have been members for 40 or more years. This new initiative came from the 2008-2009
Member Recognition Special Committee. Many thanks again to the more than 1,300 members who have supported AALL for so long with their continuous membership. Your commitment is what makes AALL a strong voice for the profession.
The AALL Placement Office Goes Digital
For the first time, the AALL Placement Committee proudly offered online job and candidate searching as part of the
Placement Office at the AALL Annual Meeting and Conference in Denver. Posting through the AALL
Career Center offered many benefits to employers and job seekers. Best of all, members didn’t even have to be in the Placement Office—or even in Denver for the Annual Meeting—to take part in the action.
Changes at AALL Headquarters
AALL staff member Christopher Siwa was promoted to director of information technology. Prior to being named director, Siwa served as AALL's web administrator. In his new position, Siwa has taken on a number of new responsibilities including various elements of AALL's network infrastructure—its membership database, desktop work stations, and software and hardware maintenance and upgrades. He also continues to be responsible for AALLNET and the website redesign project.
AALL on Facebook
AALL’s new presence on the social networking site
Facebook allows members to become a fan of the Association and connect with law librarian friends around the country. The page is also a source for periodic AALL announcements and news. Members attending the 2010 Annual Meeting in Denver were also able to become fans of the conference Facebook page to share photos, Denver hot spots, and tips for making the most out of the Annual Meeting.
New Edition of "How to Research a Legal Problem: A Guide for Non-Lawyers" Released
The AALL
Legal Information Services to the Public Special Interest Section published a new edition of
How To Research A Legal Problem: A Guide for Non-Lawyers. This free, informative seven-page online guide is intended to help non-lawyers find legal rules that can resolve or prevent conflict.
Avoiding jargon throughout, the booklet covers the basic steps in legal research. It also describes basic sources of legal information, giving examples of legal encyclopedias, treatises, articles, codes, reporters, and digests.
Book Drive in Denver
In 2009-2010, the
Social Responsibilities Special Interest Section (SR-SIS) and AALL continued the tradition of giving something back to the community that hosts our Annual Meeting through our 12th annual Children’s Book Drive.
This year, the SR-SIS worked with “
Reach Out and Read Colorado,” an organization of doctors and nurses who advise parents about the importance of reading aloud to their kids. Reach Out and Read Colorado gives books to children at pediatric checkups from six months to five years of age, with a special focus on children growing up in poverty.
Donated books were distributed in the Denver metropolitan area, particularly in low-income communities.