Out and About

The  Southeastern Chapter of AALL (SEAALL) celebrated their 50^th anniversary during their “Jockeying for the Gold” annual meeting held last week in Lexington, KY.  Dick Danner, Senior Associate Dean for Information at Duke University, delivered a keynote, “Law Librarianship Past and Present: The Ever-Challenging Threat of the Available,” which surveyed the evolution of legal information and legal research over the decades and looked ahead to the impact of technology on legal research skills.  In a selective bibliography, Dick included the Karl N. Llewellyn quote that inspired the title of his talk:

The almost inevitable tendency in any thinking, or in any study, first to turn to the most available material and to study that – to study it exclusively – at the outset; second, having once begun the study of the available, to lose all perspective and come shortly to mistake the merely available, the easily seen, for all there is to see.

Later in the afternoon Charlene Cain, chair of AALL’s Government Relations Committee, gave a lively and impassioned report on the committee’s work to identify permanent public access initiatives on a state-by-state basis. 

And, since the sign of a truly successful meeting is the ability to mix a healthy dose of fun into the learning, Tim Coggins and Hazel Johnson deserve a big pat on the back for organizing a rollicking good version of the “Family Feud,” which pitted teams of knowledgeable members against each other to determine who knew the most about SEAALL’s illustrious 50-year history.

Special thanks goes out to the meeting’s organizers, Terry Long, SEALL President, Nancy Johnson, Chair of the Program Committee, and Rebecca Trammell and Sue Burch, Co-Chairs of the Local Arrangements Committees.  Their gracious Southern hospitality made everyone feel right at home and brought a lot of warmth to the meeting.

AALL Centennial Slogan Selected

“The American Association of Law Libraries, 1906-2006:  A Century of Leadership” has been selected by the Centennial Celebration Committee and approved by the Executive Board as the official slogan for AALL’s 100^th anniversary commemorative activities.

Lynette E. Simonsen of the University of South Dakota McKusick Law Library and Joan Stevens of the U.S. Court of Appeals 8^th Circuit Library in St. Louis have been declared winners of the Centennial Slogan contest.  Both submitted identical entries and will each be awarded one of the commemorative items to be made for sale during the celebration.

President Carol Avery Nicholson has commented that she thinks the slogan has “great possibilities for creating tag lines and snazzy formatting.”  The Centennial Celebration Committee is already envisioning a campaign declaring AALL’s “Century of Leadership” in areas such as continuing education, information policy and recruitment.  Stay tuned for forthcoming news about the centennial celebration and ways that you can participate.

Maximize Your Annual Meeting and Conference Experience

Find the New Employee You’ve Been Looking For!

Most AALL members know about the Placement Service offered at the AALL Annual Meeting. Job seekers can look for postings and get their resumes out. Employers can advertise job openings and interview a national pool of candidates at the meeting. But that’s not all, folks! The Seattle meeting will feature programs of interest to managers once the ideal candidate has been hired.

Atlanta Library Holds CD Exchange to Benefit the George A. Strait Minority Endowment and to Celebrate for National Library Week

In honor of National Library Week, library staffing the Atlanta offices of Paul Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP held a CD Exchange to benefit AALL and the George A. Strait Minority Scholarship Endowment. 

Staff collected hundreds of music CDs from employees of the firm from April 7-11.  For the crowning event of National Library Week, Paul Hastings held a reception in the library where dozens of attorneys and staff enjoyed listening to their music and exchanging favorite CDs.   The library was transformed into a musical fun zone and many attendees suggested that the event should return every year.  The event raised $175 for the George A. Strait Minority Scholarship Endowment. 

	Pictured are Kay Todd, Scott Snipes, and Scott Bailey.

2003 National Legal Research Teach-In Training Resource Kits Available

Interested in how other law librarians teach legal research?  Order the 2003 National Legal Research Teach-In Training Resource Kits.

Nominations Reminder

The deadline for submitting names of potential candidates for Vice President/President-elect, Treasurer, and two Executive Board positions for the 2004 elections is April 21, 2003.  The March 2003 AALL Spectrum has details.

Members of the Nominations Committee are available to answer any questions or take nominations:  Rhea Ballard-Thrower, Philip C. Berwick, Christine Graesser, Susan P. Siebers, Maryruth Storer, and Georgiana Gekas Wellford.

It’s Time to Renew!

Dues invoices will be mailed to library directors and individual members tomorrow – watch for them in the coming weeks.  Renew your membership by June 1 to continue receiving your exclusive AALL member benefits, including AALL Spectrum, AALLNET Members Only privileges, and a special discount on registration fees for the 2003 Annual Meeting and Conference in Seattle.

For more information about your membership dues, please contact Rachel Shaevel, AALL Membership Coordinator, and she’ll be pleased to assist.

Sincerely,

Susan E. Fox, CAE
Executive Director
American Association of Law Libraries
53 West Jackson Blvd., Suite 940
Chicago, IL  60604
312-939-4764, ext. 11
Fax 312-431-1097

AALL:  Maximizing the Power of the Law Library Community Since 1906.

"Maximize Today - Envision Tomorrow" - the 96th AALL Annual Meeting and Conference July 12 - 16, 2003, in Seattle.  For more information go to www.aallnet.org/events

"Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save."

Will Rogers, New York Times, Apr. 29, 1930