Finance & Budget Committee Meeting this Weekend

It will be a busy weekend here in Chicago as the Executive Board Finance & Budget Committee comes to town for a day and half meeting. In keeping with our focus on strategic issues and conversations, F&B has 13 objectives for the meeting. The top five are:

1. To consider near- and long-term goals for AALL (the Big Hairy Audacious Goals - BHAGs) and to develop strategies toward achieving them.
   
   
2. To review recommendations from the Member Publications Special Committee final report to the Executive Board and to develop next steps for consideration by the November 2004 Executive Board meeting.
   
   
3. To develop strategies to insure the future growth and stability of the AALL Washington Office.
   
   
4. To develop strategies for funding an Educational Summit in FY05.
   
   
5. To consider AALL's international agenda and to develop strategies for increased participation on a global stage.

Recommendations from F&B will be presented to the full board when it meets November 19-20.

Law Library Journal/AALL Spectrum Editorial Board Advisory Committee Meeting

The LLJ/AALL Spectrum Editorial Board Advisory Committee convened in Chicago October 8-9 to discuss the future of the Association's two major publications and to brainstorm article topics for the year ahead. In particular, the committee tackled where Association material is best published, how to legally obtain photographs for Association publications and archives, and how best to continue AALL Spectrum's Desktop Learning Series.

The committee will make a number of recommendations to the AALL Executive Board about moving association material out of Law Library Journal and AALL Spectrum and onto AALLNET. The committee will also share with the Executive Board its ideas for archiving association reports and photographs.

AALL On-line Election Reminder

The AALL candidate biographies and statements are now available on AALLNET. Please be sure to take a moment to read through them. As a reminder, the schedule for the AALL elections will change dramatically this year. Instead of sending ballots out by postal service, the Association will
distribute and tabulate ballots electronically. The elections will also occur four months earlier in November instead of March.

Here is the election schedule:

October 9, 2004: Deadline for receipt of petition candidates.

November 15, 2004: Ballots distributed electronically to all voting members.

December 15, 2004: Deadline for receipt of electronic ballots at AALL. Ballots tabulated at AALL, and results of elections announced immediately.

IMLS Awards Nearly $1 Million to Study the Future of the Information Profession

A partnership of organizations led by the University of North Carolina and including the American Association of Law Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, the Medical Libraries Association, and the Special Libraries Association has been awarded $994,369 by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services to conduct a research study on the future of librarians in the workforce.

The two-year effort will:

• identify the nature of anticipated labor shortages in the library and information science (LIS) field over the next decade;
  
  
• assess the number and types of library and information science jobs that will become available either through retirement or new job creation;
  
  
• determine the required skills to fill such vacancies; and
  
  
• recommend effective approaches to recruiting and retaining workers to fill them.

The resulting project reports will include:

• The Current LIS Workforce;
  
  
• Outlook for the LIS Workforce: 2006-2016;
  
  
• Outlook and Opportunities for LIS Education: 2006-2016;
  
  
• Why Libraries? The Importance and Value of Libraries; and
  
  
• Information Professionals: Survey of an Evolving Field.

Call for Papers has Begun

Have you been thinking of writing an article of interest to law librarians? Maybe you just need a push to get started? Whether for fame or for fortune, this is your chance to enter the AALL/LexisNexis Call for Papers Competition.