There are a total of eight programs and workshops sponsored by ALL-SIS at the 2009 Annual Meeting. This includes one workshop, five ALL-SIS sponsored “AMPC” programs, and two ALL-SIS sponsored “alternate” programs. The ALL-SIS sponsored programs and workshop are described below:
Workshop
W-4: The Academic Law Library of 2015: Predicting the Future and Making It Happen
Saturday, July 25, 2009 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Level: Advanced
Audience: Academic Law Library Senior Managers
Competency Addressed: Library Management
Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will identify new paradigms for academic law library collections, services and staff.
2) Participants will identify and articulate action plans to achieve those paradigms, both collectively and individually.
Workshop participants collectively will work with facilitators to develop scenarios for the academic law library of 2015 in the context of the changing academic legal environment: increasing competition among law schools, changing faculty demographics, millennial students, increase in multidisciplinary legal scholarship, reallocation of library space, and the retirement of many current library directors. What are the new opportunities for libraries to establish their value to the law school? What are the options for developing nontraditional print and electronic collections for true shared collection development? What are the necessary staff skills? How can staff be reallocated to meet new needs? Working with facilitators, participants will contribute their individual and institutional perspectives and explore possible scenarios collectively in highly interactive breakout sessions. The participants will “think outside the box” to identify possible futures, as well as the action steps to achieve them.
- Judith Wright, Co-coordinator, University of Chicago D’Angelo Law Library
- William H. Lindberg, Co-coordinator, Moderator and Speaker, The Ash Grove Group, Inc.
- Joan McIntosh, Joan McIntosh Consulting, Coaching and Training Services
- Christine Wahl, Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies
AMPC Programs
A-5: Legal Research Questions on the Bar Exam: Preparing Our Students
Sunday, July 26, 2009 1:30 PM
Level: Intermediate
Audience: Law Library Directors, Legal Research Instructors, Private Law Librarians, Reference Librarians
Competency Addressed: Teaching
Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will learn the background and current status of the issue concerning inclusion of legal research questions on the bar examination.
2) Participants will gain an understanding of the relationship between student mastery of specialized legal research course material and student success on possible future bar examination legal research questions.
The President of the National Conference of Bar Examiners, Erica Moeser, will join a group of academic law librarians and two law library directors in discussing the issue of legal research questions on the bar exam. The group will also explore the best method of preparing law students for legal research bar exam questions.
- Mary Ann Neary, Coordinator and Speaker, Boston College Law Library
- Filippa Marullo Anzalone, Boston College Law Library
- Patricia A. Cervenka, Marquette University Law Library, Sensenbrenner Hall
- Erica Moeser, National Conference of Bar Examiners
- Jane O’Connell, University of Texas, Jamail Center for Legal Research
- Mark Sullivan, Boston College Law Library
- Sherri Nicole Thomas, University of New Mexico Law Library
B-4: Understanding the Mean: How the Average Law Librarian Can Encourage Empirical Research Initiatives
Sunday, July 26, 2009 3:00 PM
Level: Introductory
Audience: Librarians who are interested in conducting empirical research and implementing support programs for empirical research
Competency Addressed: Reference, Research and Patron Services
Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify some of the resources and methods utilized in conducting quantitative empirical research.
2) Participants will be able to select elements of successful empirical research programs to incorporate in empirical research initiatives at their organizations.
The U.S. Supreme Court has long acknowledged the usefulness of information produced by social science research methods. In 2003, the Supreme Court cited statistical evidence in two cases. Recognizing the persuasive power of research concluded through empirical methods, court, firm and academic librarians are now contemplating how they can add value to the empirical research process. This program will provide an introduction to empirical research methods and assist librarians in understanding how two academic law libraries and a law and legal studies librarian at an academic library have supported empirical legal research initiatives. Speakers will discuss their experiences in supporting empirical legal research initiatives and provide advice on the types of support “average” law librarians can provide. Speakers will also suggest avenues for law librarians to develop a greater familiarity with empirical research methods.
- Darla Jackson, Coordinator, Oklahoma City University Law Library
- David A. Hollander, Princeton University, Firestone Library
- Mirya R. Holman, J. Michael Goodson Law Library, Duke University School of Law
- Matthew M. Morrison, Cornell University Law Library
C-3: Latest Trends in Library Automation: Building Creative and Inspiring Discovery Platforms
Sunday, July 26, 2009 4:15 PM
Level: Intermediate
Audience: Librarians who want their patrons to use their information resources effectively and innovatively
Competency Addressed: Information Technology
Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will assess the latest library automation innovations and discovery platforms.
2) Participants will better understand how libraries can meet patron expectations.
Marshall Breeding will address next-generation library interfaces and what the future holds for merging currently disparate resources, or silos of information. Some next-generation discovery platforms include AquaBrowser, Encore, Endeca, Primo, WorldCat Local and NELLCO’s Universal Search Solution. Breeding is a VIP to AALL 2009, sponsored by ALL-SIS, the Library Journal author of “Automation System Marketplace,” and a Computers In Libraries columnist. In addition, Breeding will update the audience on current innovations in library automation technology.
- Georgia Briscoe, Coordinator and Co-moderator, University of Colorado Law Library, William A. Wise Law Library
- Filippa Marullo Anzalone, Co-moderator, Boston College Law Library
- Marshall Breeding, Vanderbilt University, Jean and Alexander Heard Library
E-2: Chat 2.0 Renovating Virtual Reference
Monday, July 27, 2009 10:00 AM
Level: Advanced
Audience: Librarians who want to implement or improve their library’s virtual reference services
Competency Addressed: Reference, Research and Patron Services
Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will improve their existing chat reference service or implement a chat service to meet their patrons’ needs.
2) Participants will gain the skills necessary to perform an in-depth study of their virtual reference service.
Law libraries have long recognized the need to reach out to patrons who do not visit the library. One way that many libraries do this is to offer a chat or IM reference service. This program will discuss how one library, Georgetown University Law Library, renovated its popular and heavily used chat service after conducting a scientific evaluation of the chat transcripts. Yasmin Morais, the Library Resident, led the library’s effort to design and conduct an in-depth scientific study of Georgetown’s chat reference transcripts. She will discuss the findings of the study—specifically, who uses chat reference and what types of questions they ask. Sara Sampson, the Head of Reference, will discuss the administrative and management issues surrounding the study—specifically, how the study was designed and undertaken and how the library’s chat reference service was improved in response to the study.
- Sara Sampson, Coordinator and Speaker, Georgetown University Law Library
- Yasmin L. A. Morais, Speaker, Georgetown University Law Library
K-6: What We Learned from Our SAILS: Using Law Students as Human Subjects and Measuring Law Student Information Literacy
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 3:30 PM
Level: Intermediate
Audience: Academic law librarians and academic law library administrators; instructional law librarians; law librarians who are interested in human-subjects research
Competency Addressed: Reference, Research and Patron Services
Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will better understand the critical role that Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) play in approving original research on law library patrons, and will be able to use this understanding toward crafting proposals that withstand IRB scrutiny.
2) Participants will learn the fundamentals of assessment theory, including an overview of both Classical Test Theory and Item-Response Theory, in order to understand how these theories drive Information Literacy (IL) assessment.
Information Literacy (IL) is not merely the current paradigm for analyzing bibliographic instruction, it also has the potential to provide much-needed data for persuading law school administrators to focus resources onto research instruction. Expanding upon their 15-minute ALL-SIS-sponsored educational program at the 101st Annual Meeting of AALL, Dennis Kim-Prieto and Molly Brownfield will discuss their experiences with IRB review, present concepts fundamental to standardized assessment, and examine detailed findings from their administration of ACRL’s Project SAILS, a standardized measure of IL, to Rutgers Law Students. Brownfield and Kim-Prieto will also present the results from their post-SAILS survey measuring law students’ attitudes toward and perception of legal research in general, and their skills in particular. This program will close with a summary of the work already accomplished toward commissioning an AALL Committee on Law Student Information Literacy.
- Dennis C. Kim-Prieto, Coordinator, Co-moderator and Speaker, Rutgers University Law School Library
- Molly (Mary) Brownfield, Co-moderator and Speaker, J. Michael Goodson Law Library, Duke University School of Law
Alternative Programs
Beyond the Ivory Tower: Reaching Out to Practicing Attorneys and Law Firm Librarians to Improve Legal Research Instruction
Monday, July 27, 2009 10:45 AM
Level: Introductory
Audience: All law librarians; especially academic law librarians, who have an interest in improving legal research instruction in law schools
Competency Addressed: Teaching
Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to identify ways in which academic law librarians have reached out to practicing attorneys and law firm librarians to insure that legal research instruction in law schools is meaningful and relevant.
2) Participants will be able to describe the benefits of such outreach efforts on legal research instruction in law schools.
Reaching out to practicing attorneys and law firm librarians can help legal research instructors make their teaching more relevant and meaningful for students. This program will explore three of these outreach efforts: Brigham Young University’s “Practitioners’ Council,” in which law librarians meet with a group of practicing attorneys to discuss legal research, Yale Law School’s tradition of inviting law firm librarians to guest lecture in legal research classes, and a Georgetown law librarian’s survey and subsequent study comparing the opinions of academic and practitioner law librarians regarding essential legal research skills and materials.
- Shawn G. Nevers, Coordinator and Moderator, Brigham Young University, Howard W. Hunter Law Library
- David Armond, Speaker, Brigham Young University, Howard W. Hunter Law Library
- Camilla Tubbs, Speaker, Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library
- Todd M. Venie, Speaker, Georgetown University Law Library
Weed, Shelve or Store?: Making the Hard Decisions
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 2:30 PM
Level: Intermediate
Audience: Librarians involved in collection management, public services, stack maintenance, and technical services in academic law libraries.
Competency Addressed: Collection Care and Management
Learning Outcomes:
1) Participants will be able to manage a library collection management project.
2) Participants will be able to plan a library periodicals weeding project.
Both shelving space and budget reductions are making thoughtful and creative weeding practices a critical skill set for librarians charged with collection development and management in the academic law libraries of the 21st century. Next year, volume count will no longer be the prime method of judging a library’s status for the purpose of ABA statistics. Academic law librarians will gain knowledge and expertise on how to acquire useful space for new materials by weeding, storing, or withdrawal of periodicals. Speakers will bring their own idea about what “best practices” should be, and a summary of their weeding endeavors.
- Karen Nuckolls, Coordinator and Moderator, University of Kentucky Law Library
- Sarah Glassmeyer, Speaker, University of Kentucky Law Library
- Michelle Pearse, Speaker, Harvard Law School Library (PowerPoint Presentation)