Centennial Committee
Firsts in Academic Law Libraries
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In observance of the centennial anniversary of the American Association of Law Libraries, the Centennial Committee of the Academic Law Libraries SIS is compiling a list of first occurrences/instances of notable events, activities, and other distinctions in the field of academic law librarianship.
- Source publications:
- AALL Directory - AALL Directory and Handbook
- LLJ - Law Library Journal
- LLHP - Law Librarianship: Historical Perspectives (Laura N. Gasaway & Michael G. Chiorazzi eds., 1996)
| Year | Distinction/Event/Activity | Who/Which/What | Sent By |
| 1779 | 1st American college to have a law school | William & Mary In 1779, at the urging of Governor Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe was appointed Professor of Law and Police at the College of William & Mary. As for texts, Wythe relied heavily on Bacon's “New Abridgement of Law” and Blackstone's “Commentaries on the Laws of England.” (His second class included, as one of his students, John Marshall.) |
Jim Heller |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1849 | 1st academic 24/7 library access | Washington and Lee University | Sally Wiant |
| 1907 | 1st woman charter member of AALL | Margaret C. Klingelsmith, Biddle Law Library, University of Pennsylvania | Gasaway article in LLHP p.514. /Rosalie Sanderson |
| 1908 | 1st editor of new publication Index to Legal Periodicals and Law Library Journal | Frederick W. Schenk, University of Chicago | 49 LLJ 158 (1956) /Rosalie Sanderson |
| 1919–1921 | 1st academic law librarian to serve as president of AALL | Frederick C. Hicks, Columbia University Law Library | Frank Houdek |
| 1930 | 1st academic law librarian to propose expansion plan for AALL | William R. Roalfe, University of Southern California, moved to Duke in 1930 and later to Northwestern University | 24 LLJ 60 (1931) /Rosalie Sanderson |
| 1930–1932 | 1st woman academic law librarian to serve as president of AALL | Rosamond Parma, University of California Law Library | Frank Houdek |
| 1933 | 1st African-American member of AALL | Allen Mercer Daniel, Howard University Law Library, 1923–1956, Howard Law Librarian, 1931–1956 | Rhea Ballard-Thrower |
| 1936 | 1st publication of a regular current-awareness service, indexing and providing tables of contents to the latest law journals | In-house predecessors (with various titles) of Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP). In the 1940s, issues were typed by Marian Gould Gallagher herself. In 1949, CILP was first published (and continues today) by the University of Washington Law Library. By 1951, it was being distributed to 27 libraries and 13 law offices in the U.S. and abroad. Now subscribers may receive it electronically as well as in print and it is on Westlaw as well. A tailored product, SmartCILP lets subscribers get email updates with the subjects they select. | Mary Whisner |
| 1937 | 1st academic law librarian to develop and teach a law library course in an accredited library school | Miles O. Price, at Columbia University | 49 LLJ 111 (1956) /Rosalie Sanderson |
| 1939 | 1st law librarianship program | University of Washington under the direction of Arthur Beardsley | 82 LLJ 239 (1990) /Rosalie Sanderson |
| 1940 | 1st editor of Reference Question Clearing House (forerunner of Questions and Answers column) in LLJ | Margaret Hall, reference librarian, Columbia University Law School Library | Mary Whisner |
| 1953 June |
1st Law Librarians' Institute | Held at UCLA, with Miles O. Price as Director | 62 LLJ 12 (1969) /Rosalie Sanderson |
| 1953 | 1st academic law librarians to be awarded Matthew Bender scholarships | Mortimer Schwartz, then Librarian of Montana University Law School Library, & Francis B. Waters, then Legal Reference Librarian of New York University Law Library | 46 LLJ 246 (1953) /Roy Mersky & Rosalie Sanderson |
| 1954 | 1st law library to cooperate with the Library of Congress in supplying holdings for New Serial Titles | Biddle Law Library | 47 LLJ 37 (1954) /Rosalie Sanderson |
| 1954 | 1st regular newsletter for AALL | The President's Newsletter (monthly). Marian Gould Gallagher, University of Washington | Mary Whisner |
| 1955 | 1st woman on University of North Carolina law faculty | Mary Oliver, librarian, Law Library, University of North Carolina | Gasaway article in LLHP p.526. /Rosalie Sanderson |
| 1957 | 1st academic library in the US to become a European Economic Community (now EU) depository library | University of Michigan Law Library | Barbara Garavaglia |
| 1959–1961 | 1st president of International Association of Law Libraries | William R. Roalfe, director at Northwestern University Law Library at that time | Rosalie Sanderson |
| 1965 | 1st joint academic law library/county law library | University of Arkansas, Little Rock Division/ Pulaski County Law Library (now University of Arkansas at Little Rock/Pulaski County Law Library) | Susan Goldner |
| 1966 | 1st academic law library to publish a regular serial with selected new acquisitions | Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas, with Notes from the Tarlton Library | Kumar Percy |
| 1966 | 1st academic law library to establish a “litigated literature” collection of banned books and subscriptions to journals charged for indecency | Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas | Kumar Percy |
| 1966 Sept. |
1st document delivery service for Law faculty, called "Phone Page" | University of Michigan Law Library | Barbara Garavaglia |
| 1968 June |
1st law library to start using Class KF | University of Houston It was in a draft edition only, with no index! |
Lolly Gasaway |
| 1968 | 1st academic law library to issue an independent annual report | Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas | Kumar Percy |
| 1970 | 1st director of CONELL (Conference of Newer Law Librarians) | Peyton R. Neal, American University | Rosalie Sanderson |
| 1970 | 1st editor of the AALL Newsletter | Mario P. Goderich, University of Miami Law School | Mary Whisner |
| 1971 | 1st academic law library to provide 24-hour staffed service | Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas | Kumar Percy |
| 1971 | 1st academic law library to capture a bat in its reading room | Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas | Kumar Percy |
| 1971 | 1st law library institute funded by a federal grant (National Science Foundation) | Co-directed by Roy Mersky, University of Texas, and J. Myron Jacobstein, Stanford University | Kumar Percy |
| 1971–1972 | 1st law school to install and maintain a dedicated legal research terminal, a LEXIS terminal, for regular use by professors and students | Case Western Reserve University The terminal was installed at Gund Hall when it opened in 1971/1972. Beginning in 1969, MDC was offering the Ohio State Bar Association Automated Research Corporation (OBAR) Lexis system to a limited group of Ohio lawyers. |
Kathy Carrick |
| 1975 | 1st academic law library to honor its director during Library Week with a costume party in the main reading room | Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas The party featured a come-as-your-favorite-book-character theme and dancing to a jukebox. |
Kumar Percy |
| 1976 | 1st academic law library to subscribe to Westlaw | University of Florida Law Library | Rick Donnelly |
| 1976 | 1st African-American appointed Director of a non-minority academic law library | George A. Strait, Director of University of Iowa Law Library, 1976–1985 | Ruth Hill |
| 1977 | 1st academic law library to subscribe to both Westlaw and Lexis | University of Florida Law Library | Rick Donnelly |
| 1980 | 1st academic law library to create a reading room for the blind | Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas | Kumar Percy |
| 1981 | 1st academic law library to install a computer lab for students | University of Minnesota Lab was installed in conjunction with the Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction. |
Katherine Hedin |
| 1984 | 1st law librarian to receive the AALL Distinguished Service Award | Marian Gould Gallagher, University of Washington In 1990 the award was redesignated the Marian G. Gallagher Award for Distinguished Service in her honor. |
Rosalie Sanderson |
| 1984 | 1st school to have permanent training centers for Lexis and Westlaw | Drake University The vendors leased computer lab space to train attorneys. They also provided equipment and allowed law students to use the labs when they were free. |
Jonathan Edwards |
| 1984 | 1st academic law librarian to be member of American Law Institute | Roy Mersky, Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas | Kumar Percy |
| 1984 | 1st academic law librarian to hold a named professorship | Roy Mersky, Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas, when he was named Elton M. Hyder, Jr. and Martha Rowan Hyder Centennial Professor of Law | Kumar Percy |
| 1984 | 1st Law Library Publication Award | Duke University School of Law Library's Research Guide Series, D.U.L.L. News, and Library Guide | Mary Whisner |
| 1985 | 1st academic law libraries to receive fax machines | Philadelphia academic law libraries | Joel Fishman |
| 1985 | 1st winners of the AALL Call for Papers competition | Dan Dabney, Fred R. Shapiro, and Arturo L. Torres | Mary Whisner |
| 1986 | 1st AALL mentor project | ALL-SIS, under the leadership of Ann Puckett. The program is so successful it soon became an Association-wide program. | AALL Directory/ Mary Whisner |
| 1986 Sept. |
1st customized Faculty Research Service for Law faculty | University of Michigan Law Library | Barbara Garavaglia |
| 1986–1987 | 1st library to have 3 directors as president of AALL: Lucile Elliott in 1953–54; Mary Oliver in 1972–73; and Lolly Gasaway in 1986–87 | University of North Carolina | Lolly Gasaway |
| 1987 | 1st academic law library to begin cataloging Westlaw and Lexis sources | University of Minnesota cataloged individual files on Westlaw, and SUNY Buffalo provided the same service for LEXIS. These records were input on RLIN for cooperative use by other libraries. | Katherine Hedin |
| 1988 | 1st academic law library to work with Dialog Information Services in pilot to integrate non-legal information resources with legal research instruction | University of Florida Legal Information Center | Rick Donnelly |
| 1988 | 1st African-American elected to AALL Executive Board | Judy Dimes-Smith, Director, Howard University Law Library, 1981–1990 | Ruth Hill |
| 1989 | 1st winner of the Law Library Journal Article of the Year Award | Bruce Kennedy, then at Georgetown Law Library | Mary Whisner |
| 1989 | 1st academic law library to have its director ride a horse in the law library | Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas | Kumar Percy |
| 1989–93 | 1st Asian-American elected to the AALL Board, serving as AALL secretary for four years | Paul Fu, longtime director of the Supreme Court of Ohio Library | Frank Houdek |
| 1991 | 1st academic law library to collect law-related videos and novels | Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas, with its The Law in Popular Culture Collection | Kumar Percy |
| 1991 | 1st law librarian on the cover of Library Journal (Sept. 15, 1991) | Roy Mersky | Kumar Percy |
| 1994 | 1st law library to support a law school mandatory laptop requirement | University of Richmond | Tim Coggins |
| 1995 | 1st academic law library to scan tables of contents from law journals and email them to patrons | Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas, with its Tarlton Table of Contents | Kumar Percy |
| 1997 | 1st school to install a coffee bar in the library | William & Mary | Jim Heller |
| 1997 | 1st wireless network in an academic law library, as well as throughout the Law Center building | Shepard Broad Law Center, Law Library & Technology Center, at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, FL | Lisa Smith-Butler |
| 2000 | 1st law library to offer an official mirror website for the International Labour Organization (ILO) | Cornell Law Library This site also provides a research guide to the ILO, and a bibliography. |
Patricia Jones |
| 2001 | 1st recipient of Academic Law Libraries SIS Frederick C. Hicks Award | Penny A. Hazelton, University of Washington | Mary Whisner |
| 2001–2002 | 1st African American to serve as chair of the ALL-SIS | Ruth J. Hill | Carol Nicholson |
| 2001–2002 | 1st African American to serve as chair of the Council of SIS Chairs | Ruth J. Hill | Carol Nicholson |
| 2002–2003 | 1st African American and 1st person of color to serve as president of AALL | Carol Avery Nicholson of the University of North Carolina | ?? |
| 2003 | 1st academic law library to publish periodical on its rare books collection | University of Minnesota with publication of The Colophon, a biannual publication | Katherine Hedin |
| 2003 Mar. |
1st academic law library blog | University of Baltimore Law Library Weblog | Diane Murley |