"When You Come to the Fork in the Road, Take It!"

May 1999

Yogi Berra could have been speaking of the Academic Law Libraries Special Interest Section when he uttered those now famous words. The ALL/SIS is, in many ways, at a fork in its organizational road. Progress had been made in revitalizing our Section: our Newsletter has been revived, we have a growing web site, the popular round tables are being reinstated, we have an advance educational planning process that will better serve our members, and strategic planning has begun. Still, only about a third of AALL members who are affiliated with an academic institution hold membership in our section. To reach our potential, we need to undertake thinking and planning for activities and services that will benefit, not only our members that do not attend our Annual Meetings, but a broader cross section of academically affiliated law librarians. Much still remains to be done and we need people who want to be part of this exciting process.

Please plan on volunteering some of your time this coming year to the activities of your Section. In addition to planning our more traditional activities, work will begin on a number of new initiatives. The Section Executive Board continues to need input from members about what activities and programs would be responsive to Section member needs and would make the Section one that is worth belonging to. Please, take that fork in the road with us. We need you.

Below are some opportunities for Section service. They do not represent everything there is to do; only what has been identified so far. There is a place on this form to enter other activities and services you think would be beneficial for the Section to undertake. There is only very brief information for each category. In many cases, the charge to the committee will be to brainstorm and advise the Executive Board on initiatives that might be beneficial to the broader membership. Call me, E-mail me, write me, send me this form, use whatever form of communication works for you. Please, just get in touch.

INFRASTRUCTURE - Those old chestnuts!

• _____Bylaws: Explore building the infrastructure of the Section by adding at least one additional Board Member.
• _____Nominations: Help find able candidates to continue the work that is begun.
• _____Education: Identify and develop appropriate programming for the Annual Meeting, and advise the Executive Board on educational initiatives outside of the Annual Meeting. Responsible for submitting formal educational program requests for the 2001 Meeting.
• _____Meeting Local Arrangements: Assist with the actual arrangements for the Annual Meeting: breakfasts/luncheon, Academic Reception, Round tables. Advise on speaker choices.
• _____Membership and Recruitment
• _____Publications and Advertising
• _____Strategic Planning

SPECIAL PROJECTS - START UP- Be a pioneer!

• _____CONELL for Academics
• _____Awards: It's time we recognized the accomplishments of our peers.

SPECIAL WORKING GROUPS - ADVISORY - For you big thinking brainstormers! This group represents areas in which I think the Section could take a leadership role. The charge of these special committees will be to identify, assess and report on what appropriate long range projects the Section should undertake.

• _____Collection Development
• _____Statistics
• _____Continuing Status/Tenure
• _____Other?? Please list. ______________________________________________________________________________

OTHER

• _____Well, I want to help out the Section, but I'm not interested in any of the above. I think the following program(s) or service(s) should be explored and undertaken by the ALL/SIS: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

NAME:_______________________________________________________________________
ADDRESS:____________________________________________________________________
PHONE NUMBER:_____________________________________________________________
EMAIL:_______________________________________________________________________

Thank you for your interest in contributing to the work of the Section. Please return this form, or call me, or E-mail me as is noted below.

Tory Trotta
Interim Director
Ross-Blakley Law Library, Arizona State University
P.O. Box 877806
Tempe AZ 85287-7806
602-965-2521
victoria.trotta@asu.edu