Sara Turley Cole, the long-time director of the law library at The University of Memphis, passed away on November 26, 2005, at her home, following a lengthy illness. Sara was born in 1943. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and her library degree from University of North Carolina. She was hired in 1968 as the law school’s librarian right out of library school by then Dean W. Walton Garrett. The library then consisted of Sara, one part-time clerical employee, an IBM selectric typewriter, and a modest collection of yet to be cataloged books. Sara attended law school part-time while building the law library, earning her J.D. from The University of Memphis (then Memphis State University) in 1972. She was admitted to the Tennessee bar the same year. In addition to directing the law library, she taught courses in Contracts and Legal Research & Writing. She retired due to health reasons in 2000.
Congratulations to Martha Smith at the completion of her law school education! She graduated in December after 5 years of study while working at the Florida Coastal School of Law Library & Technology Center. Currently she is studying for the February bar exam.
Linda Barrette is the new Acquisitions Librarian at the Florida A & M University Law Library in Orlando, Florida. Linda received her J.D. from the University of New Mexico and her M.L.I.S. from the University of South Florida.
Stephanie Davidson started as Head of Public Services at the University of Illinois in September. She had been Reference & Electronic Resources Librarian at the Yale Law School.
Sarah Gotschall is a new reference librarian at the Law Library, University of Arizona Rogers College of Law in Tucson, Arizona. Sarah received her J.D. from Emory University School of Law and her M.L.I.S. from Kent State University. Sarah previously worked LexisNexis as a Senior Research Consultant - Customer Support.
Sibyl Marshall is the new Head of Public Services in the Joel A. Katz Law Library at the University of Tennessee College of Law. Sibyl was formerly a Reference Librarian and Acting Head of Public Services at Tennessee.
Paul Moorman, previously of Pepperdine, has taken a new job as Law Librarian-Research Services at the University of Southern California.
Jacob Newman recently joined Florida Coastal School of Law as a Reference Librarian. Jacob has a J.D. from John Marshall Law School and an M.L.S. from Rutgers School of Communication, Information and Library Studies. He practiced law in New York and New Jersey before embarking on his career as a librarian. He has worked as a reference librarian for several global corporations, most recently Schering-Plough in New Jersey.
Michelle Rigual and Ron Wheeler both received promotions to Assistant Directorships at the University of New Mexico School of Law Library. Michelle, who was Head of Technical Services is now Assistant Director for Collections, Electronic Resources, and Technical Services. Ron, who was Head of Faculty and Public Services, is now Assistant Director for Faculty, Research, & Instructional Services.
Sarah Shik is a new reference librarian at the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center Library at Touro College in Huntington, New York. She earned her J.D. at the University of Kansas School of Law in May 2005, and will receive her Master’s in Legal Information Management from Emporia State University in December 2005.
Suzanne M. Smith is a new reference librarian at the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center Library at Touro College in Huntington, New York. She received her J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law in 2004, and will receive her Master’s in Library Science from the University of Buffalo in February 2006. Smith is licensed by the State Bar of New York.
Michael Tillman-Davis is a new Public Services Law Librarian at Wayne State University’s Arthur Neef Law Library in Detroit, Michigan. Tillman-Davis is a graduate of City University of New York School of Law and a 2005 graduate of the Wayne State University Library and Information Science Program.
Chenglin Liu, the Foreign & International Law Librarian at the University of Houston Law Center O’Quinn Law Library, published Informal Rules, Transaction Costs, and the Failure of the “Takings” Law in China, 29 Hastings Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 1 (2005). Mr. Liu presented this paper at the International Conference on Comparative Law Asia-Mexico, National University of Mexico on October 5, 2005. He also presented his paper at the 9th Annual Conference of the International Society of the New Institutional Economics (ISNIE), which was held at Pompeu Fabra University Barcelona, Spain on September 22, 2005. Mr. Liu is also invited to speak at the American Library Association (ALA) conference in San Antonio about the new changes in the International Health Regulations on January 21, 2006.
Bonnie Shucha, University of Wisconsin, made several presentations on the subjects of RSS and Blogs this past fall. These presentations included:
James E. Duggan, Director of Information Technology and Professor, Southern Illinois University School of Law Library, is the coauthor (with Susan D. Herskowitz) of Legal Research Made Easy, 4th ed., published by Sphinx Publishing in 2005.
Diane Murley, Reference/Web Services Librarian and Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University, and Amber Hewette, Systems/Serials Librarian and Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University, are coauthors of Law For The Layperson, 3rd ed., published in 2005 by William S. Hein & Co. Murley is also the author of Glossary of Water Related Terms in Waters and Water Rights, vol. 6, 1219 - 1321 (Michie, 1991 ed., 2005 replacement volume).
The Florida A&M Law Library has moved to its state of the art permanent facility in downtown Orlando. The new space, on 201 Beggs Avenue next to the Federal Courthouse, is part of the brand new Florida A&M College of Law building. The library occupies 42,000 square feet of the entire law school. The library had been in a cramped temporary facility (also in downtown Orlando) for the first 3½ years of the College of Law’s existence. The FAMU Law Library now incorporates the Orange County Bar Association collection, which was formerly housed on the 4th floor of the Orlando Public Library. This is in addition to the substantial collection from the temporary facility and the donation from the West Palm Beach 4th District Court Library. There is still plenty of space for growth of the collection. Kudos to Grace M. Mills, Law Library Director, and the library staff for carrying off the move. With a collection of over 300,000 volumes and volume-equivalents, it was a huge task that involved years of planning and development. There will be an opening ceremony for the FAMU Board of Trustees at the new College of Law facility on March 2, 2006.
Please send future submissions for the ALL-SIS Member News Column to Sue Kelleher, skelleher@mail.barry.edu