New member Todd Ito is working in his first professional position as a law
librarian at the University of Chicago. He had previously worked as a graduate
student in the law libraries of Duke and the University of North Carolina-Chapel
Hill. With an undergraduate BA degree is in History and Asian Studies from
UNC-Chapel Hill, both his J.D. and MSLS are from UNC as well.
Todd was attracted to public interest law initially. Fortunately for the law library profession, he decided that law librarianship would be more satisfying. It combines his interest in public service with his interests in legal research, scholarship, and teaching. His mentors were Anne Klinefelter and Scott Childs of the Katherine R. Everett Law Library at UNC. Todd said that “they have been very helpful and supportive in helping me establish myself in the profession.”
Todd learned about ALL-SIS at the AALL Annual Meeting in St. Louis. Also, his colleagues at the D’Angelo Law Library told him about the benefits of ALL-SIS membership.
He considers law librarianship to be his first career, although he has worked at other jobs. When Todd is relaxing away from the library, he likes to listen to music, read, and watch movies. Among his faves are White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty and the movie Chinatown. He likes the album Out to Lunch by Eric Dolphy and his musical tastes range from rock to soul to jazz to hip-hop to different kinds of world music. He claims to have no performing musical talent and prefers to listen. On the exercise front, he is also trying to be more active and has a “half-serious ambition to run the Chicago Marathon.”
ALL-SIS members can easily envision Todd in the Chicago Marathon, as he has “gone the distance” to establish his career in law librarianship.
Diana Gleason is the new Head of Reference and an Assistant
Professor at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada,
Las Vegas. She received her B.S. in Sociology, specializing in Womens’ Studies, from the University
of Oregon. She then earned her J.D. from the University of Oregon School of
Law and a M.L.I.S. from the University of Washington with a certificate in
law librarianship. Diana’s work experience is extensive and includes
positions in public services, management, government documents, and reference
in both academic and private law libraries.
Diana joined the UNLV law school last January as the senior reference librarian, and quickly was promoted to Head of Reference in July. In her new position, she is responsible for scheduling, hiring, and training Student Reference Desk Assistants in addition to her reference, faculty liaison, and teaching duties.
Interestingly, Diana has been teaching Advanced Legal Research as on online course which has been very successful. Distance education is one of her scholarly interests, and her article “Distance Education in Law School: The Train Has Left the Station” is available from the Bepress Legal Repository.
Professionally, Diana has been a member of WestPac, the West Online Advisory Board, the Law Librarians of Puget Sound, and AALL. She is a previous winner of the LexisNexis Scholarship Award and the 2nd place female walker in the Hein Online Fun Run in St. Louis.
Diana seems as active outside of the library as she is within it. She is on the Board of Directors of the Southern Nevada Old-Time Contra Dancers, is a member of the Sierra Club, and enjoys hiking.
