As part of its work for AALL, the Collection Development Committee of the ALL-SIS maintains a contact list for all collection development librarians in academic law libraries. In early spring 2007, committee members Edward Hart and Courtney Selby took on the task of updating this list to assure that it contained the most current contact information for those libraries. The project was completed in March and all updated information has been added to the Collection Development Contacts list, which can be accessed by AALL members at the committee’s website (www.aallnet.org/sis/allsis/committees/colldev/). If you have additional updated information to add to the list, please contact Courtney Selby at courtney-selby@utulsa.edu.
The committee is responsible for developing and maintaining information on the ALL-SIS website, which includes an ongoing survey of tenure and employment status for non-director law librarians and a bibliography of writings on tenure and employment status for librarians. See www.aallnet.org/sis/allsis/committees/cst/. The committee was unable to update either of these documents on the web during this academic year, but we are working on revisions to both the survey and the bibliography that can be posted by early fall.
During the 2006 - 2007 year committee members Beth Adelman and Elizabeth Outler developed a working outline of a “white paper” that can be used in law schools to demonstrate why tenure or continuing status is of value for the librarian and for the institution. Beth and Elizabeth will continue their research and writing during the coming year.
The committee’s charge for 2007 - 2008 will expand to include economic status as well as employment status, so the committee’s meeting agenda in New Orleans will include some time for discussion about how to incorporate this topic into our survey, bibliography and white paper projects. We welcome your input!
The Membership Committee works with AALL to identify new members of ALL-SIS and provide our new colleagues with welcome kits. This year our committee welcomes 138 new members to ALL-SIS. The first round of new member kits was mailed out in January. Those who joined ALL-SIS in 2007 will be receiving their kits soon. The Membership Committee also spotlights selected members in the ALL-SIS Newsletter. Thanks to Membership Committee members Sally Wambold, Mila Rush, and Laurie Urquiaga for interviewing new members and preparing member spotlights.
The work of the committee has been to plan and facilitate the middle managers breakfast scheduled for Monday, July 16, 7:00 - 8:45 a.m. After this year’s buffet breakfast, Donna Scheeder, Director, Law Library Services at the Law Library of Congress, will speak about maximizing our influence as middle managers to get things done through network building strategies that also build trust. We hope all you middle managers will register and attend the breakfast for informal networking as well as a presentation on an interesting and relevant topic!
The Middle Managers Committee is composed of Frances Brillantine, Head of Access Services at Catholic University of America, and Scott Childs, Assistant Director for Public Services at UNC Chapel Hill. This year’s breakfast is generously supported by LexisNexis.
This year has been very exciting and busy for the New Academic Law Librarian’s Meeting (NALLM)/Mentoring Committee. Formerly known as the Conference of Newer Academic Law Librarians (CONALL)/Mentoring Committee, the committee was charged by the Board to come up with a new name this year. It was decided that the CONALL acronym was confusingly similar to CONELL, another program geared toward new law librarians. After considering many suggestions, the committee agreed upon NALLM, or the New Academic Law Librarian’s Meeting. This change had been in the works for several months prior to it becoming final in November of 2006. One of the challenges that came along with the name change involved updating the AALL Annual Meeting Program and AALL website.
The committee co-chairs, Katie Thompson and Patricia Kidd, have been busy planning the New Academic Law Librarian’s Meeting (NALLM) event. This program is designed to introduce new academic law librarians to the field and to ALL-SIS. It also provides a great opportunity for newer members to make friends and network with colleagues. The event will take place on Sunday, July 15, 2007 at Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law. Busses will be picking up attendees at the convention center at 4:45 p.m. Signs will be posted in the convention center on the day of the event to indicate where to board the busses. The NALLM Program will take place from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. Immediately following is the ALL-SIS Awards Ceremony and Reception, also taking place at the Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law. This means NALLM attendees will already be in the right place at the right time to take part in those festivities as well. Finally, we owe a big thanks to BNA for sponsoring this year’s NAALM event.
The committee members are eagerly awaiting the mentor/mentee applications so we can begin pairing them for AALL’s Mentoring Program. It is a very thoughtful and rewarding experience to combine experienced law librarians with new librarians to help facilitate professional growth for new members. Patricia and I will be rounding up the committee members to help assist with this project.
As the Annual Meeting approaches the NALLM/Mentoring Committee members are looking forward to meeting and welcoming this year’s new academic law librarians!
The 2006 - 2007 Newsletter Committee consisted of Leah Sandwell-Weiss, Law Library, Rogers College of Law, The University of Arizona, Chair; Sue Kelleher, Barry University School of Law Library; Susan Zappia, Phoenix International School of Law; Tina Ching, Arizona State University, later at Seattle University School of Law; Jennifer L. Lunt, Thomas N. Cooley Law School Library; Matt Braun, George Washington University, Jacob Burns Law Library; Paul Moorman, University of Southern California, Barnett Information Technology Center and Call Law Library; and Board Liaison, Suzanne Thorpe. Our issues this year were published on August 30, 2006, February 1, 2007, and an Election Issue on March 7, 2007. The last issue will be published in late May/early June 2007, meeting our schedule.
Highlights of this year’s issues include articles on:
As mentioned briefly above, this year we also published our first election issue containing biographical statements and photos of the four candidates for Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect and Member-at-Large.
I would like to thank all the committee members for their hard work and their articles. Sue Kelleher collected the Member News for all three issues, Paul Moorman wrote about CONALL, changing CONALL’s name to New Academic Law Librarian’s Meeting (NAALM), and law library security, Matt Braun on Bob Berring’s Plenary session presentation and New Year’s resolutions, Tina Ching on teaching computer assisted legal research, Susan Zappia on digital library specialists, and Jennifer Lunt on the Management & Leadership Institute.
I’d also like to thank the many folks who wrote articles for us, especially Barbara Ridley Monroe, Susan Herrick, and Sara Kelley for writing articles in our continuing series, Developments in Legal Education, and the folks on the Membership committee for sending information and pictures for our New Member Spotlight column. Finally, I’d also like to thank Suzanne Thorpe for her support and advice.
The 2007 ALL-SIS Nominations Committee, consisting of Michele Finerty (Gordon D. Schaber Law Library, University of Pacific McGeorge School of Law), Phyllis Marion (California Western School of Law Library), Matt Morrison (Cornell University Law Library), and Richard Humphrey (Ruth Lilly Law Library, Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis), Chair, began its work in the fall of 2006. We began by individually soliciting suggested names for the ALL-SIS officer positions from among our respective co-workers, colleagues, and fellow regional law library association members. In light of our disparate geographic locations, we conducted the bulk of our committee communications by e-mail and telephone.
At the beginning of January 2007, the committee began deliberations regarding the final slate of candidates for the 2007 election. We compared our individual lists and discussed our personal knowledge of potential candidates’ experience and commitment with ALL-SIS and their availability, conflicts, and possible willingness to serve. The final list of potential candidate names was then divided among the committee members for individual contact.
Telephone or e-mail contacts were completed by each committee member and, as some names were withdrawn, additional choices were discussed and added to the list. These additional candidates were contacted and a list was compiled, which included two candidates for each officer position. Those names would be placed on the ballot for the ALL-SIS elections. At the completion of this task, it came to the committee’s attention that, as the position of secretary/treasurer is an every-other-year position, the secretary/treasurer candidates would not be needed for the 2007 election. At the suggestion of the committee and approval by the Executive Board, the candidates were contacted and asked if they would be willing to run in 2008. All candidates accepted.
Upon final revision, the 2007 slate of candidates was submitted to Suzanne Thorpe, ALL-SIS Chair, on January 30, 2007, in accordance with the ALL-SIS Bylaws. The Chair forwarded the slate to the ALL-SIS Executive Committee for consideration prior to broadcasting the slate to the general membership. The slate of candidates was presented to the general membership and the election was concluded. The election results were posted to the ALL-SIS listserv on April 27, 2007.
Thanks to the AALL-SIS Executive Board for their oversight, to the Nominations Committee members for their service and commitment, and to the ALL-SIS general membership for their input and suggestions.
The ALL-SIS Public Relations Committee has publicized ALL-SIS activities throughout the year in AALL Spectrum. In addition, the ALL-SIS Membership brochure has been revised. The Committee also plans to further publicize ALL-SIS during the upcoming AALL Annual Meeting & Conference including the CONELL Marketplace.
After the successful leadership term under the former Chair Stephanie Davidson, two new Co-chairs - Monica Sharum and Marjorie Crawford - took over the helm of the committee. The charge to this committee was as follows:
Last year, the committee held a productive roundtable at the Annual Meeting in Saint Louis. Roundtable CALR vendor participants included Thomson-West, Lexis-Nexis, Hein, BNA and Fastcase. At this forum, the ALL-SIS members had an opportunity to ask questions, which pertained to a variety of topics. For example, the roundtable discussed the need for effective communication between vendors and the librarians, password management problems, training for end users, and issues related to the updating of materials.
The Co-chairs would like to convey their thanks to Stephanie Davidson, Janet R. Hirt, Beth Mobley, and Marilyn K. Nicely for their services on the committee this past year. In conclusion, the next roundtable will be held in New Orleans on Monday, July 16, 2007, 5:15 - 6:00 p.m.The ALL-SIS Statistics Committee has had a very busy year. For much of 2006, we were working with the ABA on the revision of the Annual Questionnaire. Our input, along with that of other groups was all merged into a single proposal. That proposal is posted on the ALL-SIS website at www.aallnet.org/sis/allsis/aba2007/.
The proposal to modify the questionnaire is moving forward within the ABA. Some pieces were adopted this year and other pieces to be phased in at a later date, primarily the elimination of the volume count. The larger ABA committee proposed the elimination of the volume count because law school libraries provide access to a vast number of electronic resources that have no “volume equivalent,” but are not reflected in the statistics. Many academic law librarians feel that volume count remains an important measure of a law library, so that statistic has been retained.
In addition, we conducted a survey on what statistics, both qualitative and quantitative, are desired by academic law librarians. Our goal for the rest of 2007 is to work on the creation of a survey instrument that would run parallel to the ABA’s annual questionnaire without creating duplication or an undue burden on the institutions collecting the information.
ALL-SIS Chair, Suzanne Thorpe, was asked by the AALL Committee on the Economic Status of Law Librarians to have the SIS draft a set of job descriptions to match the academic law library job titles used in the AALL Salary Survey. The Committee will be presenting a program at the AALL annual meeting in New Orleans called, “Who Really Sets Our Salaries? A Discussion Among Decision Makers and Librarians.” As part of the program, the committee will present an appendix to the salary survey that will include job descriptions based on those created by the task force. The task force, made up of Rick Goheen, University of St. Thomas (MN), Ted Potter, University of Iowa, and, Julie Stauffer, University of Chicago, created draft job descriptions that were posted on the ALL-SIS website in February, with a request for comments by members of the SIS. Several SIS members responded with suggestions or questions. The descriptions were edited with comments from the members in mind, and the final drafts were sent to the Committee on March 1. The final drafts are posted at www.aallnet.org/sis/allsis/committees/jobtitles/.
The 2006 - 2007 ALL-SIS website committee included Leah Sandwell-Weiss, University of Arizona; Sara Kelley, Georgetown University; and Diane Murley, Southern Illinois University (Chair). Following last year’s website redesign, New Look and Content on ALL-SIS Website, 25 ALL-SIS Newsletter 34 (Summer 2006), this year the website has grown with the addition of new committee and task force content.
Several ALL-SIS committees and task forces have been adding content to their parts of the ALL-SIS website, including the Collection Development Committee, the Legal Research Committee, the Programs Committee, the Sourcebook for Teaching Legal Research Committee, the Statistics Committee, the Faculty Services Committee, the Awards Committee, the Continuing Status/Tenure Committee, the Strategic Directions Task Force, and the Task Force on Job Titles. See the reports of each committee and task force for details. You can find links to all committee and task force pages at www.aallnet.org/sis/allsis/committees/.
We have continued to add to and update the directory of Academic Law Library Home Pages (www.aallnet.org/sis/allsis/links/libraries.asp). We have also set up web pages for ALL-SIS Information & Events for the 2007 Annual Meeting in New Orleans (www.aallnet.org/sis/allsis/annualmeeting/2007/). As we get closer to the annual meeting, we will continue to add information to those pages. If you have additions or corrections to any of these pages, please contact the website administrator at the email address shown on each page.