Cornell Law School is establishing a Center for Documentation on American Law at the French Supreme Court in Paris (Cour de cassation). Cornell Law Library is shipping 13,000 volumes to the French Court, and offering electronic research assistance. The Center will be dedicated before an audience of the world’s leading jurists at a ground breaking international judicial conference set to take place in Paris July 17, 2007, which will include U.S. Chief Justice Roberts, Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, and Kennedy, as well as most Chief Justices of the European Union countries. Lord Phillips, Chief Justice of England and Wales, is chairing the Conference. You can see more information at: www.lawschool.cornell.edu/newsstory.cfm?pageid=56366.
Drake University Law School is the new home of the archives for the National Bar Association (NBA). The NBA was founded in Des Moines in 1925 by a group of twelve African-American lawyers as the Negro Bar Association. At the time, the American Bar Association did not accept African-American lawyers as members. Today NBA membership includes some 40,000 judges, lawyers, educators, and law students. The formal transfer of the archives from the Des Moines Public Library and the dedication of the newly constructed facility were marked in a series of events on February 1 as Black History Month began. For more details on the archives dedication and events of that day, and to access podcasts, go to www.law.drake.edu/calendarNews/newsDetails.aspx?eventID=nbaArchives.
Congratulations to ALL-SIS members Georgia Briscoe and Barbara Bintliff, whose article, “The Ethics of Record Sharing,” was recently named the 2006 “Spectrum Article of the Year.” This article had it’s genesis from the OBS-SIS sponsored program “Nabbing vs. Sharing: Z39.50 and the Ethics of Directly Importing MARC Records” presented at the 2005 AALL Annual Meeting in San Antonio. The AALL Spectrum Article of the Year Award honors outstanding achievement in writing an article that contributes to topics relating to librarianship, law librarianship, and practical applications for library work.
Nancy Strohmeyer, Associate Director & Head of Public Services at Barry University Law Library in Orlando, was extremely pleased to discover that she passed the Florida Bar Exam taken in February. She still is not absolutely certain she believes it, in fact. Nancy is longer out of law school than she cares to admit, so it was quite difficult getting back into a study mode in order to prepare for the exam. However, the result was worth the effort, mostly. Nancy attributes much of this successful testing to the support and patience of her colleagues in the Law Library who were always there to talk her down off the ledges, and she promises that her mental capacity will return soon.
Barbara H. Brandon, the Faculty Services Librarian at the University of Miami School of Law has been appointed to the American Bar Association’s Committee on the Status and Future of Federal E-Rulemaking under the auspices of the Administrative Law Section. This committee of scholars on regulation, information science, and public administration; experts in technology and informatics; regulatory practitioners, distinguished representatives of business and public interest groups, and current and former government officials will examine and issue a comprehensive report on the status of the federal government’s e-rulemaking and e-docket project. The report will contain recommendations to Congress and the President for both immediate and longer term actions.
Nancy Johnson, Georgia State University, was awarded the Service To SEAALL Award at the last SEAALL meeting (April 13, 2007). To find out more please read the article in the current issue of the “Southeastern Law Librarian,” by Rhea Ballard-Thrower and Lisa Smith-Butler, which details Nancy’s professional activities and career, which is available at www.aallnet.org/chapter/seaall/newsletter_archives/seaallv32n2.pdf, on page 17.
Diane Murley has accepted the position of Web Services Coordinator/Reference Librarian at the Ross-Blakley Law Library, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University.
Sue Altmeyer will take over the newly created position of Electronic Services/Reference Librarian at Cleveland-Marshall. Sue is Reference & Research Librarian at the Cleveland Law Library Association where she has worked since 2001. She also served as a Law Clerk for the Ohio 8th District Court of Appeals (Judges Nahra & Dyke) from 1993 - 2001, and as a Law Clerk in the Cuyahoga Court of Common Pleas (Judges Strickland Saffold & Cleary) in 1997. She also was an attorney for the firm of Hastings & Kerka in 1992. Sue holds her MLS from Kent State University, her JD Summa Cum Laude from Cleveland-Marshall, where she also was a member of the Law Review, and her BS Summa Cum Laude from Ohio State University. Sue will join the staff at Cleveland-Marshall on May 29, 2007.
At Cleveland-Marshall, Amy Burchfield will become the Access and Faculty Services Librarian. Amy previously was at the Georgetown University Law Center Library where she served as International & Foreign Law Reference Librarian since 2004. Prior to serving at Georgetown she was a Reference Librarian at the Ohio State University Law Library from 2002 - 2004. Amy holds an MLS from Kent State University, a JD from Ohio State, an MA in German from Kent State, and a BA from Juniata College (PA). She is fluent in several foreign languages. She will join the staff at Cleveland-Marshall on July 2, 2007.
Kevin Garewal will become the Collection Development/Acquisitions Librarian at Cleveland-Marshall. He is currently an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for the Cuyahoga County Department of Children & Family Services. He formerly served as an Adult Services Librarian at the Cleveland Heights Public Library from 1998 - 2002, as well as a Librarian at the Cuyahoga County Public Library from 1998-1999. Kevin holds his JD from Cleveland-Marshall, his MLS from Kent State, and a BA from Baldwin-Wallace. Like Sue, Kevin will join the staff of Cleveland-Marshall on May 29, 2007.
The Alexander Campbell King Law Library at the University of Georgia announces four promotions: Carol Watson to Librarian IV; and Maureen Cahill, Elizabeth Holmes, and Wendy Moore to Librarian III. Elizabeth Holmes, Cataloging Services Librarian, is leaving at the end of May to move to Rhode Island, where her husband Jim has been named to a professorship in the Naval War College. A search for her successor is underway.
Mia Sefarbi, Associate Law Librarian for Collection Development at Marquette Law Library, has taken a position as Staff Attorney at the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and will be leaving Marquette May 25. Julie Norton, currently Clerk for Wisconsin Court of Appeals, will be assuming a position as Reference/Instructional Services Law Librarian at Marquette Law Library on July 1. Leslie Behroozi, currently Branch Librarian for the Dane County Legal Resource Center, will assume a position as Reference/Instructional Services Law Librarian at Marquette Law Library on June 13.
Anne Klinefelter has been announced as the new Director of the Law Library and Associate Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Currently the Interim Director and Associate Director of the Law Library and Clinical Professor of Law at UNC, Anne is expected to move into the new position mid summer. Two new reference librarians are joining the staff at UNC-CH. These librarians fill vacancies created last fall when Teresa Stanton moved to Berkeley as Reference Librarian for Foreign and Comparative Law and Megan Garton left to become Evening Reference Librarian/Instruction Coordinator at Tulane. Nikki Perry is joining UNC as Reference/Electronic Resources Librarian. In addition to providing reference services, faculty liaison services, and teaching Advanced Legal Research, Nikki will evaluate electronic research tools and coordinate instruction in using those tools. She will also have primary responsibility for the content of the Law Library website. Nikki comes from North Carolina Central Law Library where she has been Reference Instructional Librarian since January of 2005. Nikki taught Legal Bibliography for five years and Advanced Legal Writing for three years at NCCU School of Law and served as the school’s Director of Academic Support for over ten years. Julie Kimbrough joins UNC as Reference/Faculty Services Librarian and will manage the library’s Faculty Research Service in addition to providing reference services, faculty liaison services, and participating in the teaching of Advanced Legal Research. Julie comes to UNC from the Law Library of Congress where she has been a Legal Reference Specialist since June of 2004. Julie managed the Law Library of Congress government documents collection and has experience developing and managing a documents digitization project. Julie is a familiar face in the UNC Law Library since she served as the library’s graduate assistant during 2003 - 2004. Upon Julie’s arrival, Jim Sherwood will begin to shift his focus from managing the Faculty Research Service to develop an expertise in foreign and international law and legal research, taking on the role of Reference/Foreign and International Law Librarian.
Duncan Alford joined the faculty at the University of South Carolina School of Law in April 2007 as Associate Dean for the Library and Associate Professor of Law. Prior to joining the faculty at USC, Professor Alford served as the Associate Dean for Library and Information Services and Associate Professor of Law on the inaugural faculty of the Charlotte School of Law, in Charlotte, NC. Previously, Professor Alford was the Head of Reference and Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Library, Washington, D.C. He also served as the Law Librarian at Princeton University, and a Reference Librarian at the Columbia University Law Library in New York City.
John A. Smith has joined the library faculty at the Pence Law Library, Washington College of Law, American University, as Access Services Librarian. Smith graduated from Catholic University School of Library and Information Science in 2006. John was formerly the Serials and Technical Systems Coordinator at the Pence Law Library. Ripple L. Weistling has also joined the library faculty of the Pence Law Library as Reference and Electronic Services Librarian. Weistling graduated from Catholic University School of Library and Information Science in May 2007 and formerly worked as an attorney specializing in environmental law.
Hyla Bondareff, currently Research Services Librarian and Lecturer in Law at Washington University Law Library, will be filling the newly created position of Electronic Resources Librarian (and maintaining her Lecturer in Law appointment) effective July 1. In addition to her teaching and reference duties, Hyla will manage and promote the use of the library’s digital information resources. The creation of the Electronic Resources Librarian position will allow Aris Woodham, Director of Web Services and Lecturer in Law, to devote all of her time to teaching and overseeing the School of Law’s web operations.
Claire M. Germain, Cornell University School of Law, has posted an article, “Legal Information Management in a Global and Digital Age: Revolution and Tradition,” on the Legal Scholarship Network. It is her take on where our profession is, and possible future directions. It is available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=983197.
Travis McDade, Rare Book and Reference Librarian at the University of Illinois College of Law in Urbana-Champaign, recently authored, The Book Thief: The True Crimes of Daniel Spiegelman (Praeger, 2006), ISBN 0275993310. This unique nonfiction whodunit tells the story of a landmark case involving the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the cultural value of books, and the associated million dollar theft from Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscripts Library [United States v. Spiegelman, 4 F. Supp. 2d 275 (S.D.N.Y. 1998)].