Sara Sampson is the Head of Reference at Georgetown University Law Library and has served in that role since 2006. As head of reference, she leads a busy reference department and oversees the library’s instructional services. In addition, she currently serves as an adjunct professor at both the Georgetown Law Center and the Catholic University of America’s School of Library and Information Science, as well as an instructor in Georgetown University’s Paralegal Studies Program. At Catholic University, the classes that she has taught or is scheduled to teach include Legal Literature (the introductory legal research class) and Law Librarianship.
Before joining the Georgetown Law Library, Sara was a reference librarian at the Ohio State University Moritz Law Library and taught sections of Legal Research as well as Legal Writing & Analysis. During her time at Ohio State, Sara was part of the Election Law @ Moritz program, which won the 2005 Outstanding Research Award of the Ohio Bar Foundation. Sara also spent three years as the Weekend Reference Librarian at the Capital University School of Law Library.
Sara has published several articles and book reviews related to legal research and election law research. She is currently co-authoring a book on Ohio Legal Research (part of the state-specific legal research texts from Carolina Academic Press) with Kathy Hall.
She received her B.S. and J.D., with honors, from The Ohio State University and her M.L.I.S. from Kent State University. She is a member of the Ohio bar. Before becoming a librarian, Sara clerked at the Ohio Fourth District Court of Appeals.
Sara has been an active member of ALL-SIS since becoming a full-time librarian. She is currently the chair of the Program Committee and has been a member of the committee for two years. She was one of the original members of the Faculty Services Roundtable and co-chaired the Faculty Services Committee. Under the leadership of Sara and her co-chair, Michelle Kristakis, the committee developed a series of online discussions of hot topics in faculty services.
Academic Law Librarians have many roles, but one that we all share is teaching, which takes many forms. We may teach student workers how to check in serials or check out books, help new librarians and staff members learn their jobs, or teach law students how to conduct legal research inside or outside of a classroom. I am deeply honored to be nominated for Secretary of the Academic Law Libraries Special Interest Section. In this capacity, I would like to assist ALL-SIS in continuing its active role in helping law librarians excel in teaching and instruction. I also think it is important for academic law librarians to develop relationships with other groups, such as the Legal Writing Institute, who also share the desire to improve teaching and instruction skills.
