Return to the AALL website American Association
of Law Libraries 		Social Responsibilities
Special Interest Section

SR-SIS Newsletter, vol. 11, no. 3 (June 2001)

[Note: This online version of the SR-SIS Newsletter doesn't include the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues Reception Registration form which was in the original]
In This Issue:

Annual Meeting
Book Drive
Chair Column
Pro Bono
Elections
Standing Committee Treasurer's Report
Standing Committee Reception
Standing Committee Corner

Minneapolis Preview

Aside from the SIS business meeting on Sunday June 15 at 5:30 and the standing committee meeting on Monday at 5:15, there are several programs that should be well worth your attendance.

If you are in town on Saturday 7/14, things start off at 1 pm with a Diversity Symposium. The topic is "Effective Communication in a Diverse Society." Last year's symposium was quite inspiring, and I encourage all our SIS members to attend.

B7 "Pornography on the Internet: A New Reality" is coordinated by our own Alison Alifano and will be on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 pm.

C4 "The New Realities of the Human Genome Project" at 2:45 on Sunday will include some discussion on the ethics of the project.

D3 "Capital Punishment: Is a Moratorium the New Reality?" at 4:15 on Sunday promises to be a highly charged program.

F6 "American Indian Law: The New Reality of Native Sovereignty" will include a discussion on contemporary efforts to enhance sovereignty. This program is Monday at 4:15.

G4 "Gender Outlaws: Sex Roles and the Performance of Gender in the Workplace" should get us rolling at 9:00 am Tuesday morning.

J1 "The 'Digital Divide': Examining the Issues" on Wednesday at 8:45 will focus on the haves and have nots of the cyberworld.

J5 "New Realities for E-Democracy: Public Access, National Security and the Freedom of Information Act" will provide stiff competition for the Digital Divide program. Fortunately, we can always listen to the tapes.

Enjoy!

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"Twice As Responsible" Theme for Twin Cities Book Drive

by Carol Billings

For the third time in a row, our Social Responsibilities SIS will solicit children's books from all AALL members attending the Annual Meeting to donate to public elementary schools in our host city. And being equal opportunity philanthropists, we're not forgetting Minneapolis's twin St. Paul. Thus, our theme will be "Twice as Responsible: Books for Twin City Kids." Karen Westwood, of the Minnesota State Law Library, contacted officials in charge of school libraries in both cities, who were delighted to learn of our project. Both administrators declared that all types of high quality children's books, both fiction and non-fiction, would be most welcome.

We will post regular reminders to our fellow AALL members, urging them to join us in bringing along books to Minneapolis or mailing them in advance. Karen Westwood has graciously agreed to receive books by mail at the Minnesota State Law Library, 25 Constitution Ave., St. Paul, MN 55155-6102. Those carrying their books from home will be able to deposit them in cartons that will be prominently displayed at the SR-SIS booth in the exhibit hall Activities Area. Members who choose to order their books from online or other sources that will mail them, may have them sent directly to Karen if they like.

PUT ON THOSE MOUSE EARS AND THINK UP PROGRAMS FOR ORLANDO!

Our new vice chair/chair-elect, Alison Alifano, who has been working very hard on the Minneapolis program "Pornography on the Internet," sponsored by our SIS, has already begun thinking about program proposals for next year's Annual Meeting in in Orlando. Alison will be anxious to hear your ideas while we're in Minneapolis; so come to our business meeting prepared to contribute. A special planning gathering will be announced then as well.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO HOST OUR ACTIVITIES AREA TABLE

Laura Whitbeck and Camille Broussard are heading up the effort to assemble interesting materials for our SR table in the exhibit hall Activities Area. They invite you to contribute historical information, memorabilia, photos, etc. to make our display attractive. We need SR members who would be willing to take a turn for an hour during exhibit time to welcome visitors to our table and to answer their questions about our activities and purpose. Please come to our business meeting prepared to sign up, or call Laura at (202)508-6058 or Camille at (212)431-2354 -- or e-mail them -- to volunteer in advance. Our collection boxes for children's books will be at our table too, which should attract a lot of favorable attention.

You don't have to be a member of this SIS to contribute a proposal. If you think it's an issue or area that this SIS should or could sponsor, send it on in; we'll work with you or try to find someone who's interested in running with it.

The best thing is to have to choose among many fine proposals; the worst thing is for this SIS not to sponsor any program ideas (or for me to be forced to make something up so we don't look bad).

We will discuss more about programs during the SR-SIS business meeting Sunday at 4 pm. We had a great year this year, let’s do it again!

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From the Chair
Final disjointed ramblings....

Can it really be June already? The year has flown by and it seems I've done nothing (well, I did do a few things to my house, but that didn't do much for the SIS)....

First some heartfelt thanks are in order...

Please don't forget...

Business Meeting Agenda (so far)...

Well, that's it from here in Silicon Valley and the West, where the lights are still on, the deer and the antelope will still be playing, and things are looking up (thank-you Senator Jeffords). See you in Minneapolis,

Ellen

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Possible Pro Bono Activities for Law Librarians

by Camille Broussard

  1. Provide free legal research services directly to pro bono projects sponsored by bar associations or legal service organizations.
  2. Advertise and promote the pro bono committee work of local chapters.
  3. Develop referral lists of librarian sponsored pro bono programs for legal service organizations.
  4. Offer training workshops to help improve the research skills of public interest attorneys and law clerks.
  5. Establish direct working relationships with one or more public interest law firms/community legal service providers.
    1. Identify and develop contacts with librarians in various organizations.
    2. Provide access to the attorneys from a specific "partner" organization. Private academic libraries with restricted-access policies can give free or significantly reduced fee access to public interest attorneys.
    3. Volunteer to take administrative cases that do not require a person with a legal degree.
    4. Provide reference assistance to individual attorneys or to the librarians. Chapters should consider establishing "hotline" telephone reference services for either attorneys or public interest librarians.
    5. Work with database vendors to provide free or significantly reduced charges for one's pro bono partner.
    6. Share pocket parts, advance sheets, recently outdated supplementation, equipment or other supplies with non-profit service providers and coordinate the distribution of these items.
  6. Develop subject oriented research guides and bibliographies tailored to the needs of specific public interest organizations.
  7. Share union lists of area serial holdings with public interest groups and allow access to, photocopying services or borrowing of serials unavailable at public libraries.
  8. Provide consultation services to organizations needing assistance in establishing a library.
  9. Seek appointment to the firm's pro bono review committees. By serving on these committees, librarians would be better prepared for information requests on various pro bono projects, and could develop library services which might be useful to the attorneys involved.
  10. Work to make one's library or association web site "pro bono friendly."
  11. Volunteer to serve on boards and committees of various public interest and legal service organizations.

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Alison Alifano Elected Vice Chair

Alison Alifano was elected this Spring as the incoming Vice Chair/Chair Elect for the SIS. She will join the remaining Executive Board members: Carol Billings, Chair; Mark Mackler, Secretary/Treasurer; and Ellen Platt, Past Chair.

As Vice Chair, Alison will chair the Education Committee which will select the programs to be submitted for next year's Annual Meeting in Orlando.

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SR-SIS Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues Treasurer's Report, as of September 30, 2000 (end of FY2000)

(Respectfully submitted, Jim Braden)

Beginning Balance FY99 0.00
Income FY99 (1998/99)
Reception 1999 door receipts (101 @ $10)
Donation (Joseph Hinger)
Donation (Dror Faust, Puvill Libros)

Total Income 		1010.00
20.00
200.00
1,230.00
Expenses FY99 (1998/99)
Office Supplies (July 1999)
Reception 1999 tips

Total Expenses 		8.01
20.00
28.01
Ending Balance FY99 1,201.99

Beginning Balance FY00 1,201.00
Income FY00 (1999/2000)
Donation (Dror Faust, Puvill Libros)
Reception 2000 door receipts

Total Income 		100.00
588.00
688.00
Expenses FY00 (1999/2000)
Newsletter COLLAGE v3n1
Contribution to William Way LGBT Community Center,
Philadelphia

Total Expenses 		95.91
 
100.00
195.91
Ending Balance FY00 1,694.08

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Lesbian and Gay Standing Committee Reception 2001 to Be Held at Walker Art Center

The 2001 Lesbian and Gay Standing Committee Reception will be held in the Walker Art Center, located a short distance from the Minneapolis Convention Center at the corner of Vineland Place and Lyndale Avenue South, next door to the Guthrie Theater. Our reception will be in the Gallery 8 Restaurant, overlooking the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and the downtown skyline, with access to the outdoor terrace. Please thank George Jackson for all of his hard work in obtaining this space and making the arrangements for our reception.

Feel free to invite your friends and colleagues to this reception, to be held from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 17, 2000, as we get reacquainted with old friends and make new ones.

The reception will include stationary buffet style displays of roasted vegetables with garlic artichoke dip, imported cheeses with fruit and crackers, fruit skewers with yogurt dip, poached salmon and dill tartlets, smoked salmon pate, scallop seviche in baked wonton tulip, chocolate dipped fruit, and lemon-almond tartlets (subject to change). A cash bar will also be available.

The reception fee is $10. This year's event is generously sponsored in part by Lexis®-Nexis®, West Group and CCH, Inc. Please be certain to extend a thank you to your local representatives of each of these vendors. A special thank you goes to Scott Burgh for working with West Group and CCH to obtain funding.

The registration form is provided here. Registration forms should be received by Tuesday, July 10, 2001, so that we can provide the caterer with an accurate count. Please register today!

"The Walker Art Center is one of the nation's primary resources for contemporary art. Focusing on the visual, performing, and media arts, the Walker takes a multidisciplinary approach to the creation, presentation, interpretation, collection, and preservation of the arts. It is known for its major exhibitions of 20th-century art, for its presentation of vanguard music, dance, theater, film, and video, and for its innovative education programs. Many of the performers are invited to participate in artist-in-residence activities and are frequently commissioned to create works that premiere in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, a project of the Walker and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, is adjacent to the museum. The Walker's permanent collection of more than 8,000 works represents important artistic currents of the 20th century, in a range of styles from figurative to abstract." (from http://www.walkerart.org/generalinfo/geninfoframe.html. More information on the Walker Art Center can be found on their website at http://www.walkerart.org/jsindex.html.

Directions to the Standing Committee Reception at the Walker Art Center:

The Walker Art Center is located on Vineland Place (just across from Loring Park) where Lyndale and Hennepin Avenues merge. This is about a 10-15 minute walk from most convention hotels or less than 5 minutes by taxicab.

Walking from the Convention Center, exit onto Grant Street and turn left. After walking 4 blocks, Grant will dead end into Loring Park, which makes a lovely place to get away from the convention for a peaceful break between programs and meetings. Walk through the park to Hennepin/Lyndale on the other side or turn left at the dead end and walk two blocks to 15th Street. Turn right on 15th and walk past the park to Hennepin/Lyndale. This canbe an absolutely miserable place to cross the street to the other side, although the brave of heart may choose to do so. For the leisurely and faint of heart, try the pedestrian/bike bridge which crosses over Hennepin/Lyndale and into the end of the Sculpture Garden closest to the Walker. This bridge is, in fact, a piece of the Sculpture Garden -- note the words on the bridge as you cross it. On the map below, the Convention Center would be just to the right of Loring Park.

Before you go to Minneapolis, check out the following websites:

Lavendar Magazine

OutFront Minnesota - "Minnesota's GLBT online community Center"

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Standing Committee Corner

From the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues Chair

Please take a moment now to turn to the information on our reception and register now. We need to be able to give a fairly accurate count to the caterer - and your prompt action now before you forget about this would be very helpful.

I am excited that Jim Braden will be chairing the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues during 2001-2002. Jim has served the Standing Committee for many years as treasurer and most recently as vice-chair/chair elect, and has been a true right hand throughout my time on the committee. He is an excellent leader for us all and is a joy to work with. He is currently seeking others to run for office for the 2001-2002 year. If you are interested in running for vice-chair/chair-elect, secretary, or treasurer, please contact Jim at 404-221-8022 or james.w.braden.jr@us.arthurandersen.com.

Holoch Bequest

Although we now have in place the Alan Holoch Memorial Travel Grant and were poised to award two grants of $500 each this year, we had *no* applicants. Clearly we need to do a better job of promoting this grant to our own membership and to other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered librarians who would like to join the SR-SIS and the Standing Committee. We will begin that effort at the CONELL marketplace and at the SR-SIS activities table at the AALL meeting.

Special thanks to Carol Alpert and her committee for getting the grant established! We finally have a means of using the interest from Alan Holoch's bequest for a good purpose.

Standing Committee Reception

As they have for the past two years, Lexis will again this year be a major sponsor of the Lesbian and Gay Standing Committee Reception. Please personally thank your Lexis-Nexis Librarian Relations Consultants (formerly known as Regional Information Managers or RIMs) when you see them, and be sure to thank Judy Floyd-Evans, the Director of Librarian Relations Group, Marketing Programs, when we get to AALL in Minnesota.

Thanks to Scott Burgh's hard work, West Group and CCH will also be contributing to the reception this year. Please take a moment to thank them for their contributions as well.

See the article elsewhere in the newsletter regarding this year's reception, which will be held at the Walker Art Center. Our sincere thanks goes to George Jackson who found the space and has planned and coordinated the reception for us this year. Don't forget to register!

Annual Meeting

Remember that at our meeting, Monday, July 16th from 5:15 to 6:15 (the day after the SR-SIS meeting), we will discuss whether we should 1) expand our current mission to include "bisexual" and "transgendered," 2) change our name to include "bisexual" and "transgendered," and 3) remain as we are. If you will be unable to attend AALL this year, please feel free to talk to me on this issue, and I will bring your opinions to the meeting for discussion.

I am in the process of putting together the meeting agenda. If you have any items of business that you would like placed on the agenda for discussion, please contact me. Additionally, if you have ideas for programs for the 2002 meeting, please bring them to the meeting or share them with Jim Braden.

Serving the Standing Committee has been an honor and I thank you for the opportunity to do so. I'd also like to thank Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect Jim Braden, Treasurer Jeff Berns, and Secretary Mary Burgos for their hard work this year.

Please join me in thanking Prano Amjadi for her many years as editor of the SR-SIS newsletter. Her patience, perseverance, and talent have provided us with a valuable communications link. The title "editor" really doesn't begin to explain the amount of work that she has done for us. She has gotten us to submit material (an overwhelming task in itself), and then has done the editing, layout, production, and distribution, each a huge task in itself. Thank you, Prano!

Looking forward to seeing you all in Minnesota!

Laura A. Whitbeck
Chair, Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues
Bryan Cave LLP
202-508-6058
lawhitbeck@bryancave.com

Comments to: Rebecca Alexander
Last updated June 20, 2001