SR-SIS Newsletter

Fall 2009

“The challenge of social justice is to evoke a sense of community that we need to make our nation a better place, just as we make it a safer place.”

-- Marian Wright Edelman

The Standing Committee on Law Library Service to Institution Residents had a productive business meeting at AALL in Washington, D.C. (July 2009). The main focus of the meeting was discussing the updating of the SR-SIS publication, Recommended Collections for Prison and Other Institution Law Libraries and Guidelines for Prison Law Libraries. The state-by-state portion of this resource, which has been cited in several court cases concerning prisoners' lack of access to legal materials, is long overdue for revision as the last edition was issued in 1996.

Members present at the business meeting (Stacy Etheredge, Ann Hemmens, David McFadden, and Kimberli Morris) devised a plan for getting the revision project off and running. The end goal of the plan is to have the state-by-state portion done and posted online by the 2010 AALL Annual Meeting. The Standing Committee will be looking for one volunteer within each state to help in compiling the recommended list of state primary and secondary materials appropriate for a prison or jail law library; if you have expertise in this area and are interested in helping with the revision project, please contact Stacy Etheredge at setheredge@gmail.com.

The Standing Committee helped coordinate the 6th annual Joint Roundtable on Services to Pro Se Patrons & Prisoners with SCCLL-SIS and LISP-SIS. During this session Amy Hale-Janeke led a discussion of library policies for service to prisoners and described a Jail Mail wiki she created where sample documents, submitted by librarians, have been posted. We are exploring whether or not this can be public - look for more information on the SR-SIS website in the future. Marcus Hochstetler led a discussion of the Self Represented Litigation Network and how we can encourage connections with the courts in an effort to serve pro se patrons and Larry Meyer described the outreach opportunities for law libraries at the annual Equal Justice Conference.

Update from Standing Committee on Law Library Service to Institution Residents

Well, actually, Heather Hill Elementary School got your books! Due to the generosity of AALL members, the Eleventh Annual Children’s Book Drive was once again a success. Heather Hill Elementary is located in Bowie, MD (just outside of Washington D.C.), which is the 17th largest school district in the United States and one that is facing many economic challenges. The school received approximately 300 books (100 bought and delivered through the Amazon Wish List, and 200 physically donated at the Annual Meeting drop boxes), $600 in

cash/check donations, and a $1000 donation from the SR-SIS. In this year of budget woes and wallet tightening, this is indeed a tremendous success. The school’s librarian was so thankful and appreciative that she personally accepted delivery of the books (and gave several hugs to the book deliverer), even though she was on summer vacation.

Thanks to everyone involved in making this event a continuing hit and a hallmark of the SR-SIS. For more information on this year’s Book Drive, including a link to the still-active Amazon Wish List, please visit http://www.aallnet.org/sis/srsis/projects.html.

Uncle Sam’s Got Your Books

Holoch Grant Winner

Pamela Brannon, Reference/Electronic Services Librarian at Georgia State University College of Law Library, was the recipient of this year’s Alan Holoch Memorial Grant. The Alan Holoch Memorial Grant is awarded annually by the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues: Embracing the Diversity of Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities. The grant is designed to assist members in attending the Annual Meeting, and it is funded by a generous bequest by Alan Holoch, who died in 1991, having served as treasurer of AALL and as Director of the Ohio State University Law Library. Please join us in congratulating Pam!

Submitted by Meg Butler

Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues Reception

The 2009 annual reception for the Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues: Embracing the Diversity of Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities was held this year at Hotel Helix, in Washington, D.C. Standing Committee member Jeff Berns, Librarian

Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP, identified the venue and coordinated many of the local arrangements. In addition, Jeff encouraged the Hotel Helix to donate a free night’s stay in the hotel—Scott Matheson, Web Manager at Yale University Library, won the door prize. Photos from the event, including a picture of Scott receiving the gift certificate, are available for viewing on the SCLGI Facebook page.

Proceeds from the reception benefited the Alan Holoch Memorial Grant fund, which provides travel and registration grants for SR-SIS members to attend the Annual Meeting. We were able to add about $1100 to the grant fund this year! We would like to thank our sponsors—LexisNexis and Wolters Kluwer—for making this event possible.

Submitted by Meg Butler

Reception and Annual Meeting Photos