An Interview with Janis Johnston

Janis Johnston has had a remarkable career in law librarianship – in a municipal law library, in academic law libraries as a serials librarian, as the head of a technical services department, an associate director, and now director of the Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Memorial Law Library at the University of Illinois. She has also had a remarkable career within AALL, most recently as treasurer of the association and now as its Vice President/President Elect. But her roots are in technical services. She is a past chair of the TS-SIS and has coordinated workshops, participated in an array of educational programs, and has written articles for our enlightenment. She has helped to steer us along in the troublesome and changing ways of our work. Last year the TS-SIS recognized Janis's contributions by naming her the recipient of the Renee Chapman Award. As she is about to begin her year as President of AALL, I took the opportunity to ask her a few questions. – ed.

1. You became a director of an academic law library after beginning your career in Technical Services. Do you think your T.S. background has given you an advantage as a director?

Absolutely! Technical services is where you develop financial and personnel management skills. Most public services positions don't entail much budgetary responsibility nor extensive personnel management, but every director has to know how to do those things. I think it is a lot easier to become a director or associate director with technical services experience behind you than having to learn those things on the job.

Every director does have to understand reference, circulation and collection development as well, but those management skills developed in technical services really make a difference.

2. You were Treasurer of AALL for three years, and now you are Vice President/President Elect – based on that experience, what would you say is the place of Technical Services in the law library community?

Technical services is recognized as an integral part of law librarianship. When TS-SIS and OB-SIS speak, the Executive Board listens. It listens because these [...continued]