Research Instruction & Patron Services

The Research Instruction and Patron Services Special Interest Section (RIPS SIS) of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) was established in 1979. (To read more about the early days of RIPS, see the RIPS History Project, compiled by Karin Johnsrud.)

RIPS was formerly known as the Reader Services SIS. In 1995 The Research Instruction Caucus (RIC), primarily a private law libraries AALL membership group, merged with RIPS. Our mission is to organize programs and provide a forum for discussion on topics such as reference, computer assisted legal research (CALR) instruction, bibliographic instruction, interlibrary loan, circulation and other topics relating to services provided to the patron. RIPS activities include the annual National Legal Research Teach-In and production of the Briefs in Law Librarianship series. To learn more about RIPS-SIS please see About Us.

We are a fun but hardworking group of law librarians focusing on research, instruction, and patron service. Ultimately service is what librarianship is all about. We provide useful information to research professionals and to the public. You can learn a bit about us from some of the following: For the fun side—view our links to Puron (our mascot), to learn more about our future plans, and to learn more about our organization (see our bylaws). We also work in conjunction with other SIS sections to create positive synergies that benefit law librarianship.

To join RIPS-SIS, please submit an application form to AALL Headquarters. If you have questions, please contact one of the current officers for more information.