CONELL: Class of 2019 - A Reflection

by Kelsey Cox

As a new law librarian (just shy of six months), I was very eager to attend my first AALL Conference and participate in the Conference of Newer Librarians (“CONELL”).  My mentors had described CONELL as a fun, engaging, and rewarding experience where lifelong bonds would be formed. With such high regards and a reputation that preceded itself, I was curious if my CONELL experience would live up to this portrayal. And …IT DID!

My CONELL experience began on Friday July 12^th when I participated in the “Dine Around Dinners” at Busboys and Poets—a vibrant restaurant (with a bookstore!). Besides the amazing food, this was a great opportunity to meet other law librarians and to get advice from two experienced AALL members. Tips for the upcoming conference included:  

·         Session Etiquette: Choose sessions that interested you. Don’t feel obligated to go to every session. Leave sessions that you are not enjoying.

·         The Importance of Networking—Meet everyone and make connections, as this could lead to new opportunities (e.g. collaborative work, hearing about new jobs).

·         Balance & Self Care—Pace yourself. Take to time to rest and clear your head in between sessions.

·         Remain Professional­—Avoid gossiping at social events. You never know who knows who.

Photo Curtesy of: BusboysandPoets.com

The connections I made at this dinner were valuable ones and would provide familiar faces to chat with the next day at the main CONELL event. 

With these tips and a thick stack of business cards, I made my way to Salon H of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center early Saturday morning.  After a brief breakfast and a warm welcome by the CONELL committee chair, Femi Cadmus (president of AALL) offered us some words of encouragement. She noted that the law library world is a collaborative profession and that we can grow individually through learning and sharing our experiences with others. “To Thrive, To Grow, To Network” were all themes she emphasized. Femi encouraged the CONELL Class of 2019 to get involved in AALL (e.g. volunteering on committees) and to push ourselves outside of our comfort zones. I appreciated her thoughts on being fearless with our career choices and always seeking to discover the “new you”. It’s important to continually grow and evolve and Femi suggested embracing change, rather than fearing it.  

After her message, we were able to meet AALL’s Executive Board through a question and answer session. A few points of interest were:

1.       Network Outside Of Your Profession:  Meet people with different ideas and ways of thinking. Develop your own knowledge and skill set. Cultivate expertise. Emphasize what you bring to the table. Attend programs outside of your practice area. Never think that you cannot do something.

2.       Get Involved: Whether that be with special interest sections, committees, or chapters. Start small. Get your feet wet. You don’t have to be an expert to join, other members will help you.

3.       Have Mentors: Have people to look up to and guide you. Choose people outside of your institution.

4.       Imposter Syndrome:  Everyone feels this at some point. It is normal. We are always learning. Focus on the positives of who you are, what you bring to your job, and your successes. Take the pressure off of yourself to be perfect. 

Photo Courtesy Of: AALL Twitter

After listening to these speakers’ encouraging messages, the CONELL Class of 2019 was divided into two groups to 1) attend the Marketplace and 2) to participate in Speed Networking.  I was first ushered into the Marketplace where 53 AALL groups (e.g. interest sections, committees, working groups) were set up around the perimeter of the space to eagerly recruit new members. There was a plethora of free swag including candy, chapstick, mini flashlights, pens, gavel pencils, penguin keychains etc. Business cards were flying as CONELL members entered prize raffles…which paid off for me as I won the book, Real World Mindfulness for Beginners by Sharon Salzberg, from the Mindfulness in Law Librarianship Caucus.

  

Soon after the Marketplace, I went to Room 103a for Speed Networking. This was one of my favorite parts of CONELL. With two rows of chairs facing each other, we had three minutes to get to know our fellow law librarians. We were given a list of questions as talking points, which included:  What advice would we give to our younger self? Why did we choose to become a law librarian? If we could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? This was a fun (and loud) experience to network in a casual, informal setting. 

After lunch and a brief break, CONELL concluded with a bus tour of Washington D.C. Our tour guide was informative and entertaining, constantly asking us trivia questions and providing us with tidbits of history.  The highlights included seeing the Capital Building, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument (pictured below). 

Overall, I had a wonderful and memorable experience; it was the perfect way to start the AALL conference.  I am truly grateful to have been part of the CONELL Class of 2019!

Happy Retirement to Jim Heller!

submitted by Linda Tesar, 

Interim Director/Head of Technical Services & Special Collections

Long-time VALL member Jim Heller officially retired on June 25, 2019 after more than 30 years as library director and professor of law at William & Mary Law School.

Jim at a retirement luncheon with his staff, looking through a scrapbook put together by staff - a law library tradition.

After earning his J.D. at the University of San Diego and his M.L.S. at U.C. Berkeley, Jim began his career as associate law librarian, head of reader services at the Jacob Burns Law Library, George Washington University National Law Center. He followed that position with short stints as director of the Dept. of Justice, Civil Division Library and director of the University of Idaho Law Library before moving to William & Mary in 1988.

Never one to sit on the sidelines, Jim built an enviable resume of organizational participation at every level of law librarianship. He served as president of VALL (1994/1995), SEAALL (1996/1997) and AALL (1998/1999), as well as chair of the Northwest Consortium of Law Libraries (1987/1988). He also participated in at least 20 different committees in those four organizations, leading as chair 18 times, including four times as chair of the AALL Copyright Committee.

Jim was equally prolific as a writer and speaker. At AALL meetings, Jim made 11 presentations over the years and coordinated or moderated 10 times. He spoke 12 times at SEAALL conferences and six times at VALL. He also presented more than 60 times at a variety of conferences and events including the meetings of the American Library Association, the British and Irish Association of Law Libraries, the Canadian Association of Law Libraries, the Medical Library Association, and the Virginia Library Association. 

Jim complemented this long list of speaking engagements with a list of publications nearly as long. In the course of his career, he published three books – including two editions of The Librarian’s Copyright Companion – three book chapters, 24 articles and more than 40 book reviews.

Even with all of this activity, Jim saved his best for William & Mary. Under his leadership, the law library consistently ranked as the best law school department in student surveys. From 2003 to 2007 Jim created one of the most popular spaces in the law school when he served as project manager and driving force behind the library’s renovation and addition. Throughout his tenure, he oversaw multiple initiatives to improve library services and strengthen the reputation of William & Mary Law School.

Jim’s legacy of innovations expanded beyond traditional library walls to include teaching (Legal Research, Law & Public Policy and Law & Literature), leading an early adoption of an institutional repository, the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository, and recreating George Wythe’s library and developing its companion piece, Wythepedia. Shortly before he retired, Jim spearheaded the development of a timeline display of the law school’s history (now hanging in the library) and the launch of its digital twin.

Jim enters retirement joyfully planning attendance at blues festivals and travels with his wife, Janet, who retired from her position as assistant library director of Williamsburg Regional Library on June 28^th.

VALL members have a couple of opportunities to see Jim and wish him well in his retirement. Jim and his band, Winslow Ridge, will be playing at Cogan’s Deli & Sports Pub in Williamsburg on July 12^th. For those of you attending this year’s conference in D.C., the band will also be playing at Madam’s Organ in Adam’s Morgan on Saturday, July 13^th,  from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. And on Tuesday, July 16^th, at the Association Luncheon, Jim will be awarded the highest honor AALL can bestow, the Marion Gould Gallagher Distinguished Service Award.

In a W&M law school tradition, Jim leaves his last class to applause from students, faculty and staff

Cheers to Jim! Best wishes for a very long and very happy retirement!

President's Message: Farewell

Hello VALL members,

My term as President seemed to fly by.  I wanted to take the opportunity to share with you some of the highlights from our recent Spring Meeting, and to express some well-deserved VALL gratitude.

Spring Meeting

The meeting was held at the offices of Hunton Andrews Kurth in Richmond on May 3, 2019.  This proved to be an excellent venue for our association to meet, as it allowed us to take advantage of the firm’s conference facilities on the twentieth floor, with its sweeping views of the city and the river.  Doug Granger, the managing partner of Hunton’s Richmond office, opened our day with a warm welcome. 

The first educational session at the meeting was A Leopard CAN Change its Spots, co-presented by Suzanne Corriell and Megan Scanlon.  This was an interactive experience, in which the members in attendance worked together in groups to tackle one of our biggest challenges:  how we can guide users to newer technologies, resources, and work processes.  After working collaboratively on selected issues in our groups, we reconvened, and a spokesperson for each group presented the proposed strategies the group had developed for its assigned topics.  These topics included:

·         “Ol’ Faithful” – How do we help veteran patrons move beyond their familiar resources?

·         “The Paperless Office” – How does the law library help implement a management directive to go paperless by 2025?

·         “Partner in Crime” – How do we leverage vendor relationships to ensure adequate training on library resources?

·         “Better Balance” – How do we encourage newer attorneys to use current versions of codes available in research databases?

·         “The Missing Pieces” – How do we help users get more out of resources that they believe they “already know”?

·         “Win or Lose” – How can we enable users and colleagues who reflexively say no to new ideas to explore more positive approaches?

To capture the knowledge created and shared, Megan and Suzanne compiled a summary of the strategies devised by the small groups on all of these topics, which Chris Vassey circulated afterward.

For our next educational program, Scott Kimpel, a partner in Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Washington, D.C. office, provided a briefing entitled How Blockchain Technology is Revolutionizing Business and the Law.  Scott explained that blockchain is a type of ledger, but a distributed, decentralized one.  He described Bitcoin, one of the most well-known blockchain applications, and provided other examples of how blockchain technology can be used for supply chain management, home equity loans, and tracking insurance policies and claims.  Scott provided an overview of the emerging body of federal and state laws and regulationsregulations on blockchain.  Federal agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodities and Futures Trading Commission, and Federal Trade Commission, as well as state regulators like the New York Department of Financial Services, have all taken an interest in cryptocurrencies that use blockchain.  Some states, such as Wyoming, are modifying their laws to enable the use of blockchain technology for digital business.  He also recommended resources for researching and staying current on blockchain regulation.

Our last educational session was Build Your Brand with Social Media, presented by Sameena Kluck, Vice President of Business Development at Paladin.  She gave an excellent course on personal branding using social media.  She provided a wealth of advice on how to get the most out of LinkedIn.  She recommended, among other things, not writing your LinkedIn bio as if it were a resume.  Instead, think about what elements of your experience you want to highlight and convey to the reader of your LinkedIn page.  Sameena also shared her insights on how to be an effective Twitter user and how to tweet in a way that is professional and also congruent with your personality.

At our business meeting, I was delighted to welcome our new President, Chris Vassey, our new Treasurer, Alexis Sharp, and our new Director, Anna Price.  Continuing in their leadership roles are Secretary Megan Scanlon and Director Liz Schiller.  We also received reports from outgoing Treasurer David Knight and from committee chairs.  Additionally, the members voted to award Terry Long a Lifetime Membership in VALL in light of her retirement after years of dedicated service to VALL and to our profession.

Jane Harrison, Frosty Owen, and Alexis Sharp led tours of The Library, the library space in Hunton’s Richmond office that has been repurposed into a dynamic location for collaborative work, as well as a place for gathering with colleagues.  This was an opportunity that many of those in attendance had been looking forward to since VALL’s 2018 Fall meeting, at which Alexis previewed the renovated space.

Our 2019 Spring Meeting built on the themes of innovation and building a personal brand and offered the usual opportunities to reconnect with VALL members from across the state.  It was a great success, and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at VALL’s 2019 Fall Meeting—and at the AALL Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. in just a few weeks!

Thank You

Now that my term as President has finished, I would like to take a moment to thank the members of VALL for being committed to our chapter.  It was great seeing those who could make it to the Fall and Spring Meetings.  I am grateful for your enthusiasm and participation at our meetings, on committees, and in the countless ways you make VALL a unique organization.

To my fellow Executive Board members – thank you for your diligent work and support over this past year.  I am especially grateful to past Presidents Lara Dresser and Patty Petroccione for their advice and guidance—it was invaluable.

I am excited about the coming year and I know that with Chris’ leadership VALL will continue to shine.  I look forward to seeing what the future holds for us!

Andrew