Welcome Baby Sofie!

Congratulations to Anthony and Rosie Ikwueme on the birth of their daughter, Sofie Chnwendum, who arrived on Aug. 11, 2013, at 5:02 pm. Sofie weighed in at 8 lb. and was 21 inches long. Both mother and baby are doing well, and we wish them all the best.

Alexis Fetzer

Alexis is the new reference and research services librarian in the Muse Law Library at the University of Richmond School of Law.

She was born in Lake Charles, LA, and  earned her B.A. in History from Louisiana State University in 2008. She remained at LSU for her J.D. (2011) and M.L.I.S. (2013), during which time she also served as Law Library Fellow to the Paul M. Hebert Law Library. An inactive member of the Louisiana Bar, Alexis has a background in civil law.

Her hobbies include long distance running and snow skiing. Her favorite skiing trip so far was to Whistler, Canada in January.

"Whistler Mountain along with the adjoining Blackcomb Mountain together make up the largest ski area in North America. Aside from one very epic spill I took on black diamond run, it was quite possibly the best skiing I have ever experienced," Alexis said.

The most recent race Alexis trained for was the New Orleans Crescent City Classic 10k where she set a personal best of 39 minutes 58 seconds (6'26" per mile). She is currently training for Richmond's Anthem Marathon in November.

We wish Alexis the best and we hope to see her at a VALL meeting.

Andrew Winston

Andrew is the research and instructional services librarian in the Muse Law Library at the University of Richmond School of Law.

He also teaches legal research in the first-year program and has developed a course on innovative technologies in law practice that he taught for the first time in the spring of 2013.

Prior to joining Muse law library, Andrew served as a law librarian in the American Law Division of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) through CRS’ Graduate Recruit Program. Before obtaining his library science degree, he practiced corporate and securities law with LeClairRyan in Richmond, Virginia, and Cahill Gordon & Reindel in New York, New York.

Andrew obtained his master’s in library and information science from Drexel University, and his law and undergraduate degrees at the University of Virginia.

When not working, Andrew enjoys hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reading mystery novels and ancient Greek and Roman history, and traveling.

Mei Kiu Lo

Welcome to Mei Kiu Lo who is the new catalog/systems librarian at the University of Richmond Law Library!

Before moving to UofR, Mei Kiu had been the state and federal publications cataloger at the Library of Virginia.

She has a B.S. in China Studies from Hong Kong Baptist University, an MLS from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and an advance information and library science degree from UNC-CH.

Mei Kiu loves traveling and has been all over the US. Her favorite city is Portland, Oregon, and her favorite National Park is Bryce Canyon. She hopes to someday visit Australia.

We hope to meet her at a VALL meeting!

Congratulations to Tim Coggins!

Timothy L. Coggins, Associate Dean for Library and Information Services & Professor of Law at the University of Richmond School of Law Library received the Oakley Award at AALL's Annual Meeting in Seattle, WA, on July 14.

Tim has played a significant role in AALL’s government relations program since its inception and has been an outstanding advocate for the AALL policy agenda through a number of leadership roles. Tim served as chair of the Government Relations Committee (1991-92 and 2005-2006); chair of a special Task Force on Government Relations Activities (1993-94); co-chair of the AALL Working Group on information Technology and Implementation (1996-1998); chair of the Access to Electronic Information Committee (2006-07); chair of the Electronic Legal Information Access & Citation Committee (2010-11); member of the Washington Affairs Office Review Special Committee (2008-09); and is currently a member of the Government Policy Advisory Group (2011-2013). Tim’s service helped to establish a major role for AALL and its members as information experts on government use of technology for authentic and accessible public information.

Former VALLer Merrill Chertok presentation

L-R: Patty Petroccione, Merrill Chertok and Donna Bausch, just before Merrill's presentation, "Build It and They Will Come: Creating an E-Reader Device Display in Your Library." Thanks to Donna for the picture.



AALL in Seattle 2013

The weather for the 106th annual meeting was perfect -- sunny and cool! It seemed a bit ironic that the rain fatigued folks from the east coast had to find sunshine on the west coast ... but no one was complaining! And some were even heard to remark that this was the best AALL weather they've had in a very long time.

The weather was perfect, the beauty of Seattle was at its best and the programs I attended met and even exceeded my expectations (with the exception of one that fell flat on its face). All in all, a very good meeting.

The grand old man, Mt. Rainier, is almost visible ... peeping through the mists.

Here is another view of Mt. Rainier from the water.

An iconic symbol of Seattle ... the Space Needle ... as seen from the water.

Cathy Lemann and Terry Long found Gelatiamo (photo from Terry Long)

Yes, I found the Gelato shop too ... delicious scoop of mango and strawberry gelato.

 

But no place was as popular as the Wild Ginger for law librarian foodies. Here's a Malaysian laksa dish ... ok it was pretty good but still nothing like the original.

The coconut ice cream at the Wild Ginger was seriously good ... no doubt about it!

We did come for the conference and here is AALL President, Jean Wenger, at the Opening General Session bright and early on Sunday, July 14, 2013.

Chief Justice Barbara Madsen of the Washington State Supreme Court welcomed AALL to Seattle and spoke briefly about how the Seattle community rallied around and saved the King County law library from being closed.
 

Keynote speaker Dr. David Weinberger from the Harvard Library Innovation Lab talked about libraries as platforms and how they are under-represented on the web.

VALL President Amy Wharton at the VALL luncheon on Monday, July 15. The fall meeting will be at Washington & Lee in Lexington, and the spring meeting will be at South University in Glen Allen. Information will be coming soon!
 

Cathy Palombi and Victoria Kahn having a discussion at the VALL luncheon.

New VALL member Jennifer Gonzalez, and Anthony Brown Ikwueme deciding on what to order for lunch.

Patty Petroccione

Donna Bausch, Rae Ellen Best, Jim Heller ... choices, choices and in the end the most popular dish was the salmon burger.

Joyce Manna Janto at the VALL table in the exhibit hall.
 

My favorite program -- Finding the Veronica Mars Within: Using Social Media for Investigatice Purposes in Legal Practice. Years ago when I was writing about how to find people, I knew this day would come -- that we would someday be using social media to locate people.

The Marian Gould Gallagher Distinguished Service Award recipient, Carolyn P. Ahern

The Marian Gould Gallagher Distinguished Service Award recipient, Judy Meadows.
 

The changing of the guard, incoming AALL President Steve Anderson and outgoing president Jean Wenger.

AALL President Steve Anderson. On to San Antonio in 2014!