Reinventing the New Classroom -- Lessons from San Antonio

by Alexis Fetzer

 

I was fortunate enough to travel to San Antonio and attend the 2014 AALL Conference with the help of a generous grant received from VALL. My anticipation in attending was fueled all the more after a long battle with flight delays. Finally arriving, I was eager to attend my first session, Sunday afternoon’s Deep Dive : “Inventing the New Classroom.” 
 

Speakers included Debra Denslaw and Jesse Bowman of Valparaiso University, Jennifer Mart-Rice of Northern Kentucky University, and Susan Boland of the University of Cincinnati. The title “Inventing the New Classroom” initially led me to believe we would be focusing on the popular trend of flipping legal research classrooms. My suspicion was confirmed when the first speaker requested we text or tweet in answers to a live polling survey determining who among us had ever flipped their classroom. Results revealed that most of us had not.  However, a further discussion of what it meant to really flip a classroom caused some of us to begin rethinking our answers.  

 

Going into the session, I associated a “flipped classroom” with creating video lectures to be watched by students outside of class and using class time to work on practical application. My definition was really only partially correct. A flipped classroom is based on the idea that foundational knowledge comes before the classroom, using actual class time to apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. Using video lectures is one conceptual design of a flipped classroom, but it is not the only one. Assigning material to be read before class could in theory accomplish the same goal. We were reminded that a video lecture is still a lecture. If lecturing is not the most effective means of teaching a topic, merely changing the format of that lecture will not change that.   

 

In addition to discussing the concept of a flipped classroom we learned about utilizing social media tools in the classroom. There are currently over 200 social media tools at our disposal and the number is continually growing. This was a topic I was very excited to hear about. While I love the idea of using social media in the classroom, I have struggled to come up with practical ways of doing so. I would hate to use social media simply for the sake of using it without having any real impact on instruction. In other words, I don’t want my students to think I’m trying too hard to be hip and cool.  
 

We were given several examples of appropriate social media tools depending upon your teaching methods. If you are lecturing, consider using Google Hangouts, Twitter hashtags, or YouTube videos. If you are employing collaborative learning methods, consider Google Hangouts or YouTube videos. Using screen sharing with Google Hangouts was offered as an example for this purpose. If you are composing a worksheet or memo, perhaps use blogs or wikis. For a pathfinder, consider having students create YouTube videos, websites, blogs, wikis, or even Pinterest boards pointing to their sources. One of my favorite ideas came from a librarian in the audience who had her students write blogposts and then create corresponding tags to help other people find their work.  

 

While using social media is a creative way to engage students, it should be noted that its use does raise some privacy and boundary issues. For example, you may not want to begin receiving Facebook friend requests from your students. As an instructor, you should be aware of these sorts of issues when choosing an appropriate social media tool for your course and students. It does, however, provide a great opportunity to discuss appropriate web presence among students.  

I found this session to be one of the most informative and motivating sessions I attended at this year’s AALL Conference. I am eager to begin teaching this fall and try out some of the ideas I picked up. Again, thank you to VALL for the generous grant that made my attendance this year possible. 



Beyond Boundaries in San Antonio

by Charlie Nelson

 

The San Antonio conference was my second at AALL -- I also attended the Seattle event in 2013. Last year I was a wide-eyed newbie who thought I had to attend every possible program, fill my days, and justifying the expense of my trip.

 

I learned a few things for sure, rubbed shoulders with major vendors that I'd only conversed with over the phone and via email, sat through some interesting and some not so interesting programs, and managed to come back  with a few ideas to apply to my position.  As the librarian at a private firm which manages itself in practice groups, the biggest tip I learned in Seattle was to look for assistance in understanding the value of resources that we purchase. At my suggestion, we assigned an attorney in each group to fully consider the resource expenses assigned to each group, and have them review for redundancy and waste. The. Plan. Worked. Well. 

 

We circulated lists (resources and prices), identified those that we supplemented because we "always had" -- resources that we realized no one used anymore, and most importantly (and not surprisingly) those that no one could justify based on the expense. No one had a clue about individual expenses until then, and this was quite an eye-opener for most. A fresh and thorough examination allowed us to eliminate more than expected, to get better resources into the hands of the attorneys, and still lower the overall budget by 30%. Its an exercise we plan to repeat every so often, and one that I highly recommend.

 

 

Needless to say, getting approval for the San Antonio conference was a cakewalk. 

 

So in traveling to San Antonio, I was looking for that nugget of knowledge that could match last years. Turns out things ended up a bit differently than I expected. Besides the weather (MAJOR difference), this time I was more relaxed. I didn't feel the need to cram my schedule with programs that couldn't possibly benefit me or the firm. I saw familiar, welcoming faces. I was invited to attend private functions, dinners, lunches and focus groups. I spent even more time with vendors and the knowledge I gained wasn't found in a meeting room.  It was found in coffee breaks, and impromptu conversations where the folks I met were as interested in my experiences with products and resources, and how I did my job, as I was in theirs.

  

 

This second time around, I wasn't the shy guy in Seattle. I transitioned beyond my personal boundaries, and I felt part of the larger whole, a union of professionals who are sometimes taken for granted, often undervalued, and it was our time to laugh about it, refresh, and pump one another up as only similarly-situated individuals can do. 

 

I shared some good food and drink while sharing experiences, I put names to faces for those people I see on list serves, and I further solidified relationships with people I'd met before. I might even remember a name or two when our paths cross again, but don’t hold me to that – I will never be good with names. I met people that I think can be called "friends" and not mere acquaintances. And while I didn't come away with a nugget as golden as last years (at least in monetary measure), I valued these experiences just as highly. This time I focused on the conference as a whole, and not as a series of smaller, inter-woven programs, and the experience was just as satisfying, albeit, no less exhausting.

 

Now, what will Philadelphia and Chicago bring? I can't wait to find out. But please, let there be less humidity.



 

 



An Interview with VALL's 1st President

By Jane Harrison

In 1984 Ann Roberts Caudle was the first to wear the VALL president’s hat. The association began as the Richmond Area law Libraries (RALLA) in 1981. As the membership grew beyond the Richmond area, and, so not to be confused with the also newly-emerging Richmond Association of Legal Assistants (RALA), a change was undertaken and by 1986 RALLA became known as VALL. 

 

During her 10-year tenure at the Supreme Court Library and afterwards when she joined McGuire Woods, Ann was often on the phone with colleagues sharing information and ideas.  In the early days she recalls McGuire Woods sponsored an end-of-year luncheon for law librarians. 

 

Ann, who is currently client relations director at Spotts Fain, said VALL allowed her, amongst other things, to develop her public speaking skills, with which “initially I was not comfortable”.  She also said VALL “….was as much a wonderful personal as well as professional affiliation.” She counted among her lifelong friends the late and longtime library manager at Hunton & Williams, Beverly Butler. 

 

Ann said that continuing to educate the legal community, as well as the community at-large of the law librarians’ role is essential to maintaining VALL’s vitality.  She was quick to recognize VALL members’ longstanding contributions to Virginia Lawyer as a key element in addressing that goal. 

 

Ann also said she thinks “lawyers seem possessive of their law librarians, [that they are] valuable people who we know we cannot do without”.  As to VALL’s longevity, she suggested that in part, it may be because “there must have been something good about it to attract so many members”.

 

 If you are reading this, I would like to suggest you agree with Ann’s last statement.  I know I do.



Authors Guild v. HathiTrust

by Paul Hellyer

 

Earlier this month, the Second Circuit decided Authors Guild v. HathiTrust. This is an important copyright case for libraries, and it’s a definite win for us.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, HathiTrust is an online digital library created by a partnership of university libraries. It contains millions of full-text scans of public domain works, licensed copyrighted works, and unlicensed copyrighted works. The lawsuit focused on HathiTrust’s use of the unlicensed copyrighted works.

It’s worthwhile to take a close look at the facts, because they can give you an idea of what your library can or can’t do. To begin with, HathiTrust makes and stores digital full-text copies of copyrighted works without the owners’ permission. This amounts to unlicensed copying, a potential violation of Section 106 of the Copyright Act. At first glance, that sounds pretty daring, but what HathiTrust is actually doing with these digital copies is very limited. The court considered the merits of two of these activities.

HathiTrust’s key use for these digital copies is full-text searching: HathiTrust allows any user to run full-text online searches through its digital archive and see titles and page numbers in a results list, but it does not allow users to view or download any of the page images or text. This is a more restrictive approach than the one taken by Google Books, which by default allows users to view “snippets” of the full text of unlicensed copyrighted works.  

HathiTrust also allows a member library to provide a disabled patron with access to the digital full text of copyrighted works, in order to accommodate the patron’s disabilities. For example, a member library may allow a blind patron to convert digital text to audio, with or without permission from the copyright owner, provided that the library already owns a print copy of the work. This does not mean that any user claiming a disability can directly access the digital full text of copyrighted works. Rather, the disability must be certified by a qualified expert and access must be facilitated by a member library.

Despite HathiTrust’s cautious approach, it became the target of a lawsuit by copyright owners and their organizations, led by the Author’s Guild. The plaintiffs claimed that HathiTrust’s activities were not a fair use of copyrighted works, and even argued that the fair use doctrine has limited application to libraries. Section 108 of the Copyright Act permits libraries to make certain uses of copyrighted works without permission, and the plaintiffs argued that HathiTrust must work within the confines of Section 108. This is a rather frivolous argument because Section 108(f)(4) explicitly states that Section 108 does not affect a library’s fair use rights.

The result of this lawsuit? HathiTrust won at the trial court level and won again at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Second Circuit covered many legal points in its opinion, some of which are more relevant to libraries than others. The most relevant part for us is the court’s holding that HathiTrust’s full-text search capability is a fair use. The court found that this use of copyrighted works is transformative, meaning that the user is using the work in a way that creates new value. Library patrons can’t run a full-text search of print copies in a library’s collection, but thanks to HathiTrust’s digitial copies and search engine, they now can. In fair use analysis, transformative use is favored.

What about harm to the copyright owners? The plaintiffs argued that HathiTrust was ruining a potential market for licensing copyrighted works to full-text search providers, but the court wasn’t interested in hypothetical licensing markets. The court framed the question differently: does the unauthorized use function as a substitute for the original work? Here, the answer is plainly no. Users still need to obtain an authorized copy if they want to read one of the works in HathiTrust’s digital library. According to the court, if the unauthorized use isn’t a substitute for the original work, the plaintiffs have not suffered any economic harm.

The plaintiffs devoted a lot of space in their brief to the argument that the fair use doctrine is not fully applicable to libraries because of Section 108. The court quickly dismissed this argument in a footnote. Libraries have the same fair use rights as anyone else.

This opinion is good news for any library that’s considering a digitization project, but it leaves unanswered questions about the boundaries of these projects. HathiTrust took a conservative approach by not allowing ordinary users to view any text of unlicensed copyrighted works. We don’t know if the court would have approved Google Books’ “snippet” views or something similar. We can say that the court didn’t treat HathiTrust as a close case, which suggests we have some wiggle room. 

Libraries should also keep in mind that HathiTrust has taken extensive security measures to ensure that its digital copies won’t be stolen by hackers or otherwise distributed without authorization. These precautions are described in detail in the court’s opinion. Libraries that are considering small-scale digitization efforts may not have the resources to ensure this level of security.

We’ll learn more about the limits of book scanning as the Google Books litigation winds its way through the courts.



VALL Membership Renewal Time

Yes, it's that time again ... time to renew your VALL membership! You should all have received an email from Chris Vassey about your membership 2014-2015.

If you haven't or would like membership for a new staff member, please click here for the membership form: VALL membership form 2014-2015

VLA Council Meeting, June 13, 2014

Submitted by Terry Long, VALL Representative to VLA Council

 

·         VLA’s finances are in good shape. Recent VLA sponsored conferences have made small profits. The endowment has made a modest gain.

·         The Fundraising Committee has raised a little over half the amount needed for the annual VLA Conference.

·         ALA’s Legislative Day had 14 Virginians participating. They met with the staff of 11 legislators and actually met with one member of the House of Representatives, Rob Whitman.

·         With the state budget that passed in early hours of June 13^th, the state aid to libraries will stay at 2014 level.

·         The Professional Development Endowment plans to make $100 disbursements for attendance at VLA meeting. Information on applying will be made later.

·         VLA annual meeting

o   Keynoters have been set

o   Dine arounds will be offered as  a way to network and experience a new restaurant venue

o   Thursday there will be a casino night for all registrants.

o   Tours of Swem Library will be offered.

·         The Virginia Paraprofessional Forum is now officially, Virginia Professional Association Forum so as to include other staff in the library setting.

·         The New Members Forum’s mentoring program is flourishing. Also, there are two social events planned for the summer.

·         ALA is considering eliminating the mid-winter meeting to cut costs. Members of the VLA Council who have attended mid-winter meetings think they are valuable as they are smaller gatherings and more work of the association can be accomplished; therefore, they should not be eliminated.  Jessie Scalph, Virginia’s ALA Councilor, thinks they should divest themselves of the publishing business.

·         Library of Virginia asks for you to go to their website and cast your vote for the People’s Choice Award or, ballots are available at the public libraries.

 

Message from the President

Greetings, VALL members,

 

This is your friendly, neighborhood 2014-2015 President here with my first message and VALL update. It’s been nearly two months since the Spring Meeting, and things are already in full swing as we enter the summer (by the way, whatever happened to our spring weather?!).

 

The Spring Meeting was a great success, with close to thirty attendees. Members heard Kristin Glover from the University of Virginia Law Library talk about mindfulness and the law (why am I craving raisins all of a sudden?). Also, John Eller and Andrew Christensen from the Washington & Lee Law Library showed how law librarians can further service their legal communities outside of their traditional roles (I personally think every law library should have its own set of “librarian” trading cards).

 

Leadership Transition 

 

In addition, the leadership transition went smoothly. We welcomed new members to the Executive Board: Stephanie Miller as Vice- President/President-Elect, Chris Vassey as Secretary, and Andrew Winston as Director. Many thanks go to Lara Dresser and Heather Casey for their years of service to the board, and to Amy Wharton for her year-long tenure as President. Amy’s work as President has certainly set the bar high for me. So I will do my best to help make VALL an even stronger law library association this year! 

 

Membership Directory: 

 

One of the issues voted on during the Spring Meeting was the future of our VALL Membership Directory. By a majority vote, the directory will no longer be published in print, but exist as an online-only document. This move will ultimately save VALL a significant amount of money each year from publishing the directory. Because of security issues (personal names, phone numbers, etc.) and questions about where to have the actual online directory in place, the transition is currently an ongoing one. We will keep you informed as our membership directory goes through the change from print to online. 

 

VALL 30^th Anniversary Memory Book: 

 

We are continuing to acknowledge and celebrate our 30^th year as a law library association this year! As part of the celebration, the 30^th Anniversary Committee has been hard at work in creating a VALL Memory Book. If you have any VALL memories or thoughts that you would like to share, the committee would love to hear from you. Please contact Sally Wambold at swambold@richmond.edu or you can post your comments on the blog under the Memory Book entry.

In addition, keep an eye out on our blog for future posts from the committee, of interviews and remembrances from previous and current VALL chapter leaders and members.

 

Step up and volunteer in a VALL Committee: 

 

Do you want to become more involved in VALL? Volunteering in a committee is a great way to start. It really doesn’t take too much of your time. Plus, you’ll get to meet and work with your fellow VALL members. This year’s standing committees are currently being formed - the list of committees can be found on the wiki and on this blog (scroll down just past the Executive Board members). So if you are interested, please contact the appropriate committee chair, or you can contact me. Thanks! 

VALL at AALL: 

If you are attending AALL in San Antonio, please attend the VALL Lunch Meeting on Monday, July 14, at noon at Paesano’s Riverwalk Restaurant at 111 W. Crockett St. The venue is about an eight minute walk from the Convention Center. The registration fee is $20 for VALL members, $25 for non-members.

Please RSVP by Monday, June 30. For a registration form, you can visit the VALL Wiki at http://vall.pbworks.com/ or contact Stephanie Miller at millersc@wlu.edu.

Also, if you haven’t yet registered for AALL, do so by June 6 to save $100 on the registration fee!

 

Chapter Leadership Handbook: 

 

It has been several years since its last revision, so we are currently in the process of updating the VALL Leadership Handbook. We will keep you up to date of its progress.

Well, that has been your first message and update from me, VALL members. There are many more exciting plans in the works during our 30^th year. So be sure to keep an eye out on our listserv, Wiki and blog for up to date news and information.

A final note: I am truly honored to be your VALL President during this milestone year. As your President, I will do my very best to represent you and our association in the legal community. However, while I am the President, this is still your association - I am here for you! If you ever have any questions or concerns about VALL, please don’t hesitate to contact me at balmoite@courts.state.va.us.

Thanks and enjoy the summer, everyone!

 

 Ben Almoite