VALL Spring Meeting at Washington & Lee

The Spring Meeting was held on April 8, 2016, at the Washington & Lee Law School in Lexington. About 30 VALL members made the drive to Lexington on a cool and clear day to attend the programs and witness the changeover of officers.

It was a beautiful drive into Lexington

Fred Dingledy from William & Mary, and Jane Baugh from Woods Rodgers enjoying a cup of java before the meeting

Anthony Ikwueme from Liberty checking into registration

VP/President elect Patty Petroccione at the registration table

Andrew Winston from the Law Library of Congress and Dana Deseck-Piazzon from the National Center for State Courts

President Stephanie Miller welcoming attendees

Terry Long from the State Law Library and Joyce Manna Janto from the University of Richmond, presenting the first portion of  Enhancing Our Information Arsenal. Joyce shared some of her favorite non-legal resources including newspapers.com (includes smaller state and local newspapers which can give a different depth and perspective to a legal issue or case); iPoll (polling data); Policy Map (for census, tracking and demographics data) and much more. Terry shared her top 11 reference sources including Legislative Services; Legislative Information Services; Reports to the General Assembly, and also gave an update on the State Law Library's archival projects.

Alison Hancock and Lara Dresser from Williams Mullen sharing with VALLers the web alert tools that they use at their firm and provided a chart with an overview of the various tools.

Fred Dingledy educating us on The Corpus Juris Civilis.

Those of you who missed Fred's account of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I and his creation of the Corpus Juris Civilis, can read up on the presentation here: Corpus Juris Civilis

VALLers paying rapt attention to the presentations

Fred receiving a "thank you" gift from Patty

Terry and Patty

Joyce and Stephanie

Alison and Stephanie

Lara and Stephanie

Stephanie receiving VALL's "thank you for being president" gift from Patty

Sometimes there isn't enough wine .... a thank you from Patty

The VALL Executive Board 2016-2017: L-R: Patty (president); Stephanie (immediate past president); Andrew (secretary); Meldon Jenkins-Jones (director); Doris Morgan (director); Lara (vp/president elect). Not in picture: Alison Hancock (treasurer); Evelyn Campbell (ex officio)

Patty, Alison, Chris Vassey (former secretary) and Stephanie

After the meeting Stephanie led VALLers on a tour of the law library (photo courtesy of Fred Dingledy)

Yes, that is a chess table (photo courtesy of Fred Dingledy)

Reading room in the History Room (photo courtesy of Fred Dingledy)

In the stacks (photo courtesy of Fred Dingledy)

 Level 1A of the library (photo courtesy of Fred Dingledy)

 

The Powell Suite named for Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. (photos courtesy of Fred Dingledy)

Photo courtesy of Fred Dingledy

 Powell memorabilia (photo courtesy of Fred Dingledy)

The group that stayed for the Saturday winery tour braved cold and windy weather to sample the offerings at Rockbridge Winery.

VALLers and spouses looking very happy and this was only the first stop! (photo courtesy of Donna Bausch)

VALL members took advantage of everything that Lexington had to offer. Some were able to head to the Virginia Military Institute and watch the parade. (photo courtesy of Donna Bausch)

What VALL Does for Us

by Gail Zwirner

I retired a year ago after a 42 year career in law, first as a paralegal, then as a librarian.  Last year you honored me by making me a Lifetime Member.  On this anniversary, I reminisced about my career, of which VALL was a big part.  Many times we are asked to do things for VALL – serve as officers or committee chairs, host meetings, staff the PR table at AALL, do presentations for Bar groups, or, as the biggest offender, ask members to write for the Virginia Lawyer column.  (I haven’t been nicknamed the VALLkyrie for nothing.) 

However, it occurred to me that VALL has done a lot for me and all legal professionals in Virginia in providing access to information.  For newer members who may not be aware of some of VALL’s accomplishments, let me remind you of a few:

·         Through its Preservation Committee, VALL worked with firm managing partners to encourage Lexis and Westlaw to create a comprehensive database of Virginia case law.  Both vendors initially started with a database of 25 years and law librarians complained that limited coverage was dangerous for their patrons doing online research.  They reached out to the people whom VALL thought would have the biggest influence – the law firm online users who pay the bills – and Virginia became the first state to have comprehensive coverage.  Both vendors followed soon nationwide.  

·         Another gap in information access was a lack of an administrative code.  VALL had members work with the Virginia Code Commission and encourage them to move forward with a long-overdue codification of Virginia regulations.  At the time, Virginia and Mississippi were only two states not having a code.  Over two General Assembly sessions, the statute was changed to allow for a code and then, based on feedback from practitioners excited about the project, they amended the statute to include the requirement for agency publication of lists of guidance documents – those pesky internal agency documents, manuals, etc. that state attorneys would bring to hearings and private practitioners would have no idea they ever existed.  Even better, technology has allowed those lists to expand with links to the full document.  There is rarely a need to call the agency for a copy.  

·         In the early days of web access, law librarians were consulted regularly about functionality of the sites.  For example, the State Corporation Commission’s website has improved greatly in its functionality since its initial release.  The General Assembly website has added searchable databases for the codes, maintained access to prior session content, and added full text of House and Senate documents.  

·         VALL continues a nearly 20-year collaboration with the Virginia State Bar by contributing a regular “Law Libraries” column to the Virginia Lawyer.  The VL editor cites the VALL articles as some of the most-linked contributions in the journal. 

Thanks for all the volunteers who have contributed to the ongoing success of VALL.  Over the years you will realize how much VALL gives back.

VALL Reaches 100-Article Milestone in the Virginia Lawyer

By Gail Zwirner

VALL reached a major milestone in August 2015 in our collaboration with the Virginia State Bar.  Roger Skalbeck’s article on legal research technologies for the Law Libraries column in the Virginia Lawyer was the 100^th article we contributed. Our relationship started in April 1997 when Donna Bausch, in an outreach and public relations effort, contributed “Tools of the Trade: Research Resources for the Virginia Practitioner.”  After doing a book review for the next issue, Lyn Warmath worked with then-Editor, Rod Coggin, and they created the Law Libraries column. 

Rod said our contributions were always timely, linked well to the issue theme, and required little editing.  He also noted that our articles are some of the most-linked sources in the publication.  In February 2000, the VSB released the first all-librarian authored issue.  Not only did we contribute the regular column, but we also filled each issue with five substantive articles on legal research and technology issues.  There have been six all-librarian issues since 2000. 

You may see the list of articles with links to the full text at the VALL Wiki at:  http://vall.pbworks.com/w/page/79718339/Virginia%20Lawyer%20and%20Virginia%20Law%20Weekly%20Contributions%202006-

Thanks to all VALL member authors who contributed articles for the Law Libraries column.

VLA Council Meeting, 19 March 2016

Submitted by Terry Long, VALL liaison to VLA

Highlights of the VLA Council Meeting:

• VLA annual meeting will be held at the Homestead, October 26-28^th.

o   More program proposals are needed.

o   Lisa Varga, Executive Director, explored some conference ideas with the group.

•  VLA Professional Associated Forum will be held May 2^nd at the Doubletree in Williamsburg.

o   Pay for four registrations, get the fifth free.

•   VLA’s Legislative update http://www.vla.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=447:vla-2016-legislative-committee-update--increase-to-state-aid-and-more&catid=21:latest-news

o   There was an increase in state aid to libraries.

•      National Legislative Day for libraries is May 2-3, 2016. VLA gives financial support to those attending.

• VLA’s Professional Development Forum is having job fairs around the state.

• VLA’s Membership Directory is now available online.

•  New Members Forum has kicked off it mentoring effort for 2016.

• 175 books have been nominated for the Jefferson Cup award.

• ALA is promoting its new marketing effort, Libraries Transform. Some of their products can be customized for your library.

• VLA’s 2017 meeting will be in Norfolk; and, in 2018 it will be in Colonial Williamsburg.

VALL Spring Meeting, April 8, 2016

The Spring Meeting and changeover of officers will be on April 8, 2016, at Washington & Lee Law School in Lexington, Virginia.

Click here for a preliminary program:  Spring Meeting Progam

More details to follow!

AALL name change vote

The proposal to change the name of American Association of Law Libraries to the Association for Legal Information has failed by a vote of 1998 (80.11 percent) opposed, to 496 (19.89 percent) in favor. A record number of members voted on this proposal, with 59.51 percent casting a ballot.

VLA Council Meeting highlights from January 29, 2016

Submitted by Terry Long, VALL Liaison

·         The VLA annual conference was a success.

·         The cost to post on Jobline has increased from $75 to $100. This increase will help keep the dues at the current level.

·         VLA is in a strong financial position as have a healthy reserve fund.

·         Lisa Varga, Executive Director, wants VLA to push for a license plate promoting libraries. She explained the process to council. She said a member of the General Assembly would have to introduce the bill next year after a commitment had been made to purchase the plate by at least 450 constituents. It is a good way to raise the profile of libraries.

·         Legislative agenda is on VLA’s web site.

o   They are asking for an increase in state aid. The Governor’s budget does not increase state aid. With the governor asking for an increase to the education budget, VLA is asking for the increase to state aid because of the effectiveness of the summer reading program in the public libraries.

o   Of interest is HB 336 concerning a parent’s right to access their child’s library record. This currently is addressed by local practice.

·         VLA Paraprofessional Forum will be held in at the Doubletree Hotel in Williamsburg on May 2^nd.

·         The 2016 VLA meeting will be held at the Homestead resort in Hot Springs, October 26-28.

o   The opportunity to propose programs is open until April 15^th.

o   West Virginia librarians will be invited to attend at VLA member rates.

o    Mixers will take the place of the traditional Thursday evening All Conference Social. The mixers may be centered around foods but there has also been suggestions for a knitters mixer, and one for people interested in board games,

·         The number one thing VLA members ask for is that the membership directory be made available on the website. It is currently a work-in-progress.